Belvedor and the Four Corners (Belvedor Saga Book 1)

by Ashleigh Bello

  “Here, put these on,” said Solomon as he handed Arianna his robes. “They’ll stop you for sure if you wear your own.”

  Arianna shed her cloak for the last time. She donned Solomon’s lush, white one, lined and trimmed with sparkling crimson. The red silk on the inside glided across her skin, and for a fleeting moment she relished in the sensation before being forced back to reality. My name is Arianna Belvedor, and I am a… She didn’t feel like a slave anymore.

  The thought of leaving anyone behind made her sick, but she saw no other choice. She tried to think positively. Her friends lived, and nothing else mattered. She hurriedly said goodbye to Liam, and the others stood back, waiting.

  His eyes finally opened, but he still looked drowsy. “What happened?” he said, trying to sit up. Arianna pushed him back down.

  “You were trying to save me,” she said. “I told you not to.” She forced a smile on her lips, and he did the same. “Liam, listen. I have to leave now. They’re coming for me. You’re awake now, so you can come with us.” Her eyes pleaded with his.

  He lowered his gaze from hers. “I can’t leave Noah,” he said, hazily looking around the room to see his friend crouched in the corner.

  “He’ll come too!” said Arianna, taking his hand in hers. He looked down at her with a solemn expression, shaking his head.

  “Arianna,” he said softly, “I don’t know how I’m even alive right now. My whole body aches, and I can barely move. We’ll just slow you down. Don’t worry about me. Just get out of here while you still can.”

  Arianna shook her head. She pulled his chin so she could see the whites of his eyes, letting the words in her heart spill from her mouth.

  “Liam… Do you love me?” She felt relieved as the words flew free, the question finally out.

  For a moment he looked shocked, but then his expression wavered before her eyes. Why did he look so angry? He yanked his hand away from hers, pulling his chin from her face. Arianna stepped back as tears began to roll down her cheeks. Of all the wounds she ever lived through, this one stung the most.

  He turned away from her. “How could I love you after all you’ve put me through, after all of this?” His voice sent chills to her very soul, and the room grew cold all around her.

  She stepped back, her head spinning with his words. Bursting out of the room, she never looked back. Liam watched her from the bed. A single tear rolled down his cheek, but he quickly wiped it away.

  No one said anything as Lessa and Arianna grabbed their things, leaving the Dueling Arena behind. The commotion died down, but no regulators were in sight. They continued towards their secret caverns with Solomon leading the way.

  “There, that’s them!” said a man from behind. His black cloak disappeared down the street, and a gust of wind blew up the snow, blurring their vision. Before they could register what happened, they heard pounding footsteps as a group of fifteen regulators ran up behind them.

  The snow-clad streets cleared of people now. The three of them stood out like sore thumbs with no others in sight, but they realized the trap all too late. Arianna saw slaves peeking out of windows and doors as war broke out in the street under the lamplight.

  “We can take them,” screamed Solomon. He ran forward to meet their challengers with Lessa and Arianna panicking at his heels.

  As the battle begun, Lessa climbed up onto a low stone wall, firing as many arrows as she could and missing many in the process as nerves took over her. Much like Lessa, Arianna did little damage to the regulators as she struggled under their expertise, but she was careful to avoid their blows. Solomon did most of the real work, taking on the soldiers with fervor. Their fancy shields meant nothing against his power; both magic and metal alike.

  He worked his best moves, tearing through their opponents. At one point, he slammed the tip of his sword to the ground and flames burst out in all directions, searing everything in their path. It looked as if a blazing octopus stormed the night, whipping at anything that moved.

  As that magic dissipated, he dropped his swords to the ground, clapping his hands together. A burst of energy exploded from his fingertips, knocking several attackers to the ground. Scooping up his swords, he started to sing incantations, swirling around the remaining regulators. As the words left his mouth, the night dissolved into a spectacle of dangerous color, regulators dropping dead at his feet with each passing minute.

  Arianna couldn’t believe his display of power. These warriors didn’t stand a chance against the Wolf of the East. Soon they all reached the peace of the grave together.

  “There’s more coming!” said Lessa.

  Solomon struggled to catch his breath, clutching at his chest and leaning on his swords. Grabbing hold of his hand, Arianna hurried him up the street towards the entrance, passing the barracks. Slave after slave slunk out of view as they ran.

  They reached the entrance to the tunnel, ducking under the rotting wood to push the stone inward. It fell with a thud. Lessa crawled inside first, followed by Arianna. She turned back for Solomon, but he shook his head, and her heart sank as terror took its place.

  “What are you doing?” she said “You must hurry!” She reached out her hand to aid him.

  “I can’t,” he said. “This is not a journey we can take together. I must stay with Talis. He’ll need my assistance.” His face held a grave expression, and his voice sounded thick with dread.

  Arianna heard pattering feet as what sounded like an army edged closer, the seconds ticking by.

  “Master, you can’t hold off all those men on your own,” she said. “You’ll be dead before you reach him! Please, just take my hand.” She pleaded, tasting the salty water as tears streamed down her face.

  Solomon pushed her hand away. “Then I shall die fighting for him,” he said, “as you would’ve for Liam and Lessa… or me.”

  The mention of Liam made her sob even harder. The thought of losing both men in her life was agonizing.

  “Here, hand me your swords,” he said, holding out his hand.

  Arianna did as he commanded, too distraught to question him. She unsheathed her long blades and placed them in his hands.

  “You were the perfect apprentice,” he said, “and I think you deserve your reward.” He flashed the smile she loved so much. The storming of footsteps came closer now and voices grew louder in the distance.

  Solomon placed in her hands his own two magnificently-molded swords. The hilts jeweled in a rainbow of colors, and the weight felt like feathers in her hands.

  “Master?” she said as he bestowed the extraordinary gift. She couldn’t think.

  “Use them wisely,” he said. “They have seen many battles, both man and magic alike. If you let them, they may teach you something special.”

  “But I—”

  “Arianna, I have seen your strength. You’re a true warrior now.” Winking another wise eye at her, he planted a kiss on her cheek, wiping away her tears.

  “I still have yet to beat you,” she said in barely a whisper. Solomon inched further away.

  “You’ve got my swords haven’t you?” he said. “A master swordsman doesn’t just relinquish his most precious of weapons without an epic fight, dear girl.”

  He positioned Arianna’s swords for defense. Arianna heard the voices more distinct now, almost upon them.

  “They must be won by determination and relentless fight,” said Solomon. “I think it’s safe to say that you’ve proven yourself worthy, Arianna—Warrior of the Olleb. Now you must go and protect her.” He smiled, inching away.

  The regulators closed in. Arianna could hear the general relaying commands.

  “Protect her from what?”

  “Girls, journey well and keep each other safe,” he said. “Everything will unfold with time, but you must first find yourself new trainers. Go to the City of Luose and find Ferlon Ragaric. He can help you there.” He drank in one last look of his young prodigy. “Take this map, it’ll show you the way, and remember to nev
er let go of your faith. If nothing else, that will keep you safe. You’re not free yet, so go now!” Arianna flinched at his final command. This time she didn’t dare disobey.

  “Goodbye, Master,” said Arianna. “I hope we meet again.” She sucked in her tears, her voice unwavering. She wanted to be strong for him, for the man who taught her to always be strong. She gazed at him one last time and replaced the stone as Solomon turned his back to her.

  The sound of magic on metal came thunderous as the Great Wolf of the East added more notches to his blade. Arianna only hoped no one would add a wolf’s life to theirs.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  THE VANISHING

  TUNNELS

  Lessa grabbed Arianna’s hand, yanking her down the familiar passageway towards the sanctuary they both stumbled upon years ago.

  The firebugs buzzed and blazed along the ceiling as if nothing at all had changed, as if she hadn’t just left her friends behind. Sounds of a battle were replaced with the roaring gush of the waterfall, the blood and tears wiped clean in a reflection of glittering jade stones. Arianna had to stop. She had to have this moment of serenity one last time, so she dropped to her knees on the shore of the springs and tilted her head up to the crowning dome.

  The walls twinkled under a canopy of flaming light, the waterfall humming as the spray from the springs lapped at her face. She reached down, letting her hands rest in the warm waters, mesmerized as the clear blue took on some of her burden, adding the blood, mud and sorrow to its depth.

  “We need to keep moving,” said Lessa, placing a hand on her shoulder. “There’s no telling if anyone saw us come this way.”

  Arianna nodded in agreement, but her body seemed frozen, her mind resolute in never surrendering this small sense of freedom.

  Lessa walked to stand in front of her. Her dusty, orange boots being cleansed of dirt as the water lapped at her feet. She held out a hand. “Ara, it’s time to go.”

  “I know.” She closed her eyes, savoring the moment before allowing Lessa to pull her up to her feet. Gently unfurling the large scroll, Solomon’s last guiding gesture, she searched it, trying to concentrate on the next plan of action. “Did you bring the maps you made of the tunnels? This one seems to only chart out the land above.” She studied the elaborate pictures that formed the world she would soon face as an outlaw. She searched for something familiar, something to look towards, but the scribbles and marks that outlined her future meant nothing to her.

  “I have them here,” said Lessa, “but I’m afraid they’ll only get us so far.” She started pacing. “We’ll have to navigate our way out carefully, or we could very well get trapped down here.”

  “That’s not an option,” said Arianna, looking towards the passageway to the Warrior’s District. “We’ll be fine. Just lead the way as far as you can.” The thought of dying, buried underneath the mountains she hated so much, terrified her to a point of irrational bravery.

  Though this feeling of bravery gave her enough reassurance that they could free themselves of the Four Corners once and for all, she was still aware that irrational behavior normally brought on unrealistic results. Most realistically and rationally… they would die down there.

  Lessa took her self-made map from her rucksack and unfolded it on a large, flat facet of an emerald stone. Even Sano seemed attentive as Lessa clarified the markings. It looked like one of the paintings from her room, everything colorful with intricate details and emotion placed into each stroke.

  “See here?” She pointed to two red ‘X’s on the parchment. “These mean dead ends. If we exclude these along with the passageways to the Healer’s and Warrior’s Districts, then that still leaves us with three other options. I’ve traveled each one a bit, but I always end up turning around for lack of time.” She paused to steal Arianna’s attention. “You have to understand… there’s no way to know where we’d end up.”

  “So what do you suppose we do?” asked Arianna. She curled a strand of hair around her finger to the point of breaking as she considered the implications.

  Lessa shrugged. “Take your pick,” she said, waving a hand over the parchment.

  “Okay.” Arianna chewed on her lip, racking her brain for the right decision. “Let’s just try this one first and hope we can count ourselves lucky.” She pointed to the tunnel on the far left.

  “After you,” said Lessa, rolling up her map and tossing it back into the rucksack.

  With Arianna in front, they started down a narrow path. Further and further they traveled, away from their old lives in search for the new. They walked for a long time in silence, the only noise coming from the firebugs as Sano caused uproar in his failed attempts to catch them between his jaws. And then there was the noise inside their heads of course. They each had their own thoughts to keep them occupied.

  “So how far do we walk before we’re blind?” asked Arianna, steering her thoughts away from the negative memories so fresh in her mind.

  “I’d say we have about twenty minutes before I had to turn back around,” she said. “Right now, everything still looks familiar.”

  Their voices echoed, ricocheting back and forth in the tight space as they carried on. Twenty minutes later, Arianna looked back to find Lessa pouring over the map.

  “Okay, now we’re blind,” she said, the panic clear on her face. “This is as far as I came.”

  Arianna strained her vision to peer further down the tunnel but saw nothing out of the ordinary. “It looks like we can still keep going straight for now.” She put on a fearless face and continued walking, but they both knew ‘for now’ to be an indefinite certainty.

  “Ara…” Lessa pulled Sano close to her chest.

  “Hmm?”

  “I just have this strange feeling that we’re headed downwards. Not up and out.”

  Arianna had the same funny feeling. “Let’s just keep going.”

  Deeper and deeper they walked, following the twists and turns of the passageway as the funny feeling started turning sour, the lit tunnel turning dim.

  “Do you hear that noise?” asked Lessa.

  “It’s just the firebugs.”

  “No.” She stopped. “No, something’s not right.”

  “Don’t worry.” Arianna turned to flash Lessa a reassuring smile, grabbing for her hand as she took another step forward. Her stomach felt like it had lurched up into her throat, and her smile was replaced with a scream as the ground disappeared in front of her. She felt Lessa squeeze both hands around her own, yanking her back as they toppled to the floor.

  “Are you okay?” said Lessa, standing to her feet. Arianna nodded, trying to steady her nerves.

  Brushing off her robes, Lessa said, “I told you I heard something!” Pointing downwards, she kept one hand on the cavern wall.

  Arianna stood, her eyes calculating the new surroundings as they adjusted to the sudden light. Their passageway had come to an abrupt end, and the archway they perched under gave way to a slim cliff which encircled a deep pit. Arianna was reminded of the Pit in Warrior’s District where the bones of her peers littered the bottom.

  She stepped back, feeling threatened and vulnerable to a much worse fate than anything the Warrior’s District had to offer. Bones would disintegrate into nothingness here. All traces of a slave’s existence would be wiped away in this vast, merciless pit.

  She looked upon a deep bowl filled with thick, rolling lava that steamed and bubbled below. Smoldering steam slapped their faces as their eyes were glued to the waves of fire beneath them, like millions of firebugs fused together to form a lake.

  “I definitely don’t remember this,” said Lessa, tucking Sano safely into her robes as he latched onto her.

  “This must be how the hot springs formed,” said Arianna. “It’s probably why the firebugs collect here.”

  Tearing their eyes from the depths below, they saw firebugs piled high in this part of the cave. Their light trailing upwards for what seemed like a mile-high ceiling.


  “Well, we’d better start heading back then,” said Arianna as she moved away from the cliff, the height making her dizzy.

  “Wait!” said Lessa. “Look there. On the other side I can see more tunnels. Can you see?” She grabbed a handful of Arianna’s robes and pulled her back to the ledge. “We should try one of those.” She drew out her map and began to make some markings.

  When Arianna observed her additions, she saw a striking, fiery resemblance to the magma pit flowing beneath them. “You mean go around the cliffs?” Arianna’s bravery vanished.

  Lessa nodded. “If we go back now, we’ll lose so much time, and there’s no knowing if we’ve been followed or where those other entrances could lead us. They could be our only way out.” Without waiting for an answer, she tiptoed forward with Sano snug on her shoulders, dragging Arianna behind her. “Just follow my lead. I’m used to things like this.”

  Arianna sniggered as she hugged her body close to the wall, moving ever so slowly. Who could ever be used to something like this?

  They crept towards the other side of the cliff, careful not to make any sudden movements that might upset their balance. Lessa was very nimble. Arianna, on the other hand, never once looked down for fear her body might follow her eyes.

  “It looks like there are maybe two or three tunnels to choose from over there too,” said Arianna. “Your turn to pick.” Her voice wavered as she concentrated on her feet.

  Lessa mulled over the decision, but before she could make an assessment of their choices, something else caught her attention. They both heard the sound at the same time, their feet freezing in place.

  Rippling throughout the cavern, it sounded as if lightening had collided with the mountainside. Arianna looked up, expecting to find boulders tumbling towards her head but saw nothing that met her imagination. Then, her eyes dared to follow Lessa’s to the pit below.

  It seemed a rockslide had begun after all, but the boulders that fell didn’t fall from the sky. They crumbled beneath their feet as their cliff gave way to the fire-filled lake below.