“What is it?” Endric asked.
“This is… odd.”
“Odd? As in we might be trapped here odd?”
Pendin shot him a bemused expression. “Trapped? We’re closer to the surface than before. Look at all the lanterns here. Someone keeps these lit.”
Endric hadn’t given much thought to that, but it also meant that someone had kept the lanterns in the other part of the tunnel lit.
They hadn’t seen anyone, at least not that he’d been aware of. Why was that? Where were the miners?
Pendin motioned him to follow, and he did, making his way more carefully this time.
The tunnel ended, with two branches off to the sides.
That wasn’t quite right, Endric realized.
There was another access here, but this one was blocked by a door.
Pendin held the lantern up to the door, looking for a handle.
“Where do you think this goes?” Endric asked.
“I don’t know. We could take one of these tunnels,” he suggested.
Endric shook his head. He was ready to be out of the tunnels, and the door reminded him of the one that he’d needed to open to get out of Listain’s tunnel the night of the attack. Had they climbed so high that they had reached Listain’s network?
“I think we should open it.”
“What if it’s locked?” Pendin asked.
“What if it’s not?” Endric reached past Pendin for the door handle and gave it a twist.
It opened easily.
As it did, a gust of cooler air came into the tunnel.
Endric took the lantern from Pendin, leading their way into the room on the other side of the door. It was a simple room, one that had a few tables, some empty shelves, and not much else. It was nothing like the room of boxes where he’d emerged from Listain’s tunnels. That one had used the boxes as a way to hide the door down into the tunnels. This door was not hidden, but the room itself appeared mostly unused.
“Where are we?” he asked Pendin as they stepped into the room.
Pendin closed the door behind him, looking around with a frown. “I don’t know. This could be barracks or even first terrace or—”
“Or Mage palace.”
Color drained from Pendin’s face. “Oh. I hadn’t thought that we might climb high enough that we’d reach the palace.” He looked around the room again, his brow furrowed in a frown. “I don’t think we did, though. It doesn’t seem like we could have climbed so high.”
“How many stairs did we take?” Endric asked.
Pendin shook his head. “If we’re in the palace, then we need to backtrack, Endric. If we’re caught here—”
“Then we’re caught because we went into the mines searching for the men who pried the door to the mines open. Besides, it’s not like we meant to make it to the palace.”
Pendin made a circuit of the room. “Can you imagine? If this is the palace, why would the mines connect to it?”
“Because of the teralin?”
Pendin shook his head. “I told you there was never any interaction between the miners and the Magi. The Magi might want the teralin and might use it for their ceremonies, but they didn’t come down into the mines for it. I can’t even think of what that would have been like.”
Endric reached a door on the other side of the room and tested the handle. Like the one leading in from the mine, the door opened easily. “There’s only one way to find out,” he said.
“Endric—”
“You can go back,” Endric offered. “You said you could find your way back. I don’t think I could tolerate spending another moment in the mines.”
“They aren’t that bad.”
“Maybe not for you, but the heat and the smell and the—”
“Smell? That was you that you were smelling.”
Endric laughed. “Go ahead. If you go back, I’ll figure out where this goes and then come for you when I do.”
Pendin seemed to debate what he would do, a question written on his face. Endric could practically see the debate working through his friend as he tried to determine what he should do. Did he leave Endric as he requested—leave his friend and en’raen—or did he stay with him and risk whatever punishment might come their way if they really had managed to reach the palace?
“I can’t leave you here,” Pendin said. “What if you need to make your way back out through the mines?”
“I can go out from wherever this leads.”
“What if this isn’t anything more than a storeroom?” Pendin asked.
“A storeroom in the mines?”
Pendin shrugged. “It’s not likely, but…”
Endric took a deep breath and headed through the door.
The other side let out into a narrow hall. There were no lanterns here, not like there had been in the mine. A few other doors lined the hall, but as they checked each one, they found that they were nothing more than additional storage rooms, as empty as the first one that they’d come across.
“Who’s responsible for lighting the lanterns in the mines?” Endric asked.
“What?” Pendin asked as they closed the door to the room they’d been checking.
“The lanterns. There were quite a few lit, but we didn’t see anyone who would light them. Someone has to do it, right?”
Pendin pointed to the lantern that Endric now carried. “Normally they’re refilled during the mining process, but they use a different kind of oil, one that burns for weeks. Someone wouldn’t have to come through the mines that often. It could have been days—weeks—since someone came through, refilling the lanterns.”
Endric studied the lantern, wondering when it had last been filled. He checked the reservoir and noted that the oil was about half full. “How slowly does this burn?”
“A few drops will last a day,” Pendin said.
“A day?” If that were true, the amount of oil in the lantern would last longer than a few weeks. He could understand why the miners would leave the lanterns burning continuously. If all it took was a few drops of oil, there would be no reason for them not to. “What kind of oil is that?”
Pendin shrugged. “You’re asking the wrong person. The university discovered the combination a while back. Before then, they used to have to come through every day with the lanterns. Now… now it’s only a few times.”
They reached the end of the hall and Endric looked down it, worry that they’d get discovered mixed with a thrill of excitement about the possibility that they might be in the Magi palace. He hadn’t heard of anyone in the Magi palace before. If this were it, he might actually be disappointed. It felt… drab.
A door blocked their access, and Endric tried it but found it locked.
Glancing down the hall, none of the other doors had led anywhere. For this one to be locked, he hoped it meant it would lead them out of here. He didn’t like the idea that Pendin might be right and that they might need to go back through the mines, making their way all the way back the way they had come.
“Locked,” he told Pendin.
His friend’s face fell, and Endric knew that Pendin had been ready to get out of the mines as well. “I guess we can try the other direction.”
“There’s nothing but the rooms we’ve already searched.”
“We could look through them again. Maybe there’s something we missed. What if one of the rooms has another way through it, sort of like the one we came from?”
“Maybe,” Endric agreed, but none of them had been locked. A locked door meant either someone wanted to keep them from the other side—or more likely, those on the other side were meant to stay away from this side.
Taking out his belt knife, Endric shoved it into the lock, wiggling it from side to side.
“Endric,” Pendin warned.
“I’m just going to see if I can pry the door open. I’m not going to damage the lock.” At least, he didn’t think that he would. This would be harder to explain than the lock on the gate outside the mines
, especially if they were inside the palace.
Endric continued to work the knife back and forth until it clicked.
He stepped back, sheathing his knife with a victorious smile. “See? Not broken.” Pushing the door open, he glanced through.
Endric wasn’t certain what he actually expected. Maybe the Mage palace. Instead of anything exciting, he was faced with another set of stairs. This one headed down, stretching an incredibly long distance.
They took the stairs, and by now, curiosity filled Endric. Where was this leading them?
The stairs ended on flat landing with another door at the end. Like the one at the top of the stairs, it was a plain wooden door, and unfinished. Also, like the other door, he found it locked.
Endric used his knife again and managed to pry open the lock.
What he saw surprised him.
Simple wooden walls rose up on either side. A few tapestries hung from them, none as ornate as he would have expected in the Mage palace. A lamp at the end of the hall provided the only light.
“This isn’t the Mage palace,” Endric said.
“No,” Pendin answered shaking his head, whatever color that had returned to his face once more drained. “But I know where we are.” Endric arched a brow and Pendin licked his lips. “This is the university.”
10
“The University?” Endric asked, studying the walls.
The nearest tapestry caught his eye. On it was depicted what Endric suspected was the Tower of the Gods rising above an open field, none of the city of Thealon rising around it, not as it would today. One of his patrols had brought him near Thealon, but never into the city proper, but even then, he’d been able to see the Tower as it rose high over the city. Endric wasn’t the most devout person, but seeing the Tower was enough to give him a belief in the gods, and enough for him to think they truly had Ascended as the priests claimed.
Pendin came alongside him. “This is the university. The Ophan building, in fact.”
“How do you know?”
Pendin shrugged. “The tapestries. The walls. The halls. All of it. The Ophan building is one of the oldest in the university, and one of the first places built when the university was founded. I shouldn’t be surprised that this is where the mines connect.”
“You know where we are in the building?”
Pendin shook his head. “Not where we are, but I think that I have a good chance of getting us out of here.” He glanced back at the door. “I wonder if there’s another way into the university, or if this is it?”
“They had it locked pretty well.”
“So well that you were able to pry it open like it wasn’t.”
“I had to work at it.”
Pendin chuckled. “Otherwise it would have taken you even longer to get in.”
“Now that we’re here, can you lead us out?”
Pendin nodded. “I feel like we’ve spent more time here than we needed to, if all you were after was Senda.”
“That’s not all I’m after. It might have been the reason I wanted to get in here, but now that we are, I have a different motivation.”
“And that is?”
He grinned at Pendin. “Seeing the scholars fighting with the staff. If they’re as good as you claim, I’d like to see it.”
“That’s a sure way of getting us caught.”
“And if we are? I could just claim that the Denraen needed to investigate something in the university. Maybe I’d even blame the two scholars for letting us in.”
“Endric—”
“Fine. I won’t do that. I’ll tell them that my steward thought we should investigate. He’s nothing if not insightful, and with his connection to the university, I thought it prudent to listen to him. After all, I am one of the en’raen…”
“You can be a bastard sometimes.”
Endric smiled. “Lead on, good steward.”
Pendin grabbed the lantern and started down the hall. They moved quickly, neither of them saying much. Now that they were here, Endric wondered what they would do. He’d wanted to reach the university, but he was having a hard time remembering why it was so important, other than that Kayla had suggested he might be able to find something about Senda here. With how limited his time remaining in the city would be, and with not knowing how long he’d be away, he needed to find her and see what she might know of Urik.
But if he didn’t find her—or if he didn’t even know where to begin—what was the point of being here? Pendin was right—invading the university could draw attention, and he was certain his father wouldn’t be pleased with that. But he did want to know more about the university, especially after learning that they had some skill with the staff.
How many of the Denraen who were skilled with the staff actually came from the university? Was that the secret of this place? Were they all trained here?
Pendin paused at the end of the hall before nodding in the direction of a set of stairs at the end. “I don’t know what we’ll find. That way would be to my father.”
“You father is in this building?”
Pendin shrugged. “Once, he had been. I’m not certain whether he is anymore. It’s not like I spend that much time with my family.”
“Other than when you tried to convince them to end the strike.”
“I wasn’t that successful. And I don’t think my parents were involved to begin with. If they even listened to me—and if the other master miners discovered that they had—they would lose whatever political capital they possessed.”
They took the stairs, moving quietly. On the second landing, Endric heard voices and paused to listen, but they didn’t return. On the third, Pendin began moving with more confidence. He pointed down another hall and started through it.
As they made their way through the hall, Endric heard another voice, this one a booming voice that carried. Pendin froze and glanced over at Endric.
“What is it?” he asked.
“My father.”
Endric blinked. “Your father?”
Pendin nodded. “I didn’t expect to actually find him, and now he’s—”
A massive man appeared in the hall. There was no questioning his connection to Pendin. They had the same stature and massive frame, as well as the same square jaw and the same dark brown hair. Whereas Pendin kept his hair cut short in the style of the Denraen, his father left his longer and brushed over his head. He was dressed in a dark brown robe in the style of the scholars and wore a gray belt.
“Pendin,” his father said, stopping in the hall. Two others trailed behind him, both dressed in the same dark robes with gray belts. “What are you doing at the university?”
“I…” he started but glanced at Endric when he couldn’t finish.
“I asked him to come,” Endric said, stepping forward. He wasn’t certain how disheveled he looked after spending the hour or longer in the mines, but he wouldn’t leave Pendin to suffer because of his desire to get into the university and find Senda.
“Endric Verilan, I believe?”
Endric nodded.
“You have recently been raised to en’raen. I suppose I should congratulate you on your promotion. It seems you have brought my son along with you.”
“Pendin serves well.”
His father sniffed softly. “Perhaps too well. You should not be here. I suspect that you attempted to come through the main gate?”
Endric nodded. There was no use denying it now, especially now that they had been caught here.
“Then you convinced Pendin to bring you through the mines.” He shot Pendin a withering look, one that reminded Endric of the way Dendril would look at him. “I am disappointed that you would be willing to violate your family’s trust in such a way.”
“I didn’t violate anything, Father. Endric is my commanding officer.”
“And your friend, if I am not mistaken.” He turned to Endric. “Now. Tell me why you felt compelled to force my son to bring you through the mines? Haven’t you done en
ough to the miners?”
Endric blinked. Was Pendin’s father blaming Endric for what happened with the miners? He would laugh, but he suspected the man was serious, which did nothing more than anger him. “If you understood what happened, you wouldn’t be quite so glib with your comments, Master Sapon.”
Pendin’s father narrowed his eyes. “Hmm. Do you think you understand everything that happened in the mines, En’raen Verilan? I will assure you that I do.”
Endric glanced around the hall. This wasn’t where he intended to have this conversation, and this wasn’t the kind of conversation that he wanted to have—not with Pendin’s father. He didn’t want to place Pendin into a difficult situation. “I think that I understand as well as you do what took place in the mines,” Endric said in a hushed voice.
Pendin’s father watched Endric, studying him. “You were there.”
Endric nodded.
“I didn’t expect that. I knew that Dendril had come through the mines, and that the rest of the rumors told of a Denraen traitor, but there wasn’t much more that we’ve heard.”
“What did you hear?” Endric asked.
Pendin’s father looked at the two scholars with him—likely miners, Endric decided, given the shared color of their sash—and motioned for them to leave. When they did, he nodded to Pendin and Endric. “Come with me.”
Pendin said nothing as he followed his father, pushing Endric in front of him.
They made their way through the halls of the Ophan building, reaching a stair and heading up two more levels before Pendin’s father brought Endric and Pendin toward a room at the far end of the hall.
When he opened the door and stepped inside, he left it open for Endric and Pendin to follow.
“He doesn’t seem all that excited to see you,” Endric said.
“He’s not.”
“Or to see me.”
“Endric—”
Endric patted his friend on the shoulder and moved past him into the room. Endric didn’t know what he expected, but certainly not the ornately decorated quarters that he saw here. A thick, plush carpet covered the floor. Several of the same finely made lanterns, similar to those they’d encountered in the mines, rested on tables or hung on hooks. A window on the far end of the room let in light and was open, a soft breeze flowing into the room that carried a floral scent with it.
Soldier Sword (The Teralin Sword Book 2) Page 9