"But we're already here," Warden said. "At least we can see what's behind this door before we move on."
"Alright," Leviana gave in. Putting her weight beside his, she pushed. Together the door moved again this time far enough to get a hand in between the door and the wall. She slipped her hands into the crack and levered to widen it. Suddenly, the hinges gave way and the door slammed to its farthest reach. The room before them was large and circular. They saw the first curve without seeing the far side. In the center, giving off its own light, was a statue of a woman. She held her hands up in supplication to the ceiling from her pedestal. From the look, the statue was stone, but what explained the light?
"Beautiful," Warden said. Beside him, Leviana murmured agreement. Around the pedestal, a moat overflowed and wet the floor. The entire room was inches deep in water, but where was it coming from? Bearing the torch with him, Warden moved closer to the prize. "What do you think this is worth?"
"Don't touch it," Leviana warned. "You don't know what it is or what it will do."
"It's a statue, what can it do?"
"Warden." Leviana stayed in the doorway. "Leave it alone."
"But it's beautiful. Even you can appreciate that."
"You are being drawn in by some kind of magic," she said. "Let's leave this place now."
With a shake of his head, he stopped. "What did you say?"
"We need to leave here, now."
"Before that."
"You're being drawn in by some magic."
"Are you sure?"
"I feel the draw myself, but whatever I am counteracts it. Let's shut the door and leave it alone."
Even as they spoke, he drew closer to it. But when he had to step across the water, something slowed him.
"It's something about the water," he said. "It's...something..." His words were slow coming and he fought to speak. "Leviana."
Crossing the room in several quick strides, Leviana took hold of him and dragged him back to the door.
"What do you feel?" she asked.
"It's calling to me. It wants to cross the water, but it can't. I have to help it."
"No, if it's contained by that moat, let us leave it there and hope no one ever finds it."
"But it's beautiful and priceless."
"If it is foul magic, it is worse than worthless," she said. "Come on." Ushering him out, she grabbed the door and pulled it behind her. In her spirit, something cried as she lost sight of the artifact, but she refused to be drawn into something which might very well end her. It was foul magic meant to befuddle the mind and cloud the spirit. Warden held his hands out to the door as it closed, but made no move to go back inside. With it firmly shut behind them, Leviana led the way back to the staircase where they continued their journey upward. There were no more floors before they reached the top which put them at ground level hidden within a mountain range. The grass waved beneath their feet and a breeze caressed them with promises of a deep chill in the future.
"We are in the mountains beyond Backaran," Leviana said. "Some distance from the city."
"It doesn't look as if the bracelet is up here. Maybe we should have gone down."
"My memory says down leads toward the past. Perhaps we will find it there before we reach the chamber where Vadian and I were changed."
"Perhaps."
They turned once to take in the full lay of the land and then descended the stairs once again. Passing the floor with the statue, Warden slowed, but did not stop. Then they returned to the ground floor. The torch guttered and flailed.
"I don't know how much longer this will keep," Warden said. "So perhaps we had better be quicker about our search."
Leviana nodded and started down the stairs letting her eyes adjust to the gloom ahead of them as Warden came up behind. The stairs were more of a spiral on the way down, descending like a corkscrew into the earth. At one point, a hall paved with cyan bricks beckoned, but Leviana kept going.
"Shouldn't we check to make sure the bracelet isn't in there?" Warden asked. Leviana didn't reply. She continued to descend the stairs at a fast pace. "Leviana," he called her. "Leviana!"
The thud of her boots carried in the small space. He went after her. When he caught her, he spun her to him.
"Leviana, what's the matter?"
Her eyes were a luminous blue like the storm cleared sky. She shook her head and turned away.
"It's here," she said. "I feel it."
But the eye of memory can often play tricks.
She sprinted down the stairs with Warden on her heels.
They reached the bottom and she slowed. "It's here," she repeated. "I feel it."
Warden didn't ask what she felt. He followed as she went down a passage at the bottom of the stairs. The torch's light shifted around them as a breeze threatened to blow it out. They weren't far in when a light appeared before them, blue and silver like moonlight. With it came a palpable darkness.
A large round room greeted them with a massive orb of light and shadow swirling at its center. The walls dripped with power and Leviana strode in like she belonged. Warden hesitated and searched for something he could throw.
"Since time immemorial you have turned," she said, opening her arms wide to the ball before her as if she would engulf it in a hug. "I have come back."
In the time before, Vadian had led the way into the chamber. He sought the power at its center. He wanted all that it had to offer. Now Leviana stood basking in the glow with Warden waiting at her back. Times had changed. She had every evidence of that.
Without warning, a silver chained whipped out of its center and wrapped itself around the former queen. Then it sought to drag her in.
"WARDEN!"
Dropping the torch, he surged forward. He grabbed the chain and tried to unwrap it, but it held fast.
"What's happening?" he asked as he tried to find some other way to free her.
"I don't know." Leviana struggled and set her feet, but the pull draw her closer as if she did nothing. "Help me."
Together they struggled, but the orb drew them closer and closer until they stood in its shadow. Joined by others, the first chain guided her into the light and the light engulfed her. It was like being submerged in warm water. Still holding her, Warden disappeared into the orb as well.
Warden opened his eyes and searched for Leviana, but she was nowhere to be seen. All around him, the world moved as warm fluid, yet he did not struggle to breath. Instead, he waved his arms to move and coasted along. The terrain was featureless. No difference between earth and sky, if there was such a distinction in this world made of light and shadow. He tried to set his feet under him and found nothing to step on. He floated and waited. Something had to change.
Before his eyes, the shadows gathered like a murder of crows, but it was not with the avid interest of peeking out his eyes. Instead curiosity seemed their burden. He blinked and the number increased until the light seemed crowded out.
"What is this?" he asked and the words echoed. The crows grew thicker and closer until they were a solid mass of blackness and took on another shape, one he recognized from his dreams, a dragon. It yawned at him with a mouthful of pointed teeth. He thought he saw fire down its throat. As he floated the dragon came toward him, then circled him and lay down. Turning, curious, Warden considered what it might mean.
Leviana said he turned into a dragon and bit off their host's head. Perhaps this was the dragon he became? Questions reigned. What was happening? Where was Leviana? How was he still alive? Yet no answers were forthcoming. Instead, he hung suspended in a landscape without mountains, valleys, rivers, or cities and waited for something to happen. Again he tried to put his feet down and this time, he met a surface. Standing in the silver-blue light, he pressed on his own chest.
His heart still beat.
"Where am I?"
The dragon answered.
"Back at the beginning."
Startled, Warden turned to it.
"You speak."
"Dragons don't talk."
"In your age perhaps they do not. But this is not your age."
"Where is Leviana?"
"The Mistress of Light is well much as you are Master of Dark."
Scratching his head, Warden considered the creature's words. "I am the Master of Dark."
"The one who rests within you is its true master, but you may touch its ways."
"What does that mean?"
"Only that you are a vessel for someone mightier than you." The dragon shifted forward and flared its wings as it stretched. "Many things you are, Warden, but powerful is not one of them."
The use of his name got his attention.
"What do you know about me?"
"All there is to know." It sat back on its haunches with its wings flicking back and forth. "Vadian is not you. You are not him, but only one may lay claim to a body. And the power goes with the claim."
"How do I claim the power?"
"Resist him when he comes, for he will come. Be certain of that. But if you would not lose yourself, then you must stand against him." It paused, eying him with bloody scarlet eyes. "And win."
When Warden came to, he lay on the floor of the chamber with the ball of light and shadow turning lazily above him. Nearby, Leviana lay with her back to him. He could see where her side rose and fell in time with her breathing. Perhaps she was asleep. He didn't get up immediately to check.
If he was to have power, he had to claim it before this Vadian fellow. That might well be easier said than done. Yet he couldn't just stand by and let someone take over his body. The girl Jalcina, he wondered about her. How had she fared since Leviana took control? Did she even still exist? Questions he had no answers to.
Levering himself up from the floor, he looked around again. The room remained the same with its stone walls and high ceiling. He sat there a moment longer and considered what the dragon had said. For a lizard, it was certainly chatty.
Vadian was the Master of Dark.
He could become the Master of Dark, but he had to lay claim to his own body.
Strange.
Warden stood up. Leviana had not moved. He moved to beside her. Peace settled on her face. He could only guess at what she was being told. Perhaps now he could explore that hallway and find the bracelet. He picked up the torch which had not gone out and headed back up the stairs.
In the cyan hallway, he stopped and looked back. What if he ran into something he couldn't handle?
He laid claim to being the Master of Dark. His power would protect him. He strode along the bricks deeper into the corridor.
When he reached the end, the symbol of destruction covered the door.
"First peace and longevity. Now destruction," he said. "I wonder who does the decorating around here." The ring was on the outside, so he gripped it and pulled. After a few sticky moments, the door opened. Beyond it was dark, but very warm as if he were standing in the embers of a fire. The walls were close and they glittered. Beneath his boots was a path of coins. He shone the torch around to take it all in. The room was full of treasure. Fist size gems twinkled like fallen stars. A crown beckoned him from atop a pile of coins. Reaching down, he picked one up.
"Old gold," he said, a grin lighting his face. "It will spend well." He stuffed a handful in his shirt and walked on. The room was small and close so it did not take him long to reach the far end. There it was on a stone arm, the bracelet of scarlet metal the Queen of Backaran required. He snatched it off and hung it off his own wrist. Now he could take whatever he wanted. They had what they came for. Slipping a jeweled dagger in his boot, he contemplated what it would be like to get all of this gold out of the cavern. It would take a team of men and even then they would have a hard time getting through the place where one had to crawl. Or maybe they could find the entrance to the temple from within the mountains. Certainly there had to be a way to get to it passing that way. It would be much easier.
He kicked over a pile of gems and watched them tumble over themselves to land. The glimmering light they threw pleased him. Warden rubbed his eyes.
No, he wouldn't get a team, he would simply bring a caravan of horses and do the work himself. No cut for anyone else.
"And what of Leviana," he murmured. "She knows of the treasure."
Well, he would just have to kill her. It wouldn't be the first time he tried, but it would be the first time he succeeded. Then he could be Master of Dark and Master of Light and the richest man alive. Yes, that was the way to go. Get rid of her and then he would have it all. No more being dragged around by her on her quest and now that he knew she meant to sell him out for her former lover, it all made sense. Of course she would drag him out to an unholy city if she meant to sacrifice him. It had all been a ruse.
His head swiveled at the sound of slithering coins.
Was she there already? Come to try to claim his life and take his treasure?
"Warden?" her voice carried into the room from the hall.
"Come in, Leviana," he called. "There's so much here."
"Did you find the bracelet in here?" she asked as she stepped inside.
"It was among the other things," he said. "You look rested." He clicked his right wrist blade to the ready. Last time, he had missed her heart. This time, he would make no such mistake. "Did you learn anything?"
"My dreams were fragmented and terrible."
She didn't have a weapon to defend herself, he remembered. Her sword broke as they were fighting that leopard. The memory slowed him. She had been willing to fight to save him. Maybe.
No. Get rid of her. He sidled up the distance between them.
"There's so much treasure here."
"We only need the bracelet," she said.
"Perhaps you want more than that," he said before lunging. Her movements were a second slow but fast enough to deflect his initial thrust and force him to drop the torch.
"Warden!"
"All for me," he said with glee as he slashed at her face. He missed her eyes by a hair's breadth and clipped the bridge of her nose. Beads of blood ran down her skin and she snarled
"What's wrong with you?" The question was asked as she moved, hitting him first in the chest with the heel of her hand and then with a paralyzing hit to the shoulder that ran down his arm. His anger flared. How dare she? Didn't she have the decency to just die? His right arm nearly useless, he swung with his left, slashing and stabbing at the woman, but she stayed one step ahead. She was fast.
He slashed and she blocked his arm to the outside and hit him in the face twice. His head rang. Disoriented, he dropped to his knees, the torch only a few feet away. Leviana did not press the attack.
"What's gotten into you?" she said. "We have what we came for, let this accursed treasure be."
"Cursed," he mumbled.
"Everything here is a curse. And I have no doubt that bracelet is as well, but it is not for us." Stepping up to him, she lifted his face. "Get rid of all the treasure you have on you now. Otherwise, the sickness may come back."
Doing as she said, he divested himself of every single coin until only the bracelet remained.
"Let me have that."
He hesitated, his hand over the top of it. It was his. She couldn't have it. He wouldn't let her take it. This was all his. Warden snatched the bracelet off and threw it on the floor.
"Take it."
Leviana picked it up with the edges of her fingers and hooked it into her belt. She would not wear it.
"How did you know where to find me?"
"I started up the stairs looking for you and saw the hall. I thought perhaps you had come this way so I came to investigate and lo and behold there you were. I did not realize you had nearly lost yourself to treasure lust, however."
"Treasure lust, eh."
"It is a terrible affliction. A greed that murders," she said. She picked up the torch and headed out of the door. "The door shows the sign f
or destruction."
"I saw that."
"And you didn't think perhaps what was beyond it might not be for your best?"
"The first door had the sign of longevity and peace on it and it tried to eat me."
"Point taken."
She ascended the stairs.
"Come, let us hurry back. We've been here too long and I don't care if I never see this place again."
And They Return
When the crossed the cavern blessed by the sky, it was dark, though a heavy moon glowed overhead. They crossed it quickly and then moved into the area where they would have to crawl out of the bowels of the earth. It went much faster since they moved toward freedom rather than away. Their horses, stolid animals that they were, waited where they had left them a day before.
"It is good to breath free air," Leviana said. Warden agreed as he mounted.
"Shall we be done with our business with the Queen?"
"I think we should."
They rode back to the cathedral, dismounted and Leviana practically jumped the stairs to pound on the door. The vizier greeted them with a stone-faced grin before leading them once again through the halls to the throne room.
Entering, they knew immediately the Queen was not alone. The room seemed dim and insubstantial, the very walls feeling misty. The Queen sat upon her throne with her hands templed before her and her luminous eyes closed.
Leviana paid little attention to the posture of the other woman. She barreled ahead.
"We have returned."
The shadows at the edge of the room moved becoming stronger and thicker. It concentrated on a single spot near the room's center and a man-shape appeared. Leviana did not flinch away, but bowed her head slightly. Warden looked on without understanding.
"You have returned," the man said.
The featureless face with glimmering green eyes watched the pair as Leviana drew closer.
"Do you come bearing gifts?" it asked.
"The Queen requested something and we have brought it." Leviana offered the bracelet to the apparition which looked at it with narrowed eyes.
"You brought this for her?"
Blades of Fate Page 11