Page 133 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

“I see it,” Herrick confirmed, the silver light of the moon beginning to grow brighter.

Soon, they were all running. Gunnar was breathing a little harder than Herrick was used to seeing him do. The morning he had his seizure flashed before him, and he was about to tell Gunnar to take it easy when they entered a large space housed in what looked to be the center of the Knotted Caverns.

The room’s walls were rounded, the only source of illumination being the moonlight and the torches in their grasp.

“Look,” Maude breathed.

Herrick followed her gaze up to the ceiling, where a large, square hole in the ceiling hung above them. It looked like a window, the moonlight streaming through it to illuminate the area.

What had Maude so stunned, however, was that while it looked like a window, it was not open air that hung over them. It was water. They were still below the waterline by about 30 feet. The currents flowed over this square opening and occasionally dripped into the cavern they stood in.

“Something is keeping the water from flooding this space,” Eydis observed. “See?”

She pointed one slender pale arm up to the corner of the square in the ceiling where one could see the rippling of the water clearest. Nothing but air was holding the water out of the cavern.

“That’s not all,” Liv said, her voice grim.

Herrick saw where Liv was looking and understood immediately what the problem was. Directly below the cut-out in the ceiling that had water being held up by some kind ofgalderthat was unknown to them, an altar stood up from the rocky ground. And on top of the altar was thedalkr Hela. Its smooth white blade and black hilt were simpler than he would have expected from a legendary weapon.

Besides the altar that held the weapon, the rest of the room was smooth and empty.

“Fuck,” Hakon whispered, the reality of their problem becoming obvious.

“Yep,” Gunnar agreed, his face gray and sickly.

“If we touch that dagger—” Eydis started, eyes moving to thedalkr Helalying innocently on the stone.

“Then the barrier will fail, and the water will drown us before we can get out of the Caverns,” Liv finished.

“No one touch anything,” Maude’s order rang out from across the cavern.

She was circling the room, observing the ceiling as well as thedalkr Hela. Maude must not have sensed any danger in the area because she had lowered her bow and held it in one hand. Herrick walked over to where Gunnar was crouched, still breathing heavily.

“What ails you, Gunnar?” Herrick crouched to see his friend eye to eye. “You look like shit.”

Gunnar laughed. “I don’t think being this far below sea level agrees with me.”

He waved a hand and sat on the hard ground, head between his knees.

Eydis noticed Gunnar’s position and started rummaging through her pack. When she found what she was looking for, she kneeled in front of him and extended the object in her hand. A knobby root was sitting in her palm, the strong spice of ginger radiating from it.

“For the nausea,” she said.

Gunnar took it gratefully and gnawed on one end. While his color didn’t much improve, he breathed a little easier now. She sat with Gunnar while they each tried to figure out a way to get a hold of the weapon without triggering the trap in the ceiling.

“What should we do?” Hakon asked as Herrick stood and walked to his brother's side.

“I don’t know,” Herrick said. “But I don't think we can linger here.”

Hakon nodded, scanning the room but seeing the same thing he and Maude seemed to notice. Liv was walking with Maude now, both women bouncing ideas off each other and both agreeing there didn’t seem to be a safe way to grab the dagger without causing the water to drop into the cavern and drown them.

“Are we even sure the barrier holding the ocean water will break once we remove the dagger?” Liv asked Maude, the skepticism in her voice clear.

“I think it would be foolish to try without considering all our options,” Maude replied, eyes on the opening in the ceiling. “It’s not like we can test the theory without drowning ourselves and ruining our one chance at getting thedalkr Hela.”

Herrick knew they needed to come up with a plan before they ran out of time. He prayed that he hadn’t brought his friends to their deaths.

“That is a terrible idea,” Maude groaned as Liv walked her through the latest of her schemes to get thedalkr Helaoff the altar.

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