by A. Lawrence
"Hm."
Heln was tired of barely being able to see their faces. He tugged the light stick from his bag and pressed his thumb over the activation line on the bronze half. The crystal that made up the other half slowly ignited to a steady glow, the yellow-tinted light almost cheerful.
Rhyss didn't look mad, at least. Bel was sitting on the opposite side of the cave, only a few feet away, her chin resting on her knees.
"So what do we do?" Heln set the light stick between the three of them. The bronze end adhered to any surface with a touch of the second line. It looked like a little campfire. Heln wondered if they could light a fire. The warming script sewn into his jacket wasn't doing much to help.
"Let me call my superiors." Rhyss pressed her fingers against one of her arm guards. Magic script carved into the wood lit up blue, forming the pattern of a speaking crystal. Heln wondered how it worked for a moment, after all, speaking crystals were made of crystal for a reason. The magical vibrations could travel better from crystal to crystal. "And then I'll make a report. You two are lucky that we were near this cave, I helped carve this protection script two days ago, just in case."
"In case of what?" Bel looked around.
Heln shrugged. "Dirt constructs, apparently."
"Clay constructs," Bel corrected him, "and yes, good point."
"In case of anything." Rhyss looked a little smug. "Guards are always prepared. And it pays off, in case you didn't notice. You didn't even thank me."
"Thank you," they said in unison.
"See? Was that so hard?" Rhyss began tapping on her arm guard, punctuating long and short pauses. Heln didn't know any codes at all, but he supposed that was how they got it to work through the scripted wood armor. Script worked best with stone and crystal. It took her a few minutes to tap out her message, ignoring Bel's inquiries into what exactly she was saying. Once she was done, she pulled her braid over her shoulder, fiddling with the bead on the leather strap at the end. Ihalins traditionally wore large, metal ornaments in their hair, but leather or ceramics were more practical for everyday wear. Bel's strap was leather, too. The bead was made of stone, and the type indicated clan. Rhyss's was a teal that was only a shade paler than her hair. Heln didn't know rocks, the best he could say was it probably wasn't turquoise.
When Heln had gone to live with his father the year before, he'd told him that he could wear whatever he felt comfortable with: the green agate of the DoVan clan, or the more common quartz worn by low Ihalins. Heln had cut his own hair off that night. His father had seemed to understand, taking him out to get it cleaned up. He hadn't let it grow any longer for that entire year.
"So, actually." Rhyss's voice cut through his thoughts. In the dim light her eyes shone oddly when she glanced at him. "There's been… weird things happening out here, apparently. That's why they brought in all of the Trainees even though it's the Festival. I guess by 'weird things' they meant 'dirt monsters', because I worked this route last year and saw nothing like that. Well, no answer yet. For now, I guess we just sit tight."
"What you're telling me is that they knew about the dirt monsters but they didn't, I don't know, warn people?" Bel pretended to look shocked. "A cover up."
Rhyss glared at her. "I am assuming that they didn't want to cause a panic, and that they were not anticipating anyone leaving the path, and believed that we could handle it."
"So what, this is our fault?"
"Obviously."
Bel huffed and leaned against the wall, staring pointedly out the cave entrance. Heln followed her gaze, but there wasn't much to see. The light show had ended, leaving the forest a hazy darkness, no details visible beyond the pearly luminescence of the shield. If anything was out there they wouldn't be able to see it. He couldn't even make out the shapes of the trees.
They would be rescued soon. He and Bel might get in trouble for trespassing in the Glade, but it was probably better than being eviscerated by a clay construct. Though they might be eviscerated by their grandmother.
The back of the cave didn't offer a better view. It was lost in shadows, a deep, dark circle that looked like a throat.
"It goes on for a while, I followed it once." Rhyss told him. Heln barely kept himself from jumping, he hadn't noticed her watching him. "The floor stays pretty even, too. No big holes or anything like that. I walked for… fifteen minutes? It's all the same, curves a little bit but that's it."
"I guess we can always run that way if we have to," Bel said.
"No," Rhyss said. "We wait for my superiors to respond."
"Eleti alive." Bel rolled her eyes "I was joking."
Heln tried to make out more, he thought maybe he could see the curve, but that was it. A breeze that smelled of earth and deep, hidden places brushed against Heln's face like gentle fingers, accompanied by a soft sound, like the sigh at the end of a long, hard day. "I dunno, Bel might be right. It must let out somewhere."
He let his shields slip. There were still clay constructs, or whatever they really were, outside again. The sensation of dead magic crawled across his senses and he yanked the shields back up.
But not before he realized there was something deeper in the cave, too. He couldn't really describe how it felt. It was different than any magic he had ever sensed before. The closest thing that he could really compare it to was the miniature temple replica that was in the small grove on his school campus, but even that had magical signatures.
Heln carefully let his shields down again and directed all of his attention to the back of the cave, straining to sense something deeper. It thrummed like a heartbeat, one that pulsed to a rhythm that was familiar and foreign at the same time.
A hand on his shoulder startled him, like he had been asleep. Maybe he had been; he was on his feet and quite a bit farther from the entrance than he had been. Bel gave him an apologetic smile. "Hey, buddy, I really was joking. That would be a really bad idea, come back to the entrance, we should have help soon."
"I…" Heln stared at his half-sister like it was the first time he'd ever seen her. He hadn't even been aware he was moving. "Are you actually agreeing with Rhyss?"
"Ha. No." Bel laughed, but the sound was too uneasy, almost bordering on hysterical. Heln really looked at her and realized it was the first time he'd seen her like this, off-footed and unsure. She was pale and her hands were shaking. "I just think we have enough to deal with outside, without crawling down weird tunnels. I wonder who has a big enough grudge against us to do this?"
"It's probably against Rhyss."
"I'm right here," Rhyss said, but it didn't have any venom, for once. Unless it was untraceable and more deadly than usual. "Maybe it's a grudge against the Enforcers."
"Or the Guard and we really are innocent bystanders." Bel smiled sweetly at her.
Rhyss glared at her, then turned to Heln. "Do you think there's something there? I didn't see anything, but the tunnel smooths out after a while. Maybe it does lead somewhere."
"Nice, change the subject, she can dish it out but—"
"Stuff it, Bel."
"No." Heln shook his head. He pulled his shields back up, turning back to the front of the cave. "I thought I heard something, but it was just a breeze."
"Are you sure, I—" Rhyss was cut off by someone knocking on the shield. The three of them all made noises that they would have to deny later. Rhyss had a completely different dagger in her hand before Heln could even blink. This one looked more utilitarian than the one still in the floor, a straight blade with a black wrapped handle. He had to wonder exactly how many knives she had on her person.
"Rhyss? It's Vin." The voice sounded young, even muffled by the shield. "Why are you holed up in there?"
Rhyss let out a breath, her shoulders slumping, then she straightened into a murder stance. At least the knife had disappeared. "Don't do that!"
"Ask why you're in there?"
"Knock on a barrier, jerk!" she snapped.
Heln decided he didn't want to remind her she'd done th
e same thing to him when she'd first come upon them or he might actually find out how many knives she'd squirreled away, and he didn't want to know.
"That's my mentor," she added for Heln and Bel's benefits. "And he's still a jerk, but he'll know what to do. Let's get out of here."
"I heard that."
She pulled her dagger out of the ground and the shield faded, allowing moonlight to shine through and paint the cave entrance a pale blue. Heln picked up his light stick, deactivating both sets of magic script. Rhyss sheathed the dagger at her back and punched the arm of the young man standing there.
He looked a few years older than them, his hair bundled at the base of his neck, the edges of his darker coat a little more impressively decorated than Rhyss's and his cape a little longer. "Hey. Why the distress signal? If you wanted to hang out with… wow. A boy and your arch nemesis. Never mind, I understand now."
"Aww Rhyss, are you telling people about how much we hate each other now? I'm touched. Flattered, really." Bel put a hand to her chest and batted her eyes. "I hate you, too."
"Shut up, Bel. They go to my school, I caught them on the side path." Rhyss glared at Vin. "There were some kind of constructs out there, we could have died."
"No constructs now." Vin looked around anyway, but there was nothing but trees and bushes as far as Heln could tell. Vin seemed to be satisfied, too, giving them a smile. "Hey, don't worry, we'll get you back to the Festival, come on out."
"They were trespassing so we will be getting them to an interrogation room."
"Rhyss, we talked about this."
"Yes, about taking my job seriously." Rhyss nodded.
"Actually I was referencing our discussion on not abusing our power, but…"
Before any of them could leave a huge figure silently charged in from the side and slammed into Vin. He barely managed to turn at the last instant, but was still thrown away from the cave. The thing turned to them and made a horrible noise, something between a roar and a landslide.
It was a clay construct, but it was twice as tall and wide as the previous one, with roots and branches sticking out of its chest like spikes. It was almost too big to fit into the cave entrance.
Almost.
"Go!" Rhyss shoved them both. "Go go go!"
"What about—" Bel started to say.
"Just go I'll help Vin!" She had her dagger back out, slashing it through the air in front of the construct. The blue glow of the blade expanding into a scythe of blue light that plowed into it. The light shattered across its shoulder and it grunted, but didn't stop.
Bel grabbed her arm and started dragging her before she ran on her own.
The entire tunnel was shaking, dust raining from the ceiling. Heln held the light stick out in front of them, orange light bouncing wildly off the walls.
"Hey ugly!"
Heln turned in time to see Vin hit the thing in the back with a ball of magic. It spun around to face him with a shower of loose soil.
"Vin!" Rhyss skidded to a stop on the smooth floor and started to run back.
"Get going!" Half of Vin's face was covered in a sheet of blood that gleamed in the light of the next volley of magic he was reading. "This tunnel should lead straight to the Temple! Run!"
Rhyss bit her lip, squared her shoulders a bit, shoved Heln's shoulder and began running again.
There was a loud crash behind them. When Heln looked back he couldn't see anything, not even moonlight filtering through the cave entrance.
Chapter Three
Rhyss ran until it felt like someone had stabbed her in the side with a hot poker. She stumbled to a stop, leaning against her knees and trying hard to breathe, but each gasp for air strangled out of her like a sob.
Vin was probably dead.
He had been her mentor ever since she became a Trainee when she turned fifteen the year before. Maybe she wasn't always the best student, and maybe he wasn't always the best teacher, but they'd always gotten along.
Why had he come alone? She'd said it was an emergency in her message to him. Even if it was her first time out on patrol by herself he knew that she took her duties very seriously. Maybe he hadn't taken her as seriously as she thought.
She shook her head, trying to dislodge that thought. Vin could still be alive, maybe he hadn't been alone, there could have been back up behind him. It had been so dark that she couldn't be sure.
That thought was like a steel pillar she could cling to, letting stillness settle into her core as she slowly stood up straight just as light dashed off of the tunnel walls. Heln and Bel had finally caught up. She blinked at them, shielding her face from the illumination bubble Bel had brought up.
"You shouldn't run off like that, what if there had been a hole or something?" Bel's face was white.
"You're too slow." She glared at Heln. He was still holding his useless light stick and breathing like he was dying. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything." Heln looked up at her, genuinely confused. "I'm sorry about Vin. I'm sure he's okay. It didn't look like he got hit hard."
She was sure that he wasn't okay, deep down, but she had to know. She absolutely had to know. In two steps she was in front of him, grabbing his shoulders a little too tightly. "Can you sense him?"
Heln stepped back from her grasp and looked away. "Maybe. I don't know his magical signature, and if there are too many of those… those things back there then I'm really not sure."
"Well, sense for magic that isn't those things back there." She took a deep breath, getting angry and lashing out at the only person who could give her answers was not going to help anything, even if it did make her feel better for a moment. "Just try. Please. He's my mentor."
Heln nodded. "Bel, take out the bubble, I don't want it to confuse me."
Bel nodded and the bubble disappeared, the light turning orange until Heln deactivated his light stick, too, the glow fading slowly from the crystal.
For a moment it was dark. Her eyes adjusted and she realized the moss that clung to the tunnel walls was glowing. Faintly, just enough that she could make out the general shape of the tunnel and see the silhouettes of the DoVan siblings. Heln's eyes were glowing, too. They were half closed, cat slits of bright green, his head tilted to one side like he was listening to something far away.
It was creepy, and she couldn't keep herself from shuddering a little bit.
His head jerked back up and his eyes stopped glowing, at least enough that she couldn't see them anymore. "We need to get going, there are… more things behind us. I thought I sensed Ihalin magic back there but it's different when it's not actively being used, so it's really hard to tell. I'm sorry."
It was good enough for her. Vin was alive and she was going to grip that thought with her teeth if she had to.
"Work on it." She told him instead. "That could be useful. Maybe you could even join the Guard someday."
"The Guard doesn't allow low Ihalins." Heln's voice was too even for her to know if that upset him.
"Besides, why would he want to?" Bel cut in. "We're both joining the Enforcers when we get out of school, y'know, so we can actually be useful."
Rhyss shrugged even though they couldn't see it.
Bel had been in almost all of her classes since she started school. They'd butted heads for as long as she could remember, but Heln was more of a mystery. Rumor had it that his mother had dumped him on his father's doorstep one night, saying she couldn't deal with it anymore. Bel had done nothing to squash those rumors. All Rhyss could do was assume there was a grain of truth, though she'd heard her mothers talking about how he had been awfully old for it after Heln started school.
Low Ihalins couldn't use magic the way high Ihalins could. They could use the amulets and items with an already activated script, but they couldn't use script on their own. Their ears weren't nearly as pointed and long as a full high Ihalin and their hair colors were usually more on the warm spectrum, like Heln's red. Some low Ihalins had the ability to sense magic script. That
was the one thing that set Heln apart.
Rhyss pulled up an illumination bubble. It was one of the first magics she had learned and it took almost no effort at all, a trickle of magic to start and the smallest amount of concentration to keep it working. Her mind felt ragged and raw—doing something familiar was soothing, even if it lit up an unfamiliar part of the tunnel a little too harshly. The tunnel she had been in was smooth and cream colored, turning so gently that it was almost unnoticeable. The tunnel seemed to have straightened out, and the walls were coated in moss. It hung down in streamers. One of them brushed her shoulder and she waved it away quickly.
"I haven't been here before." She stepped over to the wall, letting the bubble hover over her shoulder. The moss was thick and damp, glowing a pale green. She ripped at it with her fingers, pulling away thick, string strands to the wall beneath.
It felt like bricks beneath her fingers, stained green from the moss, but they might have been the same cream as the floor in a previous life. She moved her hand along the wall, even with the moss softening the features of the wall she could feel when the bricks were interrupted by a pillar.
"Playing with the moss giving you a clearer picture of where we are?" Bel had gotten right behind her and Rhyss squeaked, whipping around, her braid hitting Bel in the face. She sat down heavily, holding her nose. "Eleti above, your hair hits hard!"
"Don't sneak up on me!" Rhyss glared at her. "No. I don't know where we are. Everything is weird down here. I've never been this far, maybe there was a side tunnel I didn't notice, I don't know."
"I wasn't joking when I said there were things behind us, we might want to have this conversation while we're moving." Heln tried to sound annoyed, but Rhyss heard the note of panic in his voice.
She couldn't blame him. "Let me try to contact… anyone, first. Do either of you two have a communication crystal? I only have my wrist plate."
"Mine's at home." Heln shrugged.
"Got mine." Bel rooted around in her bag. "I think. Shut up; I don't like wearing it."