by S. M. Boyce
She frowned. “We don’t have long, Fyrn.”
“I understand, but I cannot put you at further risk. It’s asking too much of you. When we go, we will be prepared.”
Smiling, she set a hand on her mentor’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
“Of course. But Victoria?”
“Yes?”
“This will be your last Rhazdon Artifact.” Instead of a forceful or commanding expression, he watched her with a flicker of hope.
He was asking, in his own weird way.
“I’ll do what I have to.”
Other Rhazdon hosts might have been fueled by an insatiable desire for power and control, but Victoria was different. She just wanted enough power to protect her new home—the only home she had left, thanks to Luak.
And this time her home wouldn’t burn to the ground with everyone she loved trapped inside.
CHAPTER 16
Audrey’s head was killing her.
She grimaced and sat upright in bed, gingerly holding her forehead as she tried to focus on something—anything—in the blurry room around her.
The soft light streaming through the window was the first thing to come into focus. The gentle beams fell on the bumps in her comforter. Her arm rested in her lap, and the skin was covered in deep purple bruises.
Fragments of what had happened swam through her mind: Luak chasing her, fire, Victoria’s calm smile as she came to the rescue.
Victoria.
Dread shot through her and she scrambled to stand. A dizzy spell put her back on the mattress, but she pushed through it and stumbled to the door. With an unbalanced yank, she swung open the door and all but fell into the hallway.
“Victoria!”
Down the hall, something crashed and splintered. Feet shuffled over the floor, and a familiar pixie shot out of a room, fists raised and ready to fight. Seconds later, a redhead appeared in the doorway. “Audrey? What happened?”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Audrey leaned against the wall, holding her head again as her world swam. Her disorientation was kind of like being drunk, but without the fun and heady high that usually came with it.
“Hey, calm down! It’s okay.” Victoria put one of Audrey’s arms around her shoulders and led her back into the bedroom.
“What happened?” Audrey asked.
“You’ve been out for a few days.”
“Did you beat Luak?”
Victoria chuckled. “Not quite. Here, sit down. We have a lot to talk about.”
***
An hour later, Victoria lounged in the same sitting area she had shared with Fyrn a week earlier while they discussed what to do next. She sat in silence, watching Audrey process everything. So far all Audrey had done was stare into her tea.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Audrey asked.
Victoria shrugged. “I’m not a fan of having a ghost that wants to kill me, but this power will be useful. It’s the final piece of the puzzle, Audrey.”
“I trust you, V. If you want to do this, I’ll back you up. When do we leave?”
“As soon as you’re ready.”
Audrey stood, wobbling a bit. “I’m ready.”
Victoria chuckled. “Not even close. Eat. Heal. Rest up. Fyrn did what he could, but you were in a bad state. You need to regain your strength first, maybe get in a few more healing sessions before we leave.”
“But you need time to train with this new Rhazdon Artifact.”
“Yeah, and I need to make sure we all get there in one piece, too. Every second counts, but that doesn’t mean we should rush blindly into a deadly new adventure. Go stuff your face.”
Audrey chuckled. “Doctor’s orders?”
Victoria held open the door. “Yep. Before we face certain death, let’s go eat a shitload of junk food.”
“Best doctor ever.”
“You know it.”
***
While Audrey rested and let herself heal, Victoria played Berserk.
Of course, it wasn’t real Berserk, considering they didn’t have a field or fidgets, but it was a pleasant way to burn off energy nonetheless.
Victoria built up a bit of a routine for herself as the days blurred by: grab some stew and bread from the kitchens, answer the incessant questions of the gaggle of children that followed her to her table, and then race them to their makeshift Berserk field.
Over the past weeks new refugees had begun to trickle in, many of them Berserk players, both professional and not. Between matches, she lost track of the lines of ogres who wanted to be tossed over her head like ragdolls. She would absolutely have to find Edgar and tell him to friggin’ stop telling people about that.
And everywhere she went, people smiled with hope.
Each smile reminded her of the life they had abandoned, the life Luak had stolen from them all. He had taken their freedom and forced them to hide, but through it all they never forgot to seek laughter and joy. Even in a barren retreat deep in the monster-filled caves below the city, the tenacious people of Fairhaven would not be broken.
Nor would she. Everything she did was for them.
For Fairhaven.
For home.
***
Two weeks after Audrey woke up, Fyrn finally said she was ready to go with them into Fairhaven’s deepest tunnels.
“About freaking time,” Audrey muttered. “I was ready a week ago.”
“It astounds me that someone could be more hard-headed than Victoria,” Fyrn grumbled.
“Hey, leave me out of this.” Victoria adjusted the strap on her pack. Because it had been filled with enough food and water to last them weeks, the bag had been passed to the strongest of them.
Glorified pack-mule, basically.
Diesel lifted the pack off Victoria’s shoulders, but it nearly hit the floor. “Good gracious, my love, do you have bricks in here?”
She chuckled and lifted it effortlessly onto her back. Its weight was nothing to her thanks to her bear’s magic, but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless.
Styx flitted up to her, a tiny backpack on his shoulders as he grinned proudly. Victoria smiled, grateful for her pixie’s courage. “I need you to stay here.”
His smile fell.
“I’m sorry, buddy, but this is dangerous stuff. Besides, someone has to protect all the refugees. Think you can handle that?”
He puffed out his tiny chest and saluted before flying off down the hall. Victoria chuckled, grateful the little guy would be out of harm’s way. If these tunnels scared even Fyrn, she would have to be at the top of her game—and she couldn’t risk Styx getting hurt.
Diesel ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve been researching these tunnels, Fyrn, and they’re bad news.”
“Obviously. They’re supposed to keep treasure hunters away from powerfully dark magic.”
“But the defenses down there…” He shuddered.
Victoria frowned. “What’s down there?”
“We don’t know much, darling,” Diesel admitted, putting a hand on her shoulder.
She shrugged it off with a chuckle. “Diesel, focus and tell me what you do know.”
“Very little. No one has gone very far and lived to return.”
“Oh, awesome,” Audrey muttered.
“A few journals have been discovered, some detailing wonderful riches and treasures in rooms no one else has ever found. They mention voices guiding them to the greatest piles of gold and denni they’ve ever seen, and then the entries just stop. Some in the rescue parties have heard singing or enchanting voices urging them deeper into the tunnels, but they didn’t dare follow.”
Fyrn tapped his staff on the ground. “They’re sirens.”
Victoria almost laughed. “Sirens? Like, the lead-you-to-your-death kind?”
“Aren’t those in the oceans, though?” Audrey asked.
“Some are, yes,” Fyrn said.
“How do we have sirens in the tunnels below Fairhaven?” Victoria asked.
“Sirens live
by a code of honor, and are loyal only to their sisters. But when a siren does a truly cruel deed, she is banished to a desolate and dark place with water as black as night—a place where she’ll never see her home or family again.”
It clicked for Victoria. “They’re banished here.”
Fyrn nodded. “That’s my best guess. No one quite likes the sirens, considering their habit of killing people, and thus we don’t know much about them. Bornt’s grandfather blocked off the tunnels leading to where we believe they are, and no one has been foolish enough to go there.”
Victoria’s eyes widened. “So the voices… The treasures…”
“Are the sirens showing travelers what they want to see rather than what is.”
“But how do you know the Rhazdon Artifact is down there?” Audrey asked.
Everyone turned toward Fyrn, who frowned deeply. “Because I possess the only copy of the journal written by the explorer who hid it there.”
“What?” Victoria and Audrey shouted in unison.
“When a Rhazdon Artifact is found, it must be hidden in a secure place where no one will steal it. Long ago, a well-meaning explorer was tasked by the Order of the Silver Griffins with disposing of a few. When he heard of the sirens below the city, he felt that would be a safe place to hide this one. Fairhaven became an unwitting host to dark magic.”
“It’s like winning a shitty lottery,” Audrey said with a chuckle.
“Well, it’s good luck for us,” Victoria said. “We need that Rhazdon Artifact.”
“What stops the sirens from using its magic?” Diesel asked.
Fyrn shrugged. “He was a wizard. All he said was that he charmed it, and no mortal could touch it.”
“Great, more ominous and vague comments from wizards.” Victoria rolled her eyes.
Audrey frowned. “But how do we get down there without being led to our deaths? That’s what sirens do, right? Sing and kill people?”
Victoria chuckled. “Nice summary.”
“We survive,” Fyrn said sharply, looking at each of them, “by staying together. We walk with ropes tied to each other and cover our ears with enchanted cotton to block out their voices. Their magic only works if we can hear them. They will tempt you with your greatest desire and try to separate us, leading each of us to die through suffocation or starvation. They may even kill you themselves, if possible. They’ll abandon you, and I can’t urge this enough—if the cotton somehow gets removed, you absolutely must not listen to anything you hear down there, as sweet as their words may be. They’re liars. It’s all they know how to do, and if you do get caught in their web you must catch them in a lie to break free.”
When he finished, no one spoke. Victoria stared at her feet, ruminating over Fyrn’s warning.
They could all die down there.
“You shouldn’t come,” she said.
“Of course we’re coming. You waited for me,” Audrey said.
Victoria shook her head. “I was wrong. I didn’t realize what was down there. Fyrn didn’t tell me before now.”
“Because I knew you would just leave, unprepared, on your own if I did,” he muttered.
“Well, fine, then! You’re right, I would have, and it’s what I’m going to do now. I can’t let you all go.”
“I would never abandon you, my love,” Diesel said, back stiffening. “I’m going.”
Audrey pointed a thin finger at the wizard. “Yeah, what he said but without the clueless infatuation.”
“Absolutely not,” Victoria said, arms crossed.
Fyrn sighed impatiently. “Young woman, you are incredibly powerful. You killed a sphinx, freed Lochrose from thousands of years of imprisonment, and have by some miracle of nature not succumbed to the intense dark magic pumping through your blood. However, I have the only map in existence, and you will not—I want to stress this because it’s important—you will not say no to us now.”
Victoria’s eyebrows rose nearly into her hair as she surveyed her three closest friends in the world: two wizards and an Atlantean. Audrey and Fyrn crossed their arms stubbornly, and Diesel set his hands on his hips. His eyes flitted briefly to the other two, and a second later he crossed his arms and frowned to match their expressions.
Despite her own stubborn pride, she couldn’t help but feel grateful for the amazing people who would delve into the depths of Fairhaven for her. “Fine, you stubborn idiots.”
“It’s not quite thank you, but it’ll do,” Audrey said with a shrug.
Fyrn nodded once, apparently satisfied as well. “We’re going deep into the earth, so we will need to perform some charms to protect us from the pressure changes. Nothing major, of course, but it would be enough to distract you from the task at hand. Hold still, the lot of you.”
As the crystal at the tip of Fyrn’s staff glowed with his magic, Victoria barely suppressed her smile. These three were stubborn and sometimes too pushy for their own good, but she loved them with all her heart.
CHAPTER 17
Led by the dim glow of the crystals atop Fyrn’s and Diesel’s staffs, Victoria followed her mentor and unrelenting admirer into the darkest tunnel she had ever seen in her life. The caves in Lochrose were a sunlit adventure compared to this. At least those caves had been covered in glimmering crystals. Down here there was only the darkness.
And the silence.
She scratched at the cotton in her ear, frustrated with the itchy substance. Beyond the dull thump of her heart and the slow rush of her breath, she couldn’t hear a thing.
Now and then the rope connecting her to Audrey tugged as her friend lost her balance. Well, Victoria assumed that was it. Each time, she reached out and felt for Audrey’s face. One time she accidentally poked an eye, and got a hearty slap on her hand.
Oops.
Fyrn led them down a side tunnel to the left she wouldn’t have even seen on her own. The two glowing crystals were like wisps in a forest, and the surreal effect of being able to see nothing else began to grate on her nerves.
Just stick together, she told herself.
It would be okay if they just stuck together.
***
A finger ran along the back of Audrey’s neck.
She jumped, cussing as she spun instinctively around. Though it was dark, she couldn’t help wanting to look for whoever was touching her.
Or what was touching her.
The rope around her waist tightened as the party continued ahead of her, and she stumbled as Victoria’s new inhuman strength pulling her along like she weighed nothing. Her body grazed the wall, and something yanked the cotton out of her ear.
Audrey slapped one hand firmly over her exposed ear and scanned the darkness, doing her best to reach for Victoria. She swung her arm frantically, and when she couldn’t find her friend she turned her head in search of the glowing crystals that led their small party.
She saw only darkness.
“Audrey,” a sweet voice said, echoing down the hall.
Master, please, the koi said in her mind. The voice was faded, as though he were trapped in a box.
Audrey shook her head. “Victoria! Where are you?”
“Audrey?” someone asked, the voice echoing down the hall.
Master, no! the koi said. So distant. So weak.
Victoria had been here mere seconds ago. Audrey just had to catch up to her. She ran through the tunnel, breath heaving in her chest as she tried to keep one hand on her ear to block out anything the sirens said.
Then she tripped.
Audrey tumbled to the ground, the rock scraping her legs as she fell. Out of instinct, she reached out with both hands to catch herself.
“Audrey, come here!” a familiar voice shouted. It echoed, ethereal and unnerving.
Audrey ran.
***
Victoria followed the two crystals ahead of her, determined not to let them out of her sight. They gave her a sense of calmness, despite the fear building in her chest at being surrounded by the intense darkness
.
