The Cursed Key

by Miranda Brock

  The runes kept up their steady glow as I scaled the wall, but their light faded as I passed. When I peered down over my shoulder, I could see nothing but darkness. Unnerved, I studied the runes to take my mind off the looming black.

  For the first several yards, the luminescent symbols were nothing more than guides like starlight in the night. Then they started to change, or maybe, my perception of them began to shift.

  I could read them.

  At first, it was only a few words here and there, as I had been able to read them in the depths of the earth in the Vale do Javari.

  My fingers brushed over the ruins, and as I climbed higher, my grip firm on the rough rock, a story unfolded.

  The tale spoke of a time of magic and wonder. There was peace amongst all peoples and races. I climbed higher. Balance and harmony had encompassed all things. I could almost see the beauty before my eyes, the ghost of magic, a thousand different colors swirling into the shadows. I drank in the shining symbols with a sense of disbelief. The earth had been an unbelievably breathtaking place.

  The runes twisted, moving from soft curves to sharp, harsh lines. The story changed, and I grew as cold as the rock beneath my fingers at the words that whispered in my mind.

  A dark force rose up from the bowels of the earth. It had been unforgiving in its consumption of all things beautiful and wondrous. A war of power broke the world and left a path of destruction in its wake. No corner of the world was untouched by screams and death.

  My heart beat faster.

  A sacrifice.

  I could almost see the vision in my mind as my fingertips traced the rune. My touch brushed to another set of runes, and my pulse quickened at the mention of keys. I stepped quickly onto the next set of footholds, eager to learn the answer.

  The runes ended in fragments of light. Deep gouges tore through the rock across the runes.

  Whatever the answer had been, it would remain hidden.

  A soft light bloomed above. I hadn’t even realized I had reached the top. Bracing my hands on the edge, I lifted myself up on burning muscles. I rolled onto the flat surface and lay on my back. For a few moments, I did nothing but stare at the dimly lit rock ceiling and catch my breath.

  I finally turned my head and took in the room. It was shaped like a shallow bowl with the domed ceiling only twelve feet or so above me. The floor looked like water turned to smooth stone. Though it was still beneath my feet as I stood, it seemed to swirl and eddy beneath my boots.

  The light didn’t seem to be coming from anywhere in particular, but it glowed the brightest in the center.

  I became aware of another presence before I saw anyone.

  My eyes widened. Three people stood in a triangle around a pedestal in the center.

  A key sat on the rune-wreathed pedestal.

  My footfalls were the only sound in the room as I walked over. The two women and one man did not turn toward me. Were they even aware of my presence? I studied the trio as I closed the distance.

  There was something inhuman about them. Their dark green robes fluttered around them on a breeze I couldn’t feel. I realized with a shock that the floor at their feet didn’t just look to be rippling like water; it actually was shifting as if touched by a current. A subtle scent of rain-soaked moss and decaying leaves filled my nostrils as I stepped up to them.

  They finally turned in my direction, and the whispers that had been following me swirled around me.

  “Um, hi.” I gave them a lame wave of my hand. I cleared my throat. “I’m Olivia. I’m here for the key.”

  “Who are you to believe you are worthy to take the key?”

  The people—druids, my mind seemed to whisper—spoke in unison. Their words sounded as if they were spoken through a long tunnel, bouncing and echoing hollowly through the yellow light warming the stone walls.

  “The witch, Aileen, sent me.”

  Again, the druids answered as one. “We do not answer to Aileen.”

  What was with these people? Could they not see the magic swirling around my fingers? I held up my hand, just in case, but they merely stared at me.

  I dropped my hand. There was only one question to ask.

  “How am I supposed to prove I am worthy?”

  The stillness of the druids was unnerving.

  “A test,” they said.

  As if I haven’t already worked myself into exhaustion to get up here. Wasn’t that test enough?

  “What kind of test?”

  I was met with silence.

  I reached hesitantly toward my bag. Did I need to get my knife out? Was I going to have to fight them? Though they did not appear to be warriors, they were no doubt powerful.

  “What kind of a test do you require?”

  Again, they didn’t answer, but the whispers grew louder. The hushed voices, a myriad of ancient syllables and twisting of tongues, became so loud they screamed in my head. I winced and pressed my hands to my ears. The robes of the druids fell in a pile, and the water beneath them hardened like the rest of the smooth floor.

  The mage stood in their place.

  My heart lurched. He had beat me here. I glanced at the piles of robes, but there were no skeletons there. What had he done to them?

  His harsh laughter cracked across the hard walls and sent goosebumps prickling up the back of my neck. He walked toward me. The floor shook with each step, tiny fissures spider-webbing beneath him. Dust snowed from the ceiling.

  I was going to die here.

  I clenched my hands together. No. I had come so far. I would not die here.

  “You should not have come, Olivia, is it? You should have left well enough alone. Now you and that poor shifter you let get trapped below will have nothing but a slow, painful death to look forward to.” His eyes held me trapped in their gaze. “Just as you had given to so many others.”

  “What do you mean?” My words came surprisingly steady past my fear.

  “You still do not remember who you are, do you? You do not know your origins?” He paused, and the corner of his mouth lifted in a knowing sneer. “You do not even know what language you are speaking.”

  Until that moment, I hadn’t realized I was speaking the same ancient language as the mage. What did he mean? That I was someone else?

  The mage’s gaze flashed like lightning, blinding me. I blinked a few times and gasped.

  I was standing back in the rainforest. Damp heat pressed on my skin, pulling up beads of sweat that rolled down my forehead. The air was heavy with a scent like rust and earth. I glanced down to find blood in the cracks of stone beneath my feet. Screams should have filled the air, but they did not. I was surrounded by people, their faces a mixture of determination and fettered grief.

  Every person who came forward, one-by-one, walked willingly to the blade in my hand as the mage behind me struggled.

  “Sacrifice to surrender.” My reach arced forward, and I cut down the man in front of me. “Blood to bind.”

  The image ripped away from my mind like a torn piece of paper. The mage stood in front of me once again.

  Sacrifice to surrender. Blood to bind.

  Was that how he was to be defeated? For a moment, I didn’t dare react. Had he meant to tell me that? Had it been a mistake? The mage merely stared at me and made no more advances. Something wasn’t right.

  I told myself I was crazy as I pulled at the magic dancing across my skin. I formed it into a sphere and threw it at the mage with a yell. He dodged, and I ran straight at him. I wasn’t thinking, wasn’t questioning if I could defeat him or not. All I knew was that I had to try, so I charged toward him with my magic in one hand and my knife in the other.

  Right before I got to the mage, a sensation like icy water splashed over me. I gasped and blinked.

  The mage was no longer before me, and I found myself staring at the trio of druids once again.

  “You have passed the test.”

  “I…I did?”

  “Yes, by confronting the mage w
illingly.”

  In unison, they took a step back, the floor rippling fluidly beneath them. I walked toward the pedestal. My hand hesitated over the key sitting there.

  “It’s not cursed, is it?”

  No answer.

  I drew in a deep breath and picked up the key.

  It wasn’t gold like the first one had been. This one was smooth and a dull white in color. It reminded me of bone. It was carved intricately. I brushed my thumb over the relic.

  A pulling sensation tugged at me, as if a string had suddenly tightened around my mind. I could have sworn I almost sensed something like poison trailing up the tether.

  The mage.

  I closed my hand around the key and turned to the druids. Now that I had the key, I needed something else.

  “Who am I?” I asked.

  The vision of the jungle and the sacrifices, the mage bound behind who I was certain had been myself, flashed through my mind.

  “In some cases, it is necessary for the past to be reborn in the future. You have been reborn to walk the path to stop the dark mage once again.”

  I should have known. All of the hints had been there, but hearing it aloud…I didn’t even know what to think. I wanted to deny it, to fight it somehow, but through my exhaustion, I couldn’t even muster up an excuse.

  Knowing what I had seen in that fleeting image had been true, bile burned in my throat. I was a monster.

  Sacrifice. Was that what it would take to stop the mage?

  I shoved the thought from my mind.

  “Where is Kael?”

  The druids’s silence was deafening. Even the whispers had left, I realized. I began to fear the worst for Kael.

  “What happened to him?”

  Without an answer from them, the rippling floor beneath their feet swirled, and water splashed up at their robes. The swirling floor spread, and I took a step back too late. The stones beneath me grew unsteady, giving in beneath my boots. I sank in to my ankles as the water pulled me down. I could do nothing as the icy water splashed up.

  Too fast.

  I was being pulled in too fast.

  My hand tightened on the key as the water rushed over my head. I barely managed to close my mouth in time as the strong currents wrenched at my arms and legs. Water filled my eyes and ears.

  I was drowning.

  Chapter 21

  As I hurtled upward, light, crisp air hit me. But just as fast as I went up, I went down, slamming into the ground.

  “Livvie!”

  I spat out a mouthful of water and coughed. Kael?

  A pair of firm hands grabbed my shoulders and gave me a light shake. Then, fingers brushed wet hair from my face. I wiped my eyes and blinked to find the shifter kneeling in front of me.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  I didn’t answer. I peered around. We were back in the clearing. To my right was the entrance. Had I been shot out of it like water through a whale’s blowhole? That was a first.

  My gaze swept back to Kael. “How did you get out?”

  His eyes were wide with worry. He shrugged a shoulder. “That tunnel led right back out here.” His gaze dropped to my chest, and his mouth popped open. “You got it!”

  I followed his gaze to find the key now nestled below my collarbone on a fine chain. I lifted it up. “I did.” I smiled. “And I know where to find the mage.”

  Kael pulled me to my feet. “That quickly?”

  The sharp breeze of the mountain cut through my wet clothes like a shard of ice. I crossed my arms tight across my chest and nodded. “Yeah, it’s like this string is tied to him and I can lead us right there.”

  The shifter’s sharp gaze studied me. “First things first. We need to get down from this place. Think you can make it all right?”

  I arched an eyebrow at him and glanced back at the ruins I’d just survived. “Are you kidding?”

  Kael laughed as we started our trek back down the mountain. “I have to admit, you are surprising.”

  “Surprising how?”

  “I’ve seen my fair share of archaeologists. Most of them were stuffy old professors who had hardly spent any time on actual digs. They live by the facts, and those who do spend time in ruins are only interested in digging up evidence to support the same claims that have been etched into the books throughout history.” He paused as we took the time to climb down a steep path of rock and thick roots. “You aren’t like that. You seem like the kind to dive headfirst into the unknown in hopes of finding something new and unbelievable.”

  Wow. Talk about hitting the nail on the head. He had me pinned. “Well, I don’t see the point in delving into the earth if I’m not going to dig up long-forgotten secrets.”

  “Yeah, and look where it got you.” Kael stared pointedly at the key around my neck.

  I grinned. “Occupational hazard.”

  I had to admit, even with the volatile countries, treacherous landscapes, and dust-laden tombs, I’d never expected to unearth anything like what I had found. I had gone from an ambitious archaeologist to a magic-cursed woman with the knowledge of shifters, fae, witches, and mages, one of which seemed to be some reincarnated ancient being.

  Life had gotten way too complicated. Perhaps, this time, I had bit off more than I could chew.

  The way back down the mountain was not nearly as difficult as the trek upward. Not only did the downward sloping terrain provide easier travel, but the urge to follow the key to the mage seemed to make me more driven. I used my magic to help warm myself as I had done deep in the long-forgotten Scottish ruins.

  We spent another night under the rattling canopy, though this time there was no fire to flee from. As we reached the base of the mountain the following day, the pale light of morning still clung to the gray branches and brittle brown grass.

  “Too bad we don’t have the horses here.” I wouldn’t have minded getting off my feet for a bit. Perhaps Aileen would allow us a brief rest at her bed and breakfast. A hot cup of tea in that cozy living room sounded amazing.

  “I’m not big on horses.” Kael slung my bag over his shoulder after offering to carry it for a while. “They sense the predator in me.”

  I’d thought as much after watching the horse on the way up dancing beneath him.

  Even without the horses, we made fairly good time, and by mid-morning, the bed and breakfast came into sight. Our pace quickened, but as we neared the quaint cottage, Kael stopped abruptly. Though he was in his human form, something about the lowering of his chin and the raise of his shoulders made it look like his hackles were raised.

  “What is it?” I asked as he handed me back my bag. I took my knife from it.

  “I’m not sure.” Kael’s nostrils flared. “Something smells wrong.”

  Before I could ask him more, he was shifting. The jaguar stood beside me as I walked to the cottage. I knocked on the door and was met with silence.

  “Aileen?” I called.

  Nothing.

  Unease unfurled in the pit of my stomach as I eased the door open. I barely made it over the threshold before a deep rumble rolled through Kael’s chest. He continued forward, but I froze.

  Blood was everywhere.

  It was splattered across the walls, staining the rugs, and peppered across the blue and white throw pillows on the fat sofa. A tray was upended near my feet, the tea cups broken and tea soaking into the worn rug.

  I squeezed my eyes shut. A vision. It had to be another vision.

  When I opened my eyes again, I found the jaguar, Kael, stepping carefully around the dark crimson stains. He sniffed, tail twitching in agitation, as he moved stealthily throughout the cottage. I watched from where I stood, holding out hope that Aileen and her sisters were all right.

  After several minutes, I went outside, unable to bear the sight of the blood and the crushing guilt it brought. It had to have been the mage’s doing, or those under his influence, as the man outside of Cordelia’s shop had been.

  If we hadn’t come
here in the first place…

  I jumped at a sudden touch on my leg. Aileen’s striped cat—Nutmeg, I thought her name was—bumped her head against me. She sat on her haunches and meowed shrilly, obviously distressed. Kael joined me then, clothed and human. He crouched to rub a knuckle on the cat’s cheek as he reached up to hand me a small piece of paper.

  The paper was torn on one edge, as if it had been ripped from the writer. The scrawls were messy, hastily written. A few droplets of blood had stained the white paper. Only three words were written.

  ind the mage.

  The first part of the first word was missing.

  Kael straightened beside me. “Find the mage.” His voice was rough but subdued. “There was no sign of the witches other than the blood.”

  I nodded and stuck the piece of paper in my pocket. Find the mage. It made sense, and the most logical explanation was that Aileen or one of the other sisters had written that demand. It was, after all, the most imperative task of my life at the moment.

  But why write me a note for the obvious?

  As we headed toward town with hopes that a bus would happen our way, I couldn’t help but feel that wasn’t what was written on the note.

  Bind the mage.

  As I thought the words, the sensation leading me to the dark mage gave a tug, as if it was in agreement.

  Sacrifice to surrender. Blood to bind.

  The image that had flashed before my eyes within the druids’ chamber came back to mind. The mage had to be bound...but sacrifice?

  I kept up a steady pace behind Kael as my thoughts whirred. I could never bring myself to sacrifice anyone, let alone the multiple people it had seemed to take in the vision. Would it be worth it, though, to stop the mage? Would a sacrifice of ten, twenty, thirty people be worth it to stop the mage from growing in power and unleashing himself on hundreds or thousands of people?

  I blew out a sharp breath, as if I could dispel the dark thought through my lips.

  “Are you okay?”

  Kael had stopped in front of me, and only his hand on my shoulder stopped me from running into him.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “I can tell when you’re lying.”