The Adversary by Thea Harrison
Chapter Five
Down below, everyone fanned out, moving cautiously and keeping close to their partners. The sentinels broke open more glowsticks, scattering them along the floor, until the underground cavern was lit with a sharp, thin illumination.
Pia was surprised at how many details she remembered: the murals carved in stone that towered the height of three men, and the faint, complex mosaic underfoot. Eva kept pace with her, step by step.
Grace, who had been the most silent in the party until now, breathed, “Ooooh, this place.”
Khalil stalked by his lover’s side. “What do you see, Gracie?”
Grace spun in a slow circle, eyes wide. She was a pretty, young human in her twenties, with tousled, titian-colored hair and a delicate tan to her fair skin, and a limp from an old injury that hadn’t received magical healing when it had occurred. As a result, she would always carry the limp.
She was also the Oracle, from a long lineage that dated back to ancient Greece. Once, kings and emperors from all over the ancient world had come as supplicants to the Oracle, offering vast fortunes in gold, jewels, and silver just to gain an audience.
In the modern age, those supplicants had whittled down to a trickle. As Oracle, Grace was forbidden to charge money for her services, and bore the obligation to grant audiences to those who asked. Her family had fallen into difficult times financially… until Grace had discovered she could help heal injured Djinn.
Now, the Djinn as a society showered her with devotion, and she held an almost unimaginable wealth in Djinn favors. Eager and grateful Djinn offered to babysit her niece and nephew, to provide bodyguard services when Khalil needed to make trips away, to go grocery shopping, and to whisk her home into sparkling cleanliness. No task was too great or too small for them to do.
One Djinn-owned company that offered website services built and maintained a website devoted to the Oracle and managed her appointments with scrupulous attention. At a party, Grace had once told Pia laughingly she had no idea what the website said or how much they charged—she wasn’t supposed to know, and the whole process was outside her control—but as a result her financial resources had grown by leaps and bounds. It was a very fine thing to be so universally loved by the Djinn.
Grace said, “This place is crowded with unhappy ghosts.”
“Are any of them speaking to you?” Bel asked.
The Oracle shook her head. “Not yet. At least, no one is standing out. Many of them are too worn and faded to be very aware of what’s going on. Maybe someone will come forward. Right now, I think they’re waiting to see what we’re going to do.”
“I’d like to know that, myself,” Eva muttered to Pia.
“This place is very Egyptian,” Carling remarked. The Vampyre had walked up to a column and ran her fingers lightly down the carved surface. “It’s quite similar to the elaborate mausoleums our people would build for our god-kings. The language is similar too. I can almost, but not quite, read it. If I had a few months, I’m sure I could translate it.”
“I’m not sensing any active magic,” Morgan told the group. He strolled through the gigantic chamber as casually as though he were walking down the Champs-Elysees in Paris. “But that doesn’t mean there’s no danger. There could be magical traps.”
“If this is anything like my original hometown, likely there are magical traps,” Carling replied. “They’ll be set to protect things of value, like any attendants that may have been poisoned and buried here to look after their master, jars of embalmed organs, and stores of food. For a tomb of this size and grandeur, I would not be surprised if there was a treasure chamber somewhere. This place would hold all the things the deceased would need to have a comfortable afterlife.”
“Where’s the sarcophagus you and Dragos discovered?” Morgan asked Pia.
She pointed into the darkness. “Down there.”
Nobody was willing to cast a witchlight yet, which called for more glowsticks, and the group naturally coalesced into a tighter formation as they walked the rubble-strewn hall.
“I’m not feeling the narrative we’ve got so far,” Bayne muttered. “Why would Number Four kill his coworkers, climb down here, and then vanish? To become a guard, he had to have undergone a background check. He knew those people he killed. They were likely friends, or at least friendly acquaintances. They would have gone out for beers after their shifts. Then, suddenly, he bugs out and murders them? This doesn’t add up to me. We’re not seeing the whole picture.”
“Maybe, like Pia said, he became possessed too,” Rune suggested.
“Maybe.” Bayne did not sound convinced. “We know it can happen. But Dragos didn’t run into trouble until he and Pia came down here. Number Four would have had to kill the others before coming down here. So as a plausible motive for murder, I don’t like it.”
Pia didn’t like it either. She didn’t like anything about this return trip to hell. She didn’t like saying goodbye to her Peanut—even if he was close to Dragos’s height of six foot eight now and the size of a six-seater Cessna jet in his Wyr form. She didn’t like letting him hare off into the unknown after some unknown murderer, while her mate remained bound by null spell chains and possessed by the most unholy asshole she’d ever had the misfortune to meet… at least this year.
She couldn’t take it any longer and her resolve broke.
“Bayne.” She spoke more harshly than she had meant to. As the sentinel spun to give her his full attention, everyone else did too. “I don’t like that Liam went off on his own. We all have each other, but he doesn’t have anybody with him. Normally, a random guard couldn’t possibly be a match for him. Hell, we all know that an army of a thousand guards wouldn’t be a match for him—normally—but we don’t understand what happened here, or why Number Four did what he did.” She met Bayne’s sharp gaze. “Maybe I’m being overcautious, but could you go join him, please?”
“I think you should,” Morgan said when Bayne glanced at him. “I don’t need a partner. As Pia said, we’ve all got each other, and I feel no need to wander off on my own. Better safe than sorry.”
“I’m on it.” Bayne nodded to her, loped back to the area below the hole, shapeshifted into his gryphon form and launched out.
I can just hear Liam now, Pia said telepathically to Eva. ‘Moooooom!’ But I couldn’t help myself.
No, he won’t, Eva replied. That’s a child’s reaction—that’s what Peanut would have done. Liam’s smart and sensible, and he’ll see the reason why when Bayne catches up with him. Sentinels work together as often as they work alone. You’re tying yourself up into knots over nothing, sugar.
At that, she took the first deep breath she’d taken since they’d arrived at the construction site. Eva was right, and Pia gave her a grateful look. How long do you think we’ve been down here?
The other woman shrugged. Maybe fifteen minutes? Liam doesn’t have that much of a head start. Bayne’ll catch up with him in another fifteen. You’ll see.
Okay.
As the group continued forward, the huge, ornately carved sarcophagus came into view. Sparks of gold glinted in the reflection of the glowsticks, and a pile of rubble and large fallen stones had damaged one end, breaking it open.
Pia’s heart began to pound. Part of her was angry at herself. Lately, she was nothing but a bundle of raw nerves and jittery thoughts.
“If Number Four’s motive was to steal some treasure, he didn’t do a very good job,” Rune said dryly. “If I’m not mistaken, there are embedded gems underneath all that dust. He could have pried out the gold and gems and left a rich man.”
“What do you think, cupcake?” Graydon asked Pia. “Does everything look the same as when you and Dragos were down here before?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Gray. I was busy panicking when Dragos collapsed.” She shrugged as she looked around. “Sure, I mean, spooky sarcophagus, creepy whispers on a dry, creepy wind…. Wait.” Her gaze sharpened and she strode over to one of the murals. Eva dogged her footsteps so closely she bumped into Pia when she stopped.
“Sorry,” Eva muttered.
Pia shrugged that off and pointed at the mural. “The center of this mural has been destroyed. It wasn’t like this before. I was fascinated with it. There was this big battle scene—you can still see it at the sides.”
The others jogged over to join her. Rune crouched. “Lots of footsteps around here, and they smell like Number Four.”
“Pia, describe what was here before,” Carling said. “Try to remember every detail. For some reason this was important.”
“It was….” Pia’s voice died away as she stared at the fresh scars in the mural and struggled to get past the many upsetting events that had happened since then. The stone looked like it had been hacked at with an axe. “Like I said, there was a battle scene. Very epic. Lots of people. There was an army on the ground, and winged creatures flying overhead. One of the ground figures was bigger than the others. Maybe he was Sarcophagus Guy. He wore a gold crown and he stood on top of a hill. I don’t know, maybe the crown was painted, or maybe the gold was real….”
The whispers intensified, and the warm, dry air moved, blown by a restless wind.
Bel breathed, “Oh Lord and Lady, there they are again.”
“I see them too, just like on the beach,” Grace murmured. “They’re glorious!”
Pia shrugged impatiently. “I know, I know. The unseen are here.”
“Pfft, I don’t see anything,” Eva muttered.
“Me neither,” said Rune.
“They were here the last time too,” Pia told the others distractedly. “There was something else in the mural, and it’s on the tip of my tongue. I just can’t quite get it.”
The figure was bigger than the others. The biggest one on the wall….
…and he wore a crown that shone with a dim glint of gold…
…and he was doing something. Something. What the fuck’s the matter with you, Giovanni? Pull it together.
Then it came to her, and her shoulders slumped. “I remember now. The guy held a scepter or maybe it was a weapon. Maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“This scene was important enough for Number Four to take an axe to it,” Graydon reminded her.
“Are you sure, Pia?” Morgan asked. “Could it have been a sword?”
“I guess. Maybe?” She gave the sorcerer a baffled look. “I didn’t stop to look at it very closely.”
“I’m not sure what they’re doing,” Bel said. She and Grace had gravitated to one side and stood close to each other. “Do you understand?”
“I think they want to talk to us.” Grace turned to Pia. “Actually, I think they want to talk to you. One of them is making this hand gesture.” Grace cupped her own ears with both hands, and then offered her cupped hands to Pia. “Does this make any sense to you?”
She finally captured Pia’s attention, who frowned, puzzled, until she thought of the encounter in the forest. Her gaze darted quickly around the group. Some of the party knew what her Wyr form was—Rune and Graydon, and Bel and Eva—but some of them didn’t, and she had no intention of filling the others in.
“One of them tried to touch me earlier this evening,” she told them. “I wasn’t okay with it, so I backed off. He held his hands like that.”
“Maybe he wanted to cover your ears?” Grace lifted a shoulder. “At least that’s what it looks like to me, anyway.”
Bel met Pia’s gaze. “If they want to talk to you, he could be offering a communication spell.”
“Don’t do it, Pia,” Eva said sharply. “Don’t let them. First Rule in Magic Club: you don’t ever let a strange critter throw an unknown spell on you.”
Bel’s expression turned wry. “Eva has a point. We don’t believe they mean us any harm, but that’s not enough reason to undertake such a risk.”
“I know a translation spell or two that could be of some use,” Morgan offered casually. “But my feelings won’t be hurt in the slightest if you decide you don’t know me well enough to allow me to cast a spell on you either. Mostly, though, I want to see what’s in that sarcophagus.”
“You and me both,” Carling told him. “Let’s take a look.” She glanced at Pia. “If the unseen are still hanging around, you can take a few minutes to decide how you feel about a stranger, or a near stranger, casting a spell on you. Eva and Bel are right—it’s no light thing to consider.”
Morgan felt like a better bet than letting the unseen do something to her, but… Pia was pretty sure she knew what Dragos would say about it. She just didn’t think she should give any weight to his opinion at the moment.
She glanced around uneasily, catching the glimmers at the edge of her vision. “They’re still here.”
“How well can you see them?” Grace asked eagerly. “They’re faint and translucent to me, almost like powerful ghosts.”
“It’s the same for me,” Bel told them.
Pia hesitated but could see no real harm in confessing. “In my human form, I can only catch glimmers of them at the edge of my vision, but I can see and hear them perfectly in my Wyr form.”
“Ahhh,” the Oracle sighed. “So jealous. That must be amazing.”
“To be honest, it was pretty unnerving,” Pia muttered. “I’m keeping a tight rein on it, but my Wyr form is fairly crazy right now.” She bit her thumbnail as she watched Rune, Carling, and Morgan approach the sarcophagus.
Could there be anything in that contraption that could take all three of them out? That sounded outlandish, but never in a million years could she have conceived of that terrible moment when Dragos fell to the ground in convulsions.
Others in the group seemed to have had similar concerns. Khalil quietly dematerialized again and enveloped Grace in a protective shroud, and Graydon dew closer to Bel.
Morgan, Rune, and Carling paused at the edge of the sarcophagus. Morgan murmured, “I think it’s okay. You?”
“Agreed,” Carling replied after a moment. “There’s a lot of magical residue, but nothing active.”
“Number Four also left his eau du parfum here too.” Rune pointed. “Especially where the lid and one corner of the sarcophagus got broken. I think that crazy bastard crawled in there.”
Working together, the trio lifted and heaved away the broken stone lid. Eva muttered, “That had to have weighed thousands of pounds. A werewolf, a Vampyre, and a gryphon walk into a bar, and what do they get? They get anything they want.”
Pia did not want to laugh. Nothing was funny right now. A snort escaped her nose. Torn between equal parts dread and fascination, she drew closer to the sarcophagus and the others followed suit.
Morgan broke another glowstick. It lit his handsome features with a macabre slant. “Well, well, well,” he said. “Just as I had begun to suspect.” He glanced up. “It’s safe. You can come closer.”
They ringed the sarcophagus, all looking down at the contents. Inside, there was a golden human-shaped shell, the lid of which had been dislodged. Inside lay a mummy, wrapped in cloth that was gray and frayed with decay. The arms were broken off at the elbows. Pieces of bone and cloth lay strewn around.
“It appears this gentleman was holding something. A scepter perhaps, or a wand.” Morgan’s gaze met Pia’s. “Or maybe a sword. Whatever it was, it’s gone now.”
Rune grasped the lid and heaved it upright. Eva said dryly in Pia’s head, And that’s another several hundred pounds. I think my ovaries just gave a little mouse squeak. I might be in love with someone else, but I’m not dead.
Stop it!Pia shoved Eva’s shoulder. I do not want to laugh right now.
Oh, don’t you, sweet pea?Eva gave her a look filled with pure, limpid wickedness. I can go on for days. I still owe you for that exchange back in the hall.
God, Pia loved that woman. She threaded her arm through Eva’s as Rune propped the bottom end of the lid on the edge of the sarcophagus. It was a piece of staggering beauty, studded with dusty gems and lapis lazuli. He wiped off the golden face, and they fell silent as they stared at it.
The face had large eyes set with onyx, a long, lean jaw, high, strong cheekbones, and sensual, thick lips that were quirked into a slight smile. The likeness was so realistic, there were creases in the lean cheeks that bracketed the sinfully luscious mouth. The unsteady illumination from the glowsticks gave the image an uncanny lifelike animation.
The tiny hairs at the back of Pia’s neck raised. She knew who she was staring at. She had seen that same, knowledgeable smile on Dragos’s stolen face.
“What do you think, guys?” Rune gave the face another swipe.
Graydon cocked his head to one side. “I think he looks a bit ironic.”
The whispering in the wind turned into a hiss, and a feral growl broke out of her. “I want it melted into slag and poured into the sea,” she snarled, and the alert interest in Morgan’s face softened with compassion.
Back in the direction of the sinkhole, a scatter of debris and rocks fell clattering to the floor. Pia and the others spun around. With any luck the newcomers were Liam and Bayne.
A massive, lithe figure dropped from the surface, landing in a crouch on the floor. As he rose to his full height, glowstick light glinted off short black hair.
Pia heard the sharp, indrawn breaths from her companions, and the metallic slide of swords being drawn. Carling and Morgan raised magical Power that shimmered in the air like deadly arrows set to longbows.