Chosen Sister

by Ardyth DeBruyn

  Reina racked her brain. Sitting here, things would only get worse. They had only the food in her pack, which somehow she’d kept, if she could just find it in the dark again. It wouldn’t be much, and there wasn’t any water. They had to find a way to move the Gold Wizard. “I’ll see if I can find anything you can use as a stick, and then you can find a way to walk a bit.”

  The only answer was a groan. She wanted to feel his leg, to decide for herself if it was as bad as he thought, but she didn’t dare. She told Austyn to stay by him and went to feel her way around to see if she could find her pack. Her hands met only more rocks. She glared into the darkness but had nothing to orient her to which direction was which. The pack could be just inches away, and she’d never know.

  She pushed her fear and frustration aside. She could do this; she needed to do this. The others depended on her.

  A faint light appeared at one end of the cave. Reina blinked and rubbed her eyes, unsure if she was really seeing it, or just imagining it after staring so hard into nothing. The light stayed. It moved closer, outlining Austyn and the Gold Wizard in white light. Reina shielded her eyes and saw her pack several paces to the right, also outlined in the light. She grabbed it up and squinted at the light as it came even closer. Footsteps clinked against stone, and she drew in her breath in surprise. It was the unicorn.

  It lifted its horn, and the whole cave lit up in a white glow. It came to a stop right in front of her. She put out her hand, and the unicorn nosed it, the heat of its breath reassuring her. Its mane brushing against her, it turned to where the Gold Wizard lay on the ground, Austyn still holding his arm. They stared up at it in wonder. The unicorn bent over the Gold Wizard, revealing in the white light that his leg was horribly mangled and covered in blood. The unicorn touched it with the tip of its horn, and the muscles grew back together and the skin healed back up over it.

  Still staring at the unicorn, openmouthed, the Gold Wizard got to his feet. His leg held, and he stamped it down, testing it. Austyn scrambled to his feet and ducked behind Reina.

  “Don’t worry,” she whispered. “He won’t hurt you. He’s here to help us.” She smiled at the unicorn, who bowed its head and turned away from them.

  From its glow, she saw the cave was exactly as the Gold Wizard had said—enormous—and it led farther into the mountain. The unicorn headed deeper into the cave and stopped, glancing over its shoulder at them. Reina took Austyn’s hand and followed, not caring at that moment if the Gold Wizard did as well or not. The tunnel curved downward, stalactites and stalagmites on either side, glowing in the light from the unicorn. Each stone or loose rock was outlined sharply in white light, adding to the strangeness of everything.

  Despite the presence of the unicorn, a heaviness weighed on Reina, a pressure inviting her to give in to emotion again and let the hopelessness fill her. They turned the corner, walking through a narrower opening and into another cavern. Walls of green crystal glowed in the unicorn’s light, flashing so brilliantly in some places that they forced her to squint. The splendor only reminded her she was deep underground, and it felt like the ceiling pressed down right on her head.

  “I know where we are,” whispered the Gold Wizard. “The Caves of Sorrow. I’ve heard of them, but never seen them.”

  He fell silent again, and they continued on. Soon they entered a chamber so full of stalactites they had to squeeze through them to follow the unicorn. It seemed like a strange, upside-down sort of underground forest, or the jaws of some enormous underground creature. In another chamber was a huge lake of pitch-black water. Reina shivered, wondering how deep it was. She carefully watched her footing as she followed the unicorn around it.

  The air grew warmer, and little trails of sweat worked their way down Reina’s face. Heat made the tunnels feel oppressive. Ahead she saw a glow, but this one had a reddish tinge to it, unlike the white light of the unicorn. They came through the next arch to the edge of a precipice. Austyn gasped and clung to her side. Down, thousands of feet below them, red lava boiled, crackling and spitting with distant violence.

  The unicorn, its light now duller in the bright orange-red of the lava reflecting up, turned and walked along the ledge. Reina peered back the way they had come at the Gold Wizard stepping out after them. The orange glow highlighted his face on one side. She took Austyn’s hand, and they followed the unicorn onwards.

  They traveled for a long time along the lava gorge. Reina lost track of all time. At times, they sat down to rest and eat while the unicorn waited for them. The dried meat, bread, and cheese in Reina’s pack weren’t much, but somehow there was always some left over. She didn’t know if she was imagining it, or if the food really was lasting longer than it should. She found it hard to think with the constant pressure of the deep underground smothering her. Mostly, they walked in silence. Something in the air hushed them, even the Gold Wizard. Down here in the red light, he looked older, his expression worn, his exuberance quieted.

  Sometime in the endless journey, Reina noticed a black line across the lava gorge, one that grew thicker and more visible as they walked. When they reached it, she saw with a shiver that it was a bridge over the gorge, a perilous one only wide enough for a person to comfortably walk it in single file, but with no railing of any sort.

  “We aren’t going over that, right?” Austyn tugged at her sleeve. She looked down at his wide, fearful eyes.

  Reina’s gaze returned to the unicorn. It stopped in front of the bridge and waited a moment before heading across. Austyn clutched her tighter. She stopped and crouched down so she was eye to eye with him. She knew the unicorn waited for them. Holding him by the shoulders, she squeezed them gently.

  “You can do this, Austyn. Trust me.”

  “I can’t,” he whispered.

  “You can, and you will. I’ll be in front of you and the Gold Wizard behind you. The unicorn is with us and will give us courage. For me, Austyn, for the unicorn, and to save our country, you can do this. I know you can. Don’t look down, just look at me, and we’ll be over in no time. Okay?”

  “Okay.” He whispered his agreement so quietly that she hardly heard it.

  Reina faced forward again. The unicorn, halfway over the bridge, looked back at her and nodded in approval. She took a deep breath and stepped over to the beginning of the bridge. It was one thing to reassure Austyn; it was another to stand inches from the chasm with the lava glowing up at her, almost mocking her, waiting for her to take a wrong step and plunge to her death. She kept her own advice in mind and kept her eyes fixed on the unicorn, still waiting for her in the middle of the bridge. She took her first step onto it, then her second and her third. Locking her eyes on the unicorn, she continued forward, trying not to think of the lava below.

  Only the harder she tried not to think of looking down, the stronger the urge to do so became. She had nearly reached the unicorn, when it turned and continued down the other side of the bridge. She took careful steps after it. Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Her foot scraped a rough spot on the bridge, and she glanced away from the unicorn and down at her feet.

  The bridge had narrowed, and red-orange lava winked at her from far below, popping and sizzling. Instantly, fear froze every muscle in her body, paralyzing her. The world shrunk down to her feet trapped on the narrow bridge and the lava below. Austyn said her name uncertainly behind her, but she couldn’t even respond. Her mouth was dry, and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

  A touch to her forehead almost made her jump. She glanced up into the eyes of the unicorn. Everything else melted away as, looking into those eyes, she reached up and clasped the unicorn’s mane. Not until she was over the bridge did she have the presence of mind to wonder how it had turned around in such a tight space and how she had walked beside it. She blinked and noticed Austyn standing next to her, and the Gold Wizard just walking off the end of the bridge. The unicorn gave her a nudge with its nose, nickered, and set off down another passageway, away from the lava gorge.<
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  Chapter Eighteen: A Test for Austyn

  After the bridge, the cavern narrowed into a slit. Reina watched the encroaching walls with trepidation. The cave became so thin she could put a hand on each wall while she walked, and she couldn’t help shivering as her hands grazed the cold, damp sides of the cave. The unicorn’s light cast strange shadows up the sides, going up as far as she could see. Not being able to see the ceiling gave her the feeling she traveled through an enormous gap in the crust of the earth.

  The walls moved still closer, restricting the unicorn’s light. Reina didn’t know how it managed to fit through, but she had to turn sideways. Sweat ran down the back of her neck despite the cold fear that still shivered through her. Ahead the light grew dimmer and the rocks closer. She pulled herself through, biting back panic, and squeezed out into another large cavern.

  Natural light came in through one side, and water fell across the opening in an uneven stream. The oppressive air of the Caves of Sorrow had vanished. It smelled damp, but sweet and fresh. She blinked, her eyes adjusting, and peered around for the unicorn. It was gone, but the sword lay on the ground, glinting dimly at her in the half-light. She picked it up. The handle was warm to the touch.

  “Where are we?”

  Austyn’s voice broke through her thoughts. He looked grungy and dirty faced, and behind him the Gold Wizard strained to climb out through the narrow crack in the wall. From here, it didn’t look like a passage at all, and she guessed that no one would try going through it without first knowing it went somewhere. She shivered.

  “And what’s that?” Austyn pointed behind her.

  She turned and gasped. The wall of the cave behind them was all white marble, carved like the entrance to a grand temple, with large pillars on either side of an archway. It made her feel small in comparison.

  “Oh!” cried the Gold Wizard. “I can’t believe it!” He gazed at the marble façade. “This is the Stream of Eternal Pouring, and the hiding place of the Sword of Chivalry!”

  Reina frowned. “Isn’t it a bit odd the unicorn brought us here?”

  The Gold Wizard shrugged. “It’s wonderful! I had no idea there was a safe and secret way to get here!” He didn’t seem concerned and had apparently forgotten the chasm with the lava. But Reina didn’t like it. What did the Unicorn Sword have to do with anything? It wasn’t even in that prophecy the Gold Wizard put such stock in. She looked down at it, wondering for the first time if it was safe.

  Only it felt so right in her hand, like it belonged there. When it became the unicorn, it always helped them, protected them, and took them where they needed to go. Maybe she ought to just be grateful it was there when they needed it and accept what help it gave. But the situation still left her with a feeling that things didn’t quite add up.

  The Gold Wizard clapped Austyn on the back. “Well, now, lad. It’s all up to you at this point. You’ve got to walk through that door and pass a test to claim the sword as your own.”

  “A test?” Austyn’s eyes widened. “What kind of test?”

  “One of chivalry. I’m sure you’ll pass.” The Gold Wizard oozed confidence. “To gain the help of a magic sword, the one who wishes to bear it must always pass a test—like your sister did with the Unicorn Sword. Only that was a test of … er … whatever it was.”

  “Courage, Chastity, and Charity,” muttered Reina, remembering the runes Eleia had read. She ran her hand over them, smiling.

  “Yeah, whatever. So, Austyn, now it’s up to you to prove your chivalry, and that’s something only you can do—by yourself.”

  Reina frowned, sheathed the sword, and turned on the wizard. “Wait! He’s not going in there alone!”

  The Gold Wizard gave her a condescending look. “Now, little girl—”

  Reina glared at him. “Don’t start that again! He’s only six. He can’t go by himself. I don’t care what you say; I’m going with him!”

  The Gold Wizard waved his finger in her face. “You can’t do this for him! You have to let him do it, or the sword won’t be his! Stop babying him and let him do the job he was meant to do!”

  “Not if it could kill him!” Reina shouted right back. “If it weren’t for me and the unicorn protecting him, he’d be dead. You’re totally incompetent! You’re not a real wizard at all, you can hardly read, and I bet your father wanted you to go to Eleia for help instead of doing all this by yourself, and you refused.”

  The Gold Wizard flushed but didn’t back down. “You can’t do this for him,” he repeated in a quieter voice. “You just can’t.”

  “I won’t,” Reina said, thinking of Eleia’s words of letting go. Even considering that, she refused to leave him on his own—it wouldn’t be right. “I’ll go with him, but I won’t do anything unless he’s in danger.”

  The Gold Wizard narrowed his eyes at her. “If you interfere at all, you’ll mess everything up.”

  Austyn took Reina’s hand and also glared at the Gold Wizard. “I don’t want to go alone. I want Reina with me.”

  “Austyn was with me when I won the Unicorn Sword, and it didn’t mess anything up. I did the tests, and at the end, the sword picked me, not him. This won’t be any different.”

  “Fine, but you must promise you’ll let him take on the test by himself.”

  “Yes, I promise.” Reina resisted the desire to continue glaring at him. Making her promise was stupid, because while she wouldn’t do anything to mess up Austyn’s chance to get the sword, she wouldn’t stand by and let him get hurt or killed either. If that became a possibility, she’d interfere no matter what she’d promised, because no sword was worth Austyn’s life.

  The Gold Wizard sighed and sat down on a rock near the opening to the outside. The wet air misted over him. “I’ll wait here then.”

  “You’re not coming?” Austyn asked, looking concerned.

  “There’s nothing in there you can’t handle on your own,” the Gold Wizard replied. “You don’t even need your sister with you. All that will happen is you’ll be asked to behave with chivalry.”

  “What’s chivalry?”

  “Honor,” Reina said at the same time the Gold Wizard said, “Bravery.”

  Austyn looked more confused than ever. Reina glared at the Gold Wizard to make him shut up. “It has two meanings. On one hand, it can mean acting with kindness, honor, and respect to others. It can also mean being brave in battle. But I doubt that you’ll have to fight anything. I think the test will test your honor.”

  “How do you know?” Austyn’s face paled. “What if I have to fight something like that horrible dragon you did?”

  That dragon was pretty horrible, but not the way he thinks. It had a horrible attitude, Reina thought, but all she said was, “It didn’t hurt me. It just asked me to do something that took courage: to walk right under its legs.”

  Austyn’s eyes almost bugged out of his head. “It did?”

  “Yes, and I did it, too—what else was I going to do? But see, it was just a test—it wasn’t actually going to hurt us.” Or me, anyway.

  Austyn took a deep breath. “And you’ll stay with me the whole time?”

  “Of course.”

  “Okay, then I think I can do it.” He held out his hand to her, and she took it. Still annoyed, she didn’t look back at the Gold Wizard. They walked through the marble arch.

  “Remember your prom—” The tail end of the Gold Wizard’s words cut off as they entered the building, and silence wrapped itself around them.

  They stood in a long, white marble hall. The walls reflected light throughout the passageway, but Reina couldn’t see where it came from. They were much nearer the surface here, perhaps even above ground, and maybe the light came through the translucent walls. She wasn’t sure. At the end of the hall rose a high-ceilinged square chamber. In the center was a marble block, and on it sat a beautiful woman.

  She was perhaps the Gold Wizard’s age, only she had long golden hair that hu
ng around her face in waves. She wore a white dress and cloak with gold trim. A thin gold band wound around her head, and Reina wondered if she was a princess. When she saw them, her brow gracefully wrinkled in an expression of puzzlement.

  Reina released Austyn’s hand and gave him a little push forward. He took a few steps towards her, and then stopped. Reina wanted to tell him to ask about the sword, but she didn’t dare. She had promised not to interfere, although she didn’t see how telling him what to say would really harm anything.

  “You are here searching for the Sword of Chivalry?” the woman asked in a puzzled tone.

  Austyn nodded, his curls bopping up and down.

  The woman laughed. “Surely, you are joking! You’re only a little child!”

  “I’m not.” Austyn’s voice took on that stubborn tone Reina knew so well.

  The lady giggled. Austyn took a step closer. “Can you tell me where it is?”

  “But you’re only a little boy!” exclaimed the lady. “I’ve never heard of such a thing. What could you possibly want with it? Who are you, that you should need such a thing, little boy?”

  She admired herself in a hand mirror for a moment and adjusted her golden curls before dissolving into another fit of giggles. Although tempted to say something rude, Reina kept her mouth shut.

  “I’m exactly who I am,” Austyn said. “My name is Austyn, and I’m searching for the Sword of Chivalry.”

  Reina frowned, unsure where he might have gotten that response from. Why didn’t he just say he’s the Child Warrior? Perhaps Eleia had taught him such a thing. She was tempted to tell Austyn to let the lady go about her own petty business and get on with finding the sword, but this was Austyn’s test, so perhaps he had to do something here first.

  The lady sighed dramatically, brushing bangs from her forehead with a look of long-suffering patience. “Well, this seems so silly, but I suppose I must get on with it. Sir knight, who seeketh the Sword of Chivalry, I pray, do for me a favor first, and the sword shall be thine.”