I followed after him, smiling to myself as I led my own ride into the barren heat of what waited before us.
"So," Arsenio started, motioning to his camel and telling it to lay down so he could get in the saddle. "Are we exactly sure where these witches are out here?"
"Unfortunately, no," I answered grimly, following his suit with the camel. "Rumor has it they live in a mirage, enchanted to vanish as soon as someone comes upon it."
"So we have virtually no chance of ever getting there," he sighed, pulling a piece of cloth from his bag and tying it around his head, letting it hang down over his neck. "Why am I not surprised?"
"You make it sound like our missions are usually impossible," I chuckled, mounting up.
"That's because they are," he laughed.
The conversation ended then, as I surveyed the sands, deciding the best direction to start in. The Arabian Desert was home to the Empty Quarter, the largest sand desert on this world. No doubt, our prey would be located somewhere in there, hiding away from all those except the truly vigilant who sought them. The mirage had been spotted multiple times, if the claims of others held true. Anyone who approached found that it quickly faded away. I had a hunch there must be a secret to getting in.
Soon, the town fell behind us and faded from view, the first leg of our journey silent as the space around us. I'd never been to this part of the world before and was finding it very interesting to behold. The rest of the earth was cold and usually covered in varying amounts of snow, due to Demeter’s mourning over the death of her daughter, Persephone. Before, she had regulated the seasons evenly. Now, this was probably one of the only places left that it actually got hot.
Our pace wasn't fast since we didn't have a specific location to shoot for. Instead, we would slowly make our way across the space and hope that the fates would smile on us.
When we stopped for the first night, Arsenio's extreme packing skills proved themselves once more. In no time at all we had set up a tent, a water station, a bathroom, and an area for the camels to stay comfortable in.
"How is it you always manage to pack exactly what we need?" I laughed.
We had chosen to eat our dinner outside, under the stars. The rabbit Arsenio had killed with his bow was roasting over a small fire in front of us, its delectable smell making my mouth water.
"Luck, I guess," he smiled. "Then again, I also packed for the tundra, so maybe I'm just over paranoid about having something for every situation."
"The paranoia has served you well," I chuckled.
A comfortable silence grew between us as I looked up at the sky, sipping the cool water I'd poured for myself. Inside, my mind was in turmoil, trying to think of a way to not only find but capture the Graeae.
The three sister witches were as old as the Titans themselves, which meant they would be just as cunning. Their only weakness was their shared eye, but their greatest strength also lied within it. As long as they possessed the eye, they could see the future. I had no doubt they already knew we were coming for them and if we would succeed in our quest or not. Thankfully, they couldn't control the future, so if we were indeed to capture them, there was nothing they could do to stop it.
Sighing, I set my cup down and shoved to my feet, hoping a walk would help me think. Arsenio, used to the action, said nothing and continued to cook. The meat smelled downright delectable, which meant it would be ready to eat soon. He would call me back when the time came, if I hadn't already returned.
Unfortunately, my walk through the sand was short lived, with no solution found. It made me feel antsy, going in with no plan or idea of when everything was going to happen. My eyes ached from all their straining over the ground, looking for any sign of a mirage through the day. There was no trail for me to follow, my powers useless in a place that was continually changing. Even without knowing what lay ahead, I was somewhat relieved to be able to eat well and rest tonight. Tomorrow could be the day we met our adversaries and I wanted to be ready.
The rest I sought evaded me all through the night. My dreams were filled with monsters from my past, leaping out of the sands and surprising me. Though I hadn't fought a single battle for real, when I woke in the morning I was as tired as the night before, my muscles aching from a night of unearthly premonitions.
We broke camp and set out in the early morning light, the air already somehow scorching hot and heavy after the cool night. As we moved on, closer to the Empty Quarter, it seemed the sun was reaching out and touching us, burning our skin and sucking away our energy.
Two more days passed in the same fashion, with no sight of our query. By that time, we'd entered the Quarter and the endless sands made me feel as if I was losing my mind. I'd never had a target that was so hard to find before. There was always some clue, an extra step to be completed, another path to follow. Wandering around aimlessly in the desert was picking at my logical and calculating side, whispering I was wasting time and failing at my goal.
It was interesting to me that in so little time, I'd fallen prey to the heat. I felt dried out and tired, cooked by the sun, and my mind was fried from thinking of ways to finally be done with it all. Arsenio seemed to be feeling much of the same, his usual banter having faded away for the most part as we journeyed deeper into the desert.
When we woke the fourth morning, it was to the first wind we'd felt since entering the Quarter. While I was grateful for its help in keeping us a little cooler, there was something about it that set me on edge.
"Do you feel that?" I asked Arsenio as we broke camp.
"The wind brings something with it," he said with a nod. "I can't tell exactly what."
"Me either. It doesn't feel all good, though."
"Maybe the Fates are smiling on us and have sent it to help," he said grinning. "Their aid doesn't always feel right."
"Hopefully," I agreed, not liking the uneasy knot in my stomach. "Be on the lookout all the same."
We set out in the direction the wind was blowing, the ground beneath us fading away softly, swirling over itself and wrapping around the feet of the camels with each step they took.
Several hours passed by with no sign of the mirage we sought. Frustration boiled in me, screaming at the empty land in anger. My feelings couldn't deny this place was the perfect location to hide.
In the afternoon, the wind picked up, throwing the sand and biting our skin with it.
"Cristos," Arsenio called from behind me, his voice slightly panicked.
I looked back to see what had startled him and felt my eyes widen at the sight. I'd never seen a wall of sand so large or moving so quickly. We were prepared for a sandstorm and knew very well we could run into one here, but seeing it so suddenly had frozen us both in our tracks. If the Fates had sent us this storm, maybe they intended for us to never find the witches.
"Get the tent out!" I yelled back at him, ripping the makeshift bandana from my head and wrapping it around my camel's eyes.
"No time!" he shouted back.
I turned back to look at him again and was surprised to see the cloud moving much faster than I'd thought. It was about to overtake us and there was no way around it I could see.
"Run!" I yelled back to him. "Run until you can get it out!"
I kicked the sides of my ride and it lurched forward, blind and skittish because of the protection I'd put over it. Thankfully, it obeyed my orders anyway and before I could look back again, we were running across the open sand.
The storm nipped at our heels, Arsenio barely staying in front of it as he rummaged through his bag, looking for the thick cloth we could cover ourselves with and wait out the storm. Before he found it, the dust overtook us, stinging our bodies and blinding us to anything but sand in the air.
Chapter Four
"Arsenio!" I yelled, turning every which way in an effort to catch sight of him again.
The sand pelted against me, the dark cloud blocking out my companion and carrying our voices away on the wind before they could reach each oth
er. We were alone until the storm passed.
Cursing under my breath, I ducked my head down, trying to brush some of the dirt from my eyes. I had nothing to cover up with and was lost to the mercy of the gale until it passed. All I could do was hope it wasn't going to get any worse.
My camel, for being a creature of the desert, was becoming very agitated, pacing back and forth. Sliding from its back, I tightened my grip on the reins and pressed onward, hoping to stumble across something that would provide us some shelter.
As I inched through the blindness, I tried to keep a good head about where I was. The last thing I wanted was to end up completely lost in the Empty Quarter, without even Arsenio to find my way out with.
The shelter I halfheartedly hoped for didn't show up as the storm increased around me. Sand cut me, stinging even worse than before and filling the wounds as soon as they appeared. Hope that Arsenio had managed to get the tent out to cover himself with burned in my chest. I knew we would both survive, but couldn't help feeling guilty for getting him trapped in this.
Lifting my gaze from the ground to look around once more, I was surprised to see what appeared to be a house right in front of me. It was old and abandoned, the windows broken and door shaking in the wind, but would do for the safety I was seeking.
Urging the camel forward, I hurried to the front door, still closed and straining against the wind and sand, and pushed it open, practically falling inside in the process.
Suddenly, everything was very quiet. The howling storm seemingly vanished as I lay there, face down in the powder that had piled into the inside of the structure during all its time in the desert. The feeling of unease the morning wind had given me intensified, and I raised my head with caution.
Warm sunlight shone through the windows, accentuating the peeling wallpaper of the empty room. Void of everything except sand, anyway. The earth lay in large mounds, climbing to half the room's height in some places. When I looked behind me, to where my camel should have been, I was greeted only by another empty wall, the door gone from existence.
Slowly, I got to my feet, sinking down towards the floor with each step I took. Directly in front of me was an entry to another room, which looked to be the same as the one I was in.
Making as little noise as possible, I inched slowly to the opening, glancing around the corner to scope out what was in there. Before I got a good look, the sand around me suddenly kicked up and battered my already raw skin, the howling wind returning to my ears for a few seconds.
Just as quickly as it started, the storm stopped again, soft silver moonlight shining through an unbroken window this time. Glancing over my shoulder, I was met with a solid wall where the first room should have been.
The place I was in now looked like that of a child's, with stuffed animals lying on the pristinely made bed and a baby doll's cradle at the foot of it, leaning against the white, wrought iron frame. The walls were smooth and fresh looking, dark paint spread across them. A pair of shoes lay underneath the window, strewn across the wooden floorboards.
The only door out, a common, white, wooden door, was immediately to my left and I grabbed the golden handle, taking a breath for what was about to come.
As soon as I pulled it open, the sand kicked up, blinding my eyes with searing pain as it quickly swirled around me. Like before, it lasted only seconds. When I cleared my sight once again, I was met with another broken down room.
While the first room had been destroyed by nature, this one was destroyed by man. A smashed baby grand piano littered the room, its keys bloodied and broken, flung across the area in random places. A high backed chair had been cut open and the stuffing pulled out, some of it blackened from recently dead flames. The curtains on the window matched, still smoking slightly as they masked the faint light of the outside. Pictures hung on the walls haphazardly, canvases slashed open, others displaying burn marks. A few even joined the piano on the floor, their glass shattered in the space.
Unfortunately, there was no door in this room, only the window. By now, I knew I'd found the mirage the Graeae were hiding in. This maze of sorts must have been their last defense against intruders, set up to confuse them or even trap them for all time. A shudder ran down my spine as I wondered how many were stuck here, lost in this very room in another dimension.
Quickly, I made my way to the window, grabbing the sill and shoving it open. The roar of the sandstorm filled my ears again and dirt began flooding through the opening. Squinting, I threw my legs over the edge and slid through it, falling down freely as the sand transported me to the next dimension in the maze.
When the air cleared, I was standing in a tiny kitchen, food still cooking on the stove. One of two chairs seated at a table in the center of the room housed a tattered, brown jacket. Water ran from the faucet, filling my ears with a strange type of ringing as it hit the bottom of the metal sink and swirled down the drain. The only light in the room came from a single bare light bulb, swinging slightly over the table.
Biting the inside of my lip, I looked around, noting there was neither a door nor window in this room. The drain seemed the only way out, which couldn't be possible. I walked around the space a few times, taking everything in and opening all the cupboards around the stove to make sure they weren't secret doors. After a few minutes, I sat down, stumped.
Rubbing my temples and tapping my foot, I tried to use my nervous energy to figure out where I was supposed to go from here. Something wasn't fitting together and felt like it should have been pretty obvious.
The sound of the water continued to fill the room and I tapped my foot faster, running my hands through my hair. Soon, the sound had faded into the background, not recognized as important to my brain any more.
It was then I finally heard it. I stopped tapping my foot and looked under the table at the rug on the floor. Standing, I tapped my foot on the wood ground, off to the side. It made a solid sound, just as it had when I'd been walking around the room. I then tapped the rug again, smiling happily as a hollow thud greeted my ears.
Shoving the table to the side, I grabbed one edge of the rug and pulled it from the floor, tossing it behind me and revealing the trap door underneath. I used my foot to push it open and the vicious sand overtook me once more.
This time, I was at the bottom of a staircase scattered with old papers and sand that softly blew across it, without the aid of a breeze. I began my ascension, nowhere else to go but up.
The walls were laid in closely, making the path very narrow. It didn't bother me because I was used to small spaces, but after several minutes I began to feel like I would eternally be moving up, lost on this hidden and forgotten staircase. It stretched as far as I could see and when I turned around there was no sight of where I had started.
As I stood there on the steps, trying to figure my situation out like a riddle, it seemed the darkness that waited on either end of the stairs reached toward me. Not wanting to get caught in some place where I wouldn't even be able to see, I continued up the stairs, smiling to myself as the darkness pushed back.
After what felt like an hour of walking, I stopped again, still lost as to where my exit was. As I stood still, the darkness reached for me, covering where I'd been and where I was trying to go.
"Darkness," I muttered, having resorted to talking to myself to try and figure it out. "Covers everything from my view. Like a wall. Like a door!"
I continued to stay very still, grinning as the sand began to swirl around me and the darkness overtake me. When it all cleared, I was standing in what looked like an attic.
A small, covered, round window let the only outside light in on the other side of the room, nestled in the peak of the ceiling. The triangle shaped space was filled with several dusty boxes, lit candles sitting on some of them. Spider webs hung from almost every spot, covering the area with a fragile blanket. The wooden floor was hiding beneath an untouched layer of dust as well. But, it wasn’t the atmosphere of the place that held my attention.
/> On the side opposite me, just under the window, was the largest grouping of candles, all of them casting their light on the three, black clad figures kneeling before them. The figures dresses fanned out across the floor, melding with the dust and webs, seeming to be swallowed into the room.
"Adrastia," a cold voice said, the middle figure turning around to look at me, the dust on the floor shimmering with her movement.
"Graeae," I said just as sternly.
The sister finished turning to face me and I met the gaze of her one eye evenly. Her other socket was dark and empty, a sight that had brought on sickness in many before me. It didn't faze me, my adrenaline kicking in fully at the prospect of another successful mission.
"Why do you seek us out?" the sister on the right asked, turning around slowly as well, both of her eyes replaced with the dark, empty hollow.
"You know why," I said, pursing my lips as I suddenly remembered my bag was tied to the camel that hadn't come with me.
"You have no weapon," the last sister said, her empty sockets falling on me as well.
"I can still bring you to justice," I said, quickly coming up with ways I could best them with only what was in the room.
"You will leave here no victor," the first one said again, her harsh voice barking through her much aged lips.
With a quick flick of her hand, she removed the eye from her head and handed it over to the ancient sister on her left, folding her arms once it had been taken from her.
"All I have to do is take your eye and you won't be able to do anything," I snorted. "For starters, anyway."
"Such arrogance," the woman with the eye said. "Such . . . Blindness."
Adrastia (The God Chronicles Book 4) Page 3
