Lorelei blinked and took a step back. She’d never been to Winderward before now, much less to this temple. How had she thought such a thing? She stared up at the temple. There was something familiar about it, like out of one of her dreams. Nightmares. Most of her nights were filled with visions that would make most sidhe’s blood curdle. Was this place the source of her nightmares?
There was only one way to find out.
With a deep breath, she pushed the doors open. The inside of the temple took Lorelei’s breath away. She opened her backpack, pulled out a small lantern, and lit it. The floor was made of a dark stone that reflected the light from the lantern she’d lit. Twelve columns, made of the same stone, lined the giant hall in two rows of six. Time had worn away the column, leaving cracks and large chips in their surface.
The ceiling, also of the same stone, was filled with diamonds that glittered in the lantern light. They had been arranged to represent the constellations. Lorelei had spent many nights on the roof of her house as a child along with Freya and Arryn. They had tried counting the stars and Lorelei loved recounting the tales of what each star cluster represented.
Now, she smiled up at Neefa, the Constellation of Silence. She was supposed to have served as the Empress’ hidden hand and spymaster.
Lorelei’s footsteps echoed on the stone floor, sending a feeling of loneliness through her, as she approached the back wall. Filled out in a series of tiles was a fresco of a trio of women. They weren’t of any faerie Lorelei knew of, though it was difficult to tell because their forms seemed to be composed of stars. They were like constellations of themselves.
She’d never seen a constellation like this in the night sky.
“Murgleis, do you know of these women?” she asked.
I believe they were a trio of goddesses of some sort. Long dead. This temple is most likely dedicated to their religion.
“Strange,” she said. “I don’t remember ever hearing about them.”
Have you heard of many gods? They fell from the heavens long ago, Murgleis said. Forgotten like most gods after the Miasma struck.
“I suppose many of these gods fell to the Miasma,” Lorelei mused. “They didn’t have the Empress’s power to turn Iron into Emerald.”
Many fell before then and after, but a few have survived, despite your Order’s efforts to wipe them out.
“Really? Like who?”
Murgleis remained silent.
Lorelei sighed. That looked like all she was going to get out of him at the moment.
She turned her attention back to the room. The side walls each held a closed wooden door. She stepped up to the door on the right and opened it. Dust from ages of neglect swept up from the walls and floor and clogged her nose and throat. She coughed and sputtered. After a final sneeze, she rubbed her nose and stepped through the doorway. Beyond it lay a long hallway.
Several doors lined the hall, just waiting to be explored.
A buzzing sound echoed from the door at the end of the hall. She crept forward to it. Her hand hovered over Murgleis as she turned the handle.
The room was laid out oddly. There were seven alcoves that ended in points. The door she had opened stood in one of them and what looked like statues stood in the others. In the center of the room was a dome of white energy, which had to be the source of the buzz. Seven staves with glowing crystals surrounded the dome, correlating with each of the alcoves. Inside the energy, a pale female lay upon an alter with her eyes closed.
Lorelei rushed to the edge of the dome. The female was not only pale, but her hair was white as well. She had a thin frame that reminded her of a swan. Perhaps she was a phooka, though what a phooka would be doing behind a dome of energy she had no clue.
It’s a binding circle, Murgleis said. That is no faerie, but some sort of spirit masquerading as one. You should leave it alone.
“That’s not what I did for you,” Lorelei said.
And now you are bound to me, Murgleis said. Do you want to be bound to something else, or worse, end up as its meal?
“Why would it matter to you if I did?” Lorelei tilted her head down at the sword.
It has been a while since someone was not caught in my song, let alone dared wield me. I do not wish to be trapped in this tomb if you die.
“It’s a temple, not a tomb.”
It may as well be a tomb for all it is visited.
Lorelei looked back to the sleeping female. Something about her was familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. If the female had been trapped here, perhaps she knew of the history of the place and the goddesses that had been worshipped. If they were one of the ones connect to Vaana, they would need that information. She would get no answers letting her lay here though.
You’re going to ignore my advice, Murgleis said.
“How do I remove the binding?” Lorelei circled the dome, staring at each of the staves.
The energy is being channeled through the staves. They are acting as a focus. Removing the power of one would break the circle and the binding. However, it may have adverse effects.
“Can you drain the energy?”
Most of the Aether I consume is that of souls, little girl. Murgleis chuckled. Besides, I would not risk a backlash if that circle is meant to hold a Sluagh. Such a thing would be detrimental to me.
“Fine,” Lorelei muttered.
She’d studied the principles of channeling at the Aimsir. She herself channeled Aether to perform her spells through song and music. Perhaps she could do the same thing and channel Aether out of one of these staves. Where would she put it though?
The heartstone!
Excitement buzzed through her like bits of electricity tingling her skin as she pulled out the ruby from her bag. She stared down at it, chewing the inside of her cheek. The last time she’d tried to use the heartstone it’d had explosive results. Now she was going to try something experimental again. She’d needed to prepare herself better.
She closed her eyes and chanted a soft song, summoning the Aether from the well deep within her to form a mystical cloak. Light blue energy shimmered around her body. Her heart leapt. She’d successfully created a fire protection mantle. If only her instructors could see her now. They would just shake their heads at the insanity she was about to attempt. She could barely master simple spells and here she was about to try something experimental.
She drew a deep breath to her diaphragm and shifted the melody of her song. Her words reverberated off the stone walls, overpowering the buzzing of the dome. She sang of the loneliness of the stars and of being forgotten.
All the while, she concentrated on pulling the Aether from the stave into the heartstone. It resisted her at first, like trying to pull a stop out of a tub if the tub was the size of a pond. Then, it gave with an inaudible pop and the energy rushed through her and into the heartstone.
A hole appeared in the dome where the stave she’d been concentrating on stood, and the other crystals in the staves began to spark. The air pulled her towards the dome for a second before a wave of force burst from the circle. Lorelei was knocked off her feet and into one of the statues in an alcove. Her head slammed against the base of the pedestal and the stars from the ceiling in the great hall danced before her eyes.
She rolled over with a groan, rubbing her head. A shadow blocked what little light was left in the room. The pale female loomed over Lorelei with her hands on her hips and her platinum hair falling about her like a halo.
“What have we here?” she murmured.
14
Vandermere paused at the corner of their fifth crossroads and rested his hand on his knees as he caught his breath. He and Vaana had been trekking through the city ever since their fight with the barghests. They’d started with searching for an alternate way into the alley that had blocked them off from Lorelei, only to discover she wasn’t there.
Vaana had then directed them towards a tower they had seen. Despite every street they traveled and every turn they’d made, they
drew no closer. The damn city was moving and forcing them to choose new paths after several blocks. It seemed like they’d been walking for hours now, though the sun was just reaching its high point in the sky.
Vandermere wiped the sweat from his brows. If only he could wipe away his pounding headache as well.
He scanned the street ahead, looking for a wisp of movement like Lorelei’s dark clothes or her brown hair, and straining his ears for the lilt of her voice. The city remained eerily silent. Not even the birds or insects dared to make a sound in here.
“Let’s just give up on the tower and looks for Lorelei,” Vandermere said. “If we can’t get there, I doubt she can.”
“No, we’re not here to look for her,” Vaana said. “She’ll have to survive on her own.”
“So, now that you got what you wanted out of her, you’re ready to just forget about her?” He laughed, low and bitter. “Typical.”
Vaana cast him a glare before scanning the city. “She’s better off without us, anyway. You’re mad and I’m carrying around heretical gods inside of me.”
He shook his head. “When are you going to realize that other gods existed besides yours? That’s not heresy. It is the way of the world.”
“Pretenders.” Vaana sniffed. “The Empress is the True Goddess. The scriptures speak of her rebirth to save us from the Miasma.”
“And where is she now?”
“Once she fulfilled her purpose, she took her place back in the Heavens, of course.”
Vandermere opened his mouth to retort when the dulcet tones of Lorelei’s singing interrupted him. It was soft at first, like it’d been carried on the wind for some distance. He tensed and glanced around as an airy feeling filled his chest. It was coming from his left.
He spared Vaana a glance. “Well, you can depend on your Empress to guide you alone. I’m going to find Lorelei.”
He rushed down the street toward the sound. In the distance, a metal spire stood above the dilapidated rooftops. How had he not seen it before? He shook his head, trying not to ponder the wildness of the city.
He concentrated on his steps echoing on the broken cobblestone which were soon joined by another set of lighter, rapid footfalls. He glanced back at Vaana’s scowling face, locks of her black hair whipping about in the wind as she ran, and a smirk lit his face.
As much as she wanted to talk about the heresy of other gods, she wasn’t prepared to return to her Order with her problem and she wasn’t willing to go alone.
Where the tower had eluded them, Lorelei’s song seemed to guide them to her. After several minutes, the road curved to the right and led to a large courtyard that held a giant temple with the metal spire. Lorelei’s voice came from inside the open doors.
A group of hulking Fomorians stood on the bridge leading to the temple steps. These were different from the others, more humanoid. Before the Miasma touched them, they would have been redcaps, judging by their size. However, they were now twisted with wrinkly grey skin, elongated ears that flopped to one side, and jagged, sharp teeth that jutted from their mouths.
“Trolls,” Vaana murmured in Vandermere’s ear. “We’re not the only one attracted to our songbird.”
“Looks like we’re going to have to go through them to get to her,” Vandermere said.
Lorelei’s song stopped abruptly followed by a ripple of force that emanated from the temple. Rubble skittered across the ground, kicking up dirt. The trolls growled, creeping back from the temple as they muttered amongst each other.
“That’s not good,” Vaana said.
“We need to dispatch them before they decide that the temple is worth inspecting,” Vandermere said.
“Great. You distract them off the bridge and I’ll sneak around.”
“So you can leave me to fight all of them?” Vandermere snorted. “I think not.”
“You really think I’d leave you?”
“I wouldn’t put it past you.” Vandermere stiffened as one of the trolls raised its head and turned its red eyes in their direction. “We’ve lost the element of surprise.”
The troll gave a guttural cry and slapped the shoulder of the one next to him. The others turned in their direction. The biggest one grinned, showing off its teeth, and skulked towards them.
“New plan,” Vaana said. “Stay alive.”
The trolls rushed towards them. Vaana whispered a chant under her breath and pointed a finger at the largest troll, their leader. A beam of yellow light burst forth and struck the troll. He staggered back and shook his head. His shoulders slumped and he seemed to collapse in on himself as he backed away from them with a whimper.
“You can cast fear upon others?” Vandermere raised an eyebrow at her.
Vaana smirked. “Fomorians should fear the power of the Empress.”
Vandermere unsheathed his sword as the other four continued to charge them. “Well, can you do that to the rest?”
“Not in enough time.” Vaana pulled her sword out, a thin short blade.
The first troll rushed towards Vandermere with his clawed hands raised. Vandermere ducked and spun to the side of the troll. He jabbed the blade into the soft spot in the troll’s flank. A second troll swooped in to attack. Vandermere dipped and instead, the second troll’s claws raked the first one. The first yowled and swiped at the second.
Vandermere backed from the bickering trolls and glanced at Vaana. She had two of her own trolls to deal with. She dodged the slash of one troll only to be caught by the swooping claws of the second troll. Her face took on a grayish pallor as she staggered back. Blue blood ran from the four claw marks that had cut through her armor and into her skin. The troll laughed, low and guttural, as he stepped closer, separating Vandermere and Vaana.
Vandermere cursed under his breath as he glanced at the trolls. They were outnumbered and who knew what was happening with Lorelei. Something had cut off her song. Vandermere circled around his trolls to try to find a way to get back to Vaana. They had a better chance together.
Vanna raised her sword as she took a couple slow steps back. Her other hand covered her wound and her mouth moved in a soft mantra Vandermere couldn’t hear. Color returned to her cheek and her shoulders straightened as she took a defensive stance against her trolls.
Vandermere dashed to the side of the first troll he had been fighting as it raised its hand at its companion and slashed its lower back. He turned and swung on the second troll. It grabbed the blade of his sword, engulfing half of it in its oversized paw, and backhanded Vandermere with the second one. The blow slammed into his face, and bones cracked. He was sent flying back several feet and landed on his back. The taste of blood filled his mouth.
The first troll glared at him, then roared and beat its chest. The wound on its side had closed, leaving only a trace of crimson blood. Coldness filled the pit of Vandermere’s stomach.
“That thing can heal!” His words came out slurred as he tried to speak through his broken face. He pushed to his feet.
“It’s a good thing we have the Empress on our side.” Vaana spared him a glance. “Don’t talk anymore, you’ll only make things worse.”
She ducked under one of her trolls as it reached for her and jammed her blade into its belly in a quick succession of jabs. The second swiped at her. She dove to the ground, tucked into a ball, and rolled in between the first one’s legs.
Vandermere grabbed a rock and flung it at the hand of the troll holding his sword. The rock slammed into its wrist. The creature released his blade with a screech. It pounded his chest and rushed towards him.
Vandermere ducked behind a large piece of rubble. The troll rushed by him, its momentum carrying it into its leader, who cowered at the foot of the bridge. These things did not have tactical minds or a lot of coordination. The leader yowled, shoving the other away. It turned its head in Vaana’s direction, standing, and stomped towards her. She tried to dodge its hands, but it grabbed her, lifted her over its head, and hurled her.
Vaana gave a
gurgling sound and went flying through the air. She hit the side of one of the one-story buildings with a loud thud. Her body bounced to the ground. She lay still.
An ominous chill rushed through Vandermere. He sprinted to Vaana and knelt beside her, placing his fingers on her throat. He let out a breath of relief at the faint thrum of her heartbeat against his fingertips.
The trolls closed in on him.
His gaze darted to his sword lying across the courtyard. He would have to do some crazy maneuvering to get past the troll just to get to it and he would be leaving Vaana alone. If he didn’t though...
One of the trolls licked its lips with a thick black tongue, its shoulders shaking with a laugh.
The flash of a bluish light from the entrance on the temple caught his eyes. Blue flames, in the shape of a snake, slithered in the air from the temple. It darted forward and struck the leader in the back, then forked to hit the two adjacent trolls. Their screeches rang out along with the stench of burning flesh. The other trolls jabbered amongst each other, their gazes darting from Vandermere to the entrance of the temple as they backed away. A pale, platinum haired phooka female sauntered out of the temple, tossing a ball of flame from one clawed hand to another. She stood at the top of the stairs and smirked down at the trolls.
Their gibbering increased, and as a whole, they turned and fled down one of the streets, disappearing into the city. The phooka chuckled and glanced at Vandermere.
“Looks like the two of you need some help,” she said. “That is, if you’re willing to step into my parlor.”
15
Lorelei held a cold cloth to the back of her head and glanced around the room Amara, the phooka or the being disguised as a phooka, had chosen to place a wounded Vandermere and Vaana in. The room was shaped like a seven-pointed star as was the other. However, it appeared to have been some sort of dormitory at one time. Each of the alcoves held the remains of a bed, the wood brittle and the mattresses almost rotted away. They were probably bug filled.
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