by Tara West
She heard a powerful boom below. Lydra opened her wings, flapping until she landed on the ground with a thud.
The rocky pit was lit with the soft glow of torchlight, and she saw clearly enough to discern they were at the bottom of a deep pit.
Simeon had dismounted Tan’yi’na and was walking toward Lydra. He didn’t seem intimidated by her low growl as he held up a hand to Dianna.
“May I help you dismount?” he asked.
So shook up was she that she numbly let him help her down. Once she was safely on solid ground, she spun a slow circle, struggling to make sense of her environment.
The pit was attached to a low tunnel, barely large enough for two people to pass through shoulder-to-shoulder and certainly not big enough to fit either dragon. “Where are we?”
“The mines,” Simeon answered.
Tan’yi’na nodded toward the tunnel. You and Simeon must make the rest of the journey alone. Lydra and I will wait for your return.
She warily eyed Simeon, who stared back at her with a grin so wide it was comical.
He held out an arm. “As I’ve said before, I won’t bite.” He leaned toward her, his whisper hot and heavy in her ear. “Unless you beg me to.”
Dianna rolled her eyes. “I shall never beg for anything from you.”
“Come now.” The mirth in his eyes vanished. “It was only a jest.”
She reluctantly took his arm, knowing she’d rather hold onto him than risk slipping on the slick rocks. “I don’t find your jokes amusing.”
“I’m sorry.” He snatched a torch from its cradle. “We must hurry. We’ve quite a hike.”
Refusing to rely solely on him for guidance, she grabbed a torch, too, though she wasn’t looking forward to traversing the bowels of the Shifting Sands. Her fear of descending into the abyss almost overshadowed the butterflies swarming in her stomach as she dug her fingers into Simeon’s smooth, bare skin, the hard muscles refusing to yield. The heat from his arm radiated through her fingers and flamed her entire body like wildfire.
Elements save her, this man’s mere presence made her knees turn to porridge. She’d always considered herself strong and fiercely independent. She could only imagine the effect he had on weaker females, especially mortal girls. She did her best to clear her thoughts of him and focus on the rough terrain. The rocky tunnel they traversed was steep and slick. She nearly lost her footing numerous times. If it hadn’t been for Simeon’s hold on her, she would have slid down the slippery rocks, chafing her backside.
The air was cooler below, but it was also stagnant, making her strain to fill her lungs with each breath. This cavern should have lacked life so far below the earth, yet she knew people lived here, for she could see signs of them in the images of dragons and people carved into the walls.
The dark tunnel, lit with only a few distant torches, was made even more eerie by a low hum that reverberated off the walls, making her feel she was in the bowels of a musical pipe. As they traversed potholes and ridges, she had to cling even tighter to Simeon’s arm. The silence between them was unnerving, so much so that she was forced to make conversation. She struggled for a topic, not knowing what to say to a man who both excited and aggravated her.
“How is it you have so much magic and your twin has none?” she finally blurted, then regretted bringing up a topic which probably pained him.
His silence was like an invisible wall between them. She cursed herself for asking such a personal question.
“There are some who say I stole her magic in the womb.” The words tumbled out of his mouth.
“What a horrible thing to say.” She chanced a look at him, hating the haunted expression in his golden gaze. “You don’t believe it?”
When his eyes misted with a sheen of tears, she wanted to kick her own arse.
“My mother and father are powerful mages,” he said, “and Jae is the only one of my siblings without magic.”
She struggled for something, anything, to say. “There could be other reasons.” She slipped on a rock and dropped her torch. It fell to the stones with a clank, its light extinguished. She breathed a sigh of relief when he caught her.
“I have spent too many years obsessing over those other reasons.” The regret in his voice was palpable. “Do you know what Jae means in the ancient tongue? It means ‘without light.’ It is a common name given to non-magical children by their prejudiced, magical parents.”
Dianna choked back tears as she thought of the girl Madhea had murdered. What a tragic life she must have lived while Jae’s natural parents showered Dianna with love and adoration. Dianna welcomed the silence that followed, wishing she’d left well enough alone. She jerked Simeon to a standstill when she heard the familiar flapping of wings swoosh above her head. Sirens teeth!
She looked at Simeon, unnerved by the way his torchlight cast eerie shadows across his normally boyish features. “What was that?”
He shrugged, continuing down the tunnel. “Probably just a mine pixie.”
“A pixie?” she snapped. Why hadn’t he warned her about them?
“Relax.” He chuckled. “The mine pixies are tame, a little mischievous, but they don’t eat people.”
So there were two breeds of pixies in the Shifting Sands? “How is it they are tamed?” She fanned her head as several squealing, dark objects darted past her. She didn’t care that they were supposedly tame. Her chest tightened with fear.
“They obey Rení the Wise,” he said, helping her navigate a large crater.
She tried to sidestep the hole without slipping. “He’s a miner?”
“He’s an earth speaker, an ancient one.” He motioned for her to duck under a spiky column jutting from the ceiling. Such a jagged spike could drive a fatal hole through a man’s skull.
“How ancient?”
“Some say he’s older than Dafuar and Odu.”
“And he lives down here?”
Simeon nodded. “He was cast down by The Seven years ago for siding with the mortals when the new laws were formed.”
She’d heard of earth speakers from Dafuar. They were the bridges between mortal and magical worlds. The Elements gave them premonitions of things to come, which indeed made earth speakers very wise. Like all witches, though, earth speakers born below Ice Mountain had to be sacrificed to Madhea, so she had never knowingly met one.
“Rení keeps the stone hidden.” He nodded toward a faint light at the end of the tunnel. “We must convince him to let you have it.”
“Of course,” she said, not feeling the slightest bit of confidence in her persuasive abilities. She certainly was no Simeon.
A cluster of screaming winged creatures flew past, one of them yanking a strand of hair out of her head.
“Ouch!” She swatted the menace away, then rubbed her sore scalp. “You’re sure these pixies are not like the others?”
He shooed away a demon that buzzed his ear. “They’ve been cut off from their kin for hundreds of years.”
She was confused. She’d thought all of the Shifting Sand’s tunnels were connected. “This tunnel doesn’t lead to the others?”
“No.” He swatted another creature.
“Then how do the miners access food and water?”
“There are many springs down here.” He pointed to a stream of water that ran down the stone wall beside him. “And they grow some of their food. The rest is dropped to them.”
“Dropped? The way we came in?”
His boyish features hardened. “The only way.”
Surely not even The Seven were cruel enough to banish an entire society to a stagnant pit. “So these miners are cut off from the rest of Kyanu?”
His golden eyes darkened. “They are born here, and they die here. Only the babes born with magic are allowed to leave, taken from their parents by The Seven. The rest are forced to become miners.”
“How sad,” she mumbled, not knowing what else to say. She couldn’t imagine being born in a stagnant hole, never permitted
to feel the sun’s warm rays or smell fresh air.
They walked to the end of the tunnel in silence. When they arrived at a luminous cavern, she was filled with a mixture of shock and relief. The ceiling, at least thrice the height of Tan’yi’na, glowed with what appeared to be thousands of sparkling stars. The place was bustling with people dressed in crudely stitched breeches and thick tunics. Men, women, and children, all with grayish skin and dark eyes, worked at various stations. Some loaded golden rocks from heavy carts onto pallets, others weighed and counted sparkling gems, and a cluster of old men and women sat at low tables, examining each jewel through thick-looking glasses. These Kyanite’s were shorter and thicker than those she’d seen above, and they all had a stoop to their shoulders. Some of the older miners were bent so low, they looked like they had broken arrows for spines.
When Simeon led her out of the shadowy tunnel and down the stone steps into the cavern, the bustle of the crowd died down as everyone turned to stare. Then the crowd broke into a chorus of low whispers.
She grabbed Simeon’s hand, squeezing hard.
He squeezed back. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “They know you are a friend.”
An old, toothless man hobbled up to them, bowing over his gnarled cane before Dianna. “Welcome, my queen, to the dragon’s den.”
She cast Simeon a wary glance and shifted uncomfortably as the rest of the miners followed suit. She hated the looks of pain and discomfort on their faces while they stared reverently up at her, as if she were the key to their freedom.
“Thank you for the warm welcome, but I am no queen. Please rise,” she called.
The miners looked at one another as if seeking confirmation. A few of them stood, then helped others straighten. ’Twas then she realized, if she was able to defeat The Seven, she would be the key to their freedom. But Tan’yi’na had just asked her to fight the evil witches. Could the miners have known of their plan already?
The crooked old man scratched the back of his head, the lines around his eyes deepening as he squinted at her. “But you are a queen, for Rení the Wise has said so.”
She vehemently shook her head. “He’s wrong.”
When the crowd collectively gasped, she feared she’d offended them.
“Rení the Wise is never wrong.” The old man’s mouth tightened. “You have the proud bearing of a queen and strong magic.” He waved her forward. “He is waiting.”
Dianna held tighter to Simeon’s hand, feeling slightly self-conscious when her hand started to sweat, but she refused to let go.
“It all will be well,” he said. “I promise.” When he slanted a sideways smile at her, it somehow emboldened her. She surprisingly believed him.
The crowd parted, opening a path toward another tunnel at the end of the cavern. Thankfully, this one appeared to be much wider than the one she’d just descended. Doing her best to keep her smile in place, she walked through the crowd. She was a head taller than most of the miners, though she suspected it was mostly due to their stooped postures. Were they all injured or had their spines grown that way, like a bent tree trunk twisting and turning toward the light?
She leaned into Simeon, taking comfort in the warmth and strength that radiated off him. “Why is this place called the dragon’s den?”
“This was once Tan’yi’na’s home.” He alternated between smiling and waving at the miners, and speaking out of the side of his mouth. “Until The Seven closed off the north entrance.”
“Why would they take away his home?”
“Because dragons are overly fond of gold and jewels, but The Seven are even more so,” he said with a chuckle.
Realization washed over Dianna. The golden dragon had loathed her since she’d arrived in his desert home, then suddenly he stopped threatening her. Now he wanted her to defeat The Seven. Did Tan’yi’na care about the plight of the Shifting Sands mortals, or did he simply want his jewels back?
“Didn’t Tan’yi’na fight back?” she asked.
“At first, but even Tan’yi’na knows treasure is no good when humanity is on the precipice of annihilation.”
Or else Tan’yi’na knew he was no match for seven powerful witches. She felt momentarily guilty for thinking the dragon only cared about his treasure, even though he had been inclined to think the worst of her from day one.
“This way, my queen,” the old stooped man called to them. “The Wise One is waiting.”
Though the tunnel was much wider and brighter than the one that had led them to the cavern, she refused to let go of Simeon’s hand. The crooked man walked at a slog’s pace, finally leading them through a narrow archway into a narrower tunnel that dead-ended beneath a cloak of shadows. After the old man tapped his cane on the wall three times in rapid succession, the wall crumbled to the ground in a cacophony of rock and dust.
She coughed, choking and waving in front of her face to clear the smoke. The old man stepped over the rubble.
They followed him, and she found herself in a chamber not much bigger than her sleeping quarters. She jumped at noise behind her, surprised when the rocks and debris rolled back into place, sealing the gaping hole in the wall.
“An enchantment to keep this chamber hidden from The Seven,” Simeon whispered.
Dianna recognized the mist that fanned across the floor, obscuring her feet. ’Twas similar to the swirling mists in Feira’s chamber. They descended from a raised structure of stones in the center of the room that reminded her of a small, steaming volcano. A decrepit gray man sat on a throne carved of stone and jewels. He looked older than dirt and more frail than Feira’s invalid husband.
Clothed in a sack-like robe, he was hunched over in his chair, white tufts of hair, wrinkly skin, and toad-like spots making him look as if he he’d died there years ago. Even more unusual was that one side of his body was completely distorted, his features sliding downward like a melting puddle of wax. She wondered if he’d been injured by a vindictive goddess. Of one thing she was certain, Simeon was right—Rení the Wise was very old.
“Wise One.” The crooked man, bowed. “I present to you Dianna, daughter of the ice goddess, Madhea.”
Rení slowly lifted a hand with a feeble grunt, waving her forward. “Come.” He rasped, his voice as rough as old wood. “Sit.”
Dianna refused to let go of Simeon’s hand, reluctantly sitting in a chair beside the earth-speaker while Simeon knelt beside her. She stared into the earth speaker’s eyes, which looked as if they were covered in a thick haze of cloudy ice.
She tensed when the man took her face in a calloused hand. “Strong witch.” Spittle flew from his lips as he spoke. “Strong magic.”
She fought the urge to pull away as he traced the bridge of her nose and then her brows with the tip of a gnarled finger. He skimmed her shoulder and neck, stopping at the source of the pounding in her chest.
“Strong heart,” he said. “Strong love for brothers.”
She swallowed a lump of regret and fear at the mention of her brothers. How had he known?
Simeon cleared his throat. “Rení the Wise, our deity has seen in the swirling mists that Dianna will battle The Seven.”
“I see, too.” Rení pointed to the mists that swirled in front of him.
“But our deity says Dianna needs the sacred stone to defeat them,” Simeon said.
Rení frowned.
Would Rení deny her the stone? She feared she couldn’t save her brothers without it.
Simeon flashed her a knowing wink. “Wise One, she cannot hope to defeat The Seven without the sacred stone.”
She shifted, feeling a strange tingling over her shoulder. When she looked into Simeon’s eyes, she thought she saw starlight.
“Please let her have it,” he begged Rení.
As the tingling intensified, blowing past Dianna’s arm like a gentle breeze, she recognized the sensation. ’Twas magic. Simeon’s magic. He was using his power of persuasion.
Rení sighed, then held out a hand. “Hold.�
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Simeon released her hand and nudged her toward the old man. She stared into the old man’s cloudy eyes while reluctantly reaching for him.
It felt like she held onto a bird’s wing, so frail was he, so she was not prepared for the blunt force of his magic shooting through her. She stilled, a prisoner in his grasp, unable to pull away.
“Heart kind,” he said with a crooked smile. “But heart conflicted, too.”
She flushed, fearing he was talking about her feelings for Simeon and wishing he’d let her go. “Oh, I-I don’t think....”
“Love weaken magic,” he interrupted, shooting Simeon a dark look. “Love may be undoing.”
“I’ll remember that,” she said shakily. “But my brother is in trouble, and I can’t help him without your stone.”
Much to her relief, he finally let go of her hand, but she froze when he pointed a crooked finger at her.
“Must stop Eris sacrifice,” he rasped.
Panic seized her chest. “Eris is going to sacrifice my brother?”
“No.” Rení shook his head. “Eris sacrifice spirit.”
She searched the old man’s face. “I-I don’t understand.”
“Eris find new body. Eris become more powerful.”
A new body? This “wise” man made no sense.
Simeon leaned forward. “Please let Dianna have the stone, so she can stop her.”
Rení clucked his tongue. “Stone not mine to give.”
“Then how does she get it?” Simeon asked.
Rení pointed up. “Ask stone.”
She squinted at the ceiling, which appeared to be coated in diamond dust, like the cavern. “Where is it?”
Rení pointed higher.
Simeon stood. “He means it’s up there.”
She stood beside him, searching for any sign of the stone. There must have been thousands of little nooks and crevices in the walls leading up to the dazzling ceiling. The rock could be hidden in any one of them. “How do I get up there? I’m no climber.”
“Pixies take you,” Rení said, puckering his lips and blowing a breathy whistle.
She shrank back when hundreds of winged creatures emerged from the crevices and swooped down on them like falling debris. When they swarmed her like a hive of bees, she swatted them.