She heard a loud crack, and then another. Searching for the source of the sound, she looked up just in time to see the ceiling cleave along its length and begin to crumble down around her. Before her, the floor tiles began to almost liquefy, pouring themselves down a tunnel that was opening beneath the floor like a sinkhole.
But it wasn’t a sinkhole.
As chunks of stone and fragments of tile began to fall from above and shatter all around her, Ruby realized the tiles from the floor weren’t being lost down the tunnel, but rather building it. This was the way out. It had to be. As the still-quaking chamber collapsed behind her, she dashed for the tunnel, cringing at the feeling of the sand still in her shoes but not daring to pause and dump it out. The chamber was imploding on her; she was sure of that now.
She ran farther and deeper into the relative safety of the tunnel, never slowing until she could no longer hear the tumbling of stone and shattering of tile. As the clamor of destruction faded, Ruby noticed a new sound behind her. She turned her head to see the Blights running in step behind her.
She hadn’t known whether having them on the helipad would allow them to join her on her quest. They hadn’t been present in the void, on the dunes, or in Makeda’s chamber, but for some reason (which Ruby chose not to question), they were here with her now. Grateful for the help, she offered them a nod and gestured for them to follow before continuing deeper into the tunnel.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The tunnel went on for what could have been a mile or more. Tiles from the chamber surrounded them on all sides at first, making the floor of the cylindrical tube tricky to navigate, but leaving no question in anyone’s mind as to whether they were headed in the right direction. As they went, the tiles grew sparse, receding from the floor as it flattened to a reasonable walking surface of natural clay. The ceiling was next. The empty spaces swooped out from above and along the walls, giving the remaining tile pattern a tentacle-like quality as the colors spread farther and farther apart and eventually disappeared.
Ruby found herself then in a nondescript cavern, nothing but oddly rippled stone on all sides. The uneven floor and domed ceiling seemed to stretch out infinitely before and behind her, with no sign of the steep downhill she’d traversed on her way from Makeda’s chamber. It was bright enough at this spot to see several meters in both directions, but with no visible source of light. Ruby leaned tentatively against the curved wall and set to dumping the remaining sand from her velvet slippers. She felt anxious, unsure, and unprepared.
Nowhere in the Scrolls of Solomon had she read mention of a cave. Then again, the Scrolls themselves had been rather vague on the experience of the ritual. Other than the riddles, there hadn’t been much by way of detail. Trials they had said, ordeals. There hadn’t been mention of desert sand, come to think of it.
Ruby leaned against the wall of the cavern, happy enough for the moment to have caught her breath and thankful she appeared to have a moment to collect her thoughts before moving forward. It was warm in here, too--pleasantly warm. Ruby felt comfortable for the first time since she’d left the roof of her building back in Cobalt City. But she was miffed as to what she might do next.
"Any ideas?" she asked the seven Blights as they milled around the cavern. "I don’t remember anything in the Scrolls about a cave."
"Lava tube," Fire said back absently.
"Pardon?"
"You said ‘cave,’" Fire replied. "And, I mean, it is a cave, I guess. But technically it’s a lava tube."
Ruby frowned; she had no idea what the girl was talking about.
"Like, usually when you think of a cave it’s like, a thing formed by water and erosion or whatever. But this is a lava tube. Definitely formed by hot magma."
"How can you tell?" Ruby asked. She wasn’t sure whether this information was at all relevant, but still she was curious."Lava starts fires. So it’s kind of my thing."
"So it’s a volcanic cave," Doubt chimed in. "So what?"
"Because volcanos make opals," Ruby realized. Her mouth fell open, and her heartrate jumped. Was that what this was? "I think--" she said after a moment. "I think we’re in King Solomon’s Mine."
"So, what?" Doubt asked. "We keep walking?"
Ruby nodded. "I think so." Ruby stood firmly and looked around at the Blights. She centered herself again, the way she had on the helipad before speaking the opening lines of the ritual. And she knew which way to go. She turned decisively and headed up the tunnel.
"You’re aware you’re headed back the way we came?" Discontent asked her.
"But it isn’t," Ruby challenged. "The rules of the mortal realm don’t work here. This is the way." She led them at a generous clip along the surprisingly flat tube. The light was lessening; whatever was causing it existed only in the area where they’d congregated. Ruby didn’t bother to pause and wonder why or how that was the case.
"I don’t think this is the way," Doubt contended.
"If Doubt is doubting something," Pestilence piped up.
"Exactly," Ruby affirmed, not bothering to slow her stride as the cavern got still darker. "Look at the walls."
"It’s dark," Discontent griped.
Fire snapped, "Like that’s ever stopped us." She drifted to the outside of the pack, raised her hand, and sighed. A tiny flame arose from each of her fingers, lighting the space just enough for all of them to see clearly the cavern’s ridged stone walls and ceiling.
"If we were really just going back the way we’d come, we’d be well back into tiled walls by now," Ruby assured them. "We’re going the right way."
The lava tube was long, twisting in places; it widened and narrowed unexpectedly, causing more than one episode of complaining as the Blights bumped into each other behind her. It was a tight space for eight people to navigate, but Ruby trusted her minions would find a way to work it out. She didn’t have the mental energy to tend to their walking formation.
As they continued forward, Ruby shut her eyes against the darkness and tried to access the feeling she’d had before when the Eye had been shining in her grasp. What had it felt like searing her skin? What had it felt like ice cold and tucked into her bodice? What had it felt like to be blinded by the light escaping from between her fingers? And what had it been like to feel it leading her?
Ruby stumbled.
"Look, boss," Plague called out. "light!"
Ruby opened her eyes just as the group of them stepped into a pool of unexplained light not unlike the one they’d first encountered when they’d found themselves in the lava tube.
This part of the cavern seemed more finished, less natural than the place the earlier pool of light had shown them. In the center of this decidedly circular chamber stood a waist-high stone cauldron. It appeared to have been fashioned out of a stalagmite, which in and of itself seemed odd. There had been neither stalagmites nor stalactites along their path thus far. It occurred to Ruby also that this was the end of the lava tube. The strangely perfect circle they’d just stepped into was closed on all sides, save the small opening through which they’d entered.
"Wait!" Ruby called out as the Blights began to circle around the strange artifice. She didn’t know where the word had come from, much less the feeling that had precipitated it, but she could only hope it had come from her attempted connection to the Eye. "We’re not ready. We shouldn’t be here. Don’t move."
With that, she shut her eyes again and tried to feel what the Eye was leading her to do next. She lifted her hands to chest height, turning them palms-up as she drew in a slow and grounding breath. Slowly, gingerly, with no deliberation, she drifted back. Her feet shuffled silently across the smooth stone until she was sure she was outside the lighted circle.
Ruby felt her palms rise toward the ceiling, moving without volition as her head tilted upward in concert. Her heartrate was rising again, her breathing catching in her throat. When she opened her eyes, there was light spilling from her palms--it was as though the Eye were still in her possessi
on. The ceiling shone with raw gems; crystals embedded in the rock of the cave had the light from her palms refracting in all directions. Tiny rainbows speckled the cavern walls as the jewels glittered in their rocky beds.
She did her best to ignore the light and the glow and the exquisite sight of the shimmering rainbows filling her view. She stared straight upward, concentrating her gaze on where the light from her two palms intersected. The point of light she’d found grew brighter and brighter, until it shone with all the intensity of the Eye when its light had burst through her fingers as she’d traversed the windy dunes. The light left her palms then, absorbed before her eyes by the gem at its nexus until the glow had gone from her entirely and was concentrated wholly in the stone.
The light modulated, changing in color and intensity as the crystals around it seemed to lose their ability to refract its beams. Eventually the brightness resolved itself into a diffuse glow, with the gem no longer putting off any light at all. A breeze blew through the cavern then; it was cool and fresh, and Ruby couldn’t fathom from whence it might have come.
In the instant Ruby took to inhale the sweet, balsam-scented air that passed by her, the gem dropped from above and into her upturned palm. Ruby’s heart was still racing, her breath still ragged, as she clutched the glowing gem to her chest. It was the Eye of Africa.
Or, rather, it would be.
Ruby knew then what she had to do next. She walked reverently back into the circle of light, this time not even considering a pause before she approached the cauldron at its center. She had the opal, but the totem was incomplete. She needed to finish its creation for herself. The cauldron was cool when she touched it; a solid mass of something metallic filled the bottom third of its bowl.
"Fire," Ruby directed, gesturing with her chin to the cauldron before her.
Fire stepped forward and nodded at Ruby. She dipped her hands into the bowl then, tensing her jaw as she pushed them through the solid metal, turning it as she did into a bright orange molten pool.
Ruby held her breath as she lowered the opal toward the cauldron’s viscous contents. She was fully prepared for the liquid to burn; she braced herself for the inevitable pain and was taken aback when it failed to materialize. The slick metal was cool and refreshing against her hands as she passed the opal through the molten contents of the cauldron.
The metal collected itself upon the opal in just the configuration Ruby remembered from all previous dealings with the Eye. This was it. The totem was re-forming itself before her eyes. She could hear her name being called in the distance. Was this the sound of the magic of the gem being tied to her?
She heard it again.
No.
That wasn’t right. The sound was discordant. It was all wrong. She shouldn’t be hearing her name right now. Ruby’s hands began to shake. Suddenly, she couldn’t keep hold of the Eye. The cave was moving, swaying, wobbling, flashing in and out of existence maybe, as the sound of her name being called out from somewhere became louder and louder and closer. The circular chamber in which she stood began to crack and cleave, the solid stone walls crumbling into dust so fine it filled the air with clouds of grayish powder.
In an instant the walls were gone, and the air so thick with dust that Ruby could scarcely catch her breath. She doubled over, coughing and retching, losing her grip on the Eye as she was overcome. She fell to her knees then. Covering her nose and mouth with the sleeve of her tunic, she reached with her other arm back into the cauldron, rooting around in the ever-thickening metal to try and recapture the lost totem.
She heard her name again.
Ruby could no longer see the Blights. The room was too thick with powder for her to see more than a few inches. The liquid in the cauldron was quickly solidifying around her hand and she still hadn’t found the Eye.
"Ruby!" She heard her name called again. This time, not only was she aware of the direction from which the sound had come, but she knew who was calling out to her.
"Loki!" she managed to shout.
The next thing she knew, the god was behind her. He had her by her elbow and was pulling her away from the cauldron just as its contents hardened entirely.
"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded. "The Eye was in there! It’s lost! You’ve lost it!"
"We’ve got bigger things to worry about," he told her as he pulled her away from the crumbling lava chamber. He was forcing her to run faster than her fatigued legs wanted to move, but his grip on her arm told her she’d best keep up or else risk losing it.
She’d have asked him what the hell he was talking about, but she was still too overcome by the dust and silt in the air to say any further words.
"Where are the Blights?" he asked then.
"They are here!" a man’s voice answered. The voice was thick with an accent Ruby didn’t recognize, but the admonishment in the man’s tone was as clear as day. "And now they go."
There was a sound like a train passing through the cavern, and the dust kicked up in all directions as Loki pulled Ruby ever faster through the cave.
"What’s going on?" she managed to ask as the walls of the tube began to crumble in larger and larger chunks all around them.
"I told you the Blights weren’t mine," he replied. "That was Mahakala, their caretaker--a Tibetan god from whom I borrowed those seven without asking."
"You lent me another god’s minions without having asked him first?"
"Not his minions, precisely," Loki answered. "He doesn’t wield them, he just ... watches them. Thought it was an awful waste of so much power just to have them milling about like he did. And he has thousands! Look how long it took him to realize these seven had gone missing."
"Loki, I swear to you, I’ll--"
"Swear at me later," he interrupted, still tugging her arm. "But now you need to run!"
"What the hell is happening?" she asked, still running at a quick clip and surprised her heaving breath was even allowing her to speak.
"He found the Blights and he came to get them. I was barely able to get here in time to warn you. And he’s known as a wrathful deity for a reason; he ripped a hole in the fabric of this whole dimension--it’s imploding on itself. If we don’t get to some other place in the Coil immediately, we’re likely to be destroyed right along with it!"
It was then Ruby noticed they were no longer running in a cloud of dust. The lava tube was looking less and less familiar as they went. They were running to an exit. They were running to a point where Loki was sure he could get them back through the Coil. Say what you would about Loki’s wickedness: he was a good fellow to have on your side sometimes.
"Get ahead of me!" he shouted, as the sounds of cleaving and crumbling rocks grew steadily louder behind them.
Ruby did as she was asked, rending her arm from his grip and charging past him at a speed she managed to amaze herself with. Looking over her shoulder, Ruby could see Loki was keeping up, but his attention was still behind them. He was gesturing with both hands back into the cavern. Likely he’d cast some magic to slow the destruction of the dimension, or maybe just to shield them from it. But Ruby could tell she was already headed out of the doomed dimension when the ground softened beneath her feet. She could only wonder if she would be taking any magic with her.
She’d been so close to completing the ritual. She was sure of that based both on what she knew of the ritual from the text of the Scrolls and how she felt in her gut in the moment she’d immersed the opal in the molten silver of the cauldron. But close only counted in horseshoes and hand grenades; there was every chance she’d gained no magic at all from the experience.
But it was not for nothing that she was getting out with her life.
She could see a portal opening ahead, the dark sky of Cobalt City looming in the distance. It was a view she recognized. Loki must have come looking for her in her building and discovered her magic in process. That would explain how he’d managed to find her in the lava tube. This portal he’d opened was in almost an ident
ical place to the one she’d opened at the beginning of the ritual. In a few short paces, she’d be home. Another brief glance over her shoulder to assure herself Loki was still behind her, and she charged forward through the open portal.
She was spun round in the turbulent air of the hastily constructed gateway between realms, shaken like a rag doll by the winds of the transition point, and lifted high into the sky by the portal’s energy before being tossed to the ground. She landed half a story below. Flat on her back on her veranda, having missed the edge of the helipad by several feet, she was sure the pain from the hard landing was the only thing keeping her conscious.
Loki was out of the portal a moment later. Did it toss him about like it had done to her? Ruby’s vision was getting blurry. She wasn’t sure what she was seeing. Loki, dashing down the stairs in her direction--was he calling her name?
There was another sound. It was familiar ... comforting. Ruby let her eyes shut and reveled in the sound of the Stardust suit approaching from out over the water. She must be hallucinating.
Loki had her hand now, he was patting her face and calling out her name again. But all she could hear was Stardust.
But Stardust was in Bermuda.
She must be hallucinating.
Loki told her to open her eyes.
And she did. She opened her eyes just in time to see she hadn’t been hearing things. Loki’s face told her she wasn’t seeing things, either.
Stardust was clearing the last several meters between the edge of the veranda and where she lay on the paving stones, scrubbing considerable speed as he came closer.
Ruby was just able to watch him come in for a landing before her injuries got the best of her. She’d barely had the chance to wonder how he’d gotten there when she passed into unconsciousness.
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