Rules of Justice (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 8)

by Sarah Noffke

  She laughed. “I don’t think that will be a problem.”

  “So how does this work?” Wilder asked, studying the outside of the buildings with his trademark discerning expression.

  Lunis rolled his eyes. It’s a museum. There are artifacts and things inside. You aren’t to run or cause general tomfoolery. Instead, you have to pretend to look at the objects and read the little placards beside them. You will be bored, Scotsman.

  “There’s the first of many eye rolls I will earn,” Wilder fired back.

  “I think that we just have to state our intent once we find Rumi’s tomb inside,” Sophia said, ignoring her dragon and Wilder’s usual banter.

  What I don’t get, Sophia, is if you were supposed to bring two who you love, why did you bring this guy? Lunis indicated with his head in Wilder’s direction.

  The dragonrider glared down at Sophia. “Your dragon has the maturity of a schoolkid.”

  “You should hear his jokes,” Sophia replied, then pointed at the mausoleum. “My research says that’s where we’ll find Rumi’s tomb.”

  Oh, that reminds me, Lunis began as they made for the turquoise structure. Do you know why there are gates around cemeteries?

  “Why?” Wilder asked, appearing sincerely interested.

  Because people are dying to get in! Lunis cheered.

  Wilder laughed loudly, earning a punishing look from Sophia.

  “We’re about to enter a holy building,” she said flatly. “Will you two behave and show some respect?”

  Yeah, Wilder, Lunis said, looking down his nose at him. Tuck in your shirt and show a little decorum, would you?

  He bowed slightly in Sophia’s direction, twirling his hand in front of him. “My apologies, my lady.”

  Lunis rolled his eyes and muttered, Suck-up.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Sophia was surprised to find Rumi’s mausoleum empty, but she didn’t know why. She guessed it had many visitors every day—worshippers who came to show their respect to the ancient poet. However, for whatever reason, the large and elaborately decorated space was empty.

  If the outside of the Mevlâna Museum was impressive, the inside of the mausoleum was extraordinary with its many bright colors and artwork. The tomb itself was unlike anything Sophia had seen. Rumi had been entombed in the thirteenth century, so it went to reason that burial practices were different then.

  An archway covered in tiles stood behind the tomb, which was more like a metal tent than a casket. It had folds on the corners and sat behind a metal gate.

  The flow of the lights made the walls dazzle with gold and filled the air with a gentle warmth.

  A hush fell over her companions, and their playful behavior and banter fell away at once. An expression of respect filled Wilder’s face, and Lunis also seemed to have a quiet moment of reverie.

  At the gate, Sophia paused, the two she brought because of her affection for them at her back. Bowing her head and operating purely out of instinct, Sophia opened her mouth, her words flowing out of her.

  “Dear Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, poet, scholar, and theologian, we seek your help to find a cure that will heal our people of a serious illness. Whatever you require of us in exchange for this cure, we are ready to do. Your will directs us from this moment forward.”

  Sophia lowered her chin as her words ended. She had felt like something was speaking through her, which was an odd experience for her. At the conclusion of her words, nothing happened. Worried she was missing something, she glanced back at Lunis and then Wilder. Both offered her tentative expressions.

  Opening her mouth about to ask for their advice, she was cut off by a strange sawing sound. Lunis’ eyes widened as Wilder’s narrowed with interest.

  Sophia spun around to find the tomb of Rumi shifting back to reveal an opening in the stone floor. A set of stairs led down into the darkness. The intricately decorated gate in front of them swung open, and the intent was clear: they were being invited into the mysterious darkness where challenges no doubt lay.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Once Sophia was right in front of the opening in the floor, she spied words carved into the stone, no doubt those of Rumi’s.

  She read the words aloud like they were instructions. “This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First, to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.”

  The darkness cloaked the three as they descended. Similar to the Castle, the entrance to the staircase widened when Lunis entered, making room for him. It was obvious to Sophia that this place was full of powerful magic. She had always suspected that Rumi was a magician, but now she knew it for a fact. She also knew what Bermuda had meant about him not really being dead. Somehow, she could feel him, like he was inviting them into his home, and setting a place for them at the dining table.

  Sophia suddenly felt blind once she’d descended three steps. She reached out, trying to create a light orb, but nothing happened.

  “Magic doesn’t work here,” Wilder said, his hand protectively touching her arm, as though trying to ensure she was still there.

  Sophia’s connection to Lunis told her he was directly at her back.

  “Yeah, I know,” she said, thinking. “How are we to see?”

  Maybe it’s a test of fate, Lunis reasoned. We have to go down the staircase blindly.

  “Okay, I can do that,” Sophia said, edging her foot forward to find the lip of the step. Carefully and with Wilder holding onto her, she took the next step. Together the three progressed down several steps in total silence.

  It seemed that a staircase such as this, under an ancient tomb, would go on for quite some time. So Sophia was surprised when she didn’t find another step. Instead, the stone floor seemed to go on for a bit.

  She paused. “I think we’re there, but I still can’t see anything.”

  “I don’t understand,” Wilder said. “Are we supposed to do the tasks blindly, like showing blind faith?”

  Shush, Lunis encouraged at their backs. Listen.

  Sophia didn’t know what he meant until she held her breath and closed her eyes, although that changed nothing. It was just more blackness.

  A moment later, she heard what he was talking about. There was a whisper in the distance. No, it was all around her. Or was it just in her head? She couldn’t tell. For a long moment, she concentrated on the low voice, urging it to get louder so she could make out the words. Sophia thought it might be a different language at first, but as she let out a calming breath, she made out the message, recognizing Rumi’s words from her studies.

  “If light is in your heart, you will find your way home,” the voice said.

  Sophia’s eyes sprang open, but there was still only blackness all around her. She repeated the message she’d heard in her mind.

  Wilder tapped her elbow three times, and the gesture seemed to say, “I heard that too.”

  “What does that mean though?” Sophia asked. “How do we have light in our heart?”

  “By home, I think it means ‘our way to Rumi,’” Wilder imparted.

  Think of the love you have for me, Lunis said, slipping into his sage-like tone.

  “Or me,” Wilder whispered, a laugh in his voice.

  “Yeah,” Sophia said, thinking of the way Wilder made her heart feel alive, and how Lunis filled her soul with tenderness. How loving them made her a better person. They enriched her life in a way she’d never thought possible. Even in the pitch darkness, she could see Wilder’s smile in her mind. She could feel Lunis’ heat. She was alight in brand new ways. Her path felt clear.

  Sophia strode forward, Wilder holding onto her, Lunis on their heels. She was worried she’d fall off a cliff or ram hard into something. When the urge struck her, she turned, knowing it was the right path to take. That happened twice more before she halted suddenly, Wilder nearly running into her, Lunis nearly ramming into him.

  “What is it?” Wilder whispered in her ear.
/>   “We’re here,” she said but didn’t know why or where the words came from.

  It was still completely dark. She felt Wilder tense.

  Then the voice in Sophia’s head echoed again, quieter this time. She let out a breath and focused on it. After a moment, it became clear.

  “Don’t you know yet? It is your light that lights the worlds.” They were unmistakably the words of Rumi.

  Sophia gasped, suddenly startled by how the poetry struck her.

  “That’s true,” Wilder said beside her. “You light up the world. My world.”

  His words made her certain he’d heard the same thing as her.

  And you light up mine, Lunis said, his tone sincere and not marked by his usual teasing quality.

  Sophia felt so loved suddenly, she was breathless. Her heart seemed like it would overflow. Just as she thought it would burst, flames in torches on the wall illuminated where they hung.

  She gasped in surprise. There wasn’t too much to see, just two stone walls and an entrance to an unseen place. The walls were taller than Lunis, and above them there didn’t appear to be a ceiling, only unending darkness.

  Engraved on the wall to the right was the phrase, “Each moment contains a hundred messages from God.”

  On the wall to the left were different words from Rumi that read: Remember, the entrance to the sanctuary is inside you.

  “What do you make of that?” Sophia asked.

  “Should we try entering?” Wilder offered.

  In answer, Sophia took a step forward, daring to enter the strange structure. As soon as she was even with the stone walls, she shot into the ground and flew up so fast, her heart felt as though it went into her throat.

  A scream escaped her mouth and she halted abruptly to find herself alone on a pedestal. She looked down in awe and realized where they were and the horrors the ones she loved were about to face.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  High above on her pedestal, Sophia gazed down at the labyrinth, a huge maze that went on for hundreds of yards. She could see there were two ways out, but they weren’t escapes. Rather they led to two very dangerous villains—ones she knew the ones she loved had to face. That was the way. She knew it, and it terrified her.

  Looking up at her with horror in their eyes were Lunis and Wilder. Daring to look over the edge of the pedestal, Sophia gazed down at them, making both their faces relax in relief.

  “I’m okay,” Sophia called, her voice echoing down to them several stories below. It was good that she wasn’t afraid of heights, or the situation would have been much more terrifying.

  “You’re trapped,” Wilder stated.

  She nodded. “I think there’s only one way to get me out.”

  I fly up there and get you, Lunis told her.

  “I don’t think you can,” she said, fueled by instinct.

  He unfolded his wings and tried to flap them, but regret filled his expression. You’re right.

  “What do you see?” Wilder asked.

  She stood up and gazed around, wishing that Lunis could scry her and see what she saw, but their magic didn’t seem to work. “It’s a labyrinth,” she said, calling down to them. “I think that you, Wild, have to go to the right. You, Lun, need to go to the left.”

  “Why do you think that?” Wilder asked.

  She gulped. “Because it’s based on what you need to fight.”

  Lunis lowered his chin. Which is?

  “A minotaur for you,” she began. “And a warrior for Wild.”

  “First, we have to find our way through the maze,” Wilder guessed.

  She nodded. “I can help you.”

  “Actually, you can’t,” Wilder called up to her.

  She opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Her voice was gone. Her lips moved, but her words were silent. Then she heard what Wilder and Lunis must have heard, and it gave her chills.

  “Let silence be the art you practice.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Sophia couldn’t help the ones she loved. Worse than that, she was in the perfect position to advise them. From up high, she could tell them exactly how to navigate the maze. And yet, she had no voice to talk. She had to watch, powerless to help as the two she loved with all her heart, stumbled around a very complicated labyrinth to find themselves face to face with deadly villains. Then the real challenge would begin for Sophia. She’d have to stand by and be forced to watch as they battled.

  That was going to break her heart over and over again. She would always rather fight for the ones she loved than watch them do it.

  In her silence, Sophia heard the voice of Rumi again. It said: “You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”

  Sophia gulped and nodded. She leaned over the side of the pedestal and gave the two on the stone floor meaningful expressions. They understood the direction in her eyes.

  With his shoulders back, Wilder set off for the entrance to the maze to the right. Lunis gazed up at her a moment longer with regret before starting forward. Their telepathic connection had been severed while they were here. That had happened a few times, and it always made both their hearts ache. Lunis and Wilder had to manage through the maze on their own. They had to face the dangers ahead without her help. Sophia had to watch, only lending the prayers in her heart to keep them safe.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Wilder wasn’t sure whether he’d rather be entering the maze and facing a dangerous warrior in the tomb of Rumi with no magic, or be Sophia, having to watch from up high, powerless to help. He decided he’d rather be the one moving than standing still, fighting rather than the one having to remain idle and watch. It would be very difficult for Sophia—especially since she preferred the action.

  It was no wonder to Wilder she had to bring two she loved to Rumi’s tomb. That was what made it all the more difficult. Watching those you loved face dangers was like experiencing a nightmare and unable to wake from it.

  The maze was so complex that Wilder was quickly lost. All the walls and corners and openings looked exactly the same. There was no way to know which way to go, and no clues that pointed toward the end or which way he’d gone.

  Wilder doubled back several times, meeting dead ends again and again. He was certain he’d gone down the wrong paths several times, but there were so many junctions he quickly lost track. If he had use of his magic, then he could have done a tracking spell or left a trail to know which way he’d been. As it was, he didn’t have any bread crumbs.

  However, he did have his sword, the clothes on his back, and a flask of water. Since the sword would definitely be needed and a dragonrider never wasted water, Wilder decided to pull his shirt off, leaving him bare-chested.

  He began tearing the material into pieces he could drop behind him, showing him paths he’d taken and crossed off as options.

  With relief, he found after a short bit the pieces of clothing didn’t disappear, which had been a concern. This place was protected by strong magic and was full of mystery. It appeared it was designed so that those in it couldn’t cheat to reach the end. Sophia couldn’t help them. They didn’t have magic, and Lunis couldn’t fly.

  Wilder had always regarded Rumi as a peaceful person, but what he hadn’t realized was the poet must have been incredibly crafty to have such a place under his tomb.

  Having finally made some progress, Wilder glanced up to where Sophia was perched on the pedestal. No matter where he was in the maze, he could see her and her him. It seemed right to him that Sophia would be put on a pedestal. He knew that for him, she’d always been on a pedestal—ever since that first moment when he laid eyes on her when she entered the Castle, rocking all of their worlds.

  Wilder had never been the romantic type. He’d never cared much about anything but Simi and his family. Then Sophia came along, and he didn’t know how his heart could have expanded so much. She had quickly become his life. His purpose. The thoughts connected to his reason. Some said that love made you crazy, b
ut for Wilder, it had done the opposite. Never before had he thought so clearly. Sophia made what was important clear. Everything that wasn’t connected to love was pointless.

  The voice of Rumi that Wilder heard in his head suddenly spoke, and he paused. “I once had a thousand desires. But in my one desire to know you, all else melted away.”

  Wilder held his hand to his bare chest, feeling tenderness in his heart. Nothing was truer for him than those words. It described Sophia and his love for her perfectly.

  He saw the worry on her face as she stared down at him. Her gaze constantly drifted between him and something to his right. That had to be where he was headed to, to meet and no doubt fight this warrior.

  Her head jerked to the side, and Wilder guessed she was watching Lunis on the far side of the maze. Wilder’s ears picked up on a scratching noise coming from where Lunis would be, and he wondered how the dragon was faring. Suddenly he was highly aware of how alone the three of them were. They had started together and quickly been separated, all so they could find a cure to heal the world. The irony wasn’t lost on him.

  The voice of Rumi greeted Wilder’s ears once more. “Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you.”

  He nodded to himself, remembering they were never truly alone. That had been something Wilder had to remind himself of during the many years locked inside the Gullington. He had gotten used to it easier than most, having always been a loner. Meditating with Mahkah had helped Wilder to remember they were all connected. Now he had Sophia, loneliness was an affliction because he never wanted to be separated from her for long.

  Wilder turned a corner to find another dead end. He spun around, intending to double back. However, the way he’d come was blocked. He was trapped.

  Turning in a circle, he tried to figure out what he was missing. How had he gotten locked inside the maze? More importantly, how was he going to find his way out?