Belvedor and the Four Corners (Belvedor Saga Book 1)

by Ashleigh Bello

  Arianna couldn’t move. She couldn’t even blink as she watched the floor fall away. Lessa snatched her petrified friend by the arm and set off at a wobbly run. She could feel the old ground crumble from their weight, and she looked behind her to find the cliff deteriorating in a wave, one that was catching up with them fast.

  “Faster!” Lessa called as she pushed her legs full speed with Arianna right behind. She felt the floor beneath her feet give way at every step and saw no other option but to leap for the opening in front of her.

  “Jump, Ara!” She grabbed hold of Arianna’s outreached hand with Sano clinging to her neck, and they both leaped from the cascading floor without a second thought.

  Landing on their stomachs with their feet dangling above thin air, they hung in the mouth of one of the other entrances. As they watched the events play out, the rest of the skirted cliff surged downwards in a waterfall of boulders and rocks. The lava splashed and sputtered at the contact, claiming the rubble to its depths.

  “That was too close,” said Lessa, wiping the sweat from her brow as they pushed themselves up to safety. She tried to calm Sano who shivered in her arms, and then she took out her map to record their next path.

  Arianna shook out of her daze as she watched the last of the rocks slide to their demise and the lake turn calm as if nothing at all had happened. She couldn’t help but smile at the adventure and at her friend… so resilient in her outlook as she penned the next path on paper.

  “How about we steer clear of anymore cliffs,” said Lessa as she placed Sano safely back on her shoulders.

  “I thought you were used to that kind of thing,” said Arianna, wiping her robes of dirt.

  Lessa smiled. “No more cliffs.”

  Arianna threw her hands to the air. “Well, I’m glad your habits have been swayed!”

  Relaxing their spiraling nerves, they traveled away from the lava lake through a tunnel that matched its maker. It was formed of black and red rocks, glowing like smoldering coal in a fire, the walls warm to the touch. Further in, the air began to cool and the tunnel opened up wide as they moved onwards in a straight path, never turning.

  After a while, the time came to make another choice. A dead end ahead, they’d have to veer off to the left or right. “I say we go right,” said Lessa. “It seems like it would more likely head us away from where we came. What do you say?”

  Arianna shrugged, and they set out for the right, Lessa mapping it on her parchment diligently. This tunnel twisted and turned as the girls snaked along its path. Soon the flaming, coal-like stone turned a bright orange, giving off a subtle sparkle with the firebugs’ added light. Arianna had only seen the sun a few times in her life, but the whole passage seemed to be carved from it.

  “I’ve never seen something so brilliant,” said Lessa as she let her fingers skim the cool stone. “There must be so many secrets under these mountains.”

  Arianna laughed, “We’re the secrets under the mountains,” she said. “Did Talis ever happen to mention to you why they call these the Vanishing Tunnels in the first place?” The mention of Talis’ name came thick on her tongue as it stirred up other names she’d rather not dwell on.

  “No, but towards the end I confessed I’d been exploring them for quite some time. I would say he was impressed if he hadn’t turned blue from all the yelling.”

  “I wonder if the scrolls he gave us might mention anything,” mused Arianna as she let her fingertips glide over the walls.

  “Possibly,” said Lessa as she poured over her map. The orange shimmer of the tunnels flickered between yellow and red as they bore deeper down. “You know, something’s been gnawing at my mind, Ara.”

  “Oh?”

  “Liam was practically dead on that bed, and then Sano…” She nodded towards her furry friend whose eyes glistened much like the walls of the cave.

  “His paws,” said Arianna. “They lit up like a silver lantern.” She shook her head of the disbelief. “I think your friend here saved him. Thanks for that, Sano.” She patted him on the head as she tried to forget Liam’s scarring words.

  “But truly, how can that be possible?” she said, rubbing at the scar on the back of her neck. It irritated her sometimes.

  Arianna tilted her head, assessing her friend as her fingers played with the silvery spiral on her skin. “After all that has happened, I have a hard time believing that anything isn’t possible now.” She laughed as Lessa let her blonde hair fall back around her neck, hiding away her mark. “Solomon called him an avatar.”

  “I saw that word written in one of the scrolls,” said Lessa, fingering her rucksack.

  “There’ll be time for all that later,” said Arianna. “Did you bring them all?”

  “I hope so.”

  “We have so much to learn, but first we need to get out of these tunnels.”

  After another hour of walking in silence, they realized the cave to be a glittering dead end. “Now what?” said Arianna.

  “I suppose we go back and take the left-hand side?” Lessa shrugged.

  Arianna slumped against the wall of the cave, ready to give up. Instead of meeting a hard wall, she fell inward, the stone slab shifting under her weight.

  “Are you alright?” cried Lessa, running to her aid.

  “Yes,” she said. This wasn’t a first time for her. “I’m fine, but what the—?” She steadied herself, her eyes peeled to the front where the stone slab used to be. “Are those what I think they are?”

  “They’re stairs!” Lessa tapped her foot on one to be sure they were real. “But how can this be?”

  “Someone had to of built these here,” said Arianna, also testing one with her foot. They were carved from the same sparkling sunstone of the tunnel, leading high up through the mountain from what she could tell. “You suppose it’ll lead us up and out?”

  “I say we’d better find out,” replied Lessa, her optimism shining through.

  The girls responded to the mystery with the same fervor, both sharing a dangerously curious mind. As they began the long climb upwards, now they really felt as if they traveled through the sun. Warm colors swam all around them, carrying them to what they hoped to be an open sky.

  After half an hour of climbing, they reached yet another impasse.

  “It’s wooden,” said Arianna, knocking on the door standing tall before them. “Damn, it’s locked.”

  “I may have the solution for that,” said Lessa.

  She ruffled through the scrolls in her pack, pulling out one that Arianna didn’t recognize.

  “Talis told me that people with magical bloodlines could cast charms if they had the right knowledge,” she said. “Well, these are chalk full of it, and apparently we’re those kinds of people.” She scanned the scroll. “Here, have a look.”

  Lessa pointed an excited finger to a charm with the name Operium Undrio.

  Arianna read the description. “This can undo any lock not sealed with magical protection.”

  “You’re supposed to place your hand on the lock and then recite the words,” said Lessa, glancing at the scroll over Arianna’s shoulder. “Should we try it?”

  Arianna couldn’t help the feeling of elation welling up inside her. Should we?

  Magic had summoned her back from the dead. She had learned stories of sorcery and enchanted lands, watched a very small monkey give her friend a second chance at life and saw Solomon Bell produce fire from his blade. Even Red Risso’s bloody reign had ended at the aid of a single enchanted word.

  The thought of unlocking a door with only words from her mouth set the cherry on top of her euphoria. She felt so attached to this new fantasy world, yet only a couple of months ago she denied its very existence. Closing her eyes, she gathered her thoughts. My name is Arianna Belvedor, and I am a warrior… I am a witch?

  She nodded towards Lessa who stepped back as Arianna placed both hands on the door. “Operium Undrio,” she whispered.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  TRA
PPED

  Arianna felt the power surge from somewhere deep in her gut and gather at the palm of her hands as a sudden burst of air threw the door wide open.

  “I did it,” she said, turning her hands over, examining them. They seemed to be in perfect condition, but she felt a little light-headed from the rush of adrenaline pulsating through her body. It drained her energy somehow, numbed her. Lessa put a congratulatory hand on her shoulder and replaced the scroll and map back inside her rucksack.

  “Shall we?” she said, her face glowing.

  They peered through the wide opening of the entrance to what seemed to be a room. Everything looked dark and smelled of dust and mold like the old barracks from their districts. Large, distorted shadows loomed before them, but as their eyes adjusted to the dark, they realized lumpy furnishings strewn about the room. Shelves, chairs, tables, and desks, one on top of the other littered the small space like some sort of storage for old fixtures.

  “Have we escaped the mountains?” Lessa asked in a timid voice. Her eyes searched for any sign of hope. “If this is the real world, I’d like to turn back now.”

  “We need to find our way out of this room,” said Arianna. “There has to be another door here somewhere. Come on, let’s have a look.” She felt just as disappointed, if not wary as to what they may stumble across next.

  Stepping further into the room, Arianna knocked into the edge of a small desk, her knee throbbing from the pain. “I can’t see anything. Can you?” she said through clenched teeth as they felt their way around the room.

  “I see… nothing,” said Lessa from somewhere in front of her. “Ouch!” Something toppled to the floor, making an awful racket.

  “Still alive?” Arianna felt her way towards the whimpering sounds.

  “Barely,” said Lessa. “What’s all this junk?”

  Arianna continued her blind search for Lessa, hands outstretched as she continually grasped at thin air.

  “Ah, there you are!” she said. She clutched at what she thought to be the hood of Lessa’s cloak. Sano screeched as she tightened her grip, jumping down from his perch on Lessa’s shoulder. “Sorry! I thought that was you.”

  “Sano, where are you? Get back here!” called Lessa as the two girls clasped hands.

  “There!” Arianna dragged Lessa towards the iridescent shine of Sano’s eyes, frightened in a corner, scraping his paws at the dirt floor they stood upon.

  Scooping him up into her arms, she noticed a dim light pouring through the cracks on the floor where he had been hiding.

  Arianna dropped to her knees as she examined the cracks. “I think it’s another door!”

  “Is it locked?” The girls squeezed shoulder to shoulder in the tight space, Lessa feeling the wood of the door she could barely see until she felt a handle against her palm.

  “I hope not,” said Arianna.

  Lessa pushed, and the door creaked open.

  A blast of fresh air engulfed them as they toppled out of the old, dingy room. The ground felt soft, covered with clean, white snow reaching to their ankles. Closing the door behind them, they found the room to be an old storage shed built right up on the wall of the mountainside. Rotting there for ages, it seemed probably forgotten with time.

  “We did it! We’re finally free,” cried Lessa. She pulled Arianna into her arms with a smile reaching her ears.

  Arianna looked up towards the sky as Lessa freed her from her grasp, but what she saw gave her little comfort. The walls of the Blancoren Mountains seemed all too familiar as they curled inwards. She shivered at the sight, at the Jar of Stone she knew too well. Taking Lessa by the arm, she put a finger to her lips, warning her to keep quiet as they moved forward.

  It didn’t take long before another shock settled in. Lessa nearly screamed and Arianna froze in her tracks, mouth hanging slack, wordless as she soaked in the view. There, looming in front of them like an unwelcome intruder, stood a building with the words ‘Dining Hall’ etched on the front in big, black letters.

  Arianna felt her heart thrumming inside her chest, trying to catch up with the thoughts racing through her mind. “We’re not free yet,” she whispered.

  “Which district is this? Do you know?” said Lessa, finding her voice as she moved closer to Arianna.

  “I’m not sure, but we must leave, now.” Arianna turned to walk back towards the door.

  “Stop! I hear something,” said Lessa, dragging Arianna in the other direction.

  “This can’t be happening.” Arianna heard it too, the thick voices of men, of regulators up ahead, forcing them to slink back towards the Dining Hall, towards a life they’d nearly escaped. As they waited in silence for the voices to pass, Arianna spotted the guarded passageway to the Vanishing Tunnels marking the exit to whichever district they were trapped in.

  She really wanted to laugh at their predicament, at their misfortune as she learned a little lesson from the idea of luck, the way it played its hand at such irrational and unpredictable moments. Some would say it was lucky that the guards took no notice of their hiding spot in the shadows of the Dining Hall, but where was luck to have guided them away from this situation in the first place? Where was good fortune when they stumbled upon a secret staircase carved through the mountains that actually led them back into imprisonment?

  As Arianna stood there, pressed against the wall, she felt thrust back into time, into a looking-glass filled with her wrong choices affecting everyone else around her while luck showed up at the end to bail her out. She felt everything at once as if a cold shock jolted her worst memories from their hiding place. The final pinch of pain as Grinda Risso landed an axe in her side, the fury of Solomon as he committed murder on her behalf, the cries of poor Pippa suffering a fate not meant for her. It was lucky for her that she was alive, but did she deserve any of it? Arianna shook her head, trying to shove the memories back into the darkest corners of her mind to lock away and forget… or was she shaking her head because no, she didn’t believe she deserved any of it at all?

  The regulators walked back and forth at the tunnels, nodding towards their colleagues who patrolled the streets. Truthfully, though she would never admit this, Arianna didn’t see how they would ever get past them unseen without a little more luck on their side.

  “In here,” she finally said, pushing the door open to the Dining Hall. She slid inside with Lessa right behind her.

  After double-checking the hall, Lessa spoke, “What should we do now? We can’t go back that way.”

  “I know.” Arianna nodded. “We’ll be caught for sure.”

  Just then, a loud, grumbling noise came from the pit of her stomach as she clutched at her belly, looking around the room. Lessa started shaking her head. “No,” she said in disbelief.

  “Well, we’re already here. We might as well make the best of it.” She shrugged.

  “Okay, you don’t have to force me. I’m starving too.”

  Tiptoeing to the kitchens, they rummaged around the cabinets. Much to their disliking, they found the same slop that was served in their own districts.

  “I can’t believe we’ve ended up right back where we started,” said Arianna as she peaked into all of the cupboards, searching for something more edible than the daily special.

  “Here, I found something!” Lessa tossed her an apple and gestured her to a large cupboard near the back of the room.

  As Arianna peered inside, her hopes were momentarily lifted with the prospect of real food. After a few minutes, they gathered up a feast of delectable items stored away for the elders and began to eat.

  “I’ll save us some for later too,” said Lessa. “I doubt we’ll get this lucky again.”

  “I wouldn’t call this lucky,” said Arianna as she bit into a huge chunk of fresh bread, thankful as the food settled her hunger.

  “Let’s try to stay optimistic,” said Lessa. “Look what I found.” She pulled a large bottle of wine from behind her back with a smirk across her face, and Arianna beamed. Pouring
them both a glass from cups from the kitchen pantry, she proposed a toast. “To freedom!” With that, they let the wine cure their dried tongues and their spirits.

  “I think this is becoming a terribly bad habit,” said Arianna as she finished off her glass.

  Lessa smiled and topped their cups off with more. “What’s there to lose anyhow?” She winked, moving to feed Sano bits of fresh lettuce. “Besides, it’s well deserved. Just relax now and don’t think of any worry. Just for a few minutes at least.”

  Arianna nodded, resting her chin in her hands and her elbows on the table as they tried to see the bright side of the situation.

  They talked of Lessa’s talented illustrations, and the beautiful, although sometimes dangerous, surprises the Vanishing Tunnels kept in store for them. They mulled over their plans of learning more enchantments and of the mysteries little Sano possessed. Lost in the fantasy of a happy existence, for a moment, they really did feel free… Just a moment.

  “Hey! What the Hell do you think you two are doing out past curfew?” The voice shattered their peaceful illusion. “The general will have your head for this!”

  The girls looked up to find what they expected to find, a regulator standing in the entrance of the double-doors now flung wide open. His cloak was fluttering around him in the howling wind, and the moonlight gave an eerie glint to the sword at his hip. Arianna moved to draw her own from her sheath, but he was quicker.

  In one rapid movement, he removed two things from his belt and sent them flying towards their heads. Arianna had just enough time to react, pressing her body against the table, forcing Lessa down with her as two silver stars, sharp as glass, flew overhead. Sano jumped down to the floor, frightened as the weapons became embedded in the wall behind them.

  Grabbing their packs and scooping up Sano, they dashed back through the kitchens and out the backdoor. The regulator did not follow, but Arianna heard the screech of a whistle not far behind.

  Outside, they scurried up a street lined with hundreds of barracks where the slaves of this district slept. As they rushed up the slippery path, Arianna noticed that the barracks were unusually built in all shapes and sizes, like botched handiwork.