“We can’t take them all,” said Lessa, voicing Arianna’s thoughts. “The general’s too strong.”
“I know,” said Arianna. “I have a plan.” Their enemies neared. “Run… and don’t look back!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Jeom and Lessa turned on their feet and ran in the direction of the light. Arianna turned with them but stood her ground and watched as her friends fled. They never looked back, so they never noticed she didn’t follow.
One of the Chapin brothers slammed into her, but she avoided his blade and sent hers into his stomach. He fell to the ground in a pool of blood.
I am not a child.
“Nooo!” said his twin, dropping to his knees by his side.
Arianna ran to the other side of the cavern where the general had left Mundar for dead, hurdling over the fallen regulators. She snatched up the parchment rolled at his hip, sheathed her swords and ran in the opposite direction of her friends. She followed the same tunnel she first spotted the regulators in, but the emerald trail didn’t glow there.
“After them!” said the general, his voice still clear in earshot. “The girl is mine! Go!”
Arianna picked up the pace as she heard the patter of feet not far behind. She ran until her legs numbed, deeper into the dark tunnels. As she ran, the air thickened, and her lungs choked on the rancid smell growing out of the walls. She knew that smell like the back of her hand and soon realized where it came from.
“The Tombs of Blancoren,” she whispered. Silence engulfed her as she stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn’t hear anything but her own heartbeat as she looked all around upon the skeletons of the deceased slaves. Bones piled upon bones in the vast chamber, and Arianna felt a warm tear escape her control. She wanted to weep for them, for the ones who never escaped the mountains.
“Don’t worry. Their souls are free now,” said a soft voice.
Arianna whipped around and paled. She tried to scream, but her voice was too scared to be heard. Stumbling backwards, she joined her fellow slaves on the ground.
“But you’re dead,” she said in a whimper. She squeezed her eyes close, trying to rid her mind of the image.
“It would seem so… yes.”
Arianna opened her eyes once more, but her imagination stayed strong. Her knees shook as she stood to face the ghost of Pippa.
“This isn’t happening. This isn’t real,” said Arianna, clutching her chest as she stared wide-eyed at her deceased friend.
Pinching herself, she tried to gather her emotions and cling to reality. Pippa still floated before her, inches from her face in a sheer form of the girl she once knew. Looking like the most beautiful version of herself, her wispy form glided with a grace Pippa had never attained in her human life.
“I don’t understand. How can I see you?” said Arianna, shuddering as she slowly backed away.
Pippa shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know the answer to that. Only the dead are allowed to see the dead.”
Arianna nodded, not truly understanding as so many questions reeled in her mind. She wanted to reach out and touch her, but she refrained from the frightening temptation.
“Why are you here?” she asked as Pippa circled her.
“I don’t know the answer to that either, but I’m assuming it’s the same reason you’re here,” said Pippa. “I’m just waiting to move on like everybody else.”
Arianna heard an echo through the chamber like rubble falling to the ground. She turned her head, searching for the general but found nothing.
“Something is keeping me attached to my body,” said Pippa.
Arianna saw her glance to the left and she followed her gaze, blanching as she set eyes on the rotting corpse of the ghost standing in front of her. She staggered, lost for the right words. “Your body? But the Pit—”
Pippa just shook her head, and her brown hair shimmered with her own essence. “They always move the bodies to the tombs after the Free Falls. The start of a New Year,” she said with mock enthusiasm as she glided around Arianna, intrigued just the same.
Arianna opened her mouth to voice more questions, but Pippa interrupted her once more. She almost wanted to laugh thinking the ghost version of herself seemed exactly the same.
“There’s someone else here,” said Pippa.
Arianna blinked, and the ghost vanished. She searched everywhere in the dim light but couldn’t find her, and her nerves came back at full force.
“I see the labyrinths are already taking a toll on you,” said General Ivo from behind. “Don’t you know that when you’re trying to hide from someone it’s best to keep quiet?”
Arianna turned and stepped back as he slunk out of the shadows, crushing the bones of his victims with every step. She reached for the hilt of her sword but then stopped. Pippa appeared once more, standing directly behind the general.
“There’s been enough death here,” said Pippa, pouting.
Arianna left her sword in her sheath with shaking hands, and the general laughed.
“What? No more fight in you?” he said.
Keeping eyes on her ghost friend, Arianna repeated her words. “There’s been enough death here.”
“And there’s about to be a new addition.” She watched, frozen as he moved forward across the long chamber.
Pippa vanished once more, this time appearing only inches from Arianna’s face. “Don’t worry about him,” she said with a wink.
Arianna tilted her head, confused. Can’t he see her too? She started to panic as the general neared, but something told her to trust in Pippa, to trust in the girl she’d wronged. She shivered as a slight wind brushed her arm, gasping as two more ghosts moved past her. Both boys, their attire matched the purple robes Jeom wore, and she made a mental note to apologize to him. Ghosts did exist alongside magic. She frowned. If I ever see him again…
One looked back and gave her a reassuring nod as they floated forward towards the general. Arianna watched in awe for they moved as if the wind blew beneath their feet. They stopped and waited for the general to come closer, and just as he reached the middle where the ghosts stood, the boy who nodded stepped across his path and disappeared.
The general paused for a moment and then continued his path towards Arianna. The other ghost boy turned and followed alongside him, and her mind told her to run, to run forever from this place until she saw the sun again. But she didn’t, couldn’t. Instead, she turned to Pippa who smiled her ‘don’t worry’ smile. Gathering her bravery, she stayed her ground, this time trusting in her instincts and her heart.
Soon Arianna stood face to face with General Ivo. She had never been so close to him in all her life, and she really didn’t like it. He smelled like sweat and death, and his eyes looked like dark pools of nothingness. They stood in silence for what seemed like forever as he studied her face.
“General Ivo…?” she said, cautious of the answer.
He just shook his head and smiled. Arianna turned to the ghost boy at the general’s side. “But… Did he just—”
“He possesses his body now,” said Pippa, appearing at the boy’s side. “He can’t speak.”
Arianna just remained silent. She didn’t know how to respond or how to react anymore. This truly was at the top of the insanity ploy.
“Hello,” said the ghost boy, pulling her mind from its stupor. “My name is Jacob, and this is Damon.”
Out of habit Arianna reached for his hand but then dropped her arm to her side feeling stupid. Jacob just smiled.
“Jacob and Damon?” said Arianna. “I’ve heard of your names before… from the stories.”
Jacob laughed and a pleasant sound filled the tomb, lifting some of the gloom. “I have heard some of these tales. Each one with its own ending, none ever the whole truth.”
“Then, what’s the real story?” asked Arianna, intrigued by the old soul and forgetting for a moment she was literally speaking to a ghost.
Jacob only observed her and then turned to Damon
who studied her through the general’s eyes as she rocked back and forth on her feet. It made her uncomfortable and she squirmed under his scrutiny, but, after a long while, he nodded to Jacob, answering an unspoken question.
“The first parts of the stories remain true,” said Jacob. “Damon and I were once slaves of the Four Corners… creators. Time cannot erase history, though it tries with endless effort. When the slave cities were first created, people still remembered a better life.”
“The Golden Age?” said Arianna, remembering the scroll.
“Yes,” he said, cocking his head to the side as he considered her.
Arianna looked confused. “But I thought the King destroyed all the—”
“You cannot build a city in a day,” he said. “Destruction follows the same limitations. Things take time and people whisper. When I was brought to the Four Corners, I was nine years old. Damon was eleven. I remember my mother’s name and my sister’s laugh. I remember my seaside town and my friends. I was born and loved, but then I lost it all. They found me and killed my family for treason. Damon’s story is quite similar, along with many others from long ago. People used to fight back because hope was thicker when the remnants of the Golden Age still lingered in the air. Not every child was enslaved because people tried to trick the King and hold on to their kin.”
“Things have certainly changed,” said Arianna with a heavy heart. Her mind wandered to her short time in the Opall.
“Yes, time is fickle like that,” said Jacob, “yet you still seem well-informed. You are living proof that history lives on.”
“So how did you come to be here then?” said Arianna, glancing around the tomb.
Damon looked at his feet, and Jacob’s expression turned solemn. “Damon and I became close friends, together mastering the skills of craftsmanship. We built a shed alongside the mountain as part of our training, but inside we kept a secret.”
“Is that how you escaped?” said Arianna, clinging to every word.
“Yes,” he said, taking a moment to remember his past. “We discovered a hole in the mountainside leading to the better parts of these tunnels. But the path was too steep and too dangerous to navigate, so we carved stairs into the stone.”
Arianna gaped. “The sunstone…” she said in a soft voice as she remembered stumbling upon the Creator’s District and the forgotten shack.
Both Damon and Jacob seemed taken aback at her words. “It seems your past would make for a good tale as well,” he said. “I can’t wait to hear the rumors the city will tell of you.”
Arianna laughed. The idea that her name could be the object of a story seemed ridiculous, but then again, she did follow in the footsteps of the legends standing before her. “I’m more interested in your story at the moment,” she said, blushing.
Jacob obliged, continuing his tale. “There really isn’t much more to tell. We escaped slavery through our tunnel, but Blancoren swallowed us whole. We became lost in this endless maze, driven mad from the hunger and darkness. There the story ends.”
“But how did you… die?” said Arianna in a soft voice. “And why do you linger for so long in such a sinister place?”
Jacob sighed, and Arianna swore she saw a tear on the general’s face. The irony.
“We killed ourselves,” he said after a moment of silence.
Arianna fell silent, humbled by such a tragic ending.
“When you take your own life, you forfeit your soul. We cannot move forward because our souls are forever attached to our bodies,” he said, looking towards the dusty ground where bones littered the floor.
“What do you mean forfeit your soul?”
“When you die, your soul is supposed to move on from this world into the next life, but, by taking our own lives, we naively made a declaration to the gods that our souls were not worthy of being. A soul cannot be destroyed because it’s already in the balance, but the gods can still deny us a future. We are stuck here because the sky, sea, sun, and earth are punishing us for destroying their gift of life.”
Arianna teared up at his sad story’s end. She wanted to help, and it pained her that she couldn’t. “I’m so sorry,” she said. No other words came to mind.
“I’ve had a long time to be sorry too, but it does no good,” said Jacob, shaking his head. “We deserve our punishment.”
“But what about Pippa? Why is she still stuck here? She didn’t kill herself…” Arianna glanced at her, not meeting her eyes.
“Her time here is short,” he said, ending the subject. Even Pippa looked like she wanted to know more. “Now, I have a question for you.” He lifted his hands to pause her string of questions.
“Oh?”
“How can you see me?” he said, moving closer, circling her as Pippa did.
Arianna tore her mind away from the intrigue and back to reality. She was in the presence of ghosts, and the eyes from deceased Jacob, Pippa, and Damon stared down at her, anxious to hear her answers. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t know,” she said, shrugging back from the scrutiny.
“Yes you do,” said Pippa. “Tell us. Think. You must have some idea.”
Arianna looked at her feet, searching her mind for answers, and something came to the surface. She raised her eyes to the ghosts surrounding her and voiced her thought. “Well, I did die once,” she said.
Everyone looked stunned at first, and she could tell Pippa reeled with questions of her own. As she opened her mouth to ask them, Damon raised a hand to stop her.
Jacob nodded his head in understanding. “Only the dead can see the dead,” he said, repeating Pippa’s words from earlier. “We need not know more on the subject, but tell me, Arianna… What is your goal here?”
“My goal?” She thought for only a moment. “I just want my freedom,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Freedom from what?” he said.
Arianna thought long and hard, realizing she could answer that question in so many different ways. “Free from… destiny I suppose. I want to make my own path and be in charge of my own life for once. Is everything pre-determined?”
He smiled, not acknowledging her question. “And what do you think might be your destiny?”
“I haven’t a clue, but, if it’s to be a slave all my life, then I’m trying to run from it. All I want is to be free.”
He laughed his beautiful laugh once more, but Arianna remained confused at her own words. “The universe is watching you carefully, Miss Belvedor. The breath of life is a sacred gift, and you were blessed with it twice. You must have an important destiny, and I sincerely hope you find it.”
“If it’s my destiny, then how could I not? They’re set in stone, aren’t they? Unchangeable?” she said, wanting to prolong their conversation. She had a feeling her time with such an interesting being would end all too soon.
“I believe so,” he said. “Do you have your stone then?” Arianna gave him a puzzled look. “Sometimes people never find their stones because they make many wrong turns in the search, or the obstacles in the way are too daunting so they give up all together. Other times people do dig them up, read them, and bury them in their pockets to understand for later.” He shook his head. “Always a mistake. Then, there are the lucky few who find their stones, read them, and spend the time deciphering the messages. I’m guessing you’ve glimpsed yours but haven’t given it much thought, from what I can tell.”
“I don’t understand. What—”
“You will. Maybe…” he said, moving away with Damon by his side. “Damon and I never found ours. We gave up too fast.”
“Wait! Where are you going?” said Arianna, wanting more answers.
“I’m going to fulfill one of my rumors and get this man so lost that he won’t even be able to find his own feet. I enjoyed our meeting this night. It’s not very often I get to converse with such a fascinating soul,” he said, smiling at Damon. “I wish you the best of luck with all your endeavors, Arianna Belvedor.” He turned, walking back towards the mouth of
the chamber.
“I hope we meet again,” called Arianna.
Jacob stopped and turned around. “For your sake, I sincerely hope that we don’t.” He gazed around the tomb with a somber expression. “Dear girl, if you do ever find your true destiny, your stone, don’t forget to flip it over to see what’s on the other side. You don’t want to miss a thing once you have it. You can run from it all you want, but destiny has a habit of persevering.” He winked and then vanished into the darkness with the general by his side.
“What will you do now?” asked Pippa.
Arianna felt like she had just woken from a dream, but Pippa still floated by her side as confirmation of the strange reality. She unfolded the map she took from Mundar.
“I need to find my friends and make sure they’re okay,” she said, remembering Lessa and Jeom. She hadn’t had a moment to worry for them since she ran into Pippa, but now the panic started to settle back in. She hoped that her plan worked and the two of them could fight off the other regulators with the general out of the picture.
“I’m sure they’re fine,” said Pippa as Arianna poured over the map. Her brow furrowed as she deciphered the directions. Something didn’t add up.
“This isn’t right. It says the exit is this way,” she said, pointing away from where she had entered the tombs. “But the path my friends are following is going in the opposite direction. “The spell didn’t work! They’ll be lost forever.” She turned to Pippa.
“It’s okay,” she said, grinning. “I can guide you to your friends.”
They moved in silence through a tunnel Arianna hadn’t noticed before in the darkness. It felt endless, and Arianna saw no signs of an exit. She tried to relax with Pippa by her side and let her mind wander to other things, but her thoughts took a strange turn. Her heart pained her as she remembered Pippa’s mangled body in the Pit, and her memories flashed to the night Solomon rescued her. She stopped walking, rubbing at her temples.
“What’s the matter?” asked Pippa, pausing alongside her. Arianna absorbed the image of her ghost friend and committed it to memory, replacing the last horrid image of her.
Belvedor and the Four Corners (Belvedor Saga Book 1) Page 26