Page 37 of The King of Koraha
Eventually, they entered a dark cavern. Hakana slowed, allowing their eyes to adjust. There was just enough light to pick out the other groups of people standing inside. Boots scraped on the stone floor and hushed conversation filled the space. It was rather creepy.
“What’s—”
“You’ll see,” Rendor interrupted.
After a couple angles, a voice boomed, “Are you ready?”
“Yes!” everyone yelled.
There were way more people in the cavern than Shyla had thought. She stepped closer to Rendor. He pulled her in front of him like before, wrapping his arms around her. In that space, she was protected and felt almost invincible. It was quickly becoming her favorite place to be. Well, other than tucked beside him on a sleeping cushion.
“Are you certain?” the voice asked.
“Yes!”
“All right. On the count of three.”
“One,” everyone shouted. “Two! Three!”
Dozens of trol lanterns were opened at the same time. The bright white light blinded her at first, but then it illuminated long clear crystal stalactites jutting from the ceiling. The stalactites shone, but better yet, they fractured the light, breaking it into ribbons of color. These ribbons reflected off the clusters of crystals on the walls. The entire cavern filled with beams of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. The crystals sparkled and the light bounced and moved as if alive.
Shyla gasped at the spectacle. If magic was visible, she imagined this was what it would look like. Mesmerized, she stayed frozen in place, afraid if she exhaled it would break the spell. And just when she thought it couldn’t get better, the people holding the trol lanterns began to move in a choreographed pattern. The beams of color swung and dipped and danced. It was marvelous. Worth every single sun jump she sweated and trudged through the sand to get to Qulsary.
At the end of the show, the trol lanterns were closed as abruptly as they’d been opened. Everyone hitched in a breath at the sudden darkness and there were a few disappointedawwwsbefore deafening applause echoed. Shyla worried the noise might crack the crystals.
After Hakana led them out, Shyla asked her what the show was called.
“It’s The Dancing Lumineers of Kaleidoscope Cave. I never get tired of seeing it.”
Who would? She turned to Rendor. “We need to come back.”
He smiled. “We will. But first food and then work.”
Even though she knew finishing the investigation would free them to see as many shows as they desired, the thought of interviewing all those guards failed to excite her.
After eating second meal, they arrived at Najib’s office in the castle to arrange the interviews. Najib confirmed that there were only about two dozen guards who remained. His expression was pained.
“Do you know where the others went?” Rendor asked.
“Some were hired by the Water Princess,” Najib said. “And some left for other cities.”
“Why aren’t there rumors about the theft then?” Shyla asked.
“They all left before the old king died and don’t know about the missing coins.”
Unless they were the reason the coins went missing. Would they have to track everyone down? Shyla suppressed a sigh.
“We’ll need a conference room for the interviews,” Rendor said.
“What size?” Najib asked.
“On the smaller side. We want them to be relaxed and comfortable.”
“All right.” Najib showed them to a room that matched Rendor’s requirements. “Who would you like to talk to first? About half of them are off duty.”
“The off-duty guards, followed by those on duty. And I want them ranked lowest to highest.”
Najib studied Rendor. “You don’t want the superior officers coaching the others on what to say.”
