"Every right hand turn first," Olivia said. "If we stick to that rule, we can't get lost."

From the hole behind them came a squawk, and then Bean fluttered into the light, landing on Hina's shoulder. "Bad hole," he croaked. "Dark dark."

"I thought you were going to stay outside," Hina said. "But you're welcome to join us." She fed him one of the dry-roasted beans she kept in her pocket. "Good bird."

Bean ate and then croaked sadly. He dug his claws into her shoulder and whistled a low note.

Olivia's footsteps echoed strangely as she led the way down the corridor. She paused at the doorway, casting shadows as she waved her hand back and forth, peering into the room beyond, before stepping inside. Water dripped.

Hina followed her in. A raised walk-way led to a small circular platform in the center of a large cylindrical space. The ground-level was flooded, foul-smelling water dripped from a stone spout in the far corner. Olivia stood at at railing of the platform, looking down.

"Anything down there?" Hina couldn't see anything in the murky brown water.

"I think I saw something. It moved under the surface."

Hina scanned the walls. There was a line of carved symbols running along the wall near the top that looked like text. Hina couldn't read it, but some of the shapes looked familiar. More carved symbols in the floor circled the edge of the platform. Olivia was right in the middle.

"Olivia?" Hina called. "Do those symbols mean anything to you?" She pointed.

"Pardon? Oh. Some kind of ritual circle? To amplify a working, maybe? A particular working? I don't know a lot about ritual—my mother mentioned—"

"—do you want to be standing in the middle of it?" Hina interrupted. "Is that safe?"

"Oh, gosh. Right, right." Olivia quickly moved back onto the walkway, stepping lightly over the circle in the floor. Nothing happened. "I don't think it's dangerous unless activated. I'd have to perform the right working to set it off, whatever it does. But it is better not to take chances, thank you."

"What did you see in the water?" Hina asked.

"Something big—I only caught a glimpse of it. Maybe a fish? A big fish. Let's hope we don't have to go down there. Shall we try the next room?"

"I'll go first."

Hina led the way back down the corridor, past the crack in the wall leading outside, and into the next room. It was rectangular and huge, with high ceilings and two rows of four stone pillars spread evenly throughout the room. Two smooth and featureless statues guarded the exit at the far end of the room.

There were no other doors that Hina could see.

To her right, a banded wooden box sat against the wall. It had a rusted iron padlock dangling from the front—completely out of place given the age of the rest of the temple. "What is this doing here?"

"Hina! Company!"

Hina turned. One of the statues was walking across the room towards Olivia, its movements slow and deliberate. It was a little over two meters tall, its body pale, smooth and androgynous. It didn't look friendly, though she wasn't sure where that impression came from.

Her right hand slipped into the pouch at her waist while Hina's left hand plucked the sling from her belt. She took a deep breath and readied herself to throw.

Bean fluttered up off her shoulder as Hina drew her arm back. She threw, putting her whole body into it, ends snapping on her release. The stone shot through the air. And missed. The black stone hit the wall behind the statue with a crack, sending chips of masonry flying.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

No time to think. Another stone went into the pouch. She threw. And hit the statue in the center of its featureless chest. Chips of white stone broke off and fell away.

And then the second one started moving. It jerked to life with a sudden violent motion and stepped towards Hina.

The second statue was smaller and wider, the shape of it reminded Hina of Francis, the Grambe smith, if all of his finer details were smoothed away. It walked towards her.

"Dealing with the second one!" Hina yelled, hoping that she could in fact handle it by herself.

Another stone went into the pouch, and Hina threw.

It hit the statue in the face with a crack, and the statue staggered back, but it didn't fall.

The statue began to run towards her. An avalanche of stone in motion, footsteps slamming into the ground, shaking the floor with every step.

Hina threw another stone and missed. The statue was almost on top of her now, only a few meters away. Too close to throw again. Hina dropped the sling and Kai's hammer found its way into her hand.

The stone figure reached out for Hina with its long arms.

She stepped forward, hammer raised, and swung. The hammer cracked into its featureless face, a shower of stone chips exploding outward. She felt something deep within it shatter under the force of the blow.

The statue's arms closed, grabbing for her with a crushing grip. She was in the bakery, Lagi reached out—Hina shook off the image.

She ducked under its arms and ran around behind the slow moving thing as it continued to stagger forward drunkenly.

It turned towards her slowly. Its face was cracked like a broken mirror, dark fissures extending out from the points of impact.

Dashing in, Hina took another swing at its face.

The statue's arms reached for her.

Her hammer connected with a crash and shards of pale stone went flying, pieces of its shattered face falling to the floor.

The statue went limp, its arms dropping to its sides as it tottered forward.

She stepped quickly out of the way.

The statue fell to the ground with a crash, pieces of it falling away to rubble.

"One down!" she called out.

A cracking sound came from behind the pillar to Hina's left, and then a crunch. Hina moved around the pillar to see the other statue stagger back from Olivia, then fall backwards to collapse against the ground in pieces.

"Clear!" said Olivia, breathing heavily.

"Clear, clear," Bean squawked in agreement from the lintel above the doorway they'd come in through.

"What's this?" Hina said, looking in the rubble of the statue she'd felled. The rubble was collapsing into powder as she watched. Something black and shiny rose to the surface. Hina brushed the powdered stone aside. "Some kind of black ball?"

She picked it out of the rubble.

Something was thrumming inside the ball. Hina could feel it as soon as it entered the edge of her ambit. "Oh. That's..."

"A beast core," Olivia said. "Earth aspected, I think." Olivia was holding one of her own.

"It feels powerful." Hina felt like she was understating it. "Is this as useful as it feels?"

"They're valuable, at least. Useful in a working if the aspect is suitable, though earth is among the least useful—for me at least. Still, not a bad find. And a good sign for things to come."

"Huh. How valuable, exactly?"

"Maybe a few crowns? If we find the right buyer. These are small, which limits the applications. But they're still worth something."

"Nice," Hina said. "Well worth the effort then."

"Let's see about this box," Olivia said, gesturing. "Any idea how to pick a lock?"

"What's with that, by the way?" Hina asked, walking over to the box. "Why is there a padlock on it? Surely this place is older than that? Older than padlocks?"

"Maybe someone put it there recently?" Olivia said. "Relatively recently—it looks pretty rusty."

Hina shrugged. "Anyway, no—I have no idea how to pick a lock. Why would you even ask me that?"

"I don't know, I thought you might have picked it up somewhere."

"My father is on the Grambe council, Olivia."

"Well, you seem resourceful, that's all I'm saying."

"Hmph." Hina grumbled. But she did want to find out what was in the box. It was a very suspicious looking box.

She crouched down to look at the lock, which was heavily rusted. "Any objections to me trying to break it?"

"No, go ahead."

Hina stood and took a deep breath, then swung her hammer. There was a dull metallic snap, and the lock fell away from the box. "Huh, that was easy."

Tugging the broken pieces of lock away to fall to the floor, Hina lifted the latch and opened the lid. The hinges squeaked.

Inside was a dark stone bowl, about the size of Hina's cupped hands. A shallow bowl, with uneven edges. It felt somehow substantial, even just looking at it. "Huh. Trinket?"

"I think so. I'll take this for now, and we can divide everything up on the way back to the campsite?"

"That's okay with me. We're here to find you some trinkets anyway."

"Yes, but Mother says that it's important to split things up evenly, so that everyone gets a fair share."

"We can split it up at the end, then?"

"Yes." Olivia reached into the box and picked up the bowl, then stashed it away in her satchel. "Let's keep going," she said. "We don't want to spend too long down here, and I have a feeling that there's something good just ahead."

"Just around the next corner," Hina said. "Yeah, I'm with you."

Bean fluttered down to land on Hina's shoulder.

"Good bird," she said, giving him a scratch behind the ears. And then, to Olivia: "Okay, let's go."

She followed Olivia through the doorway that the statues had been guarding. Her fingers tightened on the handle of her hammer. She was ready for whatever came next.