I shared as much news with everyone as best as I could as we rushed through the hallways.
Who Leroi was to me; what he’d done; who the Langrians were to me; how we’d all gotten to the Pyramid; The Coldmaker; The Mattys.
Who put what in the ground.
It was all one big jumble of emotion. My words came out messy and stunted. My head wrenched back and forth to try and remember who knew what, and what still needed to be said.
I was happy.
I was excited.
I was almost whole.
Leroi guided us along the right paths, his puny legs barely able to stand. His kneecaps were swollen and bulging, as red as Sobek bites, and he had a smattering of Firepox on his elbows.
Leroi couldn’t stop staring. At both me and the Langrians. His face was in constant disbelief.
There was no sign of enemies, although there was plenty of tension.
At first Rivvy and Tully looked at Leroi like they wanted to grind him into sand, but I explained that Leroi was a ‘maker’ as well; that he’d taught me everything I knew; that he alone was responsible for my survival. I told them that Leroi had sacrificed himself to allow me and my friends to escape the Tavor manor. Soon enough the Langrians softened up, and even Ellora finally proved she was capable of a smile. She ended up hovering closest to Leroi as we ran.
‘To the right,’ Leroi called out, the walls clearly funnelling into a long chamber. ‘We’re getting close to the bottom levels.’
The warriors moved in silence, their weapons ready.
‘You should see Sett’s tinkershop in Langria,’ I said to Leroi.
He coughed, looking into his palm with a grimace and then hiding it from view. ‘Course I should. I think I’d like that more than most things.’
‘Can you believe it’s happening?’ I asked, almost giddy. I was so full of energy I could probably fly back to my friends without the Matty. ‘That we’re going to end the Drought. Me and you, back together. With Langrian warriors.’
Leroi took a deep breath, emotion darkening his features.
‘What?’ I asked.
‘Frosts are seeds,’ he said, his gaze distant. ‘How could we not have known?’
I shrugged. ‘It’s no one’s fault but the Khat’s.’
We filtered into a new chamber. The centre passage through the room was clear, but each side of the walkway was stacked with thousands of glass bottles and vials. The containers were all different sizes, but filled with the same black, gritty substance.
‘Scrolls and books,’ Leroi explained, waving us through. ‘All burned to ash and stuffed in glass. Anything from before the Drought and after. Anything that had to do with Jadan history. They were destroyed and put on display.’
My stomach knotted at all the loss. All those stories and wisdom wasted. ‘Why would they save the ash?’
Leroi grunted and squeezed his hands into fists.
Sinniah instinctively – at least I hoped it was only instinct – raised her Javelin at Leroi, but Sett waved her down.
‘Because sometimes pain isn’t enough,’ Leroi said. ‘Sometimes they just have to twist the blade.’
Towards the end of the chamber the glass containers became larger, more like tubs, each labelled. Inside were shocks of hair clinging to what looked like old camel leather, scattered with more black ash.
Leroi shook his head. ‘You don’t need to know about those.’
The group slowed as Sinniah stopped, making a hand gesture. Sett tried to urge her onward, but Sinniah stubbornly tapped on one of the glass displays with her sword.
‘Is scalps,’ she said.
Leroi’s face fell. ‘Yes.’
‘Of Jadan,’ Sinniah growled. ‘These Jadan scalp. Very old.’
Leroi looked down at his ankle; the skin there was rubbed red and raw from the anklet.
Sinniah snarled. ‘All Asham poison.’
I pointed to Leroi. ‘He had nothing to do with this.’
Sinniah snarled, but Zeekah came up and put a hand on her shoulder.
‘This isn’t the time for judgment,’ I said. ‘Like it or not we’ve always needed Asham help, and Asham deeyoneh. What about your Marcheyes and Shepherds? Not all Asham are poison. Some Asham are family.’
Sett gave me an impressed look.
Leroi blinked, visibly stunned.
‘What?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know half of those words,’ Leroi said. ‘But I can tell you’ve grown up.’
‘I can see a lot of truth now. And I see what matters,’ I said, giving a dismissive wave of my crossbow. ‘Now show us the way, Leroi. We need to find those Frosts and get them into the ground.’
Sett bowed to me. ‘Young wisdom.’
Sinniah’s scowl deepened, but then it broke into an appreciative smile.
‘Meshua,’ she said.
The next chamber was filled entirely with flames.
The tunnel fed directly into the fires, with no way through. We’d either have to turn back, or get burned alive.
Sett rubbed her hands over the threshold to the chamber.
‘What are you looking for?’ I asked.
‘Switch or button,’ Sett said. ‘Must being way kill flame.’
‘I go through,’ Bear said, pounding a fist against her chest. ‘I fastest.’
Tully rapped her knuckles against Bear’s forehead. ‘You not so fast, cub.’
Bear prodded Tully in the chest with the handle of her hammer. Tully chuckled with delight.
Sett continued to look for a secret, running her hands along the ground of the tunnel. Flames licked at her knuckles. ‘Is right, Bear. But this too much fire and steps. I find the secret button.’
I braced myself against the deadly inferno. The flames were everywhere. They lasted the entire chamber, and the room was far too long to chance running through.
Leroi shook his head. ‘The Khat calls this the Chamber of Eternal Flame. And as far as I know, the fire never ends. We can’t get through.’
Sett made a dismissive sound. ‘For maker, you sure talking dumb. No fire last forever. Need something to feed.’
Leroi laughed, which turned into a nasty cough. ‘Okay, what I mean is, there’s no way to stop the fires from here. It’s probably all controlled from underneath, a machine that feeds up smokeless oil. But it’s never turned off, and there’s only one way to the deeper layers. Through this room.’
Sett stood up, crossing her hands across her chest.
Leroi’s bottom gums were bleeding. I wondered when was the last time he had a proper meal, or any Cold water.
‘Did she understand?’ Leroi whispered. ‘Should I speak—’
‘I understand!’ Sett hissed. ‘Do you?’
He smiled. ‘I like her.’
Ellora leaned against the tunnel wall, muttering to herself.
‘This room is the Khat’s way of proving his divinity,’ Leroi said, a bit of mischief behind his eyes. ‘Only those made entirely of Cold can pass through the room. The Worthy. He claims that the Crier chooses who gets to live and die, and that the Khat is his instrument. He apparently touches his Priests and says a prayer, and then they can walk through as well.’
Sett and Sinniah gave each other a look. Bear stepped up to the door frame, the charred stone lined with soot.
‘I can make,’ Bear said, preparing to leap into the room. ‘I so fast.’
I almost shouted at her to stop. It would be certain death.
But before I could, Sett put a hand on Bear’s arm. ‘No. You never get through. Too far.’
I stepped up to the frame, looking over Bear’s shoulder. There had to be a trick. The Khat had been proven a liar over and over, and there was no way he had enough Cold in him to resist flames. Even with access to all of those Frosts, there had to be a secret, especially if Priests could pass as well.
I skirted around Bear. Sett went to stop me, but I halted right at the threshold. The heat of the flames gnawed at my face, and I nearly flinched backwards. I steeled myself, knowing if I could handle the heat from the Desert, I could handle this. I leaned in as far as pain would allow, and looked up into the ceiling. It was stained black, charred from a lifetime of being roasted from below.
But the shading was not even.
The whole top of the chamber was charred to some degree, but there were certain places where the stone was considerably less dark. There were flames beneath the clear spots as well, but they didn’t seem to be spitting up any soot. It reminded me of Sett’s revelation about Meesh-Dahm in the Dagon, when the Asham were hiding below in the trench.
I gave Leroi a curious look, my mind putting everything together.
‘Mirrors,’ I said at last. ‘Right?’
Leroi narrowed his eyes, surveying the room and then grabbed me by the shoulders. ‘Bless your mind, Spout.’
‘You obviously taught me well.’ I pointed into the chamber, turning to the Langrians. ‘They’re mirrors. There’s a path through, but it looks like the whole room is on fire because of reflections.’
Bear nodded. ‘Yes. Is obvious.’
‘Not to you.’ Tully slapped her in the back of the head, retreating quickly as Bear growled and raised her hammer.
Sett tapped her bottom lip, appraising the chamber. ‘Is right. Is clever.’
‘The line of Khats have been cruel and soulless, but they know how to keep their reputation.’ Leroi nodded, but his enthusiasm began to wane. ‘There’s a problem, however. I’ve never been through the room myself. And even with the mirrors, the room is still blistering hot and we’d need to know the exact path across.’
Sett leaned in, cupping a hand over her mouth. ‘What is “reputation”?’
I thought about it for a second. ‘The story of your deeds.’
Sett held up her sword. ‘Well Langria have reputation too. If path through, we take.’
Leroi stepped in front. ‘We really should think this through—’
‘I have an idea,’ I said, the words coming to my lips before the plan was formed. I gestured for Sett’s hook invention and the bag of Chossek powder on her hip. She handed them over with a probing look.
The powder was good for darkening things. I just hoped it was sticky.
I balanced the bag on top of the hook, opening the lips. Then I aimed the spear towards the ceiling at the centre of the room.
I steadied my breath and fired.
The bag was quick to slip to the side, the hook shooting out without it, smacking the ceiling and dropping into the fires. Most of the powder stayed in the bag, which landed harmlessly by my feet. A little bit of it clouded against one mirror that was off to the right, however, the surface tilted to show the flames but not catch our reflections.
‘Crap,’ I said, reeling back the rope. It scraped the hook through the flames but eventually it caught on a mirror I couldn’t see. I tugged, but the hook was caught, and the rope instantly began to crack and sizzle, burning to ash.
‘Good starting, Meshua,’ Bear said, rubbing a fist against her chest. ‘We finish.’
She patted me on the head and pushed me aside. Then she picked up the Chossek powder and handed the bag to Tully. She stared at the stained mirror closest to us and then commanded something in Langrian. Tully’s smile turned wicked.
‘What did she say?’ Leroi asked.
Sett twitched her lips. ‘She saying “You throw. I destroy”.’
Bear drew back her giant hammer and barrelled into the room. She swung the weapon fast, obliterating the first mirror.
Tully was at her back. She howled wildly, throwing the Chossek powder over Bear’s shoulder. The cloud spread out and stained the next mirror, a pace to the left.
Bear cocked her arms back again – with Tully ducking to the side like it was a practised move – and she attacked the second mirror with such force that I could feel the shattering all the way back in the tunnel.
The shards burst outwards into the flames, glittering orange and white and blue, but the reflections on the ground were minimal. Bear hopped along the safe path as best she could, Tully tossing out the powder, smashing a third and fourth mirror, until Bear screamed a command and they retreated back to the group.
Taking refuge in the tunnel, Tully brushed the heat off Bear’s skin.
The rest of the Langrians cheered gleefully.
‘Crier above,’ Leroi said. ‘Are you hurt?’
Ellora came up to Leroi and put a hand on his shoulder. ‘They Langria warriors. Made of fury. They friends with pain. We all friends with pain.’
Leroi stared at Ellora’s fingers. I hoped he wouldn’t buckle under the weight.
Rivvy reached for the Chossek powder. ‘You rest, Bear. Zeekah and I going next.’
Zeekah’s eyes lit up with fear; still she nodded.
Bear shook her head and filled her lungs. She looked to Tully, both of them growling, and together they stormed back into the room. Their war cry seemed loud enough to scare some of the flames back.
They ran across the mirror shards, which showed the safe passage. Then they broke more mirrors in front of them, bashing halfway through the room. Their cries burned my ears. Tully kept tossing the powder out wildly over Bear’s shoulder, spotting the next mirrors. The mace-hammer flashed wildly. I thought I could smell burning hair and skin.
Eventually they made it to the other side of the room.
Bear collapsed as soon as she stepped into the following tunnel.
I was nearly sick with guilt, but in their wake was a clear trail of mirror shards. The flames were still menacing, hungrily licking the empty spaces, but we had our path.
Sett made a hand signal and the Langrians stormed through without thinking, following the trail. I followed behind Rivvy, the shards of broken mirrors crunching under my sandals. The room was the hottest thing I’d ever felt, the air stifling and toxic, and I had no idea how Tully and Bear had handled it for so long.
We made it across to the other side in a flash. The heat was terrible, but the flames themselves remained just out of reach.
Sett was already kneeling next to Bear. She tossed a Wisp into a waterskin and tilted it to Bear’s lips, which were angry and charred. Tully was hunched over her knees, coughing out Chossek powder. Bear didn’t seem responsive to the water, but Sett continued to pour life on her lips and face. Bears’ arms had blistered. I couldn’t look at the skin on her knuckles, which was burned to a crisp and bloody. There were also shards of mirror sticking out of her wrists.
Sett massaged Bear’s cheek, whispering a prayer. I recognized the words and said the second half with her.
‘Is she alive?’ I asked.
Sett continued to hum.
Ellora and Leroi made their way through the fiery room last. Ellora had Leroi’s arm draped over her shoulder, helping him along. My heart felt like it was getting attacked from all different angles.
Sinniah gave up her waterskin next, dissolving in a few Wisps. Sett shook it up and began pouring it onto Bear’s arms. Sett’s hum deepened in cadence as she worked, beautiful and forlorn.
Bear’s body shuddered, her eyes slowly opening. Her jaw was clenched, and she gestured with only her fingers for the waterskin to go to her lips. Sett obliged, and Bear sucked down the rest of the water. Her body shook with pain as she drank. I couldn’t watch. Bear’s burns were terrible. Her eyes found mine. She gave me a victorious nod.
I nodded back.
Bear said something in Langrian to Sett, and Sett’s hand went to Bear’s chest, rubbing the spot over her heart.
Zeekah was closest beside me. I asked her: ‘What did Bear say?’
‘Death not catch me yet,’ Zeekah translated. ‘I being too fast.’
‘You stay here,’ Sett said to Bear, helping her against the cool stone wall of the tunnel. She snapped her fingers at Rivvy, who handed over her waterskin and Wisps next, placing them next to Bear. ‘We find you on way back.’
Bear looked like she was going to argue, but her body collapsed against the wall, clenching in pain.
‘Be wind,’ she said.
Sett went over to Tully next, who waved her away. Tully had gotten crispy at the edges, but her injuries weren’t nearly as severe as Bear’s.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, kneeling before Bear.
Bear laughed like my apology was the funniest thing in the world.
Her eyes closed.
The warriors continued on.
The tunnel was relentless in its twisting. My sense of direction was quickly dismantled. The floor was steep and slick, but the air was cooler down here. I dragged my fingers along the walls, my skin tingling beneath the sensation.
We had to be getting close.
There were noises in the distance. Strange sounds I didn’t recognize.
‘What do you think is down here?’ I asked the group.
‘I’ve heard rumours,’ Leroi said. ‘But I don’t want to believe them.’
‘Why not?’
A shudder ran through Leroi’s body, his legs struggling to carry him forward. I wondered how long he must have been made to sit in that room, the poisons offering a tempting escape. Yet he refrained. I still had so much to learn from him.
Leroi shook his head.
Ellora was at his side, looking ready to catch him should he fall. Sett was leading the charge of the warriors, sword out in case any Asham felt like surprising us. Tully’s cough wasn’t going away, but she kept it stifled and maintained pace.
The tunnel filtered into a long hallway, the walls widening. In the distance was an abrupt end to our passage.
A single Sinai sat in the centre of the hallway, illuminating the walls.
Detailed paintings had been done on the stone itself, floor to ceiling. The light was too dim from where we were standing to make out the shapes and colours, but Sett shot into the hallway with her oil lantern above her head. She swung it from wall to wall. Her face opened up with awe.
The pictures were of animals.
Hundreds of them.
Colourful depictions showed vast plains, teeming with life. I didn’t recognize most of the animals, but I didn’t expect to. A whole section was dedicated to an open sky, with birds soaring through thick white clouds, their feathers wide and glorious. There were forests of flowers, and impossibly tall trees, all flooded with colour.
A large patch was also dedicated to water animals, showing fish that I’d never seen before. Some fish lit up like Adaam Grass. Others were striped and long.
It was enough to wonder over for days. The paintings were magnificent, but there was no door anywhere. My stomach clenched, thinking we must have picked the wrong passage, although I hadn’t seen any others.
The strangest part of the room, however, were the odd sounds.
They were distant and full of fear. Some were high pitched and squeaky like a rusty wheel. Others low and menacing. I pressed my ear to the animal pictures on the walls, wondering from where the sounds could possibly be coming.
Zeekah’s head cocked from side to side. ‘I be hearing … I be hear – Loonchin?’ She shook her head and then went straight for a painting of high grasses. There were funny-looking creatures leaping over the green blades, their tongues long and split at the centre. Zeekah frantically tapped her finger against the painting, her cheeks filling with colour. ‘Is Loonchin!’
‘Yes,’ Leroi said absently. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the walls.
The rest of the warriors began to search for their own Meesh-Dahm animal pictures on the walls. Rivvy found her baboon, which turned out to be a hairy creature with a long face and fierce fangs. Tully found her fox, which was poking up from a hole in a kind of grass that was impossibly green. Sinniah searched across the plains portion of the wall, eventually settling on a beautiful beast I didn’t recognize. This one was orange and had black stripes. Tully pointed out a bear, which was blocky, black and menacing.
‘Bear be jealous,’ Tully said with a sigh.
Sett reached out to the forest portion, finding her Jaguar. She touched the painting and then put two fingers to her lips.
Ellora swallowed hard. Sett came over and gave Ellora a reassuring squeeze on her hand.
‘Ellora no longer have animal in Meesh-Dahm,’ Sett told me. ‘Is gone.’
‘Why’d it leave?’ I asked.
Zeekah’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. Ellora appeared to crumble under my question.
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘I didn’t mean to—’
Sett gave the room a placating gesture.
Ellora nodded, as if saying it was okay. She kept her eyes off the walls.
‘Ellora being lost her daughter,’ Sett said. ‘She go playing too far in Dagon. Asham snatch her up. And so no more Meesh-Dahm. Leave with heart.’
Sett spoke calmly, but I could tell that the loss stung her as well.
Leroi’s lips thinned. He took a step closer to Ellora, looking like he wanted to reach out and comfort her. Ellora met his eyes.
Then there was a brash, shrill sort of sound.
It was like a horn blast, but this had more body to it. Less hollow and deeper.
I narrowed my eyes, trying to find any sort of cracks that might betray a door. If there were any, then the paintings were doing a fantastic job of hiding the evidence. The whole wall was one smooth piece.
Zeekah dropped to her stomach.
I ducked as well, but then I realized that she was just putting her ear to the ground. No one was attacking.
‘Down here,’ Zeekah said, rubbing her ear on the floor. ‘This way through. I never be hearing sound like these before.’
Sett bit her bottom lip. She tapped the floor with her sword, trying to find any sort of way in. Eventually she found a single crack, which Zeekah crawled towards. Sett wiggled her blade inside the crack, trying to pry it open, but it didn’t budge.
If there was a way to open the floor, it wasn’t through force.
Then the sound of footsteps. Coming from the tunnel behind us.
I’d been too distracted by the mysterious moans and wails to notice. The feet were moving fast and loud, almost a panicked run.
Sett and Sinniah looked at each other with a grin.
‘Is good,’ Sett said to me with a grin. ‘We get answer now.’
An Asham came rushing around the corner, clutching a golden staff in his hands. The staff wasn’t so much of a weapon as a talisman, gleaming with jewels and fine metal. There was also a Draft at the end, painted with a Closed Eye. The Asham was wearing a long hat with a Closed Eye on top. On anyone else, the hat would have scraped the ceiling, but the Asham was unnaturally short. His face was pinched and long, like a knife blade, but there were also pouches of flesh around his jowls.
He didn’t seem to be scared of us. Instead, his face trembled with rage. He pointed the staff at us.
‘Slaves,’ he snarled. ‘How dare you do this? The Khat has shown your kind life and mercy. And you dare take up arms to—’ The tiny man stopped himself, letting out a frustrated huff. ‘Leroi Tavor! What in the Crier’s name are you doing out of your cell? And with these traitorous blasphemers!’
‘This is Nad the second,’ Leroi explained to me, bringing his voice down and gesturing to the new Asham. ‘One of the Khat’s High Priests. He’s not on our side. He’s an ass.’
Nad the Second’s face went alder red. ‘Any Jadan to take arms against the Crier will have their souls banished. They shall be tortured in the black forever.’ Thin lips flung spit across the room. ‘It is the duty of the Nobility to—’
Sett seemed unconcerned. She yawned at his threats.
‘How we get through floor?’ Sett asked him, interrupting, pointing to the crease in the floor. ‘Tell us. You no lie or we killing you.’
Nad the Second’s face pinched so tightly that I thought it might collapse into itself. His bloodshot eyes flashed around the room and his face shook with rage.
‘If you slaves think I would ever allow you—’
Sett spoke to Sinniah in Langrian. Sinniah nodded, saying something back.
‘And you dare speak unholy tongues in the sacred Pyramid?’ the Priest seethed, his lips cracking into an evil grin. ‘You have no idea what is going to befall you—’
Sinniah hurled her Javelin.
The sleek weapon soared through the air and went straight through Nad’s left eye. The glass outer layer of the Javelin shattered on impact, the shards exploding into the Priest’s skull. The smoky metal layer beneath the glass carried onward by momentum. It sliced through the back of Nad’s head, clearing the other side.
The Priest was dead before he even had a chance to shriek. His body fell against the stone, but his head couldn’t make it quite flat, as the bloody metal pole sticking out the back of his skull kept his neck propped up.
Rivvy growled. Tully clapped her hands gently.
I turned to Sinniah with wide eyes. It all happened so fast.
‘Don’t be worrying.’ Sett winked at me. ‘We know way now.’
‘You do?’ I swallowed hard. ‘How?’
Sett gestured two fingers towards her eyes and then at one section of the wall. ‘Asham give away secret with his looking. Asham very stupid and small.’
Sinniah walked over to the fallen Asham. She gathered spit in her cheeks and then unleased it on his body. Leroi gave me a questioning look as Sinniah did it again. Leroi looked a bit horrified, but sort of relieved.
‘It’s for luck,’ I said with a shrug. ‘The spit.’
Sinniah licked her lips. ‘All Asham poison.’
‘What’s an Asham?’ Leroi asked.
I pretended not to hear him.
Sett went to a section of the wall, stepping up to a painting I hadn’t noticed before. It was of a well made of grey bricks, and at the bottom was a Khol. There were no animals around the well, and it looked rather out of place now that Sett was pointing it out.
Sett crouched down. She pressed the Khol at the bottom of the painting with two fingers.
The Cold buckled into the wall.
There was a clicking of gears and grinding sound of large slabs of stone, moving somewhere beneath us.
The floor began to open at the seams.
The sounds below instantly doubled in volume. Now I could hear new low growls as well as high-pitched squeaks.
The space widened enough for two bodies to fit through and then stopped.
Sinniah went over and kissed Sett’s knuckles. Sett returned the affection with a smouldering look.
The exotic sounds kept intensifying, coming up in spurts of chattering and growls.
‘Leroi,’ I said, ‘what’s down there?’
He leaned over the dark staircase. ‘I always hoped.’
‘Monsters?’ I asked.
Leroi swallowed hard. ‘Far from it, Micah. Far from it.’
Tully handed Sinniah one of the small spears strapped on her back. Sinniah took the weapon, judging the weight. Her face arrived at an unsatisfied pout, but then led the charge down the stairs. She didn’t stop to think, moving with full speed. Sett watched her go, eyes full of love and admiration.
Rivvy and Tully followed next.
I looked at Leroi, his face as pale as bone.
‘Do you want to stay behind?’ I asked.
Leroi coughed into his hand. Red splashed into his palm. He gave me a weak smile and then pointing to the skin on his knees.
‘Just a bit of Firepox,’ Leroi said. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be okay.’
‘You sure?’
He looked over at Ellora.
‘I think I’d die rather than miss this,’ Leroi said, giving my shoulder a squeeze and then stepping down the stairs. I followed behind, the rest of the warriors at my back. The staircase was long and blissfully cool. It felt like we were walking on Ice, the stone beneath us wonderful to the touch. It was odd however, that the tunnel was stale and full of fear. The air had a thick texture, reminding me of how Picka’s fur smelled after it had been shed. It made my nose wrinkle.
About halfway down, I glanced over my shoulder and found Sett at the top of the staircase, digging through her weapons bag.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked, the warriors rushing past me.
Sett pulled the toothed contraption that I decided to call a ‘Foot Fang’ out of the bag, wrenching the side apart. She set the invention in the middle of the third step down, lost in shadow.
‘In case more Asham follow,’ Sett said with a laugh, coming down to meet me along the stairs.
Together we followed the warriors. The air turned even cooler as we descended. Ahead of us, the rest of our group had already reached the bottom. Now there were all sorts of gasps mixing in with the unrecognizable sounds.
Sett and I hurried down.
Ellora was on her knees, touching the ground and praying. Tully had dropped her whips, the blades harmlessly at rest. Sinniah and Rivvy were crying, which was something I also never thought I’d see. Sett stumbled as we joined the group, nearly tripping and falling as she took everything in.
We’d stepped into the past.
The room was nearly deafening with their calls.
Animals.
Real animals.
The cages and stables and pits stretched down the entire chamber.
The whole place stunk, but the air was cooled so deeply my skin had already begun to shiver. The room was vast, larger than the Coldmarch caves. Maybe five times as big. There were dozens of Sinais lining the rows of animal cages, casting light on things that didn’t still exist.
I stumbled along, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.
The floor was almost painfully Cold. My heart yearned for Shilah; for her to be here by my side witnessing this. A true miracle.
‘Crier above,’ I said, everything about me stiffening with shock. ‘He saved the animals. He’s been keeping them alive all this time.’
‘He didn’t save them,’ Sett said, her upper lip trembling in anger. ‘He – he tortured them. He killed their families. He—’
She stopped. The anger faded. She took it all in as her face filled with serenity.
I understood.
Dozens upon dozens of different kinds of animals spread throughout the chamber, caged, but very much alive. On my right was an enclosure with mounds of dirt piled high. There were crusty pillars in the centre of the mounds, with small snouts poking out of dark holes. Wiry whiskers tasted the air.
Next was a cage with a stone floor, a group of plump creatures sprawled on their bellies. Bristles covered their hides, huddling in the shadows, they trembled and tried to escape our presence.
On my other side was a deep pool, filled with water. Spiny faces bobbed on the surface, long and toothy. Their skin was pebbled and green. They were the same creatures at the edge of the waters in the painting upstairs. Their large, curious eyes followed the group as we walked.
For once, the Langrians were just as shaken as I was.
Rivvy was sobbing uncontrollably. Tully had an arm around Rivvy’s shoulder, but Tully wasn’t faring much better. Her normally mischievous expression was now completely severe.
We moved as one, coming to a deeper cage than the rest, which spanned back a few dozen paces. On the other side of thick iron bars were four monstrous creatures lying in the shadows, their hide white and smooth like armour. They had sad eyes, large and rimmed red. Three horns rose from each of their heads. The smallest of the group had one of its horns broken in half.
‘Rhinoceros,’ Sett gasped.
We kept moving, everyone else too astonished to speak.
Sett’s hand went to her chest. Her fingers clenched as if she were in deep pain.
The chamber was much vaster than I first realized.
There were beasts that I recognized from books. Horses. They were lined in stables, braying and snorting bursts of cloudy air from their long faces. Their legs were almost as feeble as Leroi’s, but their haunches looked powerful.
There were furry animals in other cages; and animals with black carapace; and animals that made sounds I’d never heard.
Our formation broke, with different warriors drifting to different animals. The whole place was a mess of cages, with so much wonder to behold.
Flat faces were pressed against the bars closest to me. Their fuzzy beige heads came to waist height, and their tapered ears curled out of the bars, angled and twitching in rhythm to our footsteps.
There was a huge glass enclosure filled halfway up with water, the depths visible through the glass. A Cold white mist rose off the top. Vibrant fins of all sizes cut across my vision, graceful and sleek. Sett put her palm to the glass, her hand shaking.
Then a breathtaking animal, furry and curious, swam up to the edge, coming straight to Sett’s hand. It pawed at her with nub fingers; its head was the size of her palm.
‘Is so beautiful,’ Sett whispered.
Sinniah came to her side, pressing her palm up to the glass as well. ‘I know this animal. This called “otter”.’
Three more otter creatures appeared from the depths, rotating and circling their kin. There was a splash into a surface of the water, back where we couldn’t see, and soon enough a handful of tiny versions joined the dance at the glass, trying to catch the attention of our group.
‘Children,’ Ellora sighed. ‘Is otter children.’
Zeekah giggled, following the tiny otters in their play.
Rivvy still hadn’t stopped crying, but as she moved onto the next cage her weeping exploded into a heavy wave of sobs.
‘What is?’ Sinniah asked her.
Rivvy stumbled into one of the offshoot paths, pressing her forehead against more metal bars. Slowly, an animal waddled from the back of the cage, its fur frizzy and wild. The creature walked with its weight on its hind legs. It looked harmless enough, with a flat head the shape of a long hammer. Its eyes were incredibly sad.
‘Baboon,’ Rivvy gasped, rubbing her chest and then putting her hand into the cage. ‘Is my Meesh-Dahm.’
Sett went to say something, but then stopped herself.
The baboon sniffed Rivvy’s hand. I could see the tips of impressive fangs peeking over its dark lips, but it didn’t bite. Instead it made a soft cooing sound.
Then another baboon shot out of the back of the cage, snarling and snapping its teeth wildly. This one had blue on its nose, and even though it seemed as fierce as a sandviper, it was quite a beautiful creature. The baboon was nearly as tall as Rivvy.
Rivvy pulled her hand out of the cage, laughing and then beating her hand against her chest. She playfully bared her teeth as well. ‘Baboon.’
I turned to Sett, but she was no longer by my side. She’d been called to another cage, this one large and brick. The iron bars in front had been scarred by something sharp.
Sett nearly collapsed.
Pacing the concrete floor was the most stunning animal yet. It had a long, powerful tail, and circular patterns on gorgeous orange fur. It let out a feral growl that I could feel in the back of my skull. Behind it slept a smaller version of the same creature, tiny children nudging at its belly.
‘Jaguar,’ Sett gasped.
I was speechless.
Zeekah’s head swivelled in a different direction, as if she’d been struck a heavy blow. Her ear perked up and her already wide eyes opened to the point of horror.
‘Please,’ Zeekah whispered. ‘Oh please.’
She kept her ear thrust out and scampered along, following a strange sound. I hadn’t noticed this one in the din of all the others. It was small and wistful.
Zeekah was desperate, racing, letting her ear guide her.
Eventually she stopped and fell to one knee.
‘Loonchin!’ she cried, tears spilling down her face. ‘Is most beautiful Loonchin!’
I swept up beside her. The Loonchin was a heartbreaking sight.
This cage had a soil floor, but only a few strands of long grass poking up from the centre. Entwined in the grass was a skinny animal. It had bony shoulders and was rubbing its split tongue up and down one of the green blades, producing a long-drawn-out song. The sound was pure sorrow. There was a Draft at the creature’s side, but otherwise it was alone in the enclosure.
Zeekah reached into the bars, but the creature only gave her a sad look, continuing to cry out through music.
‘She’s the only one here,’ a new voice said.
The whole group spun, raising their weapons.
A strange boy stood behind us.
He couldn’t have been older than seven, clearly High Noble. His skin was the fairest I’d ever seen, his hair so yellow that it was verging on white. He had a sweet face, but there was something off about it. His eyes were a little too close together, and his tongue seemed too big for his mouth. There was also a smattering of red scarring near his left ear.
He held no weapons. Only a bucket that was segmented inside, each compartment holding different kinds of food.
‘She’s sad,’ the boy said, holding the bucket up. ‘Want to feed her?’
Sett had her sword raised. I made a swift gesture for her to lower the blade.
I knelt down in front of the boy, offering a calm smile.
The boy continued to hold out the food, looking unconcerned that a group of Jadan warriors stood in front of him, armed from ankles to neck.
‘Who are you?’ I asked.
‘Do you want to feed her?’ The boy asked me, reaching into the bucket and grabbing something that looked like ground figs. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. ‘She’s very good.’
‘Who are you?’
He paused, tilting his head like I’d just asked him the colour of the Sun.
‘I’m the Khat.’