The presence from yesterday was gone. Felitïa stood on the bottom step of the Grand Temple, but there was no hint of the voice that wasn’t a voice or the foreboding she’d felt. Did it only happen at night? Was it something to do with the weather? Or was whatever it was just not there anymore?

“Fear not,” Fra-Atl called.

A small crowd of people had gathered at the base of the step pyramid, looking for guidance regarding the fighting at the Palace. Fra-Atl was trying to calm them.

“It is true a rebellion has been launched, but you have nothing to fear from it. Return to your homes and pray to Ninussa that justice prevails.”

Some people listened, but others called out for more answers.

What if the presence had been blocked somehow? Like the grey walls in her head. Felitïa unfolded the Room and concentrated on those walls. She wasn’t sure what she expected to find. She didn’t really expect to find anything.

“Shall we go up?” Rudiger asked.

It hadn’t been difficult to find him. In fact, he found them when they reached the forest. He had taken a couple arrow hits, but his armour had prevented any serious wounds.

After finding each other, they spent a few minutes tending wounds and resting, but it soon became clear there was fighting at the entrance to the Palace. With a distraction like that, they wouldn’t get a better chance to move about. Felitïa could conserve energy that way.

They slipped round to the front of the Palace, where they saw that, somehow, an entire tree had fallen on and smashed part of the courtyard wall. Felitïa suspected Jorvan’s help in that.

There were people gathering outside the courtyard, but they had all their attention on the battle happening inside. Felitïa and the others continued past without difficulty.

Fra-Atl had initial concerns about going to the Temple. “There will be priests there, and maybe guards. It’s also the place they’ll take the Queen if they think she’s in danger from the attack. That means the entire Queen’s Guard will be there.”

“I felt something when I passed it last night,” Felitïa told her. “There’s something important there. Not just the secrets, and I get the impression it’s important I get a look at them.”

Fra-Atl nodded. “Very well.”

But upon reaching the Temple, there was no sign of the presence.

“Yes, let’s go up,” Felitïa said to Rudiger.

Nin-Akna took the lead, with Felitïa and Fra-Atl in the middle, and Rudiger at the rear. The people at the base called out again for answers.

“Answers will come soon!” Fra-Atl called back. “Be patient!”

“Talking answers,” Felitïa said, “what can you tell me of these secrets?”

“Of the ones pertaining to you?” Fra-Atl said. “Not a lot. They don’t say much.”

“I’d still like to look at them.”

“Oh, you shall,” Fra-Atl said. “Perhaps you will even understand their contexts better than we do. Assuming you are who you say you are, of course.”

“You don’t believe I am?”

“I didn’t say that, but I’ll remind you your exact identity hasn’t been confirmed.”

“A lot of other people seem convinced of who I am.”

“And do you regularly let other people tell you who you are?”

“No.”

“Then why do you let them in this case?”

Felitïa wasn’t sure she had an answer. “No matter what I do, I seem to end up in the role.”

“And is it a role you want?”

Felitïa shook her head. “No. Not all of it, at any rate.”

“Then refuse it.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“I didn’t say it would be, but that doesn’t mean you can’t say no.”

“I already intend to do that with the parts I don’t like,” Felitïa said. “I’m not going to let ancient prophets dictate my life.”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Fra-Atl nodded. “Nor should anyone.”

The steps were steep and long, and Felitïa was out of breath when they reached the top. Even Rudiger seemed winded, but Nin-Akna showed no signs of being affected by the climb. What surprised Felitïa was that neither did Fra-Atl, despite her greater age. A life of going up and down these stairs would make them less of a chore, Felitïa supposed. It also explained how Fra-Atl had handled the cliff with so little difficulty.

At the top, between the leering jaguar and serpent statues, was a small open space with a large slab of bloodstained stone in the centre. Behind that was the entrance to the temple itself.

A lone warrior approached from the door. “Fra-Atl! What are you doing here? I thought you’d been excommunicated and arrested.”

“Oh, a simple misunderstanding,” Fra-Atl said. “Her Holiness has forgiven and reinstated me.” She stepped up beside Nin-Akna. “As you can see, she has even sent one of her personal guard to escort me. I’m sure official word from the Palace will come soon.” She continued forward, but the guard held up a hand.

“Perhaps we should wait for that word to come first,” he said.

“I’m afraid it might be a bit delayed,” Fra-Atl said. “They’re busy at the Palace.”

“I heard a crash,” the guard replied, “but I couldn’t see anything. Has something happened?”

“A tree fell on the lower courtyard wall,” Fra-Atl replied. “Gave people a start, but nothing for you to worry about.”

“A tree fell?”

“Yes, fancy that. It was old, I’m told.”

“Who are these two with you?” The guard indicated Felitïa and Rudiger.

“Outsider guests of the Queen,” Fra-Atl said. “Her Holiness has asked that I show them the Temple, and she was very insistent that I be as quick as possible.”

The guard pointed his spear at Felitïa. “Didn’t an outsider woman murder the Queen’s cousin?”

“That was the one they call Will-Breaker,” Fra-Atl said. “A different person entirely.”

Felitïa stepped close to Nin-Akna and whispered, “Get close to him and catch him when he falls.”

The guard pointed his spear at Felitïa. “What are you saying?”

Nin-Akna walked forward. “She is an important dignitary from another land. She’s not happy at the delay. The Queen has ordered that she be shown the Temple.” Nin-Akna stopped just to the side of his spearhead and stepped to the side as he tried to block her. “Would you block me entrance?”

The distance was farther than Felitïa would have liked for the spell, but she could compensate. She half-closed her eyes and put the guard to sleep. Nin-Akna leapt forward and caught him as he fell.

“Sorry,” Felitïa told Fra-Atl. “But we don’t want an actual message from the Palace to arrive.”

“No apology necessary,” Fra-Atl said. “My way wasn’t working. Lay him down behind a statue.”

Nin-Akna carried the limp form behind the jaguar statue, while Fra-Atl continued to the door. “How long will he be out?” the priest asked Felitïa.

“Hard to say. At this point, he’s just sleeping normally.”

“Then we’d better be quick. I suggest hiding yourself and Rudiger with your magic once we’re inside. Let Nin-Akna and I deal with things at first.” Fra-Atl pushed on the heavy stone doors which started to open slowly. Rudiger joined her and assisted.

The interior was mostly a single room filled with statuary. Like those on the tiers outside, the statues depicted various animals. Indeed, none of these statues would have looked out of place with the others outside. Perhaps they were simply extras.

At the back left of the room was an archway to a small closet. To the back right a staircase descended into the pyramid.

Felitïa unfolded the Room again. There were additional presences there beyond just the four of them. They had to be down the stairs. She cast the invisibility spell, but left Nin-Akna and Fra-Atl out.

Fra-Atl began down the stairs followed by Nin-Akna.

“Fra-Atl?” someone said before Felitïa had a chance to start down herself.

“It’s all right,” Nin-Akna said. “The Queen has forgiven and reinstated her.”

Felitïa descended the stairs, which opened into a larger chamber dimly lit by torches on the walls.

“We hadn’t heard,” one of the room’s two occupants—an elderly woman in green robes—said.

“That’s why I’m here,” Nin-Akna said. “To escort her and tell you.”

The two priests in the room both sat at a cluttered table. The one in green had a pile of books in front of her, while the other in white had rolls of cloth and sewing materials. She held a partially made green priest’s robe in her hands.

Felitïa motioned for Rudiger to stay close to her and edged along the near wall of the room. Shelves there contained a wide array of knives and bottles filled with powders.

“That is a relief,” the priest of Frana said. “We heard you’d been arrested for murder. I could never believe you’d do that.”

“I was arrested,” Fra-Atl said. “The Queen was understandably distraught at her cousin’s death and lashed out at me because she was still angry from learning about the secret texts.”

“Yes, we’d heard something about that,” the priest of Ninussa said, closing her book.

“Talking of the secret texts,” Fra-Atl continued. “I am headed to them now. The Queen has ordered me to bring her some. I’d best be on my way. I don’t want to anger her again.” She picked up a torch from a shelf, dipped the end in a barrel of oil, then lit it using one of the lit ones on the wall.

“You may have your work cut out for you,” the Ninussa priest said. “Once she’s seen some of those secrets, she will want to know them all.”

Fra-Atl nodded. “I know, but I will deal with that as it happens. Blessings be with you both.”

“And with you,” the two replied.

Fra-Atl passed through an archway into a short corridor that led to another room. A staircase branched off the corridor, and the priest began to descend it, first handing the torch to Nin-Akna.

“How many rooms are in this place?” Rudiger asked as the rest of them followed.

“Depends on what you mean by room,” Fra-Atl said. “Most of the Temple is a mausoleum for queens and prominent priests of the past. Nin-Papan herself is buried here. Eleuia would have been if her body had been recovered. Instead, she gets a shrine dedicated to her memory. There are only a handful of rooms that are actually for the living. We will be descending to some of the lowest levels. We may pass other priests and guards, so be alert.”

“I’ll keep Rudiger and me hidden,” Felitïa said.

They travelled far enough down, from level to level, that Felitïa supposed they must have reached ground level or close to it. The thought of having to climb all the way back up when they were done just to climb down again outside was not a thrilling prospect.

There weren’t a lot of other people in the Temple, but they did pass a few. Fra-Atl talked their way past with the same explanation she had used above. Being unaware of Felitïa and Rudiger made people more willing to accept the story. Felitïa wished she had thought of it earlier on, or had just hidden all four of them all the way. When the guard at the entrance woke up—if he hadn’t already—the situation would change, and they could expect a lot of guards to come searching for them.