“Well?” Jinaari said. “How do we open it?”
Thia watched as Alesso ran his hand over the archway. “Give me a minute,” he growled. “Ashynn never went through one. She couldn’t tell me everything about them, but I don’t think it should be hard to figure out.”
She shot a look at Jinaari. Maybe we shouldn’t go this way after all, she thought. His face was calm, reassuring. Even if this isn’t the right way, he’ll find a way.
“Found it!” Alesso exclaimed, pushing against a brick in the archway. Instinctively, she stepped back. The pit trap seemed a lifetime ago, but the memory remained vivid.
The sound of long unused gears grinding against each other rumbled through the chamber. Thia glanced around nervously, noticing that Jinaari’s hand went to his sword hilt. The solid rock wall behind the archway moved aside and she gasped.
The huge, translucent white exoskeleton of a giant scorpion sat about fifty feet ahead. Some other substance filled the gaps between the bones, making it into a tunnel. A thick band of what looked like webbing stretched between the archway and the entrance. The path was less than three feet wide and covered with a layer of dust.
“The conduits are made of calcified scorpion skeletons, with some webbing mixed in to make it easier to travel between them,” Alesso said, looking back at her. “There’s usually a room at the halfway point, where the Barren could rest if they needed to. But each one leads directly to Lolc Aon.”
“You’re the only one that knows the way,” she said, trying desperately to keep her voice even. “You’ll take lead position.” Glancing at Jinaari, she saw him nod in agreement.
“I didn’t say I knew the way,” he began to protest.
“You knew about the conduit to begin with, said it was faster based on your information. You get us there, Jinaari will do what he does best, and then we’ll get out. Got it?” she stared at him.
Alesso inclined his head slightly. “As you wish, priestess.” Without another word, he turned and started to walk across the narrow bridge.
“You’re next,” Jinaari said from behind her. “I’ll be right behind you, just in case.”
“Just in case what?”
He looked past her at the inky darkness that surrounded the path ahead. “I caught you the last time you fell. I’ll do it again.” He paused. “Don’t look down. I know you see better than I do. Neither of us wants to know how far it is. Just keep your eyes on the path, take your time. We’re not in a hurry.”
Thia took a deep breath and examined the path. Alesso’s feet left distinct prints in the dust and dirt that covered it. “One step at a time,” she said under her breath. “No need to rush.” Glancing up, she saw Alesso on the other side, leaning against the wall of the tunnel. The pointed end of the tail was suspended above his head. She focused her gaze on his chest. The armor had been repaired; a circle of copper marked where the strike had been.
I kept him alive. He owes me his life, and he knows it. That should mean he’s not leading us into a trap. I hope. Then again, she’d only known two paladins of Garret in her life. One was in front of her, and the other behind her. She trusted Jinaari but couldn’t shake the feeling that Alesso had other reasons for being here than what he’d told them.
They may have taken the same vow of service, but Thia suspected it meant more to Jinaari than it did Alesso.
She took her time. The sound of dirt crunching beneath her boots echoed slightly. The only other sound was the rest of the group following behind her. As she approached the other side, Alesso held his hand out to help her. “I got it,” she said, moving quickly to stand just inside the exoskeleton. Jinaari nodded at her once, then turned around. She watched as Adam and Caelynn made it across and stood near her.
“Pan? What are you doing?” Jinaari asked.
“We gotta close it, right? I mean, we don’t want them to follow us. That wouldn’t be good.” As he spoke, his hands ran across the archway on this side. “I’m thinking it’s in the same area as the trigger on the other side. That’s where I’d put it, anyway. Because then you don’t have to have a second set of gears or anything.”
“Adam,” Jinaari’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“Yeah?” Adam asked.
“Be ready to grab him, just in case.”
Alesso snorted, “It’s not going to collapse, Althir. Use your head. If it did, the Barren would be potentially killing themselves. Those witches are smarter than that.”
The dark-haired paladin didn’t look at him. “It’s too convenient, Potiri.”
“What part?”
“All of it.”
“Found it!” Pan called out. The grinding resumed and the entrance sealed itself. “I’ll remember where it is, don’t worry,” he said as he ran across the pathway toward them. “Then we can get back out faster. And it makes a lot of noise! Did you hear the echo? We’re going to know it if anyone comes at us from behind.” He stopped, looking up at the scorpion’s tail. “That looks pretty sharp. Do you think it’s still poisonous?”
Thia shook her head. “I don’t recommend trying to find out.”
He smiled at her. “You’d keep me from dying, Cousin! I know it!” He walked into the area. “This is cool! It’s like being in one of them but not where it’s going to hurt!”
Thia bit her lip. The whole idea made her blood run cold. I’m wanted by the Scorpion Queen and here I am, walking through who knows how many dead creatures and heading straight for her. There’s nothing about this that I can say is cool. The fear built in her stomach again, tying it into knots. “Alesso, get moving,” she said, her voice shaking slightly.
“As you wish, priestess,” he nodded at her and began to walk through the carcass.
“Thia?” Jinaari asked.
“What?”
“How are things with you? You don’t look good.”
“I’m walking through a calcified skeleton of Lolc Aon’s favorite creature, heading toward her lair, which is exactly where she wants me. I’m terrified,” she admitted. Remembering what Adam taught her, she pictured her box in her mind and felt the anxiety fade. “But I can control it.”
“Good. It looks like he was right about one thing. This passage hasn’t been used in quite some time,” he raised his hand and brushed aside a cobweb that dangled from the ceiling. “For now, that’s a good thing.”
“For now?”
Jinaari shrugged. “Things can change quickly down here. You know this. Just because it looks abandoned doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way. Remind me when we stop tonight, I’ll teach you a few more moves with your daggers. Something tells me the odds of encountering others will increase as we get closer.”
Thia nodded toward Alesso’s back. “He said the Barren used them. I’m no match for a trained assassin. I can barely draw my blades without cutting myself.”
“The two most dangerous fighters are the ones that are highly trained and the ones that have almost no training. Because you can’t predict what either will do. The goal isn’t for you to join a fight, Thia. The goal is for you to be able to defend yourself if someone slips past us somehow.”
She nodded. “I know. You don’t have to remind me all the time.”
“It’s just that you’re so stubborn,” he said, “that I’m not always sure you understand the importance of what I’m teaching you.”
She opened her mouth, ready to argue with him, when she caught the small smile on his face. “Well,” she replied, changing her mind, “if my teacher wasn’t so arrogant . . .”
He laughed and she joined in. Alesso turned around, staring at her. Thia glared back. “I don’t trust him, Jinaari.” She kept her voice low. “I know there’s no basis for it, but every time I see him, I think there’s some other reason why he’s here. One he hasn’t told us.”
“We’ve been over this, Thia,” he chided her.
“I know. It’s just . . .” she couldn’t find the words. “I don’t want to wake up and find out that he let the Fallen slaughter all of you or anything like that.”
“We take our oaths very seriously within the Order. If he ever broke a vow or went against the one he swore to Garret, the consequences would be worse than you could imagine. He may have secrets, but he won’t go against his oaths. The cost would be too huge.”
“Have you ever known a paladin that broke that oath?”
“No,” he answered. “We’re taught about the few that have, as a lesson in what happens to those that do. It’s been over a century since the last one did.”
She let out a whistle. “That bad?”
“Worse, actually. It’s not the banishment from the Order that’s the messy part. They betrayed the trust we have in them as a brother. The oath breaker may leave the chapterhouse alive, but that never lasts long. We take it on ourselves to make sure they don’t get the chance to make, or break, another oath. I don’t think you want the details, do you?”
“No. I can’t say there’s been anyone within the church that I know of who was that bad. We have those who don’t have an aptitude for magic or healing. Those who can barely summon enough energy to light a candle. They end up as bureaucrats someplace, secretaries or caretakers of relics. Those who can do the basic spells but don’t have much personality end up in small churches in outlying villages. Someplace where they won’t have a big congregation to look over, and the people will be happy just to have someone local. It’s up to Keroys, ultimately, where a priest or priestess goes or what job they perform.” She shrugged. “That’s how I ended up with you guys, at least. He said I had to be here. And then there’s the Mark, and that’s a whole other mess to deal with.”
“It’s not a mess, Thia. It’s there because Keroys saw potential in you to do his will. I know you’re strong enough to do whatever it is he requires. It’s not in you to shirk away from what’s right or honorable.”
“I hope you’re right,” she said.
“Of course, I’m right. I’m arrogant and insufferable, remember?”