[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
Ghostlike, we drift through the second floor of the castle on silent feet, pausing every several steps to listen for [Guards]. Lionel and Mikko lead the way, one to shield and the other to scout. I have no map of the interior, and I don't fancy running into enemies without warning. Even without my new [Arcane Domain] Skill running, I'm keenly aware of the Rift core, however. Pulsing with power, it calls me and repels me all at once—I could close my eyes and point to it with unerring accuracy, but part of me wants to run the other direction.
I stick close to the others, whispering just in case anyone hostile is nearby. I don’t want to be overheard and give away our position. “We’ll eventually need to make our way down into the dungeon and check out the core. Let’s see what we can find up here first. I’ll bet that [Lord] Dimitri is the type to keep his paperwork well hidden and overly secure. Thankfully, I have some experience with forging keys, opening locks, and purloining classified documents.”
No one chuckles, and I realize that I haven't exactly given them the full rundown on the strange lockpicking and theft I engaged in after the last, explosive showdown between me and Scalpel. They know about my imprisonment, torture, and escape, but not the full extent of my arrangements with the [Inquisitors].
“Which way do we go next, bro?” Mikko asks from just up ahead, his voice so low that I have to strain to hear him. He peers around the corner, ensuring that none of the [Guards] are patrolling. Gleaming white marble, a match for the city hall, lines the hallways, floor, and ceiling.
“No idea. Go room to room for now. Check for anything useful,” I suggest once he gives the signal that we’re in the clear. I move up to join him, standing side by side at the intersection of the hallway we’re in and the main corridor that runs through the center of the massive Old Keep. “Amazing how big this place is. No wonder the quarry in town is stripped bare.”
Melina creeps up beside us, glancing around with keen eyes. She also keeps her voice quiet, thankfully. The team seems to be warming up to stealth missions. “I never would have guessed that the interior is so wildly opulent. The outside is rugged and imposing, but the inside looks like a palace. Why do you think the castle above is worn down and decrepit, but this place looks pristine instead?”
“Misdirection,” I answer without hesitation. “The goal is to distract people from what's really going on. Why investigate a broken down old castle when monsters are roaming about? It’s dangerous. Creepy. Yet I wouldn’t be surprised if his most luxurious rooms are down here, out of sight. He most likely intentionally cultivates the ramshackle appearance above ground. Or wherever our world is in relation to this strange, repurposed Rift.”
Melina frowns. “Plausible. But why?”
I duck my head into the next unlocked room, just past the corner, but a cursory check confirms that there are only a few empty shelves and a messy desk with knick knacks scattered around on top of it. Nothing valuable inside. “You remember when I got in big trouble for not reporting the beast core Tem gave me? I had no idea back then that owning a beast core is tricky. They’re considered restricted items. You have to obtain a special license to harvest and sell them. The one I had was from the greater Rift that we explored together, so I kept the details secret, which got me in hot water with the [Adjutant].”
“Yeah, but this seems like a super elaborate way to hide contraband,” Avelina cuts in. “There’s gotta be more to it than that.”
Lionel shrugs one shoulder. “Eh, this is basically a farm. You’re all thinking too much. They can breed monsters, let out a few to keep people cowed, and harvest the cores from the big critters at their own leisure. Sure beats growing corn or raising beef cattle. I’ll bet it's pretty lucrative.”
“But the reports of monster attacks only go back about a year, by my calculations,” Melina says. “Are we absolutely sure they’re intentionally letting out monsters? To me, this looks like a long-term operation that went sideways.”
“Hey, by my calculations, that’s roughly when Nuri singlehandedly unleashed an interdimensional war,” Lionel quips, rifling through the shelves in the room I already cleared.
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I protest. “And I feel compelled to point out that blowing a giant hole in the Labyrinth was all Tem’s fault.”
Lionel glances at my left arm.
“Seriously, Lio? This was all for a pun? You make the worst jokes sometimes.” I groan. “Now, look lively, lads and lasses. We need to keep a sharp watch out for [Guards]. And don't forget to look for a money trail or shipping manifests. As far as I can tell, these rooms are just storage for provisions and spare equipment. They do tell a story of a long-standing engagement here, but without documents and dates, we're going to have a hard time putting together a meaningful case. We need something more incendiary—and I’m not talking about Avelina.”
Melina taps my shoulder to get my attention. “Nuri, do you think any of the [Guards] have detection Skills or can sense interlopers? I know they look lackadaisical, and they probably don't expect anyone to slip past a perimeter of armored monsters, but we’re putting an awful lot of trust into our ability to sneak. We’re just amateurs at the end of the day.”
“Thanks, Mel. I really hate how much sense you're making right now,” I reply after I tamp down my initial burst of panic. “Maybe they already know we're here. Maybe they're just letting us walk into a trap. Maybe when we go into the dungeon of the Old Keep to check on the Rift core, the [Guards] will lock us in.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s what I would do,” Lionel says with a cheeky grin. “No sense in chasing down potentially dangerous intruders when they can just walk right into the prison for you. Ha! Maybe I should have been a guard.”
“I’ve never known anyone who works half as hard as you do at being lazy. You’re a true inspiration to us all, Lio.”
He squints at me. “I don’t know whether to feel flattered or insulted, so I’ll just assume it’s a little bit of both.”
“I don’t think we’re being efficient,” Melina says, giving us each a pointed look, as if to tell us off for being too loud. “I’ll bet this entire wing is storage. Unless we find more than spare sets of uniforms and hardtack biscuits, then we can probably eliminate this part of the Old Keep and move more quickly. Nuri? What do you think? It’s your call.”
“Sure. I trust your judgment.”
Mikko grips his hammer. “Sounds good to me. You always were the smart one, Mel. I’ll take the lead just in case, but why don’t you point me in the right direction?”
Melina bites her lower lip while she thinks it over. “All right. Let’s go all the way to the end of the corridor and check the rooms there. If it’s the same kind of stuff, then we’ll go clear to the other side of the keep. If we find any paperwork, though, then show it to me. We’ll need to copy anything incriminating, get out while we can, and review it later with Rakesh.”
“Sounds good,” Mikko grunts. He assumes point position, his hammer angled across his chest and held firmly in both hands. If I didn’t know that he’s a [Blacksmith], then I might guess that he’s a [Warhammer Warrior], or some sort of [Hammer Beserker]. With his hulking form, deeply furrowed brow, and brooding eyes, he looks positively terrifying.
We jog down the corridor, our eyes constantly roving back and forth. I’m turning in each direction as quickly as I can, like my head is mounted on a swivel, but I haven’t seen anything to indicate that we’ve been discovered yet. Let’s hope it stays that way.
The first room we check on what I’ve dubbed the “North” side of the Old Keep is more intriguing than the rows of dusty old boxes in the storage wing. I have no idea if the points of a compass apply down here, or which direction the castle is actually oriented, but sticking to the familiar cardinal directions seems like the simplest way to keep things in order. We entered on the “West” side, and now we’re heading to the left, so that makes it North.
The first wing proved useless. I’m still a bit shocked that none of the rooms are locked, but maybe no one ever infiltrated. Based on how tight security is on the approach, then maybe it’s a safe assumption. They’re confident no one is crazy enough to try to fight their way into a Rift, and they’re probably right. Sneaking into the Old Keep is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done.
My friends are insane for following.
“This is more like it,” I whisper, gesturing for the rest of the team to follow me inside the room. Stacks of musty old books with black bindings line a row of heavy oak bookshelves. The shelves dominate the room, and the muted, graying patina on the wooden shelves tells a story of long neglect.
Melina is immediately drawn to the books, rushing over like a moth to a flame. “Ah! Now we’re getting somewhere! Help me catalog these.” The words come out as a command, not a question, and everyone jumps to obey.
Ha. She’s the real boss.
“Looks like land deeds,” Lionel says after two or three minutes. He looks up from a book he’s thumbing through and yawns. “I don’t know if I’ve got the details quite right, but it’s boring enough that you might like it. You wanna double-check, Mel?”
“For the record, I resent the implication that I’m boring,” Melina says, but she takes the book with an eager glint in her eyes, confirming the contents a little while later. “Yeah, you got it. Well done, Lio. I suppose it’s not much of a surprise, and it’s not proof of any wrongdoing. [Lord] Dimitri owns most of the land surrounding Mahkaiaraon, so this makes sense. Keep looking for anything unusual. Maybe we can track his purchases over time, or see if any unexpected trends emerge. Still, it’s potentially useful. Let’s skim through the rest of the books in here, and then move on to the next room.”
Following Melina’s directions, we methodically make our way through two more rooms, pausing every few minutes to double-check for [Guards]. The books are starting to blur together, and I’ve almost lost interest before we find our first positive lead.
“Salary statements,” Mikko announces.
“Gimme, gimme!” The way Melina’s face shines at the sight of dusty old ledgers makes me chuckle. She races over to Mikko’s side and practically snatches the book out of his hand. Her eyes glimmer, lighting up with mana as she invokes her time-acceleration, and she scans the entire contents of the book more quickly than I can read a single page.
“This is even better than I expected! I think we found hiring records and a personnel list. Do you know what this means, Nuri?”
“Not really,” I admit. “We already know that [Lord] Dimitri is using [Guards] to patrol the Old Keep. What information does this give us, other than proof he’s got employees down here? Is there a money trail? I’m not sure we discovered something new.”
“We have a date,” Melina says triumphantly, stabbing her finger down against one of the scribbles in the opening pages of the first book. “This has been going on far longer than I feared initially. This far predates the Rifts opening, Nuri.”
“Well, I guess that’s not a complete surprise,” I say slowly, raking my fingers through my beard while I think. “Tem and his mage-killer crew explored numerous Rifts twenty or thirty years ago. It’s all documented in his biography.”
Melina gives me a wolfish grin, and I know that I’ve missed something crucial. “That’s a good point. But are you actually looking at the date? Or are you just conjecturing without basis in reality again?”
“Ugh. You got me there. Hand that over, will ya?” I ask, reaching out for the book she’s waving around in front of my face. She’s got a knack for brandishing the truth like a bludgeon. “It’s hard to read when you’re practically vibrating with excitement over your discovery.”
My eyes take a moment to adjust to the cramped, spidery text that covers every square inch of the page, but once I get the hang of the style, I immediately see what caught Melina’s attention. The first date scrawled at the top of the page is from over a century ago. If she’s right about the ledger, and it’s for [Guards] inside the Rift, then this begins to establish a case for a long-standing coverup. I’ve never heard about a Rift in this region before, and they’re not well known for bountiful natural resources, so the wealth on display around the city is probably due to generations of deception. Maybe this is the money trail I was talking about previously.
I beam. “Good work, Mel.”
“Hey! I found it,” Mikko reminds me, puffing out his chest. “I just didn’t exactly know what to make of it. I should get half credit at the very least, if you think about it.”
“Quarter credit, and that’s generous,” I reply, smirking at my brother. “Keep it up. This is a great start, but we need something more definitive. Just because this has been going on for a while doesn’t mean that they’re doing anything illicit. Theoretically the [Lord] could still have a reasonable explanation for his actions, which means that we need to dig deeper.”
“You’re too nice, Nuri,” Melina replies. “I doubt they have any good excuses. But, I do agree that we’re in need of more corroborating evidence. We need to catch sight of the bigger picture. There’s more going on here. We’re so close that I can taste it.”
Melina’s eyes are practically shining at the idea of collecting that evidence. Her love for paperwork is almost as deep and pure as Rakesh’s, which I find crazy. That level of obsession is just unhealthy, as far as I’m concerned. Still, without Melina, we’d take three times as long to sift through the books, and we’d probably bring back the wrong details for Rakesh to review. Melina is as close as it gets to having a [Scholar] around, not that she would ever claim that level of skill or education.
I bite my tongue and keep the less flattering half of my thoughts to myself. There’s no point in antagonizing my most useful team member right now. And, I have to admit, her childlike enthusiasm for the task is endearing.
Plus, I don’t wanna do it. Win-win!
=+=
Melina takes another hour to pick her way through the remaining books. She doesn’t find what she’s looking for, but she seems to think we’re on the right track with this wing of the Old Keep. We sneak through the rest of the second floor, cataloging our finds and keeping an eye out for [Guards]. They’re suspiciously absent, which is starting to worry me more than I let on, but I keep it to myself. No point in scaring the others without any proof.
“Don’t you think it’s weird we haven’t run into anyone?” Lionel asks just then, pitching his voice in a conspiratorial whisper that draws everyone’s attention. Somehow, Lionel manages to sound louder while whispering than the rest of the team does when speaking in normal tones. He’s got a rare talent for awkward explosions of sound.
Curious how the rest of the team will answer that question, I fall back on an old trick and just offer a shrug. If I keep my mouth shut long enough, then someone will invariably jump in to offer an opinion. It’s a good way to gauge their confidence levels.
“Nah. The [Guards] in here are just dumb. They’ve gotten fat and lazy,” Mikko replies. “I mean, did you see how long we spied on them earlier without detection? None of them were any the wiser.”
“Unless it was an act,” Lionel mutters.
Melina tilts her head to the side and stares at him with an inquisitive expression. She’s oddly bird-like in her mannerisms at times, like a hen bobbing around before pecking at a bug. After a moment, Melina clicks her tongue in disagreement. “Why go through all that trouble to trick us? We’re outnumbered and in enemy territory. Doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe not, but do you think our plan makes sense to an outsider?” I ask. “I mean, we decided that walking deeper into danger was a good idea! What if we’re making assumptions about their actions that aren’t accurate, because we don’t know what they’re trying to do?”
“Well, huh. When you put it that way, it’s a lot easier to imagine that we’re playing right into their hands,” Mikko says. “I liked it better when I thought they were just plain dumb.”
“It’s still speculation,” Melina says. “So let’s not worry about it yet. We’re done with this floor, though, Nuri. I don’t think we’re going to find anything else here. Onward.”
I glance around the quiet, marbled hallways, and nod. “Think you’re right. We’ve gotten all we can for the moment. Where to next?”
Melina shrugs. “That’s your call.”
“Core’s downstairs,” I say slowly.
“You’re nervous,” Mel says.
I nod. “Yeah. Let’s go upstairs.”
“Looks like the staircase is in the corner,” Avelina says, pointing down the hallway to a shadowed area. “I can’t sense any warmth that way, so I don’t think there are any [Guards].”
“Perfect. Let’s go,” I say.
“Wait, you can sense people by their body heat?” Lionel interects. “Then why have we been sneaking around this entire time instead of letting you do your thing?”
Avelina yawns, then smiles sheepishly. “Because I’m tired, Lio. It’s hard work to push my senses that far. Besides, it’s not foolproof. Better to rely on the entire team keeping watch.”
“Sensible,” Melina says,
“Hey! Don’t sound so shocked.”
Melina gives her twin a wicked grin. “Past behavior predicts future behavior. But I guess you’re aiming to break the mold. Very impressive.”
Avelina just rolls her eyes and doesn’t reply, but I see her hiding a smile as she brushes past her sister and leads the way to the staircase. The rest of us fall in line behind her. We move to the stairs quietly, and I almost tap into my Skills, sorely tempted to extend [Arcane Domain] to the next floor to check for [Guards]. I refrain at that last moment. Something about this place sets my hair on end, like I’m intruding on someone else’s grave.
Mikko shuffles closer to the steps, but stops when Melina warns him that the entry might be warded. He cranes his neck to look up the dim stairway, squinting up into the gloom. “Think it goes up to the [Lord]’s personal suite? Bet you two platters of fried fish at [Fisherman] Kofi’s fine dining establishment that it does.”
I snort. “I don’t take losing bets.”
“You’re sure the core is downstairs?” Melina asks. “You said that there’s a presence that interferes with your Skill. Maybe you’re missing something.”
I shake my head stubbornly. “I’m sure. Absolutely certain, Mel. But even if we need to investigate the dungeon below ground, it’s more likely that the good info will be hidden in [Lord] Dimitri’s own chambers. And if he’s like most of the other aristocrats I’ve had the misfortune of meeting, that means he’s on the top floor. Nothing but the best for him, I’ll wager.”
“Is it safe?” Mikko asks. He licks his lips nervously. “Can you check for any runes, Nuri? I don’t wanna trip an alarm or trigger a trap. I know I have [Iron Skin], but that doesn’t mean I can’t get hurt. This place is giving me the creeps.”
“Not seeing anything,” I reply as I inspect the threshold, jambs, and lintel. Like the rest of the ostentatious Old Keep, they’re carved from white marble, gleaming even in the soft light of the few lit mana lamps on the second floor. “I’d have to check with more precise mana senses to confirm that nothing’s hidden, but the level of sophistication required to miniaturize the runes would be expensive—even if the [Lord] looks like he’s making out like a bandit.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Fair enough,” Mikko says. He sets foot on the bottom step, freezes for a long count of three, and then lets out a huge exhale. He chuckles nervously. “Whew! Got scared there for a moment. Good thing you were right. All right, let’s go.”
We tiptoe up the stairs, pausing to listen for [Guards] when we reach the top floor. It’s an unnerving feeling, stopping in the half-light and hoping that we’re not missing something. On the plus side, since only every third or fourth mana lamp is illuminated, it’s more likely that the third floor is not currently inhabited. Maybe we’re being too cautious.
“No body heat nearby,” Avelina murmurs. She shifts foot to foot, her wand in hand, and for the first time, I realize that she’s scared, too. “Hey, sis, are you sensing anything?”
“No. We’re clear,” Melina says.
Bolstered by their declarations, Mikko strides forward, up the last few stairs, and enters the third floor at last. His body tenses as he stands in the middle of the open hallway, and I’m fairly sure that he’s priming his Skills in case of a fight, although I don’t sense any mana flowing into them to ignite the spell structure just yet. He quick-steps toward the nearest room, pressing himself into the doorway for extra cover and waits for a ten-count.
He advances from doorway to doorway, clinging to shadows as he scopes out the floor, and soon he disappears from view around the bend. Come back, ya lunkhead! That’s not part of the plan! I think frantically, but I don’t call him back. I have to trust he knows what he’s doing.
I hold my breath while Mikko checks for danger, trying to still my beating heart. I grip the edge of my backpack strap to stop my hand from trembling and giving away my anxiety. If we’re found out, what will we do? I’m confident that we have enough power to break free, but what about after the Rift? Will we have to fight our way out of the entire region?
“Seems clear. Come on up.”
Mikko’s whisper jolts me back to the present. For all my fears, things are going smoothly. I lift up my fist and unfurl my fingers, pointing with an open hand to signal that we should proceed. I don’t trust my voice right now as my concerns continue to multiply. Nuri! Stop acting the fool, I tell myself sternly. I need to get myself under control. My friends are counting on me.
The strange pressure on my soul continues to build. At first, I thought that the oppressive feeling of controlling, jealous violence would lessen as we climbed away from the core, but the proximity doesn’t seem to matter as much as I hoped. It’s like an itch that never goes away; it may not be the most intense or painful thing I’ve ever felt, but the more I try to ignore the weird sensation, the more persistently it makes my skin crawl.
“All good?” Lionel whispers.
I flinch at my friend’s sudden nearness and try to fake a smile, but my heart’s not in it. “Yeah, uh. I’m fine. Thinking about the next stage of our plan.”
Lionel screws up his face. “Nuri, you’re the worst liar I’ve ever met. Bah. I was hoping to save my mana in case someone got hurt, but you’re jumping like grease on a griddle, and it’s freaking me out. Here. [Soothing Touch].”
Instant relief floods my mind as Lionel’s healing magic hits me. The ragged, red-eyed strain—that constant, nagging feeling like I’ve stayed up for two days straight—drains away, and I can think and breathe more clearly again. I smile more genuinely than I have since we first entered the Rift, making Lionel grin.
Still, the odd pressure of the Rift—or is this another Domain, laying claim to the same space?—is relentless, hammering me like ocean waves pounding against a sandy beach. I’m not free from the sense of intruding where I don’t belong, but thanks to Lionel’s help, I can at least function normally again for the time being.
I clear my throat softly, catching everyone’s attention but careful not to make too much noise. “Let’s go room to room again. So far, this floor looks more like living quarters, but it’s always good to verify. Keep on the lookout for boxes, books, documents, and so forth. Show Melina anything interesting. Got it?”
Nods all around. I motion to Mikko to lead the way, and we creep from room to room in search of further evidence of the [Lord]’s activities. We soon fall into a rhythm: Melina checks each of the doors first to ensure there’s no warding, Lionel double-checks that there aren’t any physical traps or alarms, and then we nudge open the door if it’s unlocked. For now, we’re moving past the sealed doors, marking them down in Melina’s notebook for further review.
I’m feeling more stable, but I still don’t want to chance trying my [Arcane Domain] Skill in the seat of the Rift’s power. The more I turn it over in my mind, though, the more a theory begins to emerge. “Hey, Mel? Have you ever heard of a Domain before?”
“Not that I recall, Nuri,” Melina answers, but she’s distracted, shuffling through a stack of papers in one of the rooms we’re investigating.
“Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about what the word Domain means. It’s an area or sphere of influence. A place where you and you alone reign. A seat of power. Maybe that's why I feel so ill here, because I’m a challenger to the throne. I need to either flee or conquer.”
Melina puts the paper down, peering at me more intently. “Intriguing thought. Authority, huh? You very well might be correct.” She presses her palms together and taps her fingertips as she thinks it over. “That makes sense. None of us have a Domain, which would explain why our Skills don’t seem to generate the same antagonism that yours do.”
I nod, excitement building as I mull over the potential implications of a Domain. “It’s like the way I first cast [Vitrification] through a dispersed cloud of [Greater Heat Manipulation]. I had to seize control of the mana around us. Once I naturalized the energy, though, I could control anything that happened within it. Hence, a Domain.”
“Does that mean you could take over the Rift itself if you contested its mana?” Melina asks, her gaze sharpening. “That could prove extremely useful.”
“Theory’s nice,” Mikko interrupts, “but I want to know if you’re all right with me breaking any of the locked doors. Too bad you can’t map them out for us, but I guess it makes sense why you have to be careful of that Skill.”
“Assuming he’s right about the role and function of a Domain,” Melina says cooly, always skeptical when people jump to conclusions.
“Sounds pretty convincing to me,” Mikko says, shrugging. “Guess you can debate it with Rakesh when we’re back in town.”
Footsteps echo down the hallway, cutting off Melina’s rejoinder. The entire team freezes, and I exchange a brief, panicked glance with my brother. My alarm is mirrored in his dark eyes. We both seem to realize that we’re out of options.
“Everyone hide! Inside, quick,” I hiss, pointing toward a small closet door across the hall from us. Confusion, fear, and shock wash over the faces of my teammates at the sound of the approaching [Guards], but my words seem to shake them out of their stupor, and they follow me toward the closet.
I dash over to the door, grab the handle, and tug it open, praying that the hinges won’t squeak. Good fortune is on my side; it’s neither locked nor loud, and I herd the team inside, pushing aside a mop and bucket to make room for everyone. I’m the last one in, and I pull the door shut with seconds to spare before the [Guards] enter the hall behind us.
Flashbacks of my time breaking out of the Army encampment back in Silaraon spring to mind, but I try to focus on the present. That time worked out. Maybe this will, too.
And if not, violence.
The footsteps slow, and eventually stop right outside our cleaning closet. I clench my jaw and pretend that I’m as invisible as a shadow at midnight. What if the [Guards] have detection Skills? What if all our sneaking is useless, because they’ve been tracking us the entire time? We’re stuck in here, trapped in a tiny room. Just rats in a cage.
“You hear something, Rais?”
I stare into the hall through a tiny crack in the door, willing myself to be as still and silent as possible so that they don’t notice me. My instincts scream at me to run, but I hold my breath and wait, watching them talk.
“Nah,” Rais says. He’s the bigger of the two [Guards], with a generous double-chin and a surprisingly friendly smile.
“Coulda sworn I—”
“Shut up, Ajit,” Rais says, chuckling. “You’ve been jittery all day. ‘Oh, no! The wispy little tree sprites are spying on us from the forest!’ I’m tired of your whining, man.”
Ajit scoffs, pulling his cloak tighter around his gaunt frame. His cheeks are shadowed in the dim light of the hallway, but it’s just well lit enough for me to make out a bit of gray stubble covering a jagged, puckered red scar on his chin, looping up his right cheek. “Whatever. Let’s just get the signet ring and go.”
“What’s he need it for anyway?” Rais asks. “Orders are orders, but this ain’t exactly a convenient mission. I was about to turn in for some sleep.”
“Abyss take him,” Ajit grumbles. “How should I know? The real question is why he left it down here in the first place. High and mighty [Lord] Dimitri hasn’t been down below in years, not since that big old lizard sliced up his leg. How does he sign things the rest of the time?”
“Huh. That’s a good point.”
“I always have good points.”
Rais laughs good-naturedly. “Sure you do, old man. Sure you do. Hey, you were there the day the [Lord] got hurt, weren't you?”
Ajit nods curtly. His expression is still sour, but a gleam enters his eyes, as though he’s excited to tell the story. “Yeah. As a fresh recruit, I had the misfortune of being bait for one of the hunts. They hadn’t gotten a core in a while, so the boss was getting antsy.”
Rais snorts. “When ain’t he?”
“Aye, that’s the truth,” Ajit replies, nodding sagely. “That’s just how important folk act. It’s like they’re either making money, or the world’s crashing down. Anyway, the big boss thought the beasties might reveal themselves if a target appeared, and yours truly lost the game of dice to figure out who had to flush ‘em out.”
“Luck o’ the abyss!”
Ajit chuckles darkly. “Nah. Joke’s on them. That sucker ran me right over like I didn’t exist. Gave me this scar like it was nothin’, but didn’t even have the decency to stop and check on little ole me. Lizard just made a beeline for Lord Dimitri. Cut him up good!”
Rais slaps Ajit on the back. “That’s cuz your ugly old face is too tough to chew. Strange, huh? Who knew that monsters had refined tastes!”
“Ha. Yep, no commoner for him. He needed only the fanciest of flesh. Got a good core out of that one, though. Now let’s grab that ring and stop wasting time,” Ajit snaps, dragging the bigger [Guard] along toward the door.
Their voices fade as they chuckle and keep walking, teasing each other the entire way. It’s so oddly similar to the way we talk with each other that it makes me second-guess fighting. This pair doesn’t exactly scream “criminal masterminds” to me. They’re just regular people with a job to do.
Ajit and Rais move past my narrow view through the slit in the door. Their heavy boots echo as they stomp away from our hiding spot, heading toward the double-doors at the end of the corridor. The tall, carved archways that house the doors are more ornate than the other doorways, which means that their destination is definitely the private chambers of [Lord] Dimitri.
I strain to listen, trying not to give into the temptation to use my Domain. One of the two fumbles around, cursing softly and rustling his armor; I can’t make out who it is. A moment later, a muted cry of triumph reaches me.
Curiosity overtakes me. I ease the door open and stick my head out, crouching low to stay out of sightlines if they do happen to look back over their shoulders. The smaller silhouette—Ajit, I think—fishes a key out of his pocket, fiddles with the lock, and clicks it open. I watch them slip inside, then report back to the team.
“They’re gone,” I whisper.
Melina nods. “They went inside? Must be wards in the doorway. I don’t sense them at all anymore now that they’re behind the door.”
I lick my dry lips. “What do you think they’re after? How much could you hear?”
“Nohing,” Mikko grumbles from his spot in the back. “Let me out of this cramped equipment closet.”
“We should run,” Melina says.
I shake my head, although I don’t know if she can see me in the dark closet. “We won’t get an opportunity this good again. They didn’t lock the door behind themselves when they went inside [Lord] Dimitri’s chambers. Besides, I want to know what’s up with fetching his signet ring. New plan. We’re going in there after them.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?”
I let out a slow breath. “No. I intended to take things slowly, checking for danger and avoiding any potential confrontation, but this might be a golden opportunity. Keep close and stay quiet, friends. This is our chance. Let’s find out what he’s hiding in there.”
“Let us out first,” Mikko demands, the urgency filtering through even though he keeps his voice low.
I scramble out of the closet and open the door, waving the team out. They don’t look too happy about my idea as they unfold from the storage closet and emerge into the hallway one by one, stretching out the kinks in their necks and backs.
Mikko pushes Lionel and Avelina ahead of him, steering them through the door. He gives me an annoyed look. “Next time, let’s stuff Nuri in the back and squish him.”
“Sorry, Ko,” I say sheepishly.
“It’s fine, I guess. But let’s get out of here before they come back. I’ve had my fill of close calls. You’re courting trouble, bro.”
“I agree,” Melina says. “We still need to check on the core, but I think it’s more sensible to get out while we can.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “And if the vines grow across the path again? Do we risk hacking them apart and calling down the wrath of the entire Rift?”
“That’s just a theory,” Avelina says, matching my cross-armed posture. Her eyes glow with barely-restrained fire. “If the vines were as scary as you say, then why didn’t they strangle us while we were resting, or tie us up so that those dogs could catch us? Don’t exaggerate the threat—and don’t sell us short, either.”
I glance around at my friends. They seem determined to leave, and the prudent part of me thinks that it’s the right choice, but it’s hard for me to admit defeat. We’re so close. Turning back now feels depressing.
“Lio? You wanna chime in?”
“Why me?” Lionel sputters. “I’m just standing here, minding my own business. Don’t drag me into your argument, Nuri. If the team votes to go, then just go. But if your gut says to stay, then I guess you gotta do what you think is right.”
“Why don’t you go in solo?” Melina suggests. “Hiding the entire team is hard, but if you sneak, you could slip in after those [Guards] and check out what’s happening. We’ll retreat to the second floor and keep watch.”
“Lionel is our best scout,” I reply slowly, but one look at his wide eyes, and I give up on trying to convince him to come with me. “Huh. Fine. Guess this is something that I have to do by myself.”
“You don’t have to do anything,” Mikko says, and there’s an undercurrent of real anger in his voice that shocks me into listening. “What do you think you’ll accomplish by sneaking in there, bro? It’s asking for trouble. You’re putting yourself in danger, and for what? A few clues? Wake up! This isn’t a game. Let’s just get out of here and check with Rakesh later to see what new law the [Lord] approves with that ring, or however it works.”
I want to argue back, but it’s only because I want to satisfy my curiosity. I know that it’s smarter to withdraw and plan our next steps, but I’m starting to realize that I live for the rush of danger and excitement. My shoulders slump in defeat. “I hear you, Mikko. I do. We’ll go.”
Melina smiles sympathetically. She squeezes my shoulder as she walks by, heading to the stairway. I nod and follow. As much as it irks me to leave the mystery, it’s the right call. We’ll figure it out eventually, but my first duty is to keep my team alive. I can’t do that if I split up and chase down every whim, leaving them on their own.
Being responsible is hard.
=+=
It takes us half an hour to creep our way back through the Old Keep, since we keep stopping to listen and ensure that more [Guards] aren’t around. When Ajit and Rais march down the stairs, we barely have time to duck into a room and hide, but somehow they pass on by without even a hint that they’ve noticed us
Their inability to track us down is messing with my mind. Either they’re playing a game I don’t understand, or maybe they’re not really [Guards]. Maybe they’re just regular soldiers or hired hands, without any real Skills suited to guarding the castle and finding intruders. The idea is comforting, but I still don’t breathe easily. There’s too much at stake to risk being cavalier.
Finally, we retrace our steps to the room we entered initially, and I shut the door behind us. It’s not very thick, and someone could probably hear us inside, but it provides the illusion of privacy. Right now, that’s enough to be comforting.
“Let’s vote. Core, or inn?”
“Inn,” Lionel says instantly.
“Core,” Melina says.
“Great, it’s tied one to one,” I say, quirking up my lips into a wry grin. “Mikko, what do you say? How about you, Avelina? You’re strangely quiet for once.”
“It’s probably smarter to go back,” Avelina says, chewing her lip in thought. Her eyes dart toward the door. “But we’re so close. Nuri, you said this place isn’t like a normal Rift. Shouldn’t you find out why? I vote to stay.”
Mikko scowls. “I’m gonna regret this, but I agree with Ava. The safe bet is to go back to the inn and catch up with Rakesh. We could reprovision and come back with a plan. But when have we ever done the smart thing? Taking crazy chances seems to have worked out fine for Nuri so far.”
I laugh “Thanks. I think.”
Lionel throws up his hands dramatically. “Fine, I’m in. Guess someone has to keep you alive.”
“You love it,” I tease.
“Make my job easy,” Lionel begs.
“You got it. No dying, no bleeding out, no broken bones—this will be a walk in the park, Lio. Promise.”
Mikko smacks me on the shoulder. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, bro. Let’s take this seriously.”
I shake out my sore muscles, nod at my brother, and shrug my pack onto my shoulders. “Good advice. Move out, team. We’ve got a dungeon to scour.”
Following the strange pulses of violence, I let my instincts guide me through the snarl of hallways and rooms in the Old Keep. Downward, ever downward, we wind our way through the huge castle. I duck into a narrow servant’s passage, acting on impulse, and lead them through a tight staircase. No mage lamps illuminate our way, but Avelina summons a small flame to act as a torch.
My friends huddle close by me as we slink down the stairs. A skinny doorway set into the wall without any obvious frame seems to lead to the ground floor, but I move past it, locked onto the sense of wrongness that permeates the air. We’re here to find the core; nothing else matters for now. We can explore another time.
“How deep do you think these stairs go?” Melina asks, her voice strangely harsh in the tight confines of the servant’s stairway. Her words come through muffled, but it’s louder than I expected in the confined space.
“Seems to reach all the way down. We’re close now, if the pressure is any indication,” I reply, gritting my teeth against the constant throb of aggravation emanating from the nearby core. I pause on a landing, holding my head and taking a deep breath as I wait for the latest wave of nausea to pass.
“You got this, Nuri,” Lionel says, reaching past Melina to place his hand on my back. “I got one, maybe two, left in me, so make it count. [Soothing Touch.]”
Relief floods me, although it feels more tenuous than before. Here, in close proximity to the writhing center of the Rift’s power, I’m a sparrow flying into the teeth of a hurricane, a tiny guppy swimming straight into a maelstrom.
One more turn, and the stairs end in a short flight. A thick, iron-bound door bars our way to the dungeon proper. “We’re here. I can feel it.”
“The door kinda gave it away,” Avelina points out in a loud whisper, which prompts a few chuckles. “But I’m glad we’re finally here.”
Unlike the [Lord]’s fancy chambers with a high, arched double doorway, this door is all business. It’s squat and heavy, radiating a palpable sense of danger, and the dark iron bands that reinforce the thick wood are rough-cast and ugly, built for utility, not glamor. It seems like an excessive barrier to keep out servants.
“Why go through all that work to keep out the servants?” Mikko asks, echoing my ideas. He shoulders past me, frowning as he touches the metal. “Rough work, but solid.”
The malevolent power on the other side of the door surges as I draw closer, as though it can sense my opposing energy, and I shudder. I give Mikko a solemn look. “Maybe it’s to keep them from dying. Something has to constrain the mana.”
Lionel squeaks like a cornered mouse. “You think it’s so dangerous that they keep out the average person? And we’re going in there?”
“Why don’t the rest of you stay out here?” I suggest after a moment of deliberation. It’s hard for me to think straight, but I push forward, modifying the plan to suit. “Mikko, break down the door if you have to. I need to see what’s in there.”
“I’ll be right by your side, brother,” Mikko says, uncharacteristically serious. He sets down his pack, lifts his hammer, and approaches the door resolutely. His jaw tightens, clenching as he prepares himself, and we all step back instinctively.
“Wait!” Lionel calls out just before Mikko swings his huge glass hammer. “I’m not sure that the door is actually locked. There’s no mechanism by the handle. It’s just heavy. I’ll bet it’s there for protection, like Nuri said, but it doesn’t make sense to lock it. Servants probably just bring down food or something, knock, and flee back up the steps.”
“Ahh,” I reply, catching on. “Fear is a powerful barrier. They probably hate coming down here. Anyone inside wouldn’t want to bother undoing a bolt or lock. Easier to just shove the big door open once the servants run off.”
Mikko shrugs. “Worth a try.”
When the huge, heavy door creaks open at Mikko’s pull, it’s like releasing a floodgate. The team breaks into soft laughter, letting go of tension that’s been building for hours. The mirth is short-lived, though, as we stare down the yawning darkness on the other side of the door. It’s weirdly thick, as though the shadows themselves have substance, and the heartbeat of malice is so powerful that even the team members without mana senses are blanching and drawing away from the opening.
“Mikko, with me. The rest of you, retreat to the first landing and try to rest if you can. We need you at full strength on the way back to town.”
“Stay safe,” Melina says softly, pulling me into a side hug. She moves on to hug Mikko a moment later, then draws back with a grim, proud smile. “Come back to us, you hear? Heroics are no good if you’re dead.”
I nod, my throat too thick with emotion for me to trust myself to reply. I hold up my fist, signaling the team to move back. I’ve stopped just shy of the threshold to the dungeon, as if my body doesn’t want to obey, but I force myself to keep moving.
“Don’t look so glum,” Mikko says. He waves to the team. “Stay back. Keep watch. We’ll be back before you know it.”
I lean on my brother for support for a moment, glad he’s here. Something tells me that I’ll need his strength before the day is out. Then I straighten up, square my shoulders, and tell my rebellious legs to march. I move forward, entering the terrifying maw before I give up. I take the last few steps on my own, crossing the border into the dungeon.
The thick, cloying darkness swallows me whole. For a split second, I panic, set adrift in a perilous sea, but Mikko’s powerful hand closes over my wrist, drawing me onward, inexorable as he pulls us deeper into the unnatural, hateful gloom.
“Steady, Nuri,” Mikko murmurs.
“Let’s see what we’re dealing with,” I say, fighting to match his courage as I thread mana into a bundle of twigs I wrapped earlier in the day and soaked in lamp oil. The pulse of [Greater Heat Manipulation] instantly sets it on fire, announcing our arrival. I don’t need to veil my mana anymore.
We’re here, in the seat of the Rift’s power. I’m done with hiding. My fear falls away, burnt off like dross, and the gleaming gold of my courage rises to the fore. In the flickering light of my makeshift torch, I behold the eerie, scintillating brilliance of the core, suspended in space and marked with strange enchantments—a glimmering dodecahedron that’s clearly been tampered with, changed from its original intent, brimming with violence.
The entire presence of the Rift trembles, withdrawing its diffuse consciousness from its far-flung territory and shrinking down its focus on me alone. The terror intensifies as it gathers in one place, enraged that I’ve dared enter the heart of its Domain, but I refuse to buckle under the increasing pressure.
I bare my teeth in a defiant snarl. I’m not just here to spy. I’m not content to simply gather information and escape with my life. No, I’m here to win, and it knows it. Mana swirls around me as I call on the remaining power in my glass cores, invoking my [Arcane Domain] at last and clashing with the will of the Rift. It recoils as the battle begins in earnest, but only one thought dominates my mind.
I’m coming for its throne.