"Sink the bright dead with misgiving
from the half-light of the living ..."
"What does that mean?" asked Urson.
"It means that the dead are buried with all the accoutrements of the living. That means that they put food in the graves."
"Over here," cried Iimmi. With Snake following, they came to the row of sealed doors behind the columns along the wall. Iimmi looked at the inscription. "Tombs," he reported. He turned the handles, a double set of rings, which he twisted in opposite directions. "In an old, uncared-for temple like this, the lock mechanisms must have rusted by now if they're at all like the ancient tombs of Leptar."
"Have you studied the ancient tombs?" asked Geo excitedly. "Professor Eadnu always considered them a waste of time."
"That's all Welis ever talked about," laughed Iimmi. "Here, Urson, you set your back to this a moment."
Grumbling, Urson came forward, took the rings, and twisted. One snapped off in his hand. The other gave, with a crumbling sound inside the door.
"I think that does it," Iimmi said.
They all helped pull now, and suddenly the door gave an inch, and then, on the next tug, swung free.
Snake proceeded them into the tiny stone cell.