The Fairhaven Chronicles Boxed Set: The Revelations of Oriceran

by S. M. Boyce

  Audrey chuckled.

  When the two wizards stood and continued down the tunnel, Audrey tugged on Victoria’s sleeve. Her friend spun on her heel, concern on her face, but this wasn’t anything serious. Audrey had merely been processing something since their time in Lochrose, and she had to speak her peace. “When we were returning home after escaping Atlantis and General Cato, you told me being a host wasn’t all that great. I didn’t believe you.”

  Victoria laughed. “I believe you said hosts were all adored, actually.”

  Audrey sighed at the stupid comment. “I did, and I’m sorry. I know I wasn’t on my game back there, but now I realize the danger you were in, too. If I had known what it was like to be you, what it was really like, I never would have asked for this. Truly.”

  Victoria pulled Audrey into a tight hug. “We have each other, Audrey, and I’m going to need you once I have multiple Rhazdon Artifacts. We know nothing about the ghost tied to this next one, nor do we fully understand its power. Promise me you’ll always be there to help me, even if it’s to slap some sense into me?”

  Audrey laughed. “I will most definitely be there for you if slapping is involved.”

  Victoria chuckled but continued after the wizards, who had paused to wait for them and watch the deer. The deer, to their credit, didn’t seem to care about the strangers’ presence.

  Audrey, meanwhile, hung back and watched her friends pool by the creatures. Diesel tried to put his arm on Victoria’s shoulder, but she smacked it away. He chuckled.

  Why do people hate Victoria so much? Audrey wondered. Very few people had bothered to learn who she was or even ask basic questions to understand her motives. Audrey had seen it for herself in Lochrose, and that kind of blatant hatred was scary.

  Fear twists even intelligent minds, the koi’s soft voice interrupted her thoughts.

  “I suppose so,” Audrey said softly as she joined her friends.

  CHAPTER 18

  Victoria was about fed up with this “not knowing what time it is” bullshit. She wanted out of these caves, and fast.

  Too bad it hadn’t worked that way. She tried to ignore her growing impatience and just let things happen. They would get there when they got there, regardless of how anxious she was to kill this sphinx.

  “We’re at the inner cavern,” Fyrn said softly as he lifted one hand in a gesture for them to slow down.

  “Finally.” She paused as the tunnel ended in a steep drop. They waited at the entrance, and she peeked around the edge without sticking her head over the threshold. The gentle slope of the wide trail cut into the cliff face to her left and led down into the abyss.

  After the disaster last time, they needed a game plan before they charged in with all guns blazing.

  The gentle hum of Styx’s wings buzzed in the tunnel as he did laps overhead out of boredom. She debated telling him to stop, but it kept him out of harm’s way.

  Victoria peeked over her shoulder at Audrey. “Do you have your mojo back?”

  Audrey nodded and gave a mock salute. “Ready to shoot laser beams, ma’am.”

  Victoria chuckled. “Laser beams, huh?”

  “You’re just jealous.”

  Fyrn stroked his beard as he surveyed the cavern. “Audrey won’t be able to use her Atlantean magic while she’s shifted into a witch, so we should only have her shift if absolutely necessary.”

  “Noted,” Audrey said. “Only shift upon threat of immediate death by the wizard army.”

  “Pretty much,” Fyrn said with a grumble.

  “We need to find the Rhazdon Artifact.” Victoria scanned the darkness, hoping something would give it away. A glint of light among the shadows, maybe or—

  “There,” Diesel said, his hand on Victoria’s shoulder as he pointed off to the side. He didn’t remove it after he spoke, and she shook her head in annoyance. She needed him to focus.

  Staring down his finger, she noticed a few amber rays of light streaming over an apparently empty pedestal. Her heart skipped a beat in panic. “Someone already took it.”

  Fyrn shook his head. “It’s small, Victoria. Barely the size of a ping pong ball. I assure you the Rhazdon Artifact is still here, because the creature is still alive.”

  Victoria breathed a sigh of relief. “We need a plan to get to it undetected. That thing will likely know we’re here the moment we step into the cavern.”

  “We could set up a diversion somewhere else,” Diesel suggested.

  Victoria thought it over. “That’s not a bad idea.”

  “It’s a risky one,” Fyrn interjected.

  “How so? A diversion would keep its attention away from whoever steals the Rhazdon Artifact.”

  “Yes, but at the expense of lives. Once you enter the outer lair, there’s a risk of never returning. The fact that we got out at all is luck.”

  “And my quick wit,” Diesel said with a grin.

  Fyrn stared at Diesel, head shaking with annoyance, but he continued as if the younger wizard hadn’t spoken. “Whoever acts as our diversion will likely die. With the creature on their tail and an ever-shifting cavern confusing them, they could be lost forever in its depths or just flat-out killed. Even if they live and we somehow kill the beast, we might never find them.”

  “Oh,” Victoria and Diesel said in unison.

  “Whatever we do, we have to do it in here,” Fyrn said with a gesture toward the inner lair.

  Victoria tapped her finger on the nearest boulder as she tried to think up a plan. “That’s tricky. This area is much smaller, and the monster is massive.”

  “This inner cavern is larger than it looks,” Fyrn said with a gesture toward the map in her hand. “There are corridors and hidden chambers within the lair where our volunteer distracters could lead the sphinx.”

  “Why doesn’t this sphinx tell riddles? In the lore, they have to let you by if you solve their riddle.” Victoria chewed her lip in anticipation, a plan starting to form.

  Fyrn shook his head. “That’s human lore. Fiction. The reality of it is, these are brutes who want nothing more than supper. They have no laws or moral code, much less a desire to play word games with their food.”

  Damn. There goes my plan.

  “Why haven’t we seen it yet?” Audrey asked. Her jaw tensed, and her hand inched toward the sword at her belt.

  Victoria nodded, equally concerned. She didn’t like the quiet, not when that creature was out there somewhere in the shadows.

  “It may be patrolling its outer lair,” Fyrn said with a shrug.

  “What if we go for it?” Audrey asked with a nod toward the pedestal.

  Fyrn stroked his beard. “I doubt it will be that easy. We will have to move exceptionally fast and keep to the path on this map. If we deviate even a little, the illusions and shifting floors of the inner lair could make it impossible to leave.”

  “No pressure,” Audrey added sarcastically.

  Victoria sat up straighter. “Can you summon the Rhazdon Artifact magically? Make it float up here?”

  “I’d have to be closer,” Fyrn said, shaking his head.

  Diesel grinned. “I know it seems as though we can do anything, my darling, but even great wizards like me have limits.”

  Victoria shut her eyes in irritation, trying to clear her head and focus even if Diesel wouldn’t.

  “How close do we need to get?” she asked.

  “Twenty feet, give or take,” Fyrn answered.

  She nodded, a new plan forming. “Audrey and I will be the distractions. You two need to get as close to it as you can, swipe it, and run back. When we see you retreat, we will too. Once the Rhazdon Artifact is secured, we all need to attack the creature with whatever we have to make sure it’s kept at bay until—”

  She stopped talking mid-sentence and sighed, already disgusted with herself. She was going to say, “until we escape,” but that would mean going back on her promise to Queen Angelique. She might not have admired the woman, but she refused to lie.
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  Diesel seemed to read her mind. “We can steal the Rhazdon Artifact, train you on how to use it, and then go back for the sphinx once you have more power.”

  Victoria shook her head. “Someone has to die to allow me to fuse with the Rhazdon Artifact, remember?”

  Diesel’s smile faded, and his gaze flickered to the arm where her dagger was embedded. “I sometimes forget that detail, at least with you.”

  Victoria didn’t appreciate his advances, but he was still her friend—and she didn’t like the haunted expression on his face at the thought of someone dying for her to have this power. “Diesel, it’s not like that—”

  “She didn’t kill for that Rhazdon Artifact, Diesel,” Fyrn interrupted. “Not that it’s your business.”

  Diesel cleared his throat and plastered on another charming smile, and Victoria was surprised she could tell it was fake. She had been spending too much time around him, and it bothered her how much she hated to think he thought less of her.

  “Victoria,” Fyrn said sharply.

  She tilted her head toward him, fists clenched with the desire to fix whatever she had done to upset Diesel. “What?”

  “We will find someone who deserves to die. A criminal. A murderer. Then we will return, and you will keep your promise to Lochrose. Does that suit you?”

  She nodded.

  “Good. Ready?” Fyrn asked, standing.

  “Ready,” Audrey said, an Atlantean crystal in one fist.

  “As am I,” Diesel said, spinning his black wizard’s staff.

  Victoria stood as well. “Let’s do this, then. Styx, are you joining us?”

  The little pixie hovered in front of her face and saluted, his tiny features scrunched and exaggeratedly serious. She chuckled despite the dark mood. “Make sure Fyrn and Diesel get the Rhazdon Artifact. If they drop it, you grab it and come back here.”

  He squeaked in affirmation, apparently ready to perform his duties.

  Victoria stretched her arms a bit, readying for the onslaught. “We do this together. One. Two.”

  “Three,” a haunting voice said.

  Before they could move an inch, an eye as tall as the cave exit appeared, blocking their way into the inner lair.

  Victoria swallowed a scream, and everyone jumped backward.

  “Hello, little dinners,” the echoing female voice said.

  “Retreat!” Victoria shouted.

  Audrey shot a brilliant blast of light that caught the monster in the eye. It shrieked in pain, and the wizards covered their retreat with a few well-placed spells aimed at the sphinx’s face.

  To her astonishment, the sphinx didn’t shield its face as the attack ravaged its head. Instead, it reached for its neck.

  Its neck must be vulnerable! Her heart leapt with joy at the thought, and she skidded to a stop. She scanned its neck, about to strike when the creature shook off the pain and glared at her.

  Apparently her revelation would have to serve her in a future battle. Right now the sphinx had the upper hand, and Victoria had to get her group the hell out of reach.

  Breath caught in her throat and thighs aching from stress and a lack of sleep, Victoria led their small band back down the corridor. Seconds later, a long paw topped with razor-sharp claws swiped into the tunnel. The claws dug up rock, gouging the entrance like a knife through butter.

  Foiled, the creature put its mouth at the entrance and roared. In the tiny space, the overpowering sound knocked them off their feet.

  “This way!” Fyrn charged toward solid rock, and for a moment Victoria thought he had lost his mind. But he disappeared through the wall and out of sight, and Victoria realized this was another illusion. She charged after him, with Diesel, Audrey, and Styx hot on her heels.

  The side tunnel looked identical to all the others, and Fyrn led them quite a ways down it before he paused, shoulders heaving, to catch his breath.

  Apparently out of harm’s way, Victoria slumped against the wall in defeat. She wanted to pull out her hair and hit her head against something. This creature seemed to know everything. Every breath. Every move. It owned these caverns, and it knew all that happened within them.

  “I will have you first, Atlantean!” the monster screamed, its voice muted through the rock.

  “Aw, I feel special,” Audrey said with a forced laugh.

  Victoria tensed, ready to run again, but Fyrn shook his head. “We can stay here. If it knew where we were, it would have attacked already.”

  “Oh, good. I feel safe now.” Victoria rolled her eyes. She groaned and slumped on the ground, thoroughly frustrated. “Okay, guys. What’s Plan C?”

  CHAPTER 19

  The mercenary knelt at the entrance to Lochrose, a vague sense of unease settling deep in his gut as he studied the rocky floor of the gem-filled corridor. There were dark creatures in these tunnels. He knew that much, and he did not want to meet them.

  He also wouldn’t survive disappointing Luak, thus his dilemma. Option A led to certain death, while Option B led to danger and possible reward.

  Option B it is.

  “Move,” he said, shoving their kidnapped wizard forward.

  The barefoot man stumbled, his hands bound in front of him as he led them through the tunnels. “O-of course.”

  The mercenary gestured to the myriad hired orcs and elves behind him, and they followed his silent command. He had surprise and a small army. The Rhazdon host he hunted had nothing more than two wizards who were out of their league.

  He would win.

  Only a wizard could navigate these paths, and the mercenary didn’t like the fact that he had to rely on a prisoner’s word. However, he didn’t need to threaten their captive anymore. They had shattered his will to fight, and he was now obedient. The broken wizard knew the price of not doing as he was told.

  Pain. Lots and lots of pain.

  The mercenary had a single mission: find these girls Luak wanted and drag them back to Fairhaven. That Rhazdon host had dark magic in her blood and a shiny little sword, but she now had far more to fear than some monsters in a cave.

  CHAPTER 20

  Victoria wanted to join in the discussion of what to do next, but she mostly just stewed in her own anger. Styx petted her hair and cooed softly, but the tiny strokes did nothing to stem her fury.

  It was bubbling over. Her frustration at being stuck with the Rhazdon Artifact in the first place, her inability to wield the power her father had given her, and the way Luak continuously chipped away at her city despite all her efforts. And no matter what she did to prove otherwise, almost everyone she met in the magical world assumed the worst of her.

  Every. Fucking. Time.

  Rhazdon hosts are evil. That was the universal rule.

  Ha. As if it were that simple.

  “Victoria?” Fyrn asked, as though he were waiting for her input on a question.

  “Maybe this is all a mistake,” she said softly, with no idea what he had asked.

  “What?” Diesel sat upright. Audrey leaned forward, apparently as dumbfounded as he was.

  Victoria stood and paced in circles around the group’s makeshift camp. “Maybe getting a second Rhazdon Artifact really is a mistake. Maybe it will make me evil. Maybe coming here and promising the impossible to some asshole queen was the worst thing I could have done. Maybe—”

  “Maybe you’re afraid she’s right,” Fyrn interrupted.

  Victoria stopped dead in her tracks and stared at her mentor. For a moment she couldn’t speak, but the anger bubbled once more to the surface. She had to swallow hard to stem the tears. “Why the hell does everyone I meet think I’m a monster? She didn’t even ask why we were here, Fyrn. She didn’t care. No one cares!”

  “They don’t understand.”

  “Are you sure, Fyrn? I mean, why am I not evil? By all accounts I should be. All the rest are, right? Rhazdon. Luak. I’m sure there are loads more. Am I going to slip into madness or something? Should I buy a hut in the woods so I don’t rampage? Wha
t makes me different? Who am I to think…” she trailed off, tears springing to her eyes as she fought to finish that statement.

  “I don’t know how, but you’re not evil. Not even a little,” Fyrn answered.

  “Not yet.”

  His jaw tensed, but he nodded. “Not yet. Maybe not ever. We don’t know.”

  “You don’t know.” She echoed his words, her voice so soft she almost couldn’t hear herself. His confession broke her heart. She rubbed her eyes to stem the frustrated tears as she reevaluated her entire life’s purpose.