Microfiction: Lost temple I

I found this painting while I was looking for something completely different and started to write a story round it. I shall post it in dollops of 200 words because I can see it might be a long one.

They reached the place at the end of the ninth day despite the wall of resistance from the common people. Sullen looks welcomed them when they sought lodgings for the night and turned backs when they asked: how far, which way? But they persevered. It was their holy place, after all, torn from the grasp of barbarians at a terrible price.

On the evening of the ninth day they found it. Their horses refused to enter the trees, so they left them tethered in the lush grass. The beasts stood close together and watched them go, their ears twitching nervously.

A tangle of briar and thorny vegetation surrounded the site, as…