Page 20 of Secrets of the Lore Keepers
Maraini clasped my hand, lending me her strength. “The sooner we do this, the better.”
A numbness came over me and I nodded as we crept down into the musty gloom. I looked at the cellar with fresh eyes, searching for a clue, anything that would lead to the discovery of. . .what? A tomb? I shuddered at the very thought of old bones below us.
We crossed the dirt floor, weaving between the thick shelves as a cry came from above. Heart racing, I whirled toward the stairs, thinking of Kian. Alone. A boom shook the house, followed by the shattering of glass. I screamed. They were here. Were they inside?
“I don’t like leaving him behind,” I protested, half-heartedly following Maraini toward the trunk which rested against the wall.
“Neither do I.” Maraini paused and ran her fingers over the wall. “But it was his choice.”
A raw shout came, followed by a roar of pain. My feet were on the steps before I could help myself. I dashed out of the cellar, ignoring Maraini’s shouts behind me. I’d found myself an elven prince, and I wasn’t about to let him die.
Chaos met my eyes as I hurried down the hall and lunged for the jars of herbs. My fingers fell on the lighting jars. Snatching one in each hand, I moved toward the front room, forcing myself to slow down as I saw creatures. There was a mass of them, tall and wiry with skin as dark as night. Nightmarish eyes took over most of their faces, leaving little room for a tiny nose and snarling mouth with jagged teeth. My bravado disappeared, and a cry of fear left my lips as those horrid beasts tore toward me. I flung the lighting jar.
It flipped through the air and shattered among the creatures. I ducked as flashes of light sparked across the house. Amid screams and howls, I smelled the rancid scent of burning flesh. Uncovering my face, I looked and saw smoking remains and body parts tossed across the floor. My stomach heaved.
“Rae?” Kian moved between the torn bodies, dancing on his tiptoes until he was at my side, bow in hand, three arrows left. He caught me about the waist as my bones went limp and turned me away from the destruction. “Don’t look,” he said. “You were just in time.” He steered me down the hall as I fought to regain my limbs. “More will come but. . .how did you do that?”
“Lighting.” I swallowed my trembling reaction and forced myself to speak. “When the storm comes, we collect it. It’s what we were doing when we found you.”
“Witches,” Kian whispered in awe.
“What were those creatures?” I shivered.
Kian shook his head. “It’s best we not talk about it. They are dark beings from the wildwood. The queen must be distracted, they should not have been allowed to escape.”
Everything was unraveling around me, and my determination came rushing back. We reached the cellar and by the time we moved down the stairs, pulling the door shut behind us, Maraini stood under an arch. She waved. “I found a hidden door behind the chest.”
My eyes went wide as I walked up to it. Maraini had climbed on top of the chest and found a door. It rose five feet from the floor, a narrow opening into darkness. A knowing thrummed deep inside me. This was the path. This was the way, buried underneath us all this time. But something about it gave me some relief, knowing the bones were not in the house. No, they were in a tunnel.
“I’ll go first,” Maraini offered. “I expect nothing living to be down here.”
Still, I shuddered, thinking of worms and spiders and all kinds of slithering bugs that like to live below the ground.
We moved into the gloom while Maraini’s light cast a halo on the walls. At first, we had to duck, hunched together as we moved. But as we went closer in, the air dry and musty, the walls opened up. That’s when I noticed they weren’t made from mud. My fingers trailed over the rough shape of stones and that’s when I knew someone had created this tunnel for a reason.
The walls sloped down, and with each step I was aware of the ground above me, pressing down as we wound in deeper and deeper. My breath came short and fast as I thought of the ceiling caving in, leaving us trapped in the dark, underground. There’d be no way we could dig our way out and no one would come for us, other than the dark creatures.
I heard Maraini and Kian breathing as we walked, keeping a steady pace for what seemed like an inordinate amount of time. Then Maraini gasped, and we came to a stand-still.
Chapter Thirteen
The passageway widenedso we could stand three in a row. I drew alongside Maraini while Kian was so close, I felt his breath on my neck. The air surrounding us had a certain tang to it, ancient and dead, but not rotten. The pool of light showed a circular room, with a raised dais in the middle. And on that dais was a tomb. My fingers tightened on the knife and I wondered, what was I supposed to do? Open the casket and stab the goddess? What if she were naught but bones? Would she need to be alive? Awake?
“This is it,” Maraini whispered.
I tried to swallow, but my throat was dry. “What do we do?” I whispered.
Kian must think we were pathetic for all-knowing Lore Keepers.
“We have to open it.” Maraini gestured to the casket.
I took a step, fighting the instinct to turn on my heel and flee back through the dark halls, back to our cozy home which darkness had desecrated. Was Kian right? Would more come and find us in the tunnels? Trouble ahead and trouble behind, I could not get away from darkness. But forward was our only path, our only hope.
“Keep the knife ready,” Kian suggested as he slid an arrow into his bow and crept toward the dais.
Swallowing my fear, I moved behind him and Maraini slipped her hand in mine, squeezing it.
Together, we crept over the rough stone floor, ancient and aged with runes carved into it, caught by the light.
