“Hey, over here!” Hailen stood beside the northwestern corner, motioning for Aisha to pass him the glowstone. He caught it—barely, which set Kodyn’s gut churning—and held it up to the etched sandstone wall. The runes sprang to life and he depressed the black gemstone.
This time, Briana was ready with the artifact, the larger of the two hourglass-shaped stones. She hurried toward the pedestal and slid it into place. Her eyes widened and she breathed in a delighted sigh as the stone began to glow with that brilliant blue light.
Kodyn turned to find Evren hurrying toward the pedestal by the southwestern corner of the vault. That left two more pedestals they had to activate. His eyes traced the glowing lines radiating outward from the stone columns in the center of the vault. The threads of light ran straight toward the western and eastern stone walls and stopped.
Pharus Amhoset seemed to have reached the same conclusion. He hurried toward the eastern wall, an eager smile on his face. Roguish excitement sparkled in his eyes as Hailen tossed him the glowstone and he activated the circle of light there. When he pressed the black gemstone, a hollow appeared in the stone pedestal that had held the Crown of the Pharus and the Keeper’s Scepter.
Briana hurried toward the pedestal, but stopped as the Pharus approached. “Bright One.” Bowing, she held out the artifact, a long, narrow stone with a two Y-shaped prongs.
“Thank you.” A delighted grin broadened his face as he inserted the stone into the hollow and watched it light up.
“Pharus, if you’d be so kind,” Evren called out from the southwestern corner of the room. Pharus Amhoset Nephelcheres tossed him the glowstone, which Evren held up to the sandstone wall. Kodyn, meanwhile, had moved toward the final thread of light, which led toward the center of the western wall. When Evren had finished activating his hidden runes, he chucked the stone to Kodyn. Nodding his thanks, Kodyn held the glowstone near the wall, and the brilliant green line flared to life. He pressed the stone into its hollow with an audible click then turned back toward the last pedestal.
Briana stood frowning into the sack, confusion etched into her face.
“What’s wrong?” Kodyn asked.
Briana lifted her gaze to meet his. “There are none left.” She stood before the final pedestal, the one that had once held the Keeper’s Scepter and the Blade of Hallar. Now, on the empty stone surface, was a hollow. But no stone.
“What?” The word burst from Kodyn’s lips. “You’re sure?”
Briana nodded and held open the mouth of the sack, revealing her father’s leather-bound journal nestling against the cloth. No artifact.
Kodyn’s heart sank. No, that’s not possible! Suroth’s journal made it clear that he’d known the artifacts were important to the Vault of Ancients, and he had to have known that six were needed, hadn’t he? Dread sank icy fingers into Kodyn’s mind. They couldn’t have come so close to their goal only to fail.
In desperation, he dug into his pouch and produced the lockstone Suroth had instructed him to give the Black Widow. If might fit, might open the way.
Yet one look at the hollow in the pedestal told him his hopes were in vain. The lockstone was round, the size of a quail’s egg, while the indentation resembled two conjoined teardrops. His stomach bottomed out. They had failed. All this effort, only to fall short at their final goal. The Iron Warlord would claim the secret of Hallar, and the Stumblers would turn Shalandra into a true City of the Dead.
“Wait,” Evren’s voice came from beside him. “Would…this work?” He opened his hand to reveal a black stone—the exact size and shape of the hollow in the pedestal.
Briana sucked in a breath. “I’ve seen that stone before!” Her eyes flew wide. “In my father’s study, beside these others.” Her gaze darted from Evren’s hand to his face. “Where did you get that?”
“From Killian.” Evren’s brow furrowed.
Curiosity flared to life within Kodyn. “The blacksmith? What was he doing with a Serenii artifact?”
“I-I don’t know.” Evren shook his head. “He gave it to me before he went to join the battle. Said he was protecting Shalandra.”
Kodyn’s mind whirled. Killian, the blacksmith and Keeper’s Blade, now guardian of Serenii artifacts? If Briana had seen the stone in Suroth’s office, it meant the Arch-Guardian was studying it alongside the others. So how did it fall into Killian’s hands? Suroth had never spoken of Killian, given no indication he had any relationship with the leader of the Mumblers.
An impossible thought struck him. Unless…
Before he could bring the thought to the forefront of his mind, the clash of steel and roars of “For Shalandra!” echoed louder in the hall. The dry rasping, gurgling sound of Stumblers rose to a buzzing crescendo.
The battle had reached them.
Instantly, Kodyn snatched the gemstone from Evren’s hand and inserted it into the pedestal. It clicked into place perfectly. Lines of blue-white light snaked upward, and a low humming reverberated through the vault.
Kodyn caught his breath and stepped back as the stones set into the pedestals brightened, and the thousands of gemstones twinkling in the wall changed from bright white to a deep azure. His muscles tensed in expectation.
This is it!
Nothing happened. The stone walls remained lifeless, inert, despite the blue light and the loud humming. Kodyn’s brow furrowed. What in the bloody hell?
His eyes snapped to Briana and Hailen. If anyone knew what to do now, it would be them.
Confusion twisted Briana’s face. “B-But…” she protested. She tore the journal from the sack and flipped through the pages. “But that should have worked!” Her voice rose in dismay. “There are no more artifacts!”
Hailen’s eyes suddenly flew wide. “There is one more!” He dug into his pocket and drew out the long, cylindrical artifact he’d been holding when they discovered him in Suroth’s study.
A broad grin split the boy’s face. He gave a quick twist of one end, and four stone prongs snapped outward. “Open the key and reveal the ending,” he said.
“Now we’ve just got to find where to put it,” Evren said.
“Right!” Kodyn nodded. “Everyone look for a keyhole that size!”
To his surprise, even the Pharus, Lady Callista, and Issa joined in the hunt. Hailen, Evren, and Aisha set to work searching the stone pedestals for a keyhole, while Kodyn, Issa, the Lady of Blades, and the Pharus scanned the walls.
Long minutes passed, and Kodyn’s frustration mounted as their search proved fruitless. Come on! The shouts and clash of battle in the hall filled him with impatience, a deep-rooted urgency. We’ve got to find it and get the tomb open before the Stumblers overrun the defenders!
Yet, try as they might, they could find no hole, no opening in walls, pedestals, even in the floors to insert the key.
Damn it! He stifled a frustrated growl. There has to be a keyhole somewhere in here!
“Wait!” Issa’s voice rang out in the vault. “I-I think I know where it is.”
Everyone whirled toward the young Blade.
“Where?” Kodyn demanded.
“It’s not in the vault at all,” Issa said. “But on the Tomb of Hallar itself.”
Kodyn exchanged a wide-eyed glance with Briana and Hailen. Suddenly, everyone rushed from the vault and out into the corridor that led toward the Tomb of Hallar. The sound of battle diminished slightly as they raced the few-dozen paces toward the massive slab of black stone—the shalanite-guarded resting place of Shalandra’s founder.
Issa thrust a finger toward the wall. “There!”
There, in the center of the slab, at the height of Issa’s chest, was a small, perfectly circular hole.
Kodyn squirmed through the bodies between him and the tomb and held the glowstone up to the black wall.
Runes flared to life along the surface, thousands of them dotting the entire slab of stone. They glowed with an emerald brilliance that nearly blinded him. He didn’t understand the meaning of the glyph
s, but he knew their significance. This was a doorway!
“Whoa!” he breathed.
With an almost ceremonial reverence, Hailen stepped toward the wall, inserted the key into the small circular hole, and twisted. A loud thunk reverberated through the corridor, piercing Kodyn to the bone.
Stone ground on stone with a booming growl, setting the floor beneath Kodyn’s feet trembling. Dust and shards of stone crumbled from the roof and pelted onto him as, for the first time in two thousand years, the Tomb of Hallar rumbled open.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Aisha held her breath as the huge block of shalanite guarding the Tomb of Hallar rumbled open. A moment of silence seemed to hang in the stone chamber; the clash of steel, the cries of fighting soldiers, the rasping of the Stumblers all faded into the background.
Beyond the opening door, glowstones embedded in the wall flickered to life, their brilliant white glow revealing an ascending staircase. The stairs had been hewn from Alshuruq’s golden sandstone, their surfaces perfectly smooth, their corners precise and level. The sort of master stonework only attainable by the ancient Serenii.
A shiver ran down Aisha’s spine as she glanced up the stairs. Once again, something pressed against her mind, the faint, distant presence she’d felt before. Yet now, it grew louder, a voice that rang in her thoughts.
Come, child of spirits, it whispered, quiet yet ringing with a note of command. Come to your destiny.
Aisha’s head jerked around, but she could see no Kish’aa, no ethereal blue-white figures before the Tomb of Hallar. The presence of the spirit tugged at her body and mind, calling her to ascend, pulling her toward it. Her feet shuffled forward of their own accord.
“Aisha, wait!” Kodyn’s voice sounded distant, muffled.
With effort, Aisha pushed back against the presence in her mind. She clenched her fists to send blood rushing down her arms and dispel the chilling numbness that had suddenly filled her limbs. She couldn’t let that voice pull her into the realm; that way led to only madness and death, the Unshackling.
She turned to Kodyn.
“We don’t know what’s up there,” he told her. “Or what sort of traps are guarding the stairs. Let me go first, check things out.” He gave her a wry grin. “Kind of my specialty, after all.”
Aisha managed to nod. The movement restored sensation to her limbs, pulled her back firmly into the realm of the living.
Fear thrummed through her as she stared into the glowstone-lit staircase. Whatever spirit lay within, it was truly powerful, possessed of a strength of will to nearly seize control of her body. Her hand went to her neck, only to remember she no longer wore the Dy’nashia pendant. The vault door had claimed it, and the Iron Warlord’s promise to Imbuka had been a lie. The Vault of Ancients held no more of the repositories for the power of the Kish’aa.
She faced the spirit alone with her meager gifts. She had no Shadow Root to silence the spirit’s voice, no Whispering Lily to give her clarity. Briana had done the right thing by giving the alchemical potion to the Secret Keepers to help save the Stumblers, yet Aisha found herself wishing she had even a single delicate blue petal of the Whispering Lily. Anything to reinforce her mind, to enhance her undeveloped gifts.
Anxiety dug claws deep into her mind. Could she survive this encounter with such a potent force? She feared to discover the answer ahead.
“Archateros Hykos, Prototopoi Etai, you will accompany us.” Lady Callista’s shouted orders pulled Aisha back to the moment. “Invictus Dyrkton, Ypertatos Ormroth, let no one into the tomb.”
The two Blades saluted. “We will guard it to our last breath, Proxenos,” the scarred-faced Dyrkton said.
Etai and Hykos broke off from their positions near the rear of the battle line and hurried to join them. Hykos’ limp had diminished, but he still moved more slowly than the unwounded Etai.
Briana turned to Evren. “We have the Blade of Hallar and the Keeper’s Scepter, but I believe we must bring the Crown of the Pharus as well.”
Six pairs of eyes turned questioning glances on her.
“My father believed the crown was needed to unlock whatever secrets Hallar concealed in his tomb,” she explained.
“You might be right.” Kodyn nodded. “When I overheard Tethum talking to Groebus, he said something about claiming the circlet.” He shot a glance at Briana. “If he didn’t want it to open the vault or the tomb, it means he wants it for something more. Something up there.”
As Evren raced back up the corridor and into the Vault of Ancients, Kodyn turned to the stairs. “All right, traps, let’s see what you’ve got.” He shot a glance at Aisha. “Wait until I tell you it’s safe.”
Aisha squeezed his hand. “Be smart, be safe.”
“Always.” He shot her a jaunty grin.
Aisha knew him well enough to see the nervousness in his eyes, the tightness of the muscles framing his smile. He’d spent years training to find and avoid traps but, like every good thief, he knew that all it took was one misstep, one mistake to wind up dead. That knowledge was enough to make even the best nervous.
Drawing in a breath, he stepped onto the bottom stair. When nothing happened, he moved to the next step, and the next. Slowly, he disappeared around the bend in the wall until the spiraling staircase hid him from view.
Feet pounded on stone floors, and Aisha glanced back to find Evren returning, bearing the Crown of the Pharus. His face had grown grim, his eyes shadowed. One look at his expression and Aisha knew the battle to hold the hall outside the vault was going poorly.
Pharus Amhoset Nephelcheres held out a hand to Evren, fixed him with a stern gaze. After a moment, Evren shrugged and handed over the silver-and-platinum circlet. The Pharus held it with reverence, a smile tugging at his lips. Without a word, he placed the metal ring on his head. The Crown of the Pharus seemed to glow in the light of the lamps burning in the tomb’s antechamber. The simplicity of the unadorned circlet atop his brow lent him an air of solemn grandeur, a majesty of spirit no title could ever convey.
“Come on up!” Kodyn’s voice drifted down from the staircase. “You’re going to want to see this.”
Aisha was the first to move. The moment she stepped over the black shalanite threshold, a wall of power slammed into her with physical force. The voice of the spirit within the tomb rang in her thoughts.
Shalandra has need of you, child of spirits. Its thundering force reverberated within her mind, sent blood rushing through her skull. Come and face the destiny foretold.
Aisha staggered beneath the intensity of the presence, the commanding tone in her mind. The force set her mind racing, her heart hammering, and stole her breath. She reeled like a drunken riverboat sailor and nearly fell.
“Aisha?” Briana’s voice echoed at her side, the slim girl’s hands strong around her arm, catching her before she collapsed.
Slowly, the pressure against her mind diminished, the presence retreating. “I-I’m fine.” Aisha sucked in a breath and forced a smile. “Put it down to a lot of fighting and running without much food or rest.”
“Of course.” Briana returned her smile, yet the worry glimmering in her eyes belied her understanding tone. She kept a tight hold on Aisha’s arm even after the dizziness faded.
“I’ll be okay,” Aisha said. “Just needed to catch my breath, that’s all.”
Though clearly unconvinced, Briana released her arm. “Well, then, let’s see what Kodyn’s found.”
Gritting her teeth, Aisha pushed back against the voice and forced herself to climb the stairs. The presence in her mind grew stronger the higher she ascended, the pressure on her consciousness closing in like a thick fog, tightening its grasp on her thoughts. Every step became labored, the sheer effort of retaining her grip on sanity as the spirit in the tomb sought to take control of her.
Soon, it was all Aisha could do to keep moving, place one leaden foot after the other. A low hum settled in her mind, her ears, her thoughts. Without the Dy’nashia, she coul
d feel the presence awaiting her above yet struggled to hear it clearly. She’d relinquished the pendant to open the vault, yet now she needed it more than ever. It was the only thing that would give her clarity, allow her to focus her Umoyahlebe powers to communicate with the spirit.
The battle grew more difficult, yet Aisha fought on. She was a warrior of the Ukuza, an apprentice in House Phoenix, a warrior to the core. Her life had been one battle after another, an endless struggle. Watching her father claimed by the Inkuleko. Her capture and enslavement by the Bloody Hand. Her trials in the Night Guild. The challenges here in Shalandra. They had hardened her in mind as well as body.
Sweat streamed down her face from the effort, but she climbed upward, one foot after the other. She would fight against the spirit, against the voice threatening to shatter her mind. Until her last breath, she would battle on. It was all she knew to do.
To her surprise, she felt a sense of approbation echoing in her mind. No words, at least none she could hear clearly, but a sort of respect from one warrior to another. The pressure in her skull diminished and she could finally breathe once more.
For the first time, she noticed her surroundings. The walls bordering the spiral staircase were etched with those strange Serenii runes, illuminated by the white light of the glowstones. Yet a deep azure glow leaked into the stairway from above and around the corner. The buzzing in her head rose to a painful crescendo as she reached the top of the stairs and stepped into the small stone chamber.
“Look at this!” Kodyn breathed.
Her eyes snapped to the room’s single object and the source of the blue glow. Shaped like a casket, it stood as high as her chest and five paces long. Resting atop the base of pure white stone was a lid that appeared carved from a single massive blue gemstone. Long tubes as thick as her forearm and wrist and made of an unfamiliar soft, flexible, transparent material ran from the far end of the blocky object into the floor. Even from this distance, there was no denying the power that hummed from that mystical coffin.
Through the transparent azure material, Aisha could see the figure that lay encased within: a man, with long, dark hair, skin the golden color of a Shalandran, but with the broad, blunt features of a warrior. Heavy muscles rippled his bare shoulders and forearms, and strong hands gripped a long, curved dagger to his thick chest.
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