Jeom beamed at his brother, so much alike. “Beats me,” he said, looking around. “We’re just as lost as you.”
“You don’t say?” he said as a chuckle burst from his mouth. “How did you all find your way down here in the first place? What district are you from?” His brow furrowed as he studied their robes.
“Well, I’m from the Creator’s District,” said Jeom as he leaned his weight on the support of his axe.
“I’m from the Healer’s District, and Ara is of the Warrior’s,” said Lessa.
Arianna grinned, straightening her back as she looked upon her friends. “An agrarian, a healer, a creator, and a warrior all escaping the Four Corners. This really is a day to be marked by history,” she said as they all observed each other in admiration.
“May the gods be with us!” said Demetrius, lifting his glass once more. After they all enjoyed another sip of wine, he rested his back against the adorned seat and the ripples in the wood massaged at his sore muscles. “Now, let’s hear your story. Have at it,” he said, gesturing to all of them.
The three began to retell the events, from beginning to end, leaving nothing out, until all four of their lives intertwined and knotted together in that room. The girls even explained to him all they had learned about the enchantment of the world and the magic they possessed. After they’d wrapped up their depiction of sorcery and all of the details which came with it, they patiently awaited Demetrius’ reaction.
He spoke, breaking the lingering silence. “I’ll believe in anything after this miracle today,” he said, laying a hand on Jeom who nodded in relief.
They all seemed to relax after they received his calm reaction and interest in the forbidden topic. Arianna felt stressed enough having to rewrite their futures in a world where magic existed without having to persuade others to believe in it too. She sighed in relief, relishing in the fact that Demetrius kept an open mind.
“I never thought I’d see you again, brother,” he said, stealing Jeom’s gaze.
“It was destiny,” said Jeom. “We can’t exist without each other because we’re half of the same whole.” He grasped his brother’s hand in both of his.
Arianna stared in wonder at the union of the two unlikely siblings. Although Demetrius seemed quite tan in his own right, he looked starch white engulfed in Jeom’s dark skin. Still, it didn’t take her long to be convinced they came from the same bloodline, and she smiled as she watched the pair together.
They shared the same sensual smile which reached their eyes, and they both indulged in a delightful sense of humor, giving a little more spark to the group. Arianna even noticed the boys shared the same mannerisms while they ate and when they laughed. Their exultant voices complimented each other to perfection. In fact, everything they did complimented each other. No matter how closely their blood related them, Arianna saw them as true brothers just as they saw themselves.
“So, what now?” asked Demetrius as he stroked the fur on Sano’s back. Lessa’s monkey kept a very close watch on their new addition, and they both seemed quite fond of each other.
“Now, we figure out how to escape again,” said Arianna. In unison, they all looked towards the stone door which hovered ominously over the dusty desk. “Let’s pack all this up while Lessa fixes the rest of your brother,” said Arianna, standing to her feet and pulling Jeom alongside her.
“Wine check!” said Lessa as she dumped her cup over her head followed by Arianna. The boys howled in laughter and joined in on the tradition. “Never waste a drop,” she said, wagging her finger at all three of them as she stood to her feet, mimicking Talis.
Soon Lessa and Demetrius bonded over his checkup as they discussed the different uses of waterwasp eggs, and Arianna and Jeom became enthralled in a conversation of the different culture of their districts. The four fit together like the pieces of a simple puzzle. As they set about with their tasks, they fed off of each other’s optimism and dreams of a happy, humble future.
After a half an hour they made their way across the room to the desk. “Did you girls find anything useful over here?” asked Jeom as he traced his fingers over the cluttered desktop.
“Just some strange coins and old records,” said Lessa, kicking at the dirty silver on the floor.
“Know what they’re for?” said Demetrius as he inspected one of the parchments on top of a stack. “This one is dated more than two centuries ago!” His voice thundered in the long space as he rubbed his hand over the stubble on his chin, examining the scroll further.
“We think they’re old records of times people checked in and out of this room,” said Arianna.
“Looks like some never did…” Demtrius’ words lingered as the ominous feeling returned to their wooden prison, chasing Arianna’s brief illusion of happiness away. He handed her the parchment as she looked at him in confusion.
“What do you mean?” said Lessa.
Demetrius frowned. “I mean these people never checked out.”
Lessa pinned herself against Arianna as they all scrutinized the parchment and understood why. Sure enough this sheet had one empty column where the exit time should have been documented, if their assumptions were correct.
The four stared at each other as their minds shouted warnings and unsaid questions, rattling their brains. No one said a thing because no other options presented themselves.
Arianna patted the dagger against her thigh, Sano climbed to his rightful place with Lessa, and they replaced the ancient parchment on the desk.
“Ready?” said Arianna, heading towards the door, trying to ignore the butterflies in the pit of her stomach.
“As I’ll ever be,” said Lessa, moving behind her. The brothers nodded in unison.
One by one, an agrarian, a healer, a creator, and a warrior escaped their wooden cage through the stony threshold of door number two.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE CITY OF UNDOR
One after the other, the four marched through the stone door, the firebugs shedding another lifeless room with much needed light. Much like the wooden den they left behind, this room also remained a match set to their new entrance—a room of stone.
As soon as Jeom, who brought up the rear, stepped through the towering door, it creaked closed with a click behind him. Arianna knew it would be locked just like the others, and she knew what they had to do next as they all stared ahead to the third door. It reminded her of coal, but the faintest shimmer of orange and red weaved into the material. Arianna pulled at Lessa’s sleeve as she recognized the strange stone from an earlier perilous escapade.
This room looked much smaller than the one before, and the rounded walls connected the stone-set floor to a high-vault ceiling, making them appear to be trapped inside a cylinder of gray rock. As Arianna peered across the room, she noticed a tall pedestal made of glass, the only thing standing between them and the next entrance.
Arianna walked forward to examine the glass structure with the others at her heels. Across the top she saw a message painted with iridescent, pearl-white letters. It only took her a moment to realize the words belonged to the same strange language they had encountered earlier. She had to tilt her head to read the letters as they created a circular pattern engulfing a familiar symbol. Pulling out one of the coins she had stuffed in her robes, she examined it next to the pedestal.
The same double-sided axe, which carved into the coin, displayed in even more detail on the podium. Arianna gaped at the powerful image. She now saw that the scaled, golden tail of a dragon snaked up the staff of the weapon, and its head rested in the center of the two blades as it brandished sharp, gilded teeth. The blades of the axe crafted of silvered metal but seemed welded in place with the lustrous wings of the mighty beast as if it could take flight in a fiery haste. Stamped under the dragon weapon, she saw the same word on the other face of the coin and felt just as baffled by it.
“Wonder what it says,” mused Demetrius as he studied the word.
“Who knows,”
said Arianna.
“It’s in some foreign tongue,” said Lessa. “See? The same appears here on the coins and on the records we saw in the other room.” She looked exasperated as she snatched the coin from Arianna to examine it alongside the large podium.
“It says prosperity,” said Jeom as he hovered over Lessa, gazing at the coin she held in her hand.
Arianna scoffed, and everyone turned to gawk at him as soon as the words left his mouth. “And how could you possibly know such a thing?” she said.
His eyebrows crinkled in concentration as he studied the coin closer, and he tilted his head side-to-side, as if to look again.
His hand came up to rub at the back of his neck as he shrugged his shoulder. “I don’t know… I just do,” he said. “I see that it’s written in another language, but when my eyes read it, I can understand. Am I really the only one?” he asked in a nervous ramble as the others nodded.
“I haven’t any more room in my life for another mystery,” said Lessa as she handed the coin back to Arianna. “I’m sure there’s some sort of logical explanation, but right now we should focus on getting out of here. Can you read what it says on the podium as well?”
Arianna folded her arms across her chest as she watched Jeom move towards the glass.
He stepped forward in an uneasy motion and rested his hands on the podium. As soon as his hands touched the stand, the letters rolled in a shimmering wave of white from the beginning to the end of the circle. Jeom flinched at the sudden reaction, and the others huddled closer around him to get a better look.
As his eyes scanned the letters, his mouth translated them into something comprehensible for the others to hear:
The great City of Undor is open to all whom share the blood of our founder, but those without a trace shall remain blind unless bidden by one of high honor. Built over centuries throughout the foundation of Blancoren, this city covets many precious resources. Kin who pass forth from this chamber to the next make a solemn vow to protect these sacred walls and the secrets which are privileged only to our kind. Only then shall you be wholly welcomed into the city. If you abstain from this promise, redemption shall never find you, but continue onward if you accept your rightful duties as a citizen of Undor and a dwarf of Olleb-Yelfra.
Jeom reread the last sentence three times before he registered the striking word. “Dwarf?” he said, bewilderment taking over. “This city was built by dwarves?”
“I’ve read about them before!” said Lessa. “There was a tale of a mighty dwarf who slayed a three-headed dragon and then became the hero of his people… his name was Undor!”
“In the scrolls,” said Arianna, smiling. “I remember.” She twirled a strand of hair around her finger as she let the brains of the group piece together yet another puzzle.
“This city must’ve been built in his honor,” she said, recalling the night she and Arianna poured over the parchments Master Churry left them from his library. “Of course this city was built by dwarves! How could I’ve been so stupid?” She spun around with her hands out as she gazed at the ceiling. “A spectacular, underground chamber surrounded by caverns of equal natural splendor… it’s the perfect setting for the finery-loving species,” she sang.
“Dwarves,” said Jeom in a whisper. His hands clenched around the glass edges of the podium, and he closed his eyes to try and comprehend the new wave of information. “Dwarves… truly?”
“That’s what it reads, doesn’t it?” asked Arianna with her hands on her hips. “Look, I understand that all of this is a lot to take in, but how is it so hard to fathom when we’ve been spending a lifetime believing in nothing? I mean, granted we’re lost, but think of what we’ve seen so far and all we’ve done.”
Jeom shook his head. “I don’t—”
“But think of all of the miracles that led us to this very spot!” she said. “With everything we’ve been through, the fact that dwarves are added to the mess seems just as capricious as everything else… which, by circumstance, is beginning to seem pretty ordinary,” she said, nodding to reassure her own mind.
“I just… this is so—!” he said with a voice so loud it made Arianna cringe. Unable to form his thoughts into words, he pounded his fist down on the podium, a large crack splitting through the center of the thick glass.
Demetrius rested a comforting hand on Jeom’s shoulder as his chest heaved up and down. “Don’t fret brother. Everything will work out in the end,” he said, so relaxed that it made everyone think that it must be true.
Jeom nodded and straightened his back, putting on a brave face. “Sorry. I just need out of these caves. I need some air.”
“Shall we?” said Lessa, anxious to move on and see what lay beyond the fire-kissed door.
Nobody said anything, but she moved passed the podium anyways. As soon as she stepped beyond the stone centerpiece, her whole body was flung backwards, knocked to the floor by some invisible force.
“Les, what happened!?” said Arianna as she ran to her side. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, shaking her head. She scooped up Sano, trying to relieve him from the shock. “It felt like I ran into a wall or something.”
Lessa moved forward slowly with her hands extended in front of her, and sure enough her palms flattened against something solid blocking her way forward.
Arianna mimicked her, walking forward with her arms outstretched. She flinched as she felt something cool and concrete encumber her way. Demetrius followed suit and knocked on the invisible barrier, the deep sound resonating through the room like drums before battle. As the three stayed with their hands up against the barrier, trying to understand the current form of entrapment, Jeom walked to meet his friends.
He went to place his hand on the invisible fortress. Instead of feeling the same solid wall, he stumbled, unhindered, past his brother and the girls. He clenched at his heart, gasping as he passed through some unseen energy almost as if he’d just stepped through a wall of electrified water.
When he looked back, he saw Demetrius, Arianna, and Lessa banging on the barrier, which now looked like a glass wall encasing a wispy indigo liquid. He strained his eyes, trying to make out his friends, but they looked blurred and their voices muffled. He pressed his ear against the watery wall and could make out his name, realizing they shouted for him.
“I’m here! I’m okay!” He tried yelling back, but they didn’t seem to hear or see him.
He screamed, backing away, lifting his hands to his ears as a loud voice filled the room. “Welcome to the City of Undor. You may proceed,” said the voice belonging to an unseen woman.
He looked around the room, seeing nothing but the enchanted wall, the sun-crafted door, and the small space in-between as panic began to set in. Walking back towards the barrier, he saw his friends still pounding away with their fists and feet, their muffled cries giving him courage.
Extending his hand towards the wall, his fingers pressed through the glass-like energy and glazed the watery threads which separated him and his friends. Summoning all of his bravery, he moved his foot forward, and his body was sucked back through the barrier.
In an instant, he fell into the embrace of all three who shrouded him with a string of questions.
“You just disappeared!” said Arianna.
“Are you okay?” said Lessa. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine, but did you hear that?” said Jeom.
“Hear what?” asked Demetrius, cocking his head to the side as he examined his brother.
Jeom flushed as the others stared at him, dumbfounded. “I passed through to the other side, but you couldn’t see me… and then a woman spoke, welcoming me into the city. I don’t understand. Why can’t you get through as well?” He rubbed at his temples as he sauntered back towards the podium.
“I think you have a little dwarf in you,” said Demetrius with a wry smile inching across his mouth.
Jeom’s face fell. “That’s ridiculous. I’m over six feet ta
ll! Aren’t dwarves supposed to be… dwarfish?” he said with sarcasm lacing his words as he held his hand low to the ground.
“I couldn’t possible know,” said Lessa, appraising Jeom’s stature. “He may have a point though.” She let the thought of him sharing some distant family connection roll around in her head. The more she connected the dots, the more it seemed possible in their newfound world of wonder.
“That’s true,” said Arianna. “You do know the language.” She looked up at Jeom as he started to fume. “Well, have you got any other explanations?”
Jeom gaped at them with wide-eyes, unable to contradict anything anyone had just said. Instead, he just crossed his arms and refused to comment.
“Here’s an idea,” said Arianna after a moment’s silence. “Why don’t you try to invite us in?”
Jeom looked ready to explode. “I’m not going to—”
“Just listen,” she said, raising her hands. “Whether you’re a dwarf… or not, something about you allows you through that barrier. When you read the message on the podium, it did mention that outsiders could be invited in by those of a dwarf bloodline. Maybe, we should take it as literal instructions.”
“Absurd,” he said. “I’m not a dwarf!” He pursed his lips, daring her to push it further.
“I didn’t say you were a dwarf,” said Arianna, her cheeks burning bright. “I said that something about you allows you through, and we want in!” She tapped her foot, folding her arms as he curled his lip at her.
“She has a point, Jeom,” said Lessa. “Please, what’s the harm in trying? It won’t hurt anything.” She battered her eyelashes at him, pouting her already pouty lips.
“Oh, all right,” he said, throwing his hands into the air. “I’ll try, but what should I even say?”
Belvedor and the Four Corners (Belvedor Saga Book 1) Page 30