Quintessential Tales: A Magic of Solendrea Anthology (7 page)

Declan shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t say it was the Pheen who made it, just that it looks like Pheen script.”

“Think there are others?”

“How would I know?” He shrugged again. “Isn’t this ravine on the map? Maybe we’re getting close to the temple. Maybe that’s who the coin belongs to.”

“I don’t think so.”

Serena produced the map again and poured over it. She tilted her head back and did some quick calculations. Then she tipped the map so that Declan could see. She tapped it with her index finger. Her fingernails were chipped and had dirt under them. Maybe she’d take her newfound riches and have them made up the
way ladies of the Baronies did.

“We’re standing in the middle of a river,” she said to Declan.

Declan looked down at his feet, then to the map, then to the trees surrounding them.

“Not much of a river. Doesn’t look like it has been in quite some time.”

“Which means that whoever drew this map is probably long dead, which in turn means that there probably hasn’t been anyone to swoop in and steal our treasure.”

“Or someone beat us to it a long time ago and there’s nothing left to find, so no one has bothered.”

Serena stared at him, aghast. How could he say such a thing? Their lives depended on this trip. They had to find something, anything, which they could sell. They needed to eat and they needed someplace to stay. The hostel owner wouldn’t take them in forever. More important than all those things was her desire to have wealth of her own. She needed it. As much as she needed the food, or shelter, or air to breathe. She couldn’t live like an urchin forever.

Declan must have seen the stricken look on her fac
e, because he held up both hands in a gesture of supplication. His voice was low and even.

“Hey, okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. It’s just…” He gnawed on his lower lip, his brown eyes searching her face. “You’ve got a lot riding on us finding something here. There might be nothing. I just don’t want you to be disappointed.”

“I’ll be fine,” she snapped, stalking off.

“I
said
I was sorry,” he called from behind her.

It wasn’t Declan’s fault, and it wasn’t as if there weren’t a precedent for his concern. She’d spent her entire life hoping for a big break
, and then being heartbroken when things didn’t work out the way she’d dreamed they would. A blown con could spin her into a funk that would last for days, or weeks, and she knew that Declan bore the brunt of her bad temper when she was in that bad place. She tried not to take it out on him, but her efforts weren’t always the best.

Serena was still stomping around in a fit of pique when she realized that it had gotten much darker. Darker than it should have been with the sun so high in the sky. She stopped and peered around. The earth arched high over her head. She was standing in the entrance to a cave that was easily a hundred feet tall and twice that wide. Declan walked up beside her, but was quiet. Serena glanced at him, cocking her head in apology.

“I’m sorry, Declan. I really am. But take a look at this!”

He nodded to her, both accepting her apology and taking in the massive edifice in which they found themselves. Serena swung her pack down off her back and rummaged around inside the waxed canvas. She produced a torch and a tinderbox, using the latter to set the torch ablaze. When she’d put everything away, they walked further into the cave.

The center of the floor was a rut that was worn smooth. In the center of the wide rut, the tiniest trickle of water snaked out from under the floor of the ravine to wind its way deeper into the abyssal cavern.

“Guess that’s what’s left of the river,” Serena said, pointing to the thin band of water. Declan nodded, but he was clearly preoccupied with something else.

“To the left, Serena.”

Serena followed his gaze. There was something lurking the shadows off to their left. She held the torch out and they walked toward it. Their pace was slow and deliberate, and as they walked, Serena freed the cutlass from her scabbard. She had no idea what they’d find, or what might be waiting for them, but she wasn’t going to be caught unawares.

What they found turned out to be as unthreatening as she could imagine. A set of stone stairs had been carved in the side of the cave, extending out from the wall. They began at about chest height and climbed up into the darkness.

“Here,” Serena said, handing Declan the torch. “Hold this. I’ll give you a boost.”

“Wait, I think—”

“Don’t think, just climb.” Serena twined her fingers together and glared at him until he placed his foot in the cup of her hands. She boosted him up, and he scrambled, without much grace, onto the lowest step. She put her hands on the bottom step and vaulted up behind him. Serena caught a flicker of shadow cross his face that had nothing to do with the torch. She glanced at him, but he looked away. Taking the torch back, she went up half a dozen stairs and found herself on a stone platform that stretched as deep into the cave as she could see.

“I don’t get it,” she said, looking around. “Where are the statues and altars? Where are the coffers of gold and treasures that have been sacrificed? If this is a temple, there should be
something
here.”

Declan walked past her to the edge of the platform and looked down. When he turned back to face her, one corner of his mouth was turned up in a quirky smile.

“I know what this is.”

Serena put her hands on her hips and glared at him. She hated when he got this way. So smug and superior, like he was the only one who could figure things out. In this particular case, he was right. Though she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction, she didn’t have much of a choice.

“Well?” she demanded. “Are you going to tell me? Or are we just going to stand here all day?”

Declan crossed the platform at a trot and grabbed her hand. His grip was surprisingly strong considering he’d just had an attack earlier in the day. His excitement was contagious and they all but ran back to the edge of the platform. They were probably twenty feet up, but she still had no idea what had him so excited.

“Okay,” she said. “So what am I looking at?”

“Use your imagination, Sera.” He stretched out an arm and pointed out across the open expanse of the cavern. “That tiny trickle of water we saw coming in. Imagine that, but bigger. Much bigger. Deep enough to reach the edge—”

“It’s a dock!” she crowed, pleased with herself for figuring it out at last. “It’s a very, very large dock. How long would it take for the land to change so drastically that the water would stop flowing and all dry up?”

Declan stroked his chin. “It depends. Something cataclysmic could have happened to dam it further upstream, but I don’t think that’s what happened here. I think this happened over the course of a couple hundred, maybe thousand, years.”

Serena clutched his shoulder, unable to contain her own excitement. Declan winced and pulled away from her vise-like grip. He rubbed his shoulder.

“Ow. Easy now, remember what I said about not getting your hopes up? Just because the dock hasn’t been used in forever doesn’t mean we’re the first ones to find it.”

“I know.” Serena frowned and then brightened. Her smile was nearly as bright as the torch she carried. “But there’s a chance, Declan. There’s a chance. We could be rich beyond our wildest dreams!”

Her brother chuckled, shaking his head.

“Not if we don’t find a door. Let’s take a look around for more stairs. They had to have some way to get to the dock. I don’t think we’ll be going in the front door, but as long as we get to go inside, who cares?”

Serena couldn’t have agreed more. They retraced their steps to the stairs leading up from the dry riverbed. They followed the wall as it
meandered deeper into the cave, further into the darkness. Serena wasn’t fond of the dark. She had a hard time gaging the passage of time and kept glancing over her shoulder at the mouth of the cave to make sure it was still light outside. She didn’t want to be stuck in the darkness of the cave come nightfall.

Declan’s hand clamped over her mouth and she went rigid with surprise.

“Shhh!” he hissed in her ear. “There’s someone up ahead.”

A quick scan of the darkness proved Declan right. Just outside the leaping light of the torch, there was the vague outline of a man. Serena stopped dead in her tracks. The figure didn’t move. She wished with all her heart that she had the sword in her hand instead of the torch. If she tried to draw it now, there was no telling what might happen.

“Okay,” she whispered back. “So what do we do now?”

“How should I know? You’re supposed to be the cunning adventurer.”

Though she didn’t care for his attitude, she knew Declan was right. There was nothing they could do but face the intruder head on. She wasn’t about to let her dreams of treasure and fame fall by the wayside just because there was someone standing in their way. Serena passed the torch to Declan and drew her sword.

“Stay behind me and come on.”

Serena took a step forward, then another. Her eyes never left the man standing in the darkness. He didn’t move an inch as they approached. Finally the flickering light of the torch fell across the man’s figure, and Serena burst into laughter.

“What? What is it?” Declan asked, coming to her side. “Oh. I guess he wasn’t much of a threat.”

The figure they’d seen in the darkness was made of stone. The statue clutched a spear in one hand and a corroded shield in the other. Remnants of what might have once been armor hung in rusty patches about his torso and waist. More important was what the statue was standing guard over. Another staircase crept up past its stoic guardian into the darkness beyond.

With steps that matched the quickness of her heartbeats, Serena climbed the stairs. Declan followed behind, holding the torch above his head so they could see. It wasn’t long before they came upon another platform, much smaller than the dock had been. A stone rail about waist high encircled the platform, except in a few places where
rock falls from the roof of the cavern had broken the railing, leaving enough space to fall through to the riverbed beyond. Serena shuddered.

She peered around. No other statuary. No door. No anything other than the platform and railing. It was a dead end. The enthusiasm went out of her in a rush and she sank to the floor, resting her elbows on her crossed legs.

“Just fantastic.” She sighed. “A dead end.”

Declan wasn’t paying attention. He still had the torch held over his head while his other hand caressed the stone.

“It’s not a dead end,” he replied, his voice distant. “It’s just a door we don’t know how to open.”

“A door?”

Serena was back on her feet and beside him in the span of a single breath. He was right. There was a faint perpendicular line extending up from the floor and another an arm’s length or so away. She tried to wedge the tip of her sword into the depression but it wasn’t a fissure, just a small, almost imperceptible depression in the stone. That was almost worse…to know there was a way into the temple, but not knowing how to open the door.

“Patience is a virtue, Sera.”

“I’ve never been very virtuous. Can you open it?”

“I’m working on it. Here, hold this.”

He passed her back the torch, and she sheathed her sword, giving it a disapproving glance as she did. She should have had the smith forge a chisel into the damn thing, too.

Declan swung his pack off his back and rummaged around inside. Where Serena’s own rucksack was filled with rope, provisions, and
water skins, her brother’s was filled with pieces of paper, books, and strange instruments she could only guess a use for. Serena sighed. If she wanted to get inside the temple, she’d have to wait while Declan figured things out. A process that she found long and tedious.

Her brother flipped open a book, holding it in the crook of his left arm while his right hand traced over a faded row of symbols etched beside the door. Declan produced a piece of chalk from his pocket and began writing unfamiliar words on the wall beside the symbols. He was completely lost in his work.

Serena stalked about the small platform. There was little else to see. She could see the cave entrance from where she was, and the light outside was fading fast. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d spent the night in a cavern, but there was something about the place that made her skin crawl. Putting the thought out of her head, she continued her detailed survey of the landing on which they found themselves. She was pleased when she found a rusted brazier to the right of the door. She gave it a tug, expecting the whole thing to fall to pieces at a touch. It didn’t. She took the desiccated husk of an ancient torch from the brazier and replaced it with her own, rubbing her shoulder once she was free of the burden. It wasn’t that it was heavy, but hours of holding it aloft had taken their toll. Now Declan could work without her having to hover over him the entire time.

Work he did
, long after the last of the daylight vanished from the mouth of the cave. Serena had checked the stability of the railing around the platform and found it in good shape except for the broken areas, which were relatively small. If she fell asleep, she wouldn’t have to worry about rolling off the platform and plummeting to her death. She took a fresh torch from her pack and replaced the one in the brazier that had dwindled to a near ember. The dying one she threw as hard as she could, watching its orange eye arc out into the black and then fall for what seemed like an eternity before exploding into sparks somewhere in the riverbed. Then there was nothing.