Mist Rising by Eve Langlais
Chapter Forty-Eight
The staircase beckoned,and Agathe took a step toward it, only to have Venna grab her by the arm. “Wait.”
Agathe turned to eye her Soraer. “Don’t you want to see what’s down there?” Even as she had the sense that she’d been there before. Did I go down those stairs already? Why can’t I remember?
“You know I want to see, but we need to be careful,” Venna cautioned.
“I’ve got my knives.” She patted a sheath.
“Do you have a light? Chalk to mark our way in case it turns out to be large and tricky? Food, water? Because we could get trapped or be gone longer than expected.”
“You are way too practical sometimes,” Hiix muttered. “And right in this case. We shouldn’t go down there without being properly prepared.”
“How do you propose we do that without alerting the soldiers who are watching?” The Hall of Learning still had rotating pairs on guard.
“By letting me go and get what we need while you wait,” Venna offered.
“Fine.” A terse agreement to move things along.
“I mean it. You better not go without me.” Venna shook her finger.
“I’ll wait. Hurry.”
“I’ll be back before you know it.” Venna hurried off.
Hiix eyed Agathe. “You’re going, aren’t you?”
“There’s something down there. Something I need to see.” It called to her. It wouldn’t let her wait.
“A peek, then. But not far so Venna can find us.”
Agathe didn’t mention that they wouldn’t have far to go. With the secret door open, it was as if she heard a voice calling.
Come.
Find.
Take.
Heading down the narrow yet straight stairs, it turned out they didn’t need light because sigils inscribed in the wall illuminated as they passed. The bottom of the stairs held a chamber with a few arches branching off.
“Venna was right. This place is going to be a maze,” Hiix declared. “Maybe we should hold off.”
“I know the way.” As if a rope tugged, Agathe followed where it pulled.
“Hey. Where are you going?”
She ignored Hiix to follow the hum that called to her, navigating the twists and turns, even skipping down another flight until she arrived at a door, closed and unwilling to open when she shoved.
“I need to get inside.”
“Inside what? All I see is a wall,” Hiix declared.
“What are you talking about? It’s clearly a door.” She rapped her knuckles on it even as Hiix shook her head.
“We obviously aren’t seeing the same things. Can you open it?”
“No. It’s got no handle. Nor a lock. There must be a way.” She slapped her hands against it. Felt a tingle. Kept them against the metal and closed her eyes.
Hiix exclaimed, “What are you doing? The lights in the hall are flickering.” A pause, then, “And now we’re in the dark.”
“Almost there…” she murmured. She hummed in tune with the door, vibrated intensely enough that she met the portal’s threshold of existence. And, for a moment, they were on the same level.
Sliding through it, she lost the hum, as she couldn’t breathe for a moment. The door spit her out. Only then did she expel her breath and suck one hard enough she choked.
“Agathe! Are you okay?”
She could hear Hiix hollering but dully. A glance over her shoulder showed the door still intact.
“I’m fine,” she yelled as she shoved to her feet in what appeared to be a treasure room. So many pieces of jewelry on display, glinting with metal and colorful stones. Fancy armor adorned mannequins, while shields and weapons hung on the wall.
“Agathe? Where did you go?” Her Soraer still yelled for her.
“I’m right here. On the other side of the door. Um, wall for you.”
“Agathe! If you can hear me, make a sound.”
It appeared Hiix couldn’t hear her and worried intensely. Agathe took a step back to the door—Don’t go—and paused.
Whirled.
Stared at the pedestal holding a crown, just like the one in the painting. It pulsed. Nauseating, and at the same time, an appealing call that led to her moving toward it in an almost trance.
She reached for it, her hand pausing above it, tingling and not very pleasantly.
Don’t. Not her Goddess’s voice but a stern command. She frowned.
Touch me. That sounded more like her Goddess. More like her, too.
She placed her fingers on the metal band, surprised to find it warm. She pulled it close, and the sense of right and wrongness pulsed even more intensely.
The stone set it in began to glow lightly, but it took her wrapping her fingers around it to truly cause an effect. It electrocuted her into unconsciousness.
