Selene's expression was thoughtful. "I promise we won't betray your trust."
"Thank you," Rik said, but he wasn't quite sure he believed her. For now, he had the feeling she'd stick to that promise. But what did promises mean to a sorcerer who'd lived for hundreds of years? She could crush him with little effort if he ever opposed her.
"Good," she said. "Now that we have that settled, we need to discuss your future." She leaned forward in her chair. "The Webs have told me a great deal about what lies ahead for us. We must cross the Wastelands. That's a difficult journey, even for a sorcerer like me." She hesitated a moment, as if collecting her thoughts. "Four of us must go, and only four."
Dirk frowned. "Who else is coming?"
She took in a long, deep breath. "You're not going to like it."
"It's Eliza, isn't it?"
"I'm afraid so," Selene said. "She is the strongest healer we have, and she has trained to use weapons as well. We'll need her on this journey."
"But she can't channel," Dirk said. "She'll be defenseless in this place."
"I understand your concerns, but the Webs tell me that she gives us the best chance."
"Who's Eliza?" Rik asked.
Dirk's expression was pained. "She's my daughter."
"I know," Selene said, "but she's old enough to make her own decisions, and she has agreed to come with us. You'll have to accept that. She knows how to protect herself."
Dirk massaged his temples. "If you think it's best."
Rik had never seen Dirk give in to someone else's authority like that. That told Rik one of two things. Either Selene was worthy of his trust and respect or she was too dangerous to cross. Maybe it was a little of both.
"She should be here by now," Selene said. She glanced toward the doorway, then made a beckoning gesture. "Your father knows. You may come in."
A young woman stepped into the room. She looked maybe a year or two younger than Rik. Her hair was a pale blond, unlike her father's dark hair. Though she carried a sword and a bow, she didn't look comfortable with them. There was a certain dreamlike quality about her as she approached with tentative steps.
Rik was drawn to her immediately.
"You sure about this?" Dirk asked her.
She nodded. "I trust Selene. Besides, I'm ready for a bit of adventure."
Rik felt like telling her that adventure wasn't all that fun, but at the moment, he couldn't form any words. She wasn't classically beautiful by any means, but there was grace in the way she walked, the way she carried herself. Was this how it felt to experience love at first sight? Rik had always thought such things were silly. No one fell in love that quickly.
"You must be Rik," she said, looking at him with deep blue eyes. "Selene has told me about you. I am glad to finally meet you." She smiled. "By the way, I like your beard."
Had she just complimented him? Rik's face burned, and he hoped no one would notice how red it had become. "Um, thank you. I haven't gotten many compliments about it."
"It makes you look like an adventurer," she said. "And adventurers are interesting."
Rik was beginning to understand why Dirk felt so apprehensive about taking her along. Back home, Rik had met girls like her. Some of them became so lost in their dreams that they barely noticed the world around them. He wasn't sure if she was that bad about it, but her father was right to be concerned about her.
"We should leave immediately," Selene said. "We can get to know each other on the road."
"Do we really have to go so soon?" Rik asked. He'd been looking forward to the chance to rest his feet. Of course, it didn't surprise him. If he'd learned anything in the last few months, it was that the world didn't care what he wanted. In fact, it seemed as if it had set out to give him the exact opposite. He had no idea how he'd survived it all.
The guard stepped inside. "I'm afraid you'll have to go right now."
Selene narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
"The Sunset Army is here, and Mathew is leading them. They want the Weaver."
Chapter 22: The Tunnels
Rik's heart pounded. He couldn't let the Dark have him.
Selene turned to the guard. "You need to distract them, even if it means giving up your own lives. The Weaver is too important."
The guard nodded solemnly. "I understand."
"And how's a distraction gonna help me?" Rik asked.
"There's a reason we picked this settlement to be our hideout." She started toward the far right corner of the room. "There are secret tunnels out of here."
"Let me guess," Rik said. "They're infested with monsters."
Selene nodded. "But it's nothing we can't handle."
Rik, Dirk, and Eliza followed Selene to that corner of the room, where she used a brief burst of fire that caused the floor to shift. The space beyond looked dark and foreboding, but Rik swallowed his fear and ducked inside.
Selene led the way, using some kind of light she held in her palm. The opening closed behind them, and Rik experienced a sudden wave of nausea. He'd never been as claustrophobic as Markus, but he still felt trapped.
They wound their way through the darkness. The air was cold and damp and smelled as if no one had been here in years. Spider webs crisscrossed the passage and stuck to Rik's face. Good thing spiders had never bothered him much.
After a while, the passage opened up into a wider chamber. Here, magical torches glowed, so Selene put out her light. At the far side of the chamber was a huge gate.
"What kind of place is this?" Rik asked.
Selene frowned. "We've never actually explored it."
Rik gave her a sharp look. "And you thought it would be a good idea to use it as an escape route? Who knows what we might find here?"
"It's better than certain death," Selene said. "You should be happy."
"You know, I'm finding it hard to feel happy about anything."
"Maybe you should change that attitude," Eliza said, startling him. "You're still alive, aren't you? That seems like reason enough to be happy."
Rik let out a low chuckle. It was a miracle that he was alive after everything he'd been through. "Can't argue there."
"See? You're already doing better."
Once she stepped away from him, Dirk came close and whispered in his ear. "It takes a while to get used to her, but she's not as crazy as she seems."
"She doesn't seem crazy at all."
"Then maybe you're crazy, too."
Rik didn't know what to say, so he surveyed his surroundings. The chamber stretched farther than he could see side-to-side. Magical torches were positioned at intervals of fifteen or twenty feet. The walls were made of smooth stone, indicating that humans had constructed this place, whatever it was.
Selene led them toward the gate. They examined the area but couldn't find any means of opening the gate.
Rik's stomach felt unsettled. "I'm not sure I want to know what's on the other side of that gate."
"Well, we have no choice," Selene said. "It's the only way to go on."
"Perhaps we could hide here until they leave," Dirk said.
Selene gave him a stern look. "You know they won't do that."
"We just have to figure out how to open the gate," Eliza said. "It shouldn't be too hard. There must be some clues around here." She looked around the chamber as if those clues would come to her. "We should explore this place."
"Let's stick together," Selene said, her face pale in the blue magical torchlight. "This chamber looks deserted, but I don't trust it."
"Agreed," Dirk said. Rik nodded his agreement, and then they started off to their left. At first, nothing changed about the place, but then they found three pedestals against the stone wall. Each pedestal had a small circular indentation in the shape of a stone.
Selene frowned as she examined the pedestals. "Looks like we need to find the stones that go into these pedestals."
"But how're we supposed to find them?" Rik asked. "Seems like we're stuck in this chamber."
"We
have to go the other way, of course," Eliza said.
"Yeah, and let's hope we don't find the same thing over there," Rik said.
Eliza smiled. "We won't. They wouldn't design the place like that."
Rik felt like arguing, but there was no point. He'd let her retain her optimism. He remembered a time when he'd looked at adventure like that, but that time felt as if it belonged to a different life now. He couldn't recall the last time he'd had a chance to rest.
They made their way to the other side of the chamber, where they found three smaller gates. Only one gate was open, and there were no locks on the others.
"Can't we use magic to open these gates?" Rik asked.
Selene shook her head. "There are protections around them. If I try to force my way with magic, those protections could kill us. We can't take the chance."
"Of course," Rik muttered. "Nobody would ever think of making things easy."
"We should go through the gate," Eliza said, looking delighted at the prospect. Rik should have been annoyed by her, but he found her outlook on life refreshing. He wished he could reclaim that side of his personality.
They all stepped through the gate. Dirk was the last to step through, and as soon as he did, the gate slammed closed behind him. Dirk, Eliza, and Selene all jumped in surprise, but Rik had been waiting for it. Whatever this place was, it would choose to torment them in the worst ways possible. If they didn't succeed in finding the stone they needed in here, they'd never leave.
"Don't worry," Eliza said. "I'm sure it will open again."
The place they'd entered was a wide corridor filled with magical torches. They started walking, then rounded a corner after perhaps thirty paces. Now a larger chamber stood ahead of them. Rik's stomach swirled as he worried about what might lurk beyond.
They stepped into the chamber, where the ceiling was so far above them that they could barely see it. The stone floor of the chamber was flat and nondescript, but at the chamber's far end, sets of stairs zigzagged upward.
"Guess we'll climb," Dirk said.
The stairs went up for hundreds of feet, and soon Rik's legs ached. He grew more and more winded by the second. The higher they went, the sicker he felt. This was not the time for his fear of heights to show up again.
"Are you all right?" Eliza asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You look pale."
"I'm fine," Rik said, feeling as if he might throw up. "I just don't like heights."
She smiled, tilting her head to the side. "Can't say I like them too much either."
Rik stayed as close to the wall as he could. There were no railings on these stairs, which only made him feel dizzier. By the time they reached the top, he wanted to close his eyes and pretend he was anywhere else. His chest felt tight. Sweat poured down his face.
And it was only going to get worse.
Up ahead, platforms floated in the air as if some strange magic held them up. There were gaps between all of these platforms. Some gaps were only a few feet, but others were far too wide to jump across. What the hell were they supposed to do now?
Selene stepped to the edge of their platform, and pointed a finger down at the ground. A few moments later, a whirlwind appeared, but it was not tall enough to reach them. She gritted her teeth, her eyes focused on the whirlwind, but it didn't grow any taller.
"I should have known," she said.
Dirk's face was pale. "What're we supposed to do, then?"
Selene paced dangerously close to the edge of the platform. "All right, I have an idea. Some of my lightning magic allows me to jump higher and farther. I can carry Eliza and make these jumps, but I don't think I can carry anyone else."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Dirk said. "We'll use a wind spell from our staffs."
No, that was a major problem. It required Rik to trust his magic and battle his fear of heights. When he'd used that spell before, it had been pure instinct. He stepped a bit closer to the edge and felt as if his head were spinning.
"I-I don't think I can do it," he said.
Eliza put a hand on his shoulder again. "Of course you can."
"I'll go first," Dirk said. "You'll see that it's no problem." He jumped across the first gap, which wasn't all that large. Then he pointed his staff toward the ground, using the reaction from the wind spell to propel himself across a larger gap. He did this a few more times until he reached another set of stairs at the far end of the room.
Selene then took hold of Eliza, and a strange yellow glow surrounded both of them. At first, nothing looked different, but when Selene jumped some of the larger gaps, she showed abilities that looked unnatural. No one could jump that high and that far.
Now Rik was by himself. He felt like vomiting as he considered the challenge ahead of him. Eliza stood at the other end of the chamber, waving at him cheerfully.
Deep breaths. Rik could do this. He had to do this.
He stepped closer to the edge, and his heart pounded like a drum. As soon as he looked down, he knew he'd made a grave mistake. He couldn't do it. He was too high. The world was spinning, and he felt as if he'd plummet to his death.
No. He'd used his staff before to save himself from a fall. It hadn't been quite this high, but it had been high enough. If he missed one of these jumps, all he had to do was react as he had before.
Still, that didn't help. Every time he considered starting across, he froze. His legs felt as if they'd collapse. Sweat drenched his entire body even though it was cool in the chamber.
After another deep breath, Rik forced himself to go forward. When he jumped, though, it felt as if his body had betrayed him, as if he were trying not to jump at the same time. Because of this, he barely made it to the next platform and stumbled as he landed.
He accidentally dropped his staff, and his stomach lurched as the staff rolled toward the edge of the platform. Heart pounding, he threw himself to the ground and reached out for his staff. He felt it slipping through his fingers as it slid off the edge, but then his hand closed around it.
Rik got to his feet shakily, his face burning. He couldn't believe he'd looked like such a fool in front of everyone else. After this, how could they believe he was this special Weaver, this person destined to change the world?
All he really wanted was to settle down somewhere and leave all this adventure behind. But he couldn't do that if he didn't find a way home, and he'd never find a way home if he allowed fear to stop him now. He took a few deep breaths, then prepared for the next leap.
This time, he pointed his staff down and behind him so that the reaction from his wind spell would propel him up and toward the next platform. For a terrifying moment, he worried his spell wouldn't be strong enough, but then he felt the reaction pushing against him. Still, he barely reached the next platform.
That was the largest gap between any of the platforms. Things would only get easier from here. They had to or he'd go insane.
It took him a while, but he did finally make his way to the others. He reached the rest of the platforms without incident, then stared back at them, wondering how he'd made it across. He'd never thought he'd have to face his fear of heights like that.
Dirk gave him a tired look. "Could you have made that look any more difficult?"
"Sorry. I really struggle with heights."
"We all have our fears," Eliza said. "At least you conquered them."
Rik wasn't so sure about that. He looked at the stairs ahead of them, the only route they could take. Would they have to cross another set of platforms like that?
They ascended the stairs, and soon they reached another smaller chamber constructed within the walls. At the end of this chamber was a pedestal, and on this pedestal was a small blue stone. Selene stepped forward and examined the stone without picking it up.
At last, she said, "This stone will teleport us back to the first chamber."
"How do you know that?" Rik asked.
"I can feel the magic within. It's difficult to explain, but I'm confident I'm
right. We should all touch the stone at the same time."
The four of them stepped forward and touched the stone. A moment later, Rik no longer felt the ground beneath him. The world became fuzzy, then black. He closed his eyes, feeling sick, and when he opened them, they all stood in the main chamber again. The stone lay on the floor at their feet.
Selene picked it up, and they returned to the pedestals at the end of the chamber. The indentation in each pedestal was slightly different, and she placed the stone in the indentation that matched its shape. A clanking sound came from the other side of the chamber.
"Why couldn't it have opened the main gate?" Rik asked.
Eliza smiled. "You had to know it wouldn’t be that simple."
"Yeah, I knew. I just felt like complaining."
She shrugged. "I've never seen much point in complaining. It doesn't make the task any easier. But I understand if you feel the need to do so."
Rik wasn't quite sure what to make of her. In some ways, he found her annoying. In others, he felt attracted to her. There was something almost infectious about her upbeat and slightly odd way of looking at life. He wished he could adopt that attitude himself. She reminded him so much of the young man he'd been before all this started.
He wanted to be that person again, or at least a more sensible version of that person.
They returned to the other side of the chamber, where the middle gate stood open. Feeling queasy, Rik followed the rest of the party through the gate. This time, when the gate closed behind them, no one jumped.
Rik peered down the magically lit corridor, wondering what horrors they'd face in here.
Chapter 23: The Cold Wind
Rik walked alongside Eliza as they made their way through the twisting corridors. Selene and Dirk had taken the lead, and they had each spotted traps Rik would have missed. He was normally more observant, but he felt distracted for some reason.
Or maybe it was his fear. With every step he took, he felt as if something immense and evil were closing in on them. It could have been the remnants of his fear of heights, but he didn't think it was. No, it was something else, something much more dangerous.
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