24 – Rest and Recovery

Ward approached the big chest, probably about two feet square and ten inches deep. “I hope this means Nevkin missed out on a reward.”

“If he found a way out of the catacombs, I don’t think it was through here.” Grace squatted near the chest, staring at it closely, peering at the various angles. She couldn’t see the rear; it was situated right against the wall. Ward was feeling very relaxed and satisfied after downing the healing potion earlier, eating the plums, and drinking the refreshing wine. He wanted to lie down on a couch and get some rest. He had no idea how long he’d been in the catacombs, but it felt like he’d been up for days. That said, he didn’t mess around with the chest; he knelt before it, flipped up the latch, and lifted the lid.

“Don’t you think—”

“No,” Ward chuckled as the lid clanged against the stone wall. “Why trap a chest under a plaque that says to enjoy your reward?”

“To be cruel? To test how careless people are.”

“Nah, I feel like the people who made this place had a kind of twisted sense of fairness. They wouldn’t call us ‘victors’ if we weren’t done being tested.” Ward looked into the chest and saw a neatly folded bolt of silky blue cloth. “Huh.” He lifted it from the chest, noting its dense weight and buttery-smooth texture. “Some fine cloth?”

Grace rubbed it between her fingers and sighed wistfully. “Some kind of silk, for sure. Verity would have loved this.”

Ward chuckled and rubbed the cloth between his fingers, too. “Can you really feel it?”

“Well, you felt it, right?”

“Yeah—”

“So, I did, too. I felt it when you picked it up, and then, when I rubbed it between my fingers, I guess I was sort of remembering that feeling. When I’m out walking around like this, everything I do is a sort of fantasy to me.”

“Unless you’re punching or pinching me, eh?”

“Now you’re getting it!” Grace grinned wickedly, then, quick as a snake, flicked Ward on the forehead with a solid thwap.

“Ouch! Dammit!” Ward made to snatch at her wrist, but suddenly, she was gone, only to appear beside him, giggling in his ear.

“You see how much of a torment I could be? Doesn’t it make you appreciate my sweetness more? What if I was determined to drive you mad and deprive you of rest?” Ward jerked away, turning to face her, and the glint in her fiery eyes was not pleasant. It brought to mind their argument before he’d come into the catacombs and reminded him of why he mistrusted her. He thought about what she’d said, about how she was able to affect at least three of his senses, and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it if she didn’t want to stop. What was keeping her from doing so? Why wouldn’t she want to piss him off?

Ward smiled and shrugged. “Keep that up, and you can forget ever getting another taste of anima.”

Grace’s tone shifted immediately, and perhaps unconsciously, the cruel sneer she’d been wearing faded into a much more pleasant smile. “I’m just teasing, Ward! You know I like you, right? We’re partners, you and me! I mean, that’s an empty threat coming from you, at least until we figure out how to get your anima back, but I don’t want there to be animosity between us.”

“Uh-huh.” Ward set the bolt of silky cloth aside and looked into the chest again. It was empty except for a sheet of polished copper stamped with letters and symbols. Ward picked it up. It was about half the size of a standard piece of paper back on Earth and thick enough to be stiff and difficult to bend. The letters and symbols were strange to Ward’s eyes, but as he stared, they seemed to come into focus. He could read the top row, shrovak gnyrath, but the rest of the symbols were just shapes to him, shapes usually consisting of four or eight dashed lines pointing in various directions.

“I think those are words, Ward!”

“Yeah, me too. I just don’t know what they mean.”

“No, I mean words!”

“Oh? Seriously? Shr—”

“Stop!” Grace screeched, clapping a palm over Ward’s mouth. “You don’t have another healing potion handy, right? Let’s approach these words more cautiously! Take that page, and we’ll try to figure out the symbols before you utter those words.”

Ward nodded, turning the shiny copper page left and right, looking to see if he’d missed anything. It didn’t seem like it, so he stood and carried the bolt of cloth and the sheet to his pack, tucking them into the top and buttoning it up. “I’m gonna get some sleep now.”

“Might as well. Your little girlfriend is down for the count.”

“You sound jealous.” Ward yawned and stretched out on the couch opposite Haley’s.

“Jealous! Of that girl? I don’t think so—she’s hardly got any curves.” She sat on the couch near Ward’s feet—they were long and spacious—and folded her arms. “Before you sleep, will you answer one question honestly for me?”

“If you’ll do the same.”

“Okay. Why didn’t you have any kids?”

“Huh.” Ward stifled another yawn with a balled-up fist. “You know my ex left me, right? Well, we never got to the point where she was ready to have any, and I never got serious enough with anyone after her.”

“She left you almost fifteen years ago, right?” Ward, eyes closed, tucked his head in an almost imperceptible nod. “And you never fell for anyone else?”

“That’s two questions, sweetie. My turn.”

“Oh, fine!”

“Do you feel love? No, scratch that. Did you love Verity? I mean romantically.” Ward had marked Grace’s shift in tone every time she mentioned her old host.

Grace closed her eyes and lay back into the cushions of the couch. Softly, almost dreamily, she said, “I loved Verity in every way a person can be loved.” Ward watched her for a minute, waiting to see if she’d press him about his other relationships, but her eyes were closed, and a lazy smile turned up the corners of her lips. Her face was clean, her makeup perfect, and Ward chuckled, considering how disgustingly filthy he was. He closed his eyes and let the sounds of Grace’s and Haley’s soft, even breaths send him into a deep slumber of his own. He dreamed of weird, violet fields of grain, falling stars, and naked revelers dancing around bonfires.

When he woke, Ward felt like his eyelids weighed a thousand pounds, and a deep, jaw-wrenching yawn wracked him as he stretched. He sat up, for a moment forgetting where he was as the deep couch cushions squelched beneath him. When he looked around, everything came rushing back—the descent into the catacombs, the people dying left and right, the monsters, the crawl through a damp, tight tunnel, and, of course, Nevkin’s betrayal. Along with that memory came a wave of anger, and Ward quickly turned his gaze to the couch where he’d left Haley. She still lay there but looked to be resting peacefully, her chest rising in slow, steady breaths.

He looked for Grace where he’d last seen her, curled up at the end of the couch, but she wasn’t there. Everything seemed untouched; his pack was still leaning where he’d left it, the plums were still in the basket with the other bottle of wine, and no new doors had appeared. The big metal cage of an elevator still sat in the center of the room, so Ward stood up and walked around it, intent on ensuring nothing new had popped up. Nothing jumped out at him, just more couches and smooth, wooden wall panels. When he returned, he saw Grace sitting near Haley.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Why not try to wake her? I have no idea how long you slept, but it feels like a really long time to me. Are you okay?”

“Uh, hello.” Ward chuckled. When Grace just scowled at him, the flames dancing in her eyes, he sighed and stretched. “I feel fine—sluggish, but fine. Like, I haven’t slept that hard since I was in my twenties.” He walked over to the two women, pulling one of the smaller chairs close. He sat down and jostled Haley’s shoulder. “Haley? You there?” She murmured and shifted, rolling to her side, facing away from him into the back of the couch.

“Look.” Grace pointed to a couple of dried-out plum pits on the cushion, revealed as Haley shifted.

Ward laughed. “Looks like she’s been up.” He reached out, grabbed her shoulder, and gave her a gentle jostle. “Haley, I think we should get up. I’ve got an idea about how we’re supposed to get out of here.”

“You do?” Grace raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Ward jerked his thumb toward the elevator. “It meets the ceiling at the top. What if it can keep going up?”

“Ah. Maybe.”

“Who—” Haley turned and stifled a yawn that had cut off her words. “Who are you talking to?”

“Oh, myself, I guess.” He looked at her and saw how clear her eyes were and how the color had returned to her cheeks and lips. “You’re looking a lot better.”

“I feel better. Either that wine was magical, or we’ve been resting a long time. Look.” She pulled the shreds of her blood-stained yellow shirttails up, exposing a row of four pink scars stretching up from her waistband.

“Is that where the lizard clawed you?”

She nodded. “The one with the venom.”

“Could be the wine or the fruit . . .” Grace’s words trailed off as she stood and began pacing around the room.

“I woke while you were snoring and ate some of the fruit. I saw you opened the chest.”

“Well, yeah, I was afraid it would disappear.” Ward grabbed his pack and dragged it closer. “Here, I’ll show you what I found in there.”

“You don’t have to share—”

“Nah, come on! We’re a team.” Ward lifted out the bolt of silky blue material and handed it to Haley. “There were only two things—this cloth and,” he lifted out the stamped copper sheet, “this copper . . . page or whatever.”

Haley spent a long minute feeling the cloth between her fingers and even pulling a layer loose to hold against her cheek. She sighed almost wistfully as she refolded it. “This is amazing material. I wonder what we could make with it. Robes? Cloaks? Shirts?”

“A dress, if you want.” Ward shrugged. Haley sniffed, smiling, and took the metal sheet from him, gently turning it in front of her face.

“I don’t understand the text. It seems to shift every time I start to focus on it.” She touched a finger to one of the other symbols. “These look almost like Gopah forms.”

“Your martial art?”

“Yes, but they’re different. If you look at the dashed lines and think of them as arms and legs, you can see what I mean, though. Can you understand the writing?” She held the sheet toward him. Ward took it and nodded.

“I think they’re words of power.”

“Makes sense that I can’t read them then. You take it, Ward. I’ve chosen another path.”

“I was hoping you’d say something like that. Well, in that case, the fabric is yours.”

“You’re too kind; I’d be dead without your aid. My memory’s still fuzzy about how you did that, by the way.”

“Eh, what’s important is that we made it. Without some teamwork, I probably wouldn’t have gotten this far either, so forget about it. Besides, the only one who doesn’t deserve a reward is Nevkin, as far as I’m concerned. I was hoping we might still catch him; do you feel like you can get moving?”

“I do!” She groaned softly as she scooted to the edge of the couch. “I feel strange, though—hollow, almost, like my mind’s afloat.” She frowned and pressed a hand to her chest. “I don’t know how to put it into words. It’s like something’s missing.” She shook her head, then, with a pained expression, asked, “There’s not a toilet in here, is there?”

“No, but I could sure use one, too. My bladder’s fit to burst.”

“Why would they build a room to rest and recover and not have a bathroom?” Grace asked, hands on hips, peering around quizzically. Haley stood up and walked around the couch to the wall. She began to examine the room’s perimeter, gently running her fingers along the wood paneling.

“Did you check for doors?”

“Well, sure. With my eyes, at least.” Ward watched her progress around the room, stopping to rap her knuckles against the wall every few feet. When she walked out of sight, blocked by the bulk of the copper elevator, Ward sighed and picked up the mostly empty wine bottle.

“I could go ahead and use—”

“There’s a door here!” Haley called. “It’s a bathroom, Ward, and there’s a sink, too. You should wash up!”

“How the hell could I have missed that?” Ward set the bottle down and moved around the elevator, and, sure enough, plain as day, a door with a copper knob sat in the center of the far wall. “That wasn’t there before!” By way of answer, Haley pulled the door closed, and suddenly, the pressure in Ward’s bladder intensified. “Don’t take all day!” he called. Shaking his head and smiling, he sat down to wait.

“It’s almost like the catacombs were listening to you two. I agree—that door wasn’t there earlier.” Grace wrinkled her nose at him and tsked. “You really do need to clean up. Look at your legs! They’re smeared with filth.”

“I did my best, Grace.” He sighed and lifted one of his arms, sniffing at a relatively clean-looking spot. “I’m disgusting.” He looked at the closed door. “Poor kid. Waking up to my stench—”

The doorknob rattled, and then Haley pushed it open. “I, uh, relieved myself, but you can go in and clean up now. I’ll use the sink when you’re done.” When Ward stood and approached her, she asked, “Who’s Grace? Don’t tell me that’s your pet name for yourself.”

Ward froze, feeling like he’d been caught shoplifting or something. The absurd wave of guilt made him laugh. “Door’s not exactly soundproof, is it? Well, it’s a long story. I figure we’ve been through enough that I can share it with you, though. Let me get cleaned up first, huh?”

“Fair enough.”

Ward went into the bathroom and pulled the door closed. He was mid-urination when Grace started speaking behind him. “You’re not actually going to tell her about me are—”

Ward’s stream sputtered to a stop. “Dammit, Grace! Bathroom stuff! Is it so hard to understand?” He pointed to the door. “You know how uncomfortable it is to have your pee cut off mid-stream? Come on, get out. I’ll talk to you in a minute.”

“Fine!”

Ward, of course, didn’t hear her leave, but he turned to look over his shoulder, confirming her absence before he finished his business. The toilet wasn’t anything like what you’d find on modern-day Earth. It was basically a flanged copper tube about six inches wide protruding two feet out of the floor. It didn’t flush or have water, but his urine disappeared into the dark depths of the pipe without any trouble. It worked fine for him, but he didn’t think it had probably been very comfortable for Haley.

“What the hell am I thinking about?” Ward snorted, shook his head, and began to undress; he planned to make good use of the little copper sink attached to the wall.

Fifteen minutes later, he emerged from the bathroom, still wearing his filthy, thick woolen poncho but much cleaner beneath it. “Sorry, I splashed water all over the place in there.”

“It’s fine. I just want to wash up a little.” Haley went back into the bathroom, and when she emerged ten minutes later, Ward was busy inspecting the elevator. She walked over and pointed to it. “You think that’s how we move on?”

“Unless another door is going to appear.” Ward picked up his pack, slinging it onto his shoulders. He straightened his sword belt, checking that his knife, sword, and axe were all hanging from the spots he’d decided were the most comfortable. “You ready?”

“Yes, but tell me about Grace.”

“I wouldn’t!” Grace said, suddenly standing behind Haley.

“I have a kind of passenger. Another, oh,” Ward tried to think of the most favorable way to present Grace’s presence, “spirit, I guess. Yeah, another spirit is in here.” Ward tapped his forehead. “And she talks to me, and I talk to her.”

Haley’s eyes widened, and she moved closer, peering at his forehead as though she might see Grace in there. “Truly?”

“Yeah. Or I might just be insane.” Ward shrugged.

“You said it was a long story.”

“Well, I guess it’s not. I mostly said that because I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk about it.”

“Can you see her? This other spirit?”

“Yeah. Sometimes.”

Haley stepped closer, reaching out to grab Ward’s forearm with her warm fingers. “Where did you find her? Was she someone you loved who passed?”

“She’s someone I met back in my home world. Yeah, um, that part’s a much longer story. Let’s save it, all right? Come on, let’s get into the elevator.” Ward started toward one of the open copper gates, and Haley, almost reluctantly, let go of his arm and followed.

Grace was waiting for him inside, smiling at him almost sweetly. “That was a nice way to describe me, Ward.”

Haley stepped in behind him. “Are you just saying that again? About it being a long story? Are you nervous to tell me more?

“No, it’s definitely a more complicated story.” He was saved from further questions as the cage door rattled, startling Haley. She hopped forward with a yelp and turned to watch it clatter shut. Ward touched the handle of his revolver, wishing he had more than two bullets left. “God, I hope this thing doesn’t go back down.”