Above them, a domed ceiling capped the rotunda. It was staggeringly high, centered over a wide stone staircase winding upward, its broad, sturdy handrails impossibly set on dainty, curled posts. Walkways drifted off the central staircase in several directions on each level above, creating a crisscross effect. Stone-carved handrails protected the illusionary floating pathways on either side.
In stark contrast, the stairs leading down, at the base of those leading up and directly in front of them, had no such restrictive barriers. They plunged into a hefty square cut deep into the thick, polished floor, giving no warning of impending disaster to the inattentive visitor.
“You’re lucky you didn’t break your neck!” Kayla scolded when she spotted the gaping hole.
“Tell me about it!” Jaden grinned, squeezing her hand a second time.
Taz was far from amused. “Voyager, this is no time for recklessness. Exercise more care! We can’t lose you to something as innocuous as a hole in the floor.”
Jaden had the grace to look sheepish. “Sorry. I really didn’t plan on making my exit so ignominiously.”
“Planned or not, you should not have moved ahead without assessing the dangers first,” Taz said.
“Okay, I get it! I’ll exercise more care,” Jaden said, mimicking Taz. She glared at him, and Jaden squirmed under her intense gaze. “Well, now that that’s settled, shall we move along?” When everyone nodded but made no move, Jaden asked, “Up or down?”
“Treasure’s always buried,” Atu answered. “I say we go down.”
Kayla shook her head. “I don’t know about that. Isn’t the basement where the dungeons are in a fortress like this?”
They all laughed, but it turned out she was right. Unlike the stairs leading up which branched off to several higher levels, those descending had no such distinction. They stretched deep into the bowels of the structure, excessively far from the levels above, giving credence to Kayla’s theory. Those attempting escape would’ve had so far to go to reach the main level, it would’ve drastically reduced their chances of success.
“I’m glad we left the gliders up there to watch our backs,” Kayla muttered when it became clear she was right.
The air grew rank and thick, and the dank chill rising from the stone stairs crawled up her jeans. Whatever was down here was long gone or long dead. She shivered, grateful for the warmth of Jaden’s hand in hers, for his body heat pulsing next to her, assuring her they were, in fact, still alive. She gripped his hand tighter, eliciting a curious glance. When she gave a wan smile and lifted a shoulder, indicating there was no actual cause for alarm, Jaden returned the smile and resumed concentrating on the descent.
Finally reaching the bottom, the stairs delivered them into a small, round room which looked like it might’ve been a guardroom. Neither the smashed table occupying one corner nor the several broken chairs strewn around the room gave this impression. Rather, it was the broken, barred metal gates blocking several tunnels leading off from the room.
The tunnels, arranged at regular intervals, would’ve resembled the spokes on a wheel if they had viewed them on a map. Interestingly, they found no sign of people, either living or dead, nor weapons of any kind.
Picking a tunnel at random, Jaden tugged Kayla behind him, then pushed on the ruined, rusted gate, cringing as it squealed open. Gingerly, all three of them crept into the tunnel beyond until they found the first of several cells.
Rusted metal bands that had once encased solid three-inch thick doors were almost all that remained of what had once been the cell door. The remaining moldy wood crumbled away from the restraining bars of the partially open door. Glancing at one another, the teens paused before Jaden took the plunge and stepped into the room beyond, letting go of Kayla’s hand.
That Jaden motioned for her to stay behind him, that he demonstrated his concern for her, took most of the bite out of Kayla’s loss of contact. When he exited the room a second later, gagging, Kayla was glad she’d made no move to follow him.
“Is it as bad in there as you’re making it look?” Atu asked.
“Worse.” Jaden squeezed out between gritted teeth.
Atu frowned. “Surely, whoever’s in there is just a skeleton?”
“It’s not who’s in there,” Jaden clarified. “It’s what.”
When he didn’t elaborate, Kayla had to know. “What?”
“Believe me, it’s better you don’t know. These people were barbaric.”
Her morbid curiosity piqued, Kayla snuck past Jaden and peeked into the room. What she saw made her breath stutter.
Tarnished knives, brown with long-dried blood, lined the right wall, arranged by size and shape. Below them, a selection of menacing manacles hung, their meaty chains dangling deviously free.
Above the knives was an assortment of tools Kayla didn’t recognize—some shaped like corkscrews, others wide on one end and tapering at the other. Yet others were reed-like tubes, some with curious barbed edges, others thin metal wands with ominously curved hooks at the end.
Along the left wall was an antiquated contraption: a rack with its pulleys and gears and tattered ropes. Nervously, her eyes swiveled away from the device, landing on the stone table in the middle of the room. The brittle, dried-out bones of some poor soul still covered it, the long-coagulated rivers of his blood still staining the sides of the table. Much as Kayla rarely minded blood, the implication of how it had gotten there had her backing out of the room quickly.
“It’s really that terrible?” Atu asked, steadying Kayla as she bumped into him.
“Yeah, take our word for it,” Kayla managed.
“That being the case, let’s move on. We might find something more useful further down,” Atu said.
Kayla grimaced. “Sure, but you’re taking the first look at what’s in the next room.”
Atu paled at the thought but bravely stepped over the threshold of the following cell. When he walked back out looking puzzled, Jaden and Kayla stared, astounded.
“That didn’t turn your stomach?” Jaden asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Nope. This room has ‘who’s and not ‘what’s, a few skeletons that have been there for ages. Nothing in there to turn you into a squeamish mess.”
Jaden and Kayla poked their heads into the room. He was telling the truth. Although the occupants had been prisoners, their bones had long since fallen from the shackles binding them while their owners were still alive.
“Okay, so can we go now?” Kayla demanded. “I think we’ve established this was the hall of horrors. I doubt there’s any treasure here.”
Jaden sighed. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
They retraced their steps, moving back up the tunnel to the base of the stairs. Taz peered at them from the opening far above.
“Find anything noteworthy?” Taz asked, her voice echoing thinly as it deflected its way down to them.
“Unless you’d call substantiating these people were irrationally cruel something worth knowing, then no, nothing noteworthy,” Kayla replied.
Han’s face appeared next to Taz’s as he stepped in beside her. “Do you know what you’re looking for?”
The teens hesitated. It was a valid question. Truthfully, they didn’t know exactly what they had to find, so how would they know when they found it? It could’ve been down there, staring them in the face the whole time.
Correctly interpreting their perplexed expressions, Taz offered advice. “Have you consulted your map?”
“Uh, duh! No!” Jaden scowled, slapping his forehead with his hand before he hastily opened the disc.
The dot was definitely blinking much faster. And its three-dimensional placement made it abundantly clear they were headed for the tower.
“Hey, we were right,” Atu said, thumping Jaden on the back.
“Told you we wouldn’t find the treasure in the dungeons,” Kayla groused.
“And you were right,” Jaden said. “We shouldn’t have taken you to the ‘Hall of Hor
rors!’” Satisfied when a slight smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, Jaden addressed the gliders. “Are you coming up with us?”
“No, we’ll follow on the outside,” Taz said. “We’ve already ascertained the lack of suitable entrances higher up. If we find trouble, it’s better if we’re not trapped inside.”
“But you’ll be close by, right?” Kayla asked.
“Yes, we’ll keep circling. We should be able to spot you at any of the openings. Just make sure you look for us from there at regular intervals, so we know where you are.”
“We will. Ready?” Jaden asked Kayla and Atu.
As Kayla wound up the magnificent staircase, she saw the gliders hopping back to the entrance. When they reached the large stone landing outside, they stopped and monitored their enemies’ progress. Apparently, the invisible barrier still held the Gaptors back because their gliders launched themselves into the air.
A moment later, Kayla spotted them out of one of the side openings as they circled the structure, close enough to spot the teens when they waved from the opening but not close enough to limit their flight options should they come under attack.
Inside the structure, Kayla, Jaden, and Atu traversed the levels quickly, eager to reach the tower. Unfortunately, they had to take a few detours along the way so they could keep their promise to check in with their gliders. Although the diversions were a nuisance, it gave them a sense of the structure’s layout.
On the level immediately above the imposing reception room and to the immediate left and right of the stairs were what the teens initially thought were meeting rooms. What were once ornately carved chairs surrounded massive, dusty wooden tables dominating spacious rooms, alternating with rooms lined with rows of long stone benches facing a podium on one end.
However, when they moved further down the hallway and found the broken pieces of a spinning wheel and then part of a stringed musical instrument, they adjusted their thinking. Entertainment and leisure activities had apparently also happened on this level, which meant the first rooms could’ve been dining rooms. In the absence of other items, it was impossible to tell, and they didn’t bother wasting time figuring it out.
Reaching an opening at the end of the hallway, they signaled their gliders and moved up to the second level. Smashed bed frames, hefty wooden chests that stood open where they weren’t disintegrating, and an assortment of smaller pieces of wood no longer identifiable as anything recognizable amidst grotesque statues that had served some dark, decorative purpose didn’t make this level too hard to figure out.
“Sleeping quarters,” Jaden muttered.
“Although how they ever slept with these hideous images around them, I can’t fathom.” Kayla shuddered. Peeking into a squalid, tiny room alongside one of the larger rooms, she noted a rusty iron grate in the center and an almost perfectly round hole in the floor at one corner. “And this would be the bathroom!” Kayla gagged. “Thank heavens for modern plumbing!”
With that delightful thought, they crossed to the window, signaled their gliders, and pressed upward again. But the higher they went, the more uneasy Kayla felt. A slithering sense of discomfort settled over her when the functionality of the rooms changed abruptly.
Gone were the cavernous areas of the lower levels, presumably used by the nobility for meeting, greeting, entertaining, living, and sleeping. In their stead, tiny, chilly rooms crowded the upper levels. The outside light was restricted, although the setting sun’s rays were practically perpendicular to the vertical slits serving as openings.
Kayla shivered. She didn’t want to imagine how dark it could get in here at night. Musty air, so thick it was suffocating, blanketed them. These areas were purely for work. A ribbed iron washboard in one room, rusted iron buckets in another, and a vast, grimy kitchen taking up an entire level all supported this idea.
Then they reached the levels which must’ve housed the servants. The slits serving as openings to the outside were narrower, allowing even less light in. The teens re-engaged their night vision goggles. That was a mistake. Row upon row of alcoves pitted the bare stone walls lining the narrow hallway, each one scarcely large enough to accommodate a person.
The teens stared at one another, aghast, as they put it together. These tiny alcoves were where the servants had lived. Not only had their owners crammed these people in here tighter than sardines in a can—they had left them no space to call their own, deprived them of any privacy, any humanity.
Without thinking, Kayla moved, backing into Jaden. But she didn’t step away from him. Rather, she leaned into him. Just having him there, pressed against her back, calmed her. Relief coursed through her when his arms wrapped around her. His hands slid down her arms to cover her own; his touch brought warmth that chased away the chill invading her bones. They stayed touching for only a moment, taking comfort from each other before Jaden sighed and stepped back. They had to move on.
Eschewing the ranks of berths taking up three full levels, the teens scurried upward, fleeing like rats from a sinking ship, not pausing even once to signal their gliders. Escaping the horror, they reached a level devoid of interior walls. The floor was a wide, open space with multiple slitted openings lining the exterior walls.
Although the sun had almost set, the sudden light after all the gloom was almost blinding. Groping for the nearest opening, they reached out and waved to their gliders, then sagged against the wall, breathing hard. As their eyes adjusted, they faced a new puzzle. The bones of long-dead animals littered the floor, carcasses of differing sizes and shapes.
“Why would they have animals up here?” Atu wondered, pushing himself up so he could inspect the bones. “It makes no sense. How would they have fed them?”
Jaden and Kayla similarly rose to their feet, all three teens inspecting the room for feeding troughs. But they found none. Not wanting to linger, they moved up. A shoulder-high wall that didn’t quite reach the sides separated the next room into two spacious halves. On this wall, they found the markings. And this time, they were legible.
Kayla rushed over and examined the markings. Loosing an excited squeal, she dropped to the floor, flung her backpack open, and scratched around for a piece of paper and a pen, never taking her eyes from the wall. The boys watched her curiously, wondering what she was up to. But she plunked herself down on the floor and began scribbling, too excited to give them an explanation.
Chapter Thirty
Jaden glanced at Atu, perplexed.
“What’s she doing?” Atu asked.
“Not the foggiest,” Jaden responded.
Sauntering over to where Kayla sat cross-legged, Jaden peeked over her shoulder. As best he could figure, she was copying the symbols from the wall into her notebook. More confusing was the way she was underlining some symbols and crossing others out.
Jaden cleared his throat. “Care to tell us what you’re doing?”
“Shh, I almost have it!”
Annoyed by Kayla’s shushing, Jaden frowned. He glanced at Atu, but his friend shrugged, just as mystified. Eager to get going again, Jaden waited impatiently before he began pacing. A sense of urgency rose in him like a tidal wave. Nervous energy surged through him. When he couldn’t contain it any longer, he spat it out. “Kayla, we have to go! I feel like we’re running out of time.”
Kayla stopped her frantic scratching and studied him. “A feeling feeling or just a feeling?”
“A feeling feeling,” Jaden hissed. “It’s these walls, the carvings, those statues we passed on the way up. Something’s wrong with this place.”
Kayla nodded. “You’re right.”
“Why do you say that?” Atu asked.
“Well, these markings for one,” Kayla replied. “I know what they mean.”
“What?” Jaden and Atu exclaimed.
“No need to get so excited.” Kayla smirked.
Jaden rounded on her. “How do you know what they mean?”
“Did you forget my talent is linguistics?” Kayla sighe
d, before steadying herself and explaining. “This is an old language. In fact, it’s so archaic it’s almost extinct. It’s difficult to learn because, frankly, the materials available for learning it are rare. Now that I say that aloud, that should’ve given me a clue because my grandmother was one of the few people who had books teaching it.”
“Your grandmother?” Jaden was more confused than ever.
Kayla waved a dismissive hand. “But that was all so long ago, and I was still so young . . . how was I to know? Regardless, the moment Grammy heard my talent was linguistics, she insisted I study it. I remember being mad with my mom because I couldn’t believe she backed up Grammy’s demand. But Grammy must’ve somehow known I would need it someday,” Kayla murmured pensively.
“Okay, that’s creepy,” Atu admitted.
“Yeah, weird and all, but are you almost done?” Jaden demanded.
“Almost. I’ll hurry. I’d say we could go, except, from what I have so far, I think the message is important.”
Jaden shrugged. “If you say so. Just be quick about it. I’ll sneak a peek outside and let the gliders know we’re still okay.”
Hurrying to the nearest opening, Jaden didn’t spot the gliders. He skimmed the darkening skies. Where are they? They had to be on the other side of the structure. Aggravated, Jaden waited, giving the gliders a few moments to finish their circuit and make their way back around. Five minutes later, he got worried. Sprinting over to the openings on the far side of the room, he peered into the deepening gloom. They weren’t there either.
Atu, noticing Jaden’s barely concealed tension, asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t find the gliders.”
“You sure you didn’t just catch them on the other side?”
“Yes! They should’ve come around by now.”
“Chill, bro.” Atu raised both hands and let them drop in a calming motion. “Stay there on the east side. I’ll take the west. I’m sure we’ll find them.”
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