“The first order of business, I presume, is finding these seven ‘facilities’ that the vault keeper mentioned,” Frederik says, steering the conversation back toward the tangible matters that require discussion.
“From what we have heard, you might know something about at least one of them,” Wren says, wearing the wry smile of the knowing upon their face.
Flint grunts and Frederik lets out a soft sigh. “Professor Rhys–” he begins, but Felix cuts him off.
“I am the one that informed them of the ruins beneath the castle, actually,” he interjects, knowing that this is not the first time that Addy has been accused of leaking Monteith-related information–though, perhaps this the first time that she has been wrongly accused, in fact.
“Professor Thorburn is the one that reminded me!” Addy explains.
Frederik looks a bit embarrassed as he apologizes, “Sorry, Professor Rhys. I suppose that this situation would be one in which sharing that information with the other expedition members is a reasonable thing to do. You merely have a–proclivity to give out information, is all.”
“You got a big mouth,” Flint says, looking at Addy.
Addy frowns in confusion. “No, I don’t. I’ve measured it before, it’s actually smaller than average relative to someone of my build,” she says.
“Friend Addy, they mean that you talk a lot and give out secret information freely,” Dahlia explains, patting her friend’s leg.
“Oh!” Addy says in understanding. “Oh well then yes I very much do.”
“How, uh, often does she get in trouble for this?” Demy quietly asks Flint.
“Often enough that ‘Gag Order’ is a literal term,” Flint replies with a roll of the eyes.
Frederik clears his throat, trying to get everyone back on track once more. “So, Felix, how much did you tell them?” he asks
“Just that the ruins exist,” Felix says with a dismissive shrug.
“Is there more we should know?” Kaz asks aloud, raising an eyebrow.
Cashew grumbles under his breath, “Always fucking is when nobles are involved.”
Frederik and Felix share a glance. With a nod from the former, the latter begins to explain:
“Ages ago, after Halcyon was established, a system of tunnels were carved out of the hill that the city sits upon. These act primarily as the sewer system, but they also serve as secret passages for the royal family in the event of invasion. While these tunnels were being built, the laborers came upon signs of old ruins buried deep within the hillside. Despite being buried for–” he pauses, glancing over at Addy.
She smiles happily and begins rambling, “The Monteith ruins beneath Halcyon were first catalogued in the year 849 of the First Era, and the Monteith Era is believed to have ended roughly 20,000 years ago, so–”
“–a really, really long time, the ruins were still in good shape,” Felix resumes, cutting Addy off before she can really get going with her history lesson. “The main building descends deep into the earth, but every attempt to gain entry failed. Over the years we have tried every kind of magic, tool, and explosive that has been discovered, but nothing even scratches the surface.”
“These ruins, are they made from the same material that we saw in the Heart?” Kaz asks.
All eyes turn toward Addy, who happily realizes that she can talk again. She eagerly explains, “From what I could tell, not exactly! I was able to damage parts of the city, but whatever the ruins beneath us are made of, it’s even tougher than what we encountered in the Heart. I think that it’s due to the residential district being made of a less stable, faster-produced version of the material–”
All eyes turn back toward Felix.
“So,” he says. “Assuming that Angelika isn’t lying, it should open up for us now that the seven of us have clearance levels.”
“So it’s just, like, sitting there beneath us?” Demy asks, tapping his foot on the ground for emphasis.
“What are we waiting for? There’s loot a-waitin’!” Wren says excitedly.
For the first time in the meeting, Flint seems to look away sheepishly. Frederik covers his face with one hand. Felix snorts, looking far too pleased about something.
“Oh no, what the hell did you do?” Cashew asks, eyes narrowing.
“It’s really not that bad,” Flint says, glancing away.
“Why don’t you tell them, dear brother,” Felix says, smirking at the discomfort. “Tell them what we are ‘a-waitin’ for.”
“I don’t like the words being spoken,” Dahlia says, frowning.
Kaz crosses her arms and says, “Me, neither. What are you talking about?”
Frederik rubs his temples and explains, “Alright, so, some years ago, when the war was at its height, we were… paranoid about potential backlash.”
“You mean Flint was paranoid,” Felix says, earning a growl from the older brother.
“We all were worried,” Frederik says sternly.
“I wasn’t!” Addy quips.
Frederik motions toward Addy and nods, continuing, “Despite Professor Rhys’ and Felix’s protestations, we were worried of the possibility that something might take advantage of the situation and attack us during our time of weakness.”
“If somehow one of our enemies gained access through the ruins, we would be completely blindsided,” Flint argues.
“You wouldn’t have even considered it had Professor Rhys not casually mentioned the possibility,” Felix argues back. “It was purely hypothetical.”
“You didn’t have to collapse the tunnel to it!” Addy whines.
“Excuse me, you did what?” Kaz asks in surprise.
“Stupid, paranoid–” Cashew mutters under his breath.
Frederik speaks louder, drowning out the chatter and getting everyone’s attention, “We collapsed the tunnel on the off chance that it was a potential entrypoint for the enemy, regardless of how slim the chance. We have yet to uncover the ruins again since that time, but we will begin doing so immediately to allow your group access to it.”
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“How long is that going to take?” Wren asks, annoyed.
“We can have miners working around the clock; it should only take a few days,” Flint says, hiding his shame with the promise of expediency. Felix starts to say something, but he sees Frederik giving him a stern look out of the corner of his eye. He decides to stay quiet.
“Perhaps that’s for the better,” Kaz says, holding up a hand to cease Wren and Cashew’s grumbling. “A few days will give us a chance to restock on potions and other supplies. Better to be prepared, since we have no idea what we are walking into.”
Cashew slowly smiles and looks over at the Thorburns. “Considering that we are risking our own necks for this, surely you can give us the gold to properly equip ourselves, right?” he asks.
“Of course,” Frederik says without hesitation.
Wren’s mood immediately shifts, emerald eyes gleaming as they exclaim, “How generous!” They take a bit of parchment laying on the table and a quill, beginning to write down a long, long shopping list. They mumble to themselves as they scribble, “We’ll need rations, plenty of water, a myriad of potions for each person, maybe some climbing gear…”
Addy asks, “Can I go to the university? I’d like to let my students know that I’m okay and pick up some of my relics since I have some new ideas on how they might work!”
“You can go, but you can not tell anyone about what we have found out about the Monteith, nothing about what you found on the Heart, nothing about the facilities and your journey,” Frederik says sternly.
Addy frowns, looking as if she might cry. “But we’ve found out so much! And even then, it just resulted in more questions! My students would be fascinated and might even think of something I haven’t!” she argues.
“No,” Frederik, Flint, and Felix all say in unison.
Addy pouts, despite Kaz reaching over to pat her shoulder gently. “Sorry Addy, this information could be dangerous. It’s better if they don’t know for now,” she explains.
“I guess,” Addy says sadly.
“I can go with you, Friend Addy. You can introduce me to your students and show me your home,” Dahlia says, hoping that this will cheer up her friend.
It does. Addy smiles and says, “Okay! My students will love you, Dahlia. You’re a great friend and really cute!”
Dahlia flushes slightly and says, “Thank you, Friend Addy.”
Cashew watches Wren scribbling on their piece of parchment with input from Wren. The two seem excited about the prospect of gathering all the odds and ends for the trip. Despite his interest in treasure, the allure is in the excitement of taking it, the adventure of acquiring it–the actual having of money and spending it is pretty boring.
“Well, looks like those two can handle the shopping trip. The fuck are we gonna do for the next few days?” Cashew asks, glancing over at Demy.
“Good question,” Demy mutters. He leans over to Flint and quietly asks, “Hey, big guy. There anything fun to do in the city?”
Flint cackles and takes a long drink from his flagon. “Plenty! What are you looking for? Drink? Sex? Glory?”
“‘Glory?’ That one sounds spicy,” Demy says, raising an eyebrow.
“That got anything to do with the battle arena I saw on the way in?” Cashew asks, grinning.
“That’s the one,” Flint says, smiling. “My favorite place in all of Halcyon, if I’m honest. Either of you have any experience in the arena?”
Demy shrugs a little and explains, “Cash and I would travel from port to port; money was always in short supply. We earned more than a few nights of drinks at the inn with bets and our fists.”
Cashew rocks back and forth in the chair, unable to help from feeling a bit excited. He asks Flint, “This arena, will they patch us up? Don’t want to go into some ancient ruins with a bum leg.”
“Of course. Completely legal, fighters are reimbursed and given healing, the crowds love it,” Flint says. Demy and Cashew can’t help but hang onto every word, eager to let off some steam after the tense boredom of the past few weeks.
Felix rolls his eyes and stands up. “I’m going to start gathering a crew to clear the tunnel. I assume we’re done here,” he mutters as he makes his way toward the door.
Frederik watches him go. He debates on speaking up, but in reality is just happy that Felix stayed for as long as he did. In agreement that the meeting has likely gone past its purpose, he says to everyone, “Felix is right. Let’s retire for the night. The six of you are free to do as you wish–as long as you speak of the situation to nobody and do nothing that will hinder your journey when the tunnel is finished. You are of course welcome to stay here in the castle until then and we will keep you updated on everything.”
The rest of the group get up to leave, chattering together about their plans for the next few days. Flint lags behind with Frederik, watching the others go.
“What do you think?” Flint asks.
Frederik rubs his chin in thought before answering, “None of them are outright lying. But none of them are being entirely honest, either. Other than Aderyn, anyway.”
Flint nods and asks, “What about Felix?”
“Something is bothering him, but I trust that he will do what is best for everyone. Even if I worry what he might do to achieve that,” Frederik says, sighing.
“Well, we’ll keep an eye on them all,” Flint says, motioning toward the guards at the front of the chamber, who quickly leave. “It’s possible that one or more of them could be actively plotting against us.”
“It’s also possible that they are just a bunch of broken adventurers with sordid pasts,” Frederik says with a small smile. “This need not be another tunnel collapse, Flint.”
“Oh fuck me,” Flint says, throwing up his hands. He and Frederik begin walking toward the doors that the others left through. “Wait until they find out what’s down there, then you’ll be saying I was right,” he argues.
“Perhaps, I will,” Frederik says. “Though Felix will never admit it.”
“We’ll see,” Flint grumbles as the two leave the empty meeting room behind.
~~~~~~~~~~
Felix walks into his bedroom and quickly shuts the door back, letting out a frustrated noise that exists somewhere between a hiss, a squawk, and a growl. He is fairly certain that his mood can’t get any worse, but he is quite mistaken in this assumption as a voice greets him.
One that has only been known for a few hours, but is painfully familiar at this point.
“Did your chat with the others not go well after all?” Faloth asks, a pointed smile gleaming widely as he sits on Felix’s bed with an assortment of magical baubles, Monteith trinkets, and a series of miniature figurines in the form of rare monsters all sitting around him.
“Those are mine, you little monster,” Felix says bitterly, looking over at the child-like Monteith.
“Greedy, greedy beasts you are,” Faloth says as he shakes his head, little hands picking up and studying one of the monster figurines. “Even at peace, with more than enough wealth and resources in the world to provide for everyone, your kind still clings to every scrap and grasps for more. Say, did you make these little monster ones yourself?”
Felix stomps over to the bed and swipes the miniature from Faloth, snarling as he says, “I did! Stop touching my things!”
He understands his mistake as the child looks up at him with empty eyes. There is no anger in them, no discernable emotion whatsoever–yet, Felix can’t help but feel a chill run down his spine, as if a small animal that has just become aware of the predator watching them through the tall grass.
There is only hunger in those eyes. A threat that is purely visceral, without direct malice–pure and factual by mere existence alone.
“I’m–sorry,” Felix mutters, holding the figure back out. It is one of his favorites: A miniature of a creature known as a ‘shark,’ a giant, predatory fish of the oceans with rows of serrated, pointed teeth. Teeth similar to those of the child sitting in front of him.
“Forgiven,” Faloth says simply and takes the figure. “I like this one. May I have it?”
Felix frowns, but nods slowly. “Go ahead, it reminds me of you, anyway,” he mutters.
Faloth chuckles and stands up on the bed, placing the figure into one of his pockets. “See, this is why I like you, Lord Felix. Even though you are a stupid, greedy beast, you recognize when it is better to let something go,” he explains.
The syringe full of strange, black, sand-like goo weighs heavily in Felix’s pocket. Though, heavier still is the understanding that he will have to use it at some point, even if he doesn’t fully understand what it will do or why he will have to use it.
As Faloth said, Felix knows when to let go–but he also knows when to hold on to what is most important. And what is important is that the world remain ignorant of anything related to the thing standing on his bed and its kind.
Nothing good could come from something so inhuman.
“Beware of what you want, my Lord. It might want you more,” Faloth says with a smile. And without any warning, he is gone, leaving Felix alone in his room with all of his little treasures lying scattered across his bed.
Save for one, that he will never get back.
His favorite.