"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.
They were approaching the end of the corridor when it happened. Just as Selene and Dirk were about to
step out into a large chamber, the floor swung open beneath them. They both screamed and tried to grab something, but the area of floor that had fallen was far too large, and they were right in the middle of it.
Rik rushed forward and fell to his knees at the edge of the opening, but there was nothing he could do. They had already fallen. The space below looked black and empty.
Eliza was on her knees beside him. "Father! Are you all right?"
No response.
She called out again, and Rik joined her, but no one responded.
"Selene could have used a whirlwind to cushion the fall," Eliza said.
"She probably did, but it won't be enough to get them back here." Rik took a deep breath, feeling queasy. "We'll have to brave this place on our own."
Two narrow walkways ran on each side of the large opening. Rik didn't relish the thought of walking so close to the edge, but he had no choice. He couldn't depend on Selene and Dirk. For all he knew, they were trapped, or even dead.
"We can do it," Eliza said.
"You know something? You almost make me believe you when you say that." He had no idea how she could retain her optimistic views when her father had just plunged hundreds of feet into a seemingly bottomless abyss. Rik wished he could approach life the same way.
"There's no point in thinking they're dead," she said. "That will only make us give up. Sometimes, being optimistic is the most practical way to view things."
Rik didn't know how to respond to that, so he started across the narrow ledge. He stood with his back to the wall, inching along it, staring into the black abyss. His legs trembled, and sweat trickled from his red hair. Deep breaths. He could do this. It was just a little farther.
Eliza had stepped onto the ledge behind him, and she appeared to have no trouble. Rik knew he was more afraid of heights than most, but her nonchalant attitude toward potential death seemed strange. He did not understand her at all.
The other side of the hole seemed as if it would never come. The farther Rik moved along the ledge, the dizzier he felt. Panic tightened its talons upon his chest.
"It's just a little farther," Eliza said. "You're really brave."
Brave? Rik wasn't so sure about that. A brave man wouldn't let his fear get the better of him in a situation like this.
Less than ten feet to go. He could do this. Breathe. Take it inch-by-inch. Don't look down.
The chasm loomed ahead of him, black and terrifying.
Less than five feet. He couldn't take it any longer. Though it was foolish, he pushed with everything he had and jumped across the last five feet. Anything was better than staying on that ledge. When he landed without incident, he felt as if a great weight had been removed from his chest. He lay on the ground, pulse pounding in his ears, trying to get his breathing back to normal. Maybe he could lie here forever and forget everything existed.
"We should get moving," Eliza said, once she reached his side.
"Can't I rest awhile?"
She gave him a stern look, the kind of look he might expect from his mother, not from this young woman who seemed so naïve about everything.
"All right." He pushed himself to his feet. "Let's go."
They stepped into the chamber beyond the hole in the floor. This chamber didn't contain any stairs. In fact, it seemed far too large for what it did hold. There, in the center of the room, was a single pedestal on top of which there was a single scroll.
"Could that have been the challenge in this place?" Rik asked.
Eliza shrugged. "Well, it did challenge us quite a bit, didn't it?"
Rik approached the scroll with careful steps, afraid the floor might crumble beneath him. Besides, he'd learned the hard way about rushing to claim an object in a place like this. He still blamed himself for getting Kara sent to the Shadowed Land. If only he'd been more careful.
Step by step, he approached the pedestal. At last, he stood close enough to grab the scroll. He took a deep breath, then picked it up. Nothing happened.
He unfurled the scroll and tried to read it, but it made no sense. Though he recognized the letters, they seemed to be arranged in a nonsensical pattern. He'd heard of the Order back home using codes to keep their correspondence safe from Imperial Guards. Was this something similar? But how could he ever figure out the code?
"What does it say?" Eliza asked.
He handed her the scroll. "Read it for yourself."
She bit her lower lip as she read. "It's written in code. That much is obvious."
"Yeah, I know, but what's the code?"
"I have no idea."
Rik took the scroll back and stuffed it into his small leather traveling pack. As he fastened the straps on his pack, he surveyed his surroundings. The room still looked empty apart from the pedestal. He knelt low and examined it more carefully.
There was nothing written on the pedestal.
"Looks like we're stuck in here," he said.
"We can't be stuck," Eliza said. "We just have to think a little more creatively."
Rik paced the edges of the chamber, looking for any indication of what they should do, but the walls were made of blank gray stone, completely unremarkable in appearance. Nothing in the entire chamber gave them any clues.
And he was not going back across that ledge.
"Can I look at the scroll again?" Eliza asked.
Rik took it from his pack and handed it to her. "I doubt you'll find anything."
She turned it over in her hands for what felt like hours, but nothing happened. Rik began pacing, trying to think of anything. Even if he could bring himself to cross the ledge, the gate on the other side remained closed. They needed to find a stone to take them out of here.
Rik returned to the pedestal. The answer had to be there. He examined it more closely, looking for any irregularity he might have missed.
"Wait," he said. "We needed magic to get through the last area. Maybe we need it again."
Eliza smiled. "That makes perfect sense. Why didn't I think of it?"
Rik touched his staff to the pedestal, but nothing happened, so he channeled light through the staff. To his amazement, there was a low rumble. The pedestal shifted to the side, and the floor opened slowly, revealing a set of stairs leading downward into darkness.
"I don't like it," Eliza said. "There's something evil down there."
Once, Rik would have laughed at such a feeling, like he had with Markus back in Woodsville. But now Rik understood that people with natural magical abilities could sense things that mere channelers could not.
"I'll go first," Rik said. "Stay close behind me." He started down the stairs, lighting the tip of his staff. As soon as both of them were below the opening, the floor shifted back into place, trapping them. Rik was really starting to hate this place.
His staff's light cast an eerie glow upon the walls, and their shadows danced like black ghosts. At first, the narrow passage was straight, but then they reached a branch.
Rik kept his voice low. "Any idea which way we should go?"
Eliza glanced to the left, then to the right, then back to the left. "I think we should go left. The air feels less evil that way."
"Sounds good to me."
They started to the left, following the passage as it twisted along, pushing through spider webs. The air smelled so old and dusty that Rik wondered how long it had been since anyone had last visited this place. Dirt crunched beneath their leather shoes.
"We need to go faster," Eliza whispered. "I can feel evil coming from behind us."
Rik increased his pace to a quick walk. He didn't want to run in a place like this. It seemed like a bad idea. When he glanced back, he saw nothing threatening, but he trusted Eliza's instincts. He thought he could almost feel that evil himself, and that was not a good sign. By the time he'd felt the dangers in Woodsville, it had almost been too late.
A sudden blast of cold wind raced through the tunnel, carrying an evil presence within. Rik felt as if that wind had turned his blood to ic
e. He couldn't move.
"Rik, you need to run! Now!"
He tried to open his mouth to speak, but he couldn't move it, couldn't move any muscle in his body. It felt as if he'd been turned to stone. Panic surged through him. Surely he would have been trembling if his body could move.
Eliza pulled at Rik's arm but succeeded only in making him fall. When he hit the ground, he didn't feel the impact, but he heard the sound of stone on stone. It didn't just feel as if he'd been turned to stone.
He had been turned to stone. Literally.
He lay with his face pressed to the ground, unable to move. The air grew so cold he felt it in his bones. He wanted to tell Eliza to run and save herself, but he couldn't form the words, couldn't do anything. He hadn't felt this powerless since the moment he'd lain on the executioner's block in the Oasis Outpost.
Eliza screamed, but there was nothing he could do for her. He couldn't even see what was threatening her. Every time he tried to move, he felt no control over his body. This was worse than any fear of heights. He'd been trapped in his own body, aware but powerless.
Was this how he would die?
Or worse, would he be stuck like this for eternity?
Chapter 24: The God's Demands
Danica stood in a room deep within Krinir's fortress. The god loomed beside her as they both stared at a machine resembling the one she'd used to create the portal to the Shadowed Land. There were so many glowing lights and buttons and screens that she couldn't possibly understand how she'd use it to get home.
But how could she return without bringing Krinir with her? This room was always locked, and he'd told her that she could enter it only with him.
"Time to get started," he said.
Danica took slow steps toward the machine, glancing around as though she could find a secret escape route. "And if I can't do it?"
"Then you'll keep working on it until you can."
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