by Peach, Hanna
“More importantly, which way do we go?”
Before Alyx could answer, she heard a long, loud neigh like a horse approaching, but there were no hoof steps to accompany it. Alyx squinted as a dark figure flew above, casting a shadow over her eyes. It was some kind of bird. She heard the neighing again from above. A bird that neighed?
“What the hell is that?” Do’hann asked.
“I’m not sure, but I think we’re going to find out soon enough.” Alyx’s body tensed as the bird circled above in the thin gap between the rock faces, then swooped down towards them. This close Alyx could see that it wasn’t a bird. It was a small horse with wings like a bird no bigger than an albatross, a tail like a bird and claws instead of hooves. It was carrying something in its claws.
It circled their heads once, neighed once more and opened its claws, dropping the object almost perfectly into Alyx’s hands; she just had to open her palms for it to fall into them. The horse-bird took off into the sky and disappeared into the depths of the valley.
Alyx looked down at her hands. It was a wooden tube, similar to the communication tubes that the Elders gave to their eagle and falcon familias to transfer messages. The ends were capped with simple brass and tied together with a silken maroon rope.
She began to untie the rope when Varian snatched it out of her hands. “Give that to me.”
Alyx held her tongue. Varian ripped apart the rope and pulled a brass end off, dropping it carelessly onto the valley floor. He knocked out the contents into one hand. It was a scroll on thick, creamy paper.
Varian unrolled it and snorted. “There’s nothing written on it. It’s blank.” He turned it over roughly in his hands.
“Careful with it,” Alyx cried. “Let me see it.”
Varian glared at her, holding the scroll of out her reach. “You don’t believe me when I say it’s blank?”
“You might not be looking at it properly.”
“You think you’ll be able to see something I can’t?”
Alyx folded her arms. “Actually yes, I do.”
“Why you cheeky little−”
“Do you want me to get you to the Amulet or not?”
“Just give her the scroll, Varian, and let’s be on with it,” said Do’hann. “The faster we get out of here, the better.”
Varian glared at her for another moment before he handed over the scroll.
“Thank you,” Alyx muttered. She knelt down to the ground and smoothed the scroll out, careful with the torn parts. She took a deep breath and opened her Soulsight.
Blue shimmery letters appeared on the page.
Well done, Alyx, you picked the right door,
But your journey is just begun,
Follow the instructions written below,
And don’t forget to have fun!
Travel through the Rolling Caves
Where Up can be left,
And Right can be down,
Just remember which is the right way round.
Enter the Caves,
Take your third Right,
And straight ‘til the Upside-down crossroads,
Remembering to inspect the real Up,
Then go Down for two,
Then take your second Left.
When you reach the real golden door,
You know you’ve reached your end.
Alyx’s brain spun. What the hell did that all mean? The instructions seemed clear but the poem didn’t… Where Up can be left, And Right can be down… She didn’t like the sound of it. She read out the poem and the instructions to the others. “I can’t figure out what it means,” she said when she had finished.
“What is there to figure out,” snapped Varian. “The instructions are clear as day. ‘Enter the Caves, take your third Right,’ and so on.”
“It can’t be that simple.”
Varian snorted and flicked his blade point at her. “You go first.”
Alyx sighed and stood, rolling the scroll carefully and slipping it into her pocket. She figured she would need to read it again before long.
She stepped forward to the entrance of the cave, conscious of Varian’s eyes on her back. Her neck prickled with exposure. She took a deep breath…enter the caves…and stepped inside, the others following closely behind her.
She was grateful to see that although the cave was dim, there were odd little fireflies flittering around the air giving off a low glow, allowing her to see at least the next few meters in front of her. One of them landed on her hand. She lifted her hand to take a closer look and frowned. It wasn’t a firefly. It was a tiny horse with wings, glowing from its belly and hooves. It bent over and rubbed its nose against her skin, making a cheeping sound.
“Move it,” Varian demanded, shoving her forward. The horse-firefly launched off her hand and flittered away.
She began to move through the tunnel. The space inside was uniform, the side of the tunnel walls were smooth and cool to the touch. Each section looked like the one before it and the one after it. It would be easy to get lost in here, Alyx thought grimly.
They had been walking not a minute when they passed the first right, a round opening that shot off perpendicularly to the right. Take your third Right...
“See,” Varian said. “That’s the first right. Just two more to go. Simple.”
Alyx held her tongue and kept walking. If she knew anything about anything, this cave maze would not be that simple. With each step her nerves tightened, her ears pricked for any sound that wasn’t made by their movements. Her eyes peeled for any traps or tricks. It couldn’t be this simple as following a set of instructions, could it?
She passed the second tunnel off to the right. They needed to turn at the next one. An odd wind blew across her face and the sound of gears began clicking. It seemed to be coming across from the walls, not up from the tunnel. Her feet went out from under her and she caught herself in the air, her eyes wide. The whole tunnel was moving. It was rolling. She heard cries from behind her telling her that the others were tripping up too.
Just as quickly the movement stopped. Alyx froze, holding herself in the air, staring at the floor, which was now the left side wall. What used to be the ceiling was now the right side wall. Everything was tilted 90 degrees.
…Travel through the Rolling Caves,
Where Up can be left,
And Right can be down,
Just remember which is the right way round…
Of course. Now the poem made sense. This cave, the aptly-named Rolling Caves, was going to keep turning on them as they moved through it. She had to make sure she remembered which was the ‘right way round’ to make sure she followed the instructions correctly. If she didn’t… If they made even one wrong turn, they would be lost in these caves. Forever. Alyx shuddered at the thought.
“Is everyone alright?” she called back.
Grumbles returned to her.
“What the hell was that?” Varian complained.
“That was the Rolling Caves, rolling over. We have to make sure we keep an eye on where the original floor was so we know which way is now right.”
“What?”
“Well, ten seconds ago the Right was on the right-hand side. But now that this tunnel has rolled 90 degrees, the Right is now down on the floor. Does this make sense?”
“Bloody Raphael and his damn puzzles. He was always such a crackpot.”
Alyx ignored this comment. “Let’s go. We’re looking for the next tunnel that goes down now.”
Finally they came to a tunnel that went straight down. Alyx floated down and paused as she held herself into the tunnel down to her waist.
“Okay,” she said over her shoulder to the others, “so if we rolled 90 degrees before, it means that when we go down this tunnel, the original floor would be this side.” She reached out her left hand and touched the side of the tunnel. She shifted her position so that she was facing the direction where gravity was pulling her and feet were pointing towards the original floor. “We�
�re going to have to ignore gravity at the moment and travel as if this is the right way up if this is going to keep making any sense.”
“Whatever. Just get going,” Varian said.
Alyx floated down the tunnel, keeping her feet pointed at the original floor.
…And straight ‘til the Upside-down crossroads…
She kept going until she came upon where the tunnel branched out all six ways. She swallowed hard. There was a post sticking out of the “ground” pointing straight Up. From the top of the post were five arrows pointing in all directions, all the arrows reading “Up”.
“Someone needs to sack the sign writer,” Tii’la muttered.
Was this the Upside-down Crossroads?
“This is it. We need to go down,” said Do’hann from behind her.
Alyx shook her head. “I don’t think this is it. This crossroads is the right way up.”
“What are you talking about?” said Varian. “It’s clearly upside down.”
Alyx shook her head. “But remember the tunnels moved so that the ‘ground’ is now the ceiling. That means that this crossroads is actually the right way up. We’re the ones that are upside down.”
“You willing to bet your life on that?” asked Varian, a growl to his voice.
“I am.”
“Then we keep going.”
Alyx started to move past the crossroads when she felt Varian grab her shirt, yanking her back against him. Her body tensed as his breath touched her ear and a slimy chill rolled down her spine. “This better not be a trick.”
“Hey,” Alyx said, “if you get lost, I get lost too, remember?”
Varian grunted. Then he let her go. She swallowed, composing herself, and kept going.
Moments later Alyx heard the sound of gears started to click. “Here we go again,” she called out. “Keep an eye on the original ‘floor’.”
The tunnel rolled once more, this time the other way and this time for longer. She stared intensely at the original floor rolling around her until it stopped moving, three quarters of a turn later. Now the original floor was on the ceiling. The clicking of gears stopped and a small thud sounded as if something had fallen into place.
She took another breath. Okay, Up is now Down.
“Everyone good to go?” she yelled back. She received affirmations, then kept moving.
Soon they came across a second crossroads. Exactly as before, the post came up out of the ground and five arrows pointed in each different direction. Like the previous crossroad, all these arrows said “Up”. But now that Down was Up, this crossroads was actually Upside-Down. “This is it. This is the crossroads the instructions were talking about. I think.”
“You think or you know,” Varian said.
“I know.”
“Then get on with it. The instructions were to go Down.”
Alyx nodded. “Which now means Up.”
Wait…a line of the instructions floated back to her consciousness.
…Remembering to inspect the True Up…
All the arrows pointed Up, but there was only one True Up. Alyx moved back to the crossroads post, reminding the others of this line in the poem.
“What do you think you’ll find, Alyx?” asked Tii’la.
“I’m not sure, but if it’s in the instructions, we can’t miss it.” She stared at the arrow pointing the True Up. It didn’t look any different than the others. But then nothing in this chamber had been what it first appeared.
She opened her Soulsight. There, a line of blue light ran around a square section of the arrow. It looked like a seam of some sort. She ran her fingernail around the seam and found a small slanted insert that she could get the edge of her nail into. The section clicked away and she was able to remove the thin piece of wood. There was a shallow hollowed space in the wooden arrow. Within it was a small brass key.
Alyx pulled it out and showed it to the others. “We’ll need this, I’m sure of it.”
“I’ll hang on to that.” Varian grabbed it from her and tucked it into a pocket.
Alyx made her way Down the tunnel. They were silent as they continued through the caves, the gears clicking into place every so often. Alyx stopping and watching the walls intently so she could remember which side was the True Up. At times it made her dizzy, but she ignored the feeling and just kept leading the pack past the second Left as per the instructions.
Something shiny and large appeared ahead in one of the walls. As she approached she realized that it was a golden door. But wasn’t this too early for the golden door? Was this the golden door that they had to go through?
“We’re here,” Varian said. “The poem said something about a golden door.”
Alyx frowned. They were missing something. She reread the instructions again. “No,” she said, as Varian slid the key into the lock of the door. “This isn’t the right one. It’s a trick. We have to make another Left. Remember the instructions:
‘And Left again.
Only when you reach the real golden door,
You know you’ve reached your end.’”
Varian glared at her. “How do I even know you’re not making these instructions up? How convenient that only you can see them.”
Alyx almost rolled her eyes. “You think I would doom us all? I want to find the Amulet just as much as you.” And get out of here alive. With Tii’la. “Look,” she said, as she scratched a section of the door with her fingernail. Flecks of gold flew from her nail, revealing copper underneath. “It’s not even made of real gold. It’s not a real golden door.”
Varian stared at her and the door for another beat longer before he snorted. “You’re just playing games now.”
“No, don’t!”
Varian turned the key and pushed the door open. There was a loud growl and a thundering of hooves from whatever was on the other side. Alyx couldn’t see what was through the doorway, but she could see Varian’s face twist into horror. A curse flew out of his mouth. He shoved the door but it didn’t shut. The thing that was on the other side collided with the door with an awful crash and Varian was almost thrown back. Alyx threw her weight against the door before the thing could get through, but she couldn’t get it closed either.
“Help me,” she screamed.
Do’hann and Tii’la rushed forward, joining Varian as he slammed his back to the door. They kicked back against the other wall to brace themselves.
“Close it, God dammit!” Varian yelled as his face strained.
“I’m trying,” Do’hann yelled back as he pressed against the door. The door shuddered and groaned like a man in pain. Large claws scratched through the gap between the door and the frame closest to Alyx, leaving exposed copper gouges in the edge of the door. The creature’s claws were stopping the door from closing. It slammed against the door and the gap grew a little wider, allowing the thing to get more of its claws through. It rammed its weight against the door again. Whatever this thing was, it was smart and large and about to smash through the door if they didn’t do something.
Alyx grabbed the thin hidden blade from her ribs and slashed at the creature’s claws. It howled as her steel found purchase and blood flung from his wounded paw. It withdrew its claw and the door slammed shut. Alyx glanced once at Varian and Do’hann. They hadn’t seen her blade. She slipped the blade back along her rib to hide it again.
Varian turned the key and snatched it from the lock. As soon as the key left the lock, something heavy rammed into the door from the other side. The creature howled and hit against the door again.
“Thank God,” Alyx breathed. “Is everyone okay?”
Varian pointed the sword at Alyx. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice? Give me that blade.”
Dammit. “What blade?”
Varian scowled. “Don’t play smart with me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Do’hann, kill Tii’la.”
“Okay, okay,” Alyx said. She reached for her hidden blade.
“Go slowly,” Varian demanded. “And no tricks.”
Alyx showed him her palm in a surrender to placate him and then moved her hand slower towards her ribs. She pulled the blade out by the handle using just her thumb and forefinger. “No tricks, see?”
“Drop it and kick it over to me.”
She did and her last weapon clanked onto the rocky ground like a death knell. Varian picked it up and studied the blade for a brief second. “Small but sharp. What were you planning to do with it? Stab me in the back?”
Something like that. But Alyx stayed silent. The last thing she wanted to do was to enrage Varian anymore. She knew from her dealings with him in Michaelea that he was unpredictable. In this bad situation she was in, she needed as much predictability as possible.
* * *
As they continued on several more curved golden doors appeared in the sides of the tunnel. Alyx kept moving past them. They weren’t the right ones and thankfully Varian had learned from his experience with the previous fake door not to just go opening them willy-nilly.
After several more tunnel rolls and another Left, they reached what Alyx believed was the real golden door. She scratched her nail on the door and this time, no flecks came off. This was it.
“You open it,” said Varian, handing her the key. He took a step back and held his sword at the ready.
Great, Alyx thought, use me as a shield.
She stepped up to the door with the key and wiped sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. A bolt of apprehension flashed through her as she slipped the key in the door. What if it wasn’t the right one? Even though she had been concentrating on the tunnels when they had turned and she was sure she had followed the instructions, everything had looked so much the same that she couldn’t be sure.
What if something horrible was waiting for them on the other side of this door?
She turned the key. Please let this door be the right one.
Chapter Fourteen
Jordan felt his shoulders tense tighter and tighter as he and Lukas followed the dark army. They stayed well enough behind them that it looked like a menacing cloud. After they had reached the southern Spanish coastline, the army turned north-northwest. Now they flew over England.