“Then let’s not wait for the music to start,” I said.
I opened up the map and looked at it. Again, just coming through the secret door had caused the map to change. Now the way out of here wasn’t across the room, but up on what looked like a stage near the back of the room, directly across from the windows.
“This way,” I said, leading the way up a short staircase and onto a massive wooden stage.
On the back wall was nothing but wood slats. I glanced at the still-open map in my hand, then moved to what looked to be about the right area, putting the map back into my pouch as
I went. After just a few seconds of trying, I found the loose boards, pulled them aside, and we were back out of the light and into what I thought was another dark passageway.
Tanda came in behind me, holding the torch up so that we could both see what was ahead.
I froze like a statue at what I saw.
“Well I’ll be a grave-digger’s monkey,” Tanda said.
Ahead of us wasn’t another passageway, but a massive, low-ceilinged room. Rows and rows and rows of shelves lined the walls, and down the middle of the room, side-by-side, packed close on every inch of every shelf, were skulls.
Cow skulls.
Thousands and thousands and thousands of white, empty-eyed cow skulls.
Aahz finished making sure the slats were back in place behind us, then turned and stopped cold beside me. I was glad to see he had the same reaction I did. It was always good to know my mentor could be shocked.
“Someone want to explain this to me?” Glenda asked, her voice echoing through the remains of an entire herd.