The journey from the hox’s house to the entrance of the tomb was, scarily, uneventful.
Theihdow picked the course, which happened to be the exact direction Flip had indicated from his dream, and everyone followed carefully behind him. Even the hox, though somewhat timidly, followed the group on their silent route to the tomb. There was no conversation, despite the large volume of questions that everyone wanted to ask. All four travelers were too absorbed in the mystery of what awaited them, in one way or another. Even Thiehdow, knowledgeable as he was, had no idea what the tomb itself and its designer had left behind for his companions to overcome.
Of course, when the tomb was reached, no one seemed to notice. It was part of the ingenious part of the construction of the tomb, it’s entrance had been removed. Even Thiehdow, who had been to the location previously during its construction, was not completely aware of what to look for.
“Hold on.” Dovhran, who was in the middle of the group as they traveled, held up his hand to stop everyone else.
The changeling retrieved a pocket watch from within his cloak, doubled checked the sky, and then began to step carefully around and away the group in an outward spiral.
“What are you doing?” Selian grumbled.
The elf had been upset that her work was being undermined completely, and that resentment was still lingering. She had been hired to navigate by the stars, but it seemed more and more likely that her talents would go entirely to waste. There was more to her repertoire of skills than navigating, of course, as she was skill with knots and herbs and ranged combat, but she felt that the reason she was being paid to travel out into the middle of nowhere was slipping away. It was, to her, like there was no reason for her to be there in the first place. And the perceived imminent danger of the tomb made it all the more tempting to leave then and there.
“I’m checking to see if we’re close.” Dovhran grumbled over his shoulder as he walked ever further away.
“I don’t suspect we’re very close. The entrance is about three feet above the ground, we would be able to see it.” Theihdow tilted his head to the side as he spoke.
“I take it you haven’t been back since they completed construction.” Dovhran stopped to address the vampire. “The journal I read specified that the entrance was destroyed upon completion of the tomb. The ground was level so that only a very particular type of person who was looking for the tomb could find it. They didn’t want wanderers or wild and dangerous creatures wandering in. I think the journal itself mentioned the threat of an invasive dragon, which I could fully see being a problem for an abandoned tomb in a very hard to reach place by foot. A dragon might see it as premium housing and set up shop.”
“There aren’t any dragons that fly this far north.” Theihdow frowned. “And I heard nothing about this. If the entrance was destroyed, that is news to me.”
“If the hundreds of years you’ve been here, did you ever bother to try and find the entrance?” Flip asked.
“I tried, yes, and I believe I stumbled across it at least once. But I wasn’t sure.”
“I’ve never asked, but how is it that you navigate the wastes?” It looked like the question had been bothering Selian for some time, but she hadn’t gotten a good opportunity to ask.
“Trial and error mostly. Around the edges, it gets much easier to determine where you are based on the weather and the shape of clouds in the sky that form over other regions and drift in. But once you get in a few miles you have to memorize cracks in the ground and the very very few landmarks.”
“Hold up!” Dovhran shouted from his now even more distant position. “I’ve got it!”
Dovhran was standing with the toe of his boot pointed directly down into the earth performing a tapping motion. Without waiting for a response, the changeling retrieved a tent stake from his bag and knelt down to begin tapping the earth more thoroughly. He stopped roughly to feet back toward the group before sticking the tent stake firmly into the ground.
“That’s the edge of a wall. Maybe four or five feet down. Probably not the entrance, but if I can tell where a wall is I can outline the entire structure. Or, at least the top level of it.”
Theihdow let out a hum as he scanned the area more thoroughly. “This… could be right. It could be part of a natural cave system, but it could be the tomb as well. As you say, we should outline the structure before proceeding further.”
“I thought you would leave once we reached our destination.” Flip raised an eyebrow towards the vampire, phrasing his words carefully.
“I said I would lead you here… or to the tomb rather, if this is the tomb. I never said anything about leaving immediately. Nor did I say anything about entering the tomb.” Theihdow set down his pack and began to walk towards Dovhran as he spoke. “Regardless, I would like to verify that this is our destination.”
“Take a stake and start tapping.” Dovhran, with the dexterity one would expect from an expert knife thrower, launched a tent stake towards the vampire.
The rest of the evening light was spent outlining the area. Tent stakes were struck into the ground at various corners and lines were dug into the soft sandy dust that blanketed the waste. By the time the sun had set, a massive space had been cordoned off. The top layer of rooms, or what seemed to be rooms, spanned perhaps four hundred feet in length with various widths and offshoot areas. Even with the area outlined, however, it was unclear where the entrance was.
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When night came and no consensus had been reached as to how to approach the tomb, a campfire was constructed. Rather than retreat into the flat, Flip intentionally did not activate the hatch and instead made himself comfortable by the fire. Canteens of water were passed around, dry rations were shared, and a moment of silence followed before anyone thought it appropriate to talk about what to do next.
“I don’t suppose you would have any idea where the entrance is in relation to where we are now?” Dovhran finally asked the vampire the question that was driving him mad.
The changeling had been working for hours to get a firm grasp of what it was that sat under his feet, but the outline of the tomb had no real rhyme or reason to it. Even dusting away large portions of the ground had revealed nothing except natural and weather worn stone.
“When the tomb’s designer and his assistants constructed the tomb itself, they started with a hole in the ground and used magic to excavate without ever exposing the shape of the interior to sunlight. After some time they added a staircase to get out easily…” Theihdow answered casually, gesturing towards the large outlined space. “But if they collapsed their entrance behind them when they left, I don’t think there will be any right way to enter. Frankly, it’s a miracle that you found it at all.”
“Not a miracle… but close. I was timing us and I knew there would be a good chance I would be able to hear something if I scanned the area. I’m surprised I found it as fast as I did.” Dovhran sighed. “I mean, it could have also just as easily been in the opposite direction. So, I suppose there was an element of luck, but a fifty-fifty chance is still pretty good odds.”
“I don’t suppose we could just… dig in… could we?” Selian looked up from the fire to read the reactions of everyone else.
“Probably not…” Grumbled Dovhran.
“I doubt it.” Theihdow shook his head.
“Absolutely.” Flip sighed, as he dusted his skirt off and stood to face the outlined area.
“Hold on, what are you doing…” Dovhran could not complete his question before Flip wandered off and away from the campfire.
The wizard already had his spellbook in hand and was flipping through the pages looking for the proper spell. He listed off the names of spells in a mumbled as he went through the list of what he was prepared to cast, though each received a grunt of disapproval.
“Faengil, you can’t just blast open the ceiling of the tomb, you could collapse the whole thing!” Dovhran was quick behind the wizard, voice suddenly very worried and exasperated.
“Of course I can.” Grumbled Flip. “Should I? That’s not a question for mortal men to answer.”
“Meadowthorn?!” Dovhran called back, as if to attempt to appeal to the closest immortal man, but the vampire merely shrugged.
“Ah, yes. Starshower.” Flip sat down cross legged just outside the outlined area of the tomb and laid his book flat in front of him.
With an unpracticed motion, the wizard retrieved a handful of odd components from various small satchels on his person. A small rock of inconspicuous appearance that originated from a meteor. A clear white gem cut in a spiky ball shape. A small pouch of gold metal powder. All these things were laid out around the book and a small design drawn between them. And with the design complete Flip’s eye lit into a burning white hot gaze like the stars puncturing the night sky.
Dovhran, as he grew increasingly frightened by the ever more elaborate and dangerous looking spell, attempted to grab Flip by the wrist and interrupt the casting. But the changeling was stopped by a burning sensation as he grew close to the wizard. With no one able, or willing in Thiehdow’s case, to stop his spell, Flip began his incantation.
Lady of the evening sky
Lend a whisper down to me,
Let loose the night's pale white eye
Lay waste upon the land-sea.
And I will wish where I lie,
On shooting star and bent knee.
Sublime light, I wish for thee.
When the incantation was complete, the blazing light was snuffed from Flip’s eyes and he quickly collected his things and rose to a standing position with his finger outstretched in the direction of the largest open area of the tomb outline.
“That was quite beautiful.” Theihdow muttered, pleased with the poetic quality of the incantation.
The vampire was on the verge of asking if the incantation was original or from a different writer’s work when a pinhole of starlight that had shone gently at first grew to a blazing ball of meteoric mass above the wastes. Though the object was likely only ten or fifteen feet in diameter it was roaring to the earth with such speed that it had begun to burn and leave a white hot trail of light behind it. From a distance it would have been beautiful, and perhaps it still was up close, but it was less than one hundred feet away from the four travelers gathered at the edge of the tomb’s outline. It’s light became blinding as, within seconds of appearing, it crashed violently to the earth and caused the ground to shake.
“What, in all of obscurity, was that?” Selian was choking on the dust that had been shaken loose from the impact, but she was trying very hard to sound stern and perhaps a little angry.
“A shooting star.” Flip answered calmly as he dusted off his skirt and robes once more.
Small wisps of red hot flame had showered the earth around the impact site and begun to burn away at both Flip and Dovhran, who had been the closest to the impact site. Flip was fine, as his bracelet prevented his body from catching fire, but Dovhran was rolling around on the floor trying to extinguish himself—screaming aimlessly all the while. A casual shake and brush accompanying the dusting Flip was already in the midst of preforming was all that was required to extinguish his igniting clothes. Dovhran did not manage to extinguish himself so easily, though he seemed to make it out relatively unscathed.
“I’ve never seen one so close.” Theihdow sighed, struck by the beauty that he had just witnessed. “The star weaver must favor you.”
The vampire did not seem to care that his leg had been impacted quite sharply by a piece of flaming shrapnel and a flame was quickly spreading on his person. It was not until the hox—who had, upon seeing the approaching calamity, hidden behind Selian’s legs in a puffy mess of fur—uncurled itself and began to bat at the wound and embedded shrapnel in the vampire’s leg that he responded and casually tore the rock out and began to suffocate the flame with a splash of fine gray dust from the ground. With the threat to the vampire extinguished, the hox began to play about in the aftermath of the strike, pouncing on stray embers and batting around red hot rubble.
“It is an incredibly powerful spell.” Flip stammered out in an attempt to comfort Selian, who seemed to be growing more and more frustrated by the chaos around her. “The most destructive I know. I could have used another spell to dig out a smaller hole over a longer period of time, but it would have required more magic over time.”
“Just because a spell is the most efficient doesn’t necessarily mean you should use it to shatter the earth open with a meteor!” Selian nearly screamed.
“I will note that down in the margins for future reference.” Flip grumbled as he began to retrieve his spell book to make just such a note.
The wizard rarely received constructive feedback about spell use that wasn’t in response to him conjuring a disturbing amount of ants. Not to mention that Flip had never actually cast this particular spell before, until then it had only been a theoretical evocation.