Fated Fortunes

by Angela Colsin

  Immediately, she nodded, moving out to look around the area—and the longer they had to search, the more convinced she became that something was about to go wrong.

  Maybe the lock had been broken, or Menlor would show up. Trolls could strike without warning, or hell, at this point, she wouldn't be surprised to see a random will-o-wisp ready to draw her away from the area—elves were unable to resist following their radiant glow without a great deal of self control.

  Yet, as her mind spit out every possible scenario, Dalris suddenly announced from the opposing side of the doorway, “I found it.”

  Jada wasted no time, running toward him so swiftly she was surprised she didn't slip and fall when her feet hit the soggy ground again.

  The draconian was standing next to another floating tree, slightly smaller than the others growing in the swamp. It's roots were more tangled due to its size, but the side facing east possessed a gap large enough to see inside the hollow.

  There, a small, stone podium was jutting up from the ground with a circular indentation at the top the same size as the disc she'd reassembled.

  Jada didn't need to look at the disc to know it would fit, and quickly searched her pouch to produce the item for use.

  Finally, she lifted the key with two shaking hands, and let a breathless laugh.

  As if he'd noticed her trembling, Dalris rubbed her shoulder and asked, “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I'm just … really excited.”

  He smiled warmly, drawing a comforting hand over her back while calmly glancing around the area as if to check for enemies. In turn, his composed demeanor helped her get a grip over her own emotions, realizing in that moment that it was a good thing she didn't only have Karina as company—in their excitement, the two would've probably dropped the key and broken it again.

  At the thought, Jada snorted loudly in amusement, prompting Dalris to ask, “What's so funny?”

  “I'll tell you later,” she returned, pressing the key against the podium's indentation—and it slipped in without any friction.

  Biting her lip as she lowered her hands and looked the device over, she nearly asked if she should attempt turning it. But as soon as her lips parted, a magical, golden light formed around the edges of the key, lasting for only a few moments before fading away.

  And the key turned itself.

  A small tremor spread through the ground, and Jada stepped closer to Dalris as they watched the doorway begin sliding open with quite a few wails and groans.

  Initially, she cringed, fearing the noise would draw attention. But the larger the gap grew in the opening, the more her curiosity consumed her.

  Yet she wasn't too distracted to notice when Dalris said thoughtfully, “Interesting.”

  “What?”

  “I'm sensing a lot of magic coming from inside, and it's powerful. But it doesn't feel malicious.”

  Jada thought that over, recalling her grandfather's mention of bringing a mage to try teleporting inside the structure, but it hadn't worked due to powerful magic warding the ruin.

  So she suggested, “Maybe it's the ward Papa mentioned.”

  Dalris agreed, and they continued watching until the doors had fully opened to reveal a set of stairs leading down into … darkness.

  Whatever was at the bottom, it was too dark to see, but that didn't stop the tears from streaming down Jada's cheeks when the significance of what she'd just done set in.

  “Why are you crying, las'ira?” Dalris asked, latching an arm around her back before reaching up to gently wipe her cheeks with his thumb.

  Jada didn't protest, whispering her response on a raspy voice. “I did what Papa wanted to do. He never got this far, and he's not here to see it.”

  More tears fell at her confession, and she buried her face in her hands with a sob, leaning against Dalris when he tightened his hold.

  Cupping the back of her head, he murmured against her ear, “I'm sure Morwin sees it anyway. No matter where he is now, he doesn't sound like the type to let anything stop him from witnessing something so important.”

  Finally, Jada grinned. “No, he wouldn't.”

  With that said, she remained in Dalris' arms for a moment longer to enjoy the comforting warmth of his body. But there would be plenty of time for emotional displays inside the ruin, and she soon pried herself away in eagerness to learn where those stairs led.

  However, as she took a step toward them, a familiar voice rang out without warning.

  “Aw, what a touchingly abhorrent display. I'm so glad I caught up in time to witness it.”

  Jada froze at the sarcastic comment, her eyes rolling in time with Dalris' groan.

  It seemed trouble had caught up with them after all.

  CHAPTER 28

  “Menlor.”

  Dalris growled the name with no lack of agitation, turning from the open entrance to spy the elf standing ten feet away with two trackers flanking his sides. Upon his face was the same smug smirk Dalris wanted to wipe away with a fist, but one distinct difference from their first encounter was that Menlor now wore a set of chain mail crafted with the deep blue scales of a wyvern or drake belonging to House Dra'Kai.

  It was questionable how he'd acquired such armor, but it would certainly lessen any damage Dalris tried to deal with electricity, proving the tracker had learned his lesson.

  But how had he found them? Had someone followed them from Westmere? Or perhaps a spy on The Cutlass left a trail.

  Still, and regardless of his methods, Dalris knew the two trackers standing with him weren't the only companions he'd brought along, and they wouldn't be likely to make things easy.

  Yet he focused his attention on Menlor for the moment, who replied, “Yes, it's me, and I commend you for tricking us into following your clones. But this is as far as you go.”

  Immediately, Jada retorted, “This is hardly as far as I'm going, and you know there's only one way to stop me from proceeding further.”

  Knowing precisely what she meant, Dalris added seriously, “I also hope you realize the consequences of stopping either of us.”

  “Oh yes,” Menlor returned, “I realize who you are now, Dalris Vök Dra'Kai, eldest son of Lord and Lady Dra'Kai, head of your House in Terra. If I kill either of you, Draconia would most certainly declare war, and believe it or not, I'm here to stop innocent people from dying. So war isn't precisely my aim.”

  Dalris exchanged a look with Jada, who seemed just as confused by the elf's statement, probably asking herself the same thing he was. Stop innocent people from dying? What does that mean?

  Whatever the answer, Menlor continued before they could ask, “So it seems we've reached a stalemate. I can't kill either of you without severe repercussions, but I also can't allow you to enter that ruin when neither of you know what could be down there.”

  Sighing, he shook his head and waved at the woman to his left. “Perhaps you could help us out.”

  Though Dalris had no idea what Menlor was talking about, the way he'd requested help sounded too dubious not to react by gripping the hilt of his sword. Jada did the same, grasping her blades just as Menlor's companion produced a fire sphere from her pouch.

  The item wasn't unlike a light sphere, but where those were enchanted to contain light, the fiery energy swirling inside of Menlor's would act as an explosive on impact—and the elf holding it wasted no time throwing it right into the hollow of the floating tree where the lock was located.

  “No!”

  Jada's yell was punctuated by the blast of the explosion caused by the fire sphere's impact, destroying the disc and the podium used to unlock the door.

  Simultaneously, the roots of the tree ruptured, causing it to tilt into a fall.

  But most importantly, the door into the ruin started shutting much more quickly than it'd opened, likely because the control had been destroyed. This left Dalris with precious few moments to make a decision, but one thing was clear—once that door shut, they were very unlikely to open it again.


  So, with a tree falling in their direction, and no time to stand around considering options, he turned and tackled Jada just as it was about to shut.

  Falling into a roll with his mate secured in his arms, they both moved through the closing crack. Immediately, the daylight above was snuffed out with a loud thud followed by the sound of the tree crashing down outside.

  Darkness engulfed them as they worked to process their new environment, and in those first few seconds, Dalris could only hope he hadn't just sealed them inside with no means of escape. Yet he got the feeling Jada would've rather risked being trapped than lose her chance to explore entirely after three decades worth of work.

  So he pushed the concern away for now, and focused on their surroundings instead. With the door shut, it was too dark to see, but all was silent—hopefully a good sign.

  Still, and more notably, some of the magic Dalris had sensed when the doors first opened was fading away now, making him curious.

  Jada and Morwin postulated that warding magic had been cast on the ruin, and he agreed. But magic meant for protection wouldn't just fade away at random, and he could still sense a trace of it around.

  So why was it lessening?

  Whatever the answer, his primary concern was Jada, and in pushing himself up, he asked, “Are you okay?”

  Groaning, she muttered, “As Karina would say, I knew coming here would be a blast. I just didn't think it'd be literal.”

  Dalris smirked, realizing she was fine as he helped her sit up next to him. Following the action, Jada unsheathed her blades and set the runes to light, then passed one over for a little illumination.

  Taking it, Dalris peered down the stairs, muttering, “I just hope we can find another way out of here, because it's pretty obvious we're not going to get this door to open up again.”

  “Agreed. I don't see any levers or cranks, but maybe there's a back door, though I wonder why no one's found it yet if so.”

  That was certainly a valid question, one Dalris couldn't answer as they both stood up.

  “Regardless, we came to have a look around, so give me your light sphere.”

  “Why?” Jada inquired as he opened her pack and rummaged for the item in question, which wasn't hard to find in the dark.

  Pulling the glowing blue sphere out, he turned and tossed it down the stairs.

  With a few clinks against each step it hit, the glowing ball illuminated an arched ceiling over the stairwell with a number of ornate carvings like those on the platform housing the doorway. Yet the stairs led beyond their line of sight because the sphere soon settled at the bottom where they could only see a faint glow.

  Still, it lit the way forward, and proved there were no predators at the bottom, otherwise they would've reacted to the sphere's presence.

  So Dalris moved ahead, and in the process, Jada took his hand. It was questionable if she even realized it, her gaze currently traveling around the structure in obvious fascination, but he held on firmly, wondering what secrets they were about to uncover.

  Perhaps his enthusiasm didn't quite match Jada's—she'd worked hard to enter this place, and her emotional response to simply unlocking the door was proof of her elation. But to say he was merely intrigued wouldn't do it justice.

  Not only was he helping his mate achieve a lifelong goal, they were about to discover a lost piece of Draconia buried with time.

  His only hope was that they hadn't been buried along with it.

  CHAPTER 29

  Though the chances were good they'd been trapped in an age-old ruin, Jada was thankful for Dalris' quick thinking. If he hadn't ushered her inside, she would've flown at Menlor in a blind rage for what he'd done—and lost her chance to explore for good.

  The notion made her stomach clench. For as distasteful as it was to think they could be trapped, she'd much rather deal with that and have the chance to fulfill thirty years worth of work than watch it go to absolute waste.

  So she clutched Dalris' hand in a tight grip, and made it to the bottom of the long stairwell only moments after they'd started. There, she found her light sphere laying at the center of a circular foyer with a vaulted ceiling, the architecture of which was extremely reminiscent of Litora Cathedral—the oldest and most historic landmark in all of Onoria.

  Jada had visited the two-thousand-year-old cathedral many times in her childhood, and the matching construction was a sure sign that this ruin was built by elves from the same era.

  In other words, draconic elves. Rinora's House.

  The thought had her heart leaping in her chest, and as if Dalris knew she wanted confirmation of her suspicions, he suddenly announced, “At least we know beyond a doubt who this ruin belonged to now.”

  She'd been so busy staring at the ceiling analyzing the architecture that she hadn't looked left yet, and turned her head to see Dalris staring at a wall between two doorways sporting a large mural of a golden dragon.

  Her eyes widened and jaw dropped as she took the image in, immediately walking over to inspect it more closely. While it didn't tell her as much as she wanted to know, she couldn't calm her fluttering heart, and looked up at Dalris to mention, “I'm surprised Rinora has wings.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “She was supposed to prefer living underground.”

  Hearing this, he nodded, pointing out, “Navat loves the ocean, but he still flies.”

  The black dragon, Navat, was a sea dweller, and she conceded the point with a nod, supposing all of the Greats possessed wings despite how often they were put to use.

  So instead of questioning it further, she looked between the duel corridors standing on each side of the mural. More answers had to lie somewhere inside those darkened pathways, and as she considered it, Dalris inquired, “So, do we go left or right?”

  All things considered, that was a difficult choice. Both corridors were identical, and Jada could detect the faint sound of trickling coming from the other side. Perhaps some type of aqueduct was built into the shrine to channel water from above, and if so, it might be possible that they could survive for quite some time—saying the water wasn't the same muck they'd encountered in the swamp.

  But it was hard to tell which way the trickling was coming from. So she turned around to grab the light sphere from the floor, then rolled it down the left corridor—and what happened was surprising.

  At the end of the hall, the light returned from both sides.

  “Must be connected to the same room, or there's a hole in the wall,” Dalris pointed out, and they both moved through the left corridor to check.

  As it turned out, his first suggestion was correct, and a single chamber existed at the end of the hall, being a large, elaborate sanctum.

  More vaulted ceilings and ornately carved walls stood before them, but these were inlaid with gold, and despite the age of the structure, it was in good condition and actually seemed clean.

  At the center of the sanctum was a large, full body statue of Rinora—also crafted from gold—which stood in a pool of water being fed by two fountains in the shape of dragon heads on the right and left sides of the room. Additionally, two bridges were constructed over the pool on each side of the statue, and the water was so clear the marble tiling beneath was visible.

  Taking it all in, Jada stepped onto one of the bridges and pointed out, “I just don't understand how this place could be in such good condition after twenty centuries. It looks untouched.”

  At her comment, Dalris came to a stop, his expression suggesting he'd just figured something out.

  “What is it?” she inquired.

  Thoughtfully, he explained, “Just after we came inside, some of the magic I sensed when the doors opened faded away, and I wasn't sure why until you mentioned how clean it is. But it's possible this place had a magical hold put on it to preserve everything inside.”

  Her brows arched in enlightenment—that was a sound assessment. Some mages could freeze places in time, keeping anything on the pr
emises in the same condition until someone broke the spell by entering the area, and this ruin was in much better shape than any structure abandoned for two thousand years should be.

  The only questionable part of his theory was that such holds did fade over time. Jada simply had no idea how quickly, and Karina wasn't present for a consultation. So it was hard to say just how strange the situation truly was.

  Whatever the case, Dalris' next comment proved to be even more intriguing.

  “At least we know this is a shrine and not a temple, though.”

  “How do you know that?”

  He pointed toward a set of stairs leading up to a catwalk spanning the edges of the sanctum, mentioning, “There's honored dead laid to rest in the walls. I can see the plaques from here.”

  Jada peered ahead, but couldn't see through the dark as easily as Dalris. Still, his explanation allowed her to answer her own question by stating, “Draconians don't store the honored dead in a Great Dragon's temple. They place them in shrines.”

  “Precisely,” he confirmed, moving ahead to learn more from the tombs.

  Jada immediately followed, and though she was extremely intrigued by their discovery, a part of her was disappointed to learn this wasn't actually Rinora's temple after all. So if they couldn't find a way out, she'd never locate it, which was what Morwin wished to accomplish all along.

  Still, there was no way to tell what secrets this shrine held, or how long it would take to learn them. So she moved up the large staircase to the catwalk two steps at a time in eagerness to uncover more, and found herself staring at a wall lined by marble plaques reminiscent of those found in a mausoleum.

  Furthermore, Dalris proved the plaques could be opened by accessing a small latch at the bottom of the compartment, then pulling the cover up to slide into the hollow.

  Doing so with the closest one revealed a small shelf where several valuables were settled, reminding her of how draconians liked to leave the departed with possessions they'd collected in life.