Chapter 38

Cari crouched behind her mom and dad as the barge floated down the canal. Jaycee sat on the deck behind her accompanied by Helen, Francesca, and Percy. Standing behind them Rodrigo and the three Dragoons rounded out this part of the assault on the palace.

As she looked at her friends and family, all of them here beside her for this final plan to set things right in Fantasma again. Cari realized her journey here in Fantasma seemed to have come full circle, not just for her, but for her parents as well.

Just as her father was instrumental in helping his friend Kay reach the throne and take her rightful place as the Empress Kareena, Cari would also be instrumental in helping Kareena’s heir reach the throne. A lot relied on the various parts of their plan coming together. Everything was in motion now. It was too late to second guess anything.

A tarp stretched across the stacks of crates on either side of them in the barge. Cari and the others were huddled in between the boxes beneath the tarp. To a casual observer, it would appear as if it was an ordinary canal barge on its way to unload its cargo downstream. Cari wanted to check on their progress, but they all needed to stay hidden. Merrick’s men manning the barge would ensure they got to where they needed to be.

In the distance, Cari heard the unmistakable crack of musket and pistol fire. “That’s the signal,” she whispered. “Merrick and his people have started their attack on the Eighth Canal Gang’s warehouse.”

Her dad looked back at her and grinned. He was acting so strange. Her father was usually stern and about as far from this risk-taking adventurer as anyone could be. Now he acted as if this was just another typical day for him in Fantasma. After thinking about it, Cari realized maybe it was.

The canal barge bumped up against something that scraped along the side of the hull. A few seconds later Cari felt the rocking motion of the barge stop. There was some more sound of gunfire in the distance and shouting voices nearby sounded the alarm.

“I think now’s our chance,” Cari said. Her dad glanced back and nodded in agreement.

Cari pointed to her friends. “Let’s go. Percy, Helen, and Francesca make sure you keep Jaycee close to me. We’re going to be moving fast.”

“She’s safe with us, captain,” Percy said, his eagerness to be part of the action causing his voice to crack. He was proud to have been able to come along. He all but insisted, claiming he was the best person to protect the young princess while the fighting was going on. Now he stood ready to live up to his promise, his cutlass shoved into one side of his belt and a loaded pistol shoved in the other.

Cari reached over and lifted the edge of the tarp.

One of the barge’s crew was climbing down from the edge of the canal and returning to the deck below. He came over to her as she emerged from their hiding place. “It looks like most of them took the bait, ma’am. There’s still a few lingering in the area of the chapel from what I could see. It didn’t look like they’re going after the others.

“Good enough,” Cari said. “You’ve gotten us this far. We’ll take it from here.”

Cari moved along the barge’s deck, crouched so she remained out of sight below the edge of the canal’s stone walls. The others padded along right behind her. When she reached the front of the barge, she jumped off onto the ledge at the edge of the canal.

A narrow stone staircase led up to the street above. Cari took a deep breath and bounded up the steps, the rest of the team following behind.

“Cari, let me go first,” her dad said, catching up to her as she reached the top of the steps.

“I’ve got this, dad. You keep an eye out for any magic being used and watch my back. I know I can trust you.”

He didn’t look happy with the assignment but nodded. He’d agreed to that part of their plan. He had to be ready to counter any magic they ran into.

Cari reached the top of the steps and vaulted over the low ledge onto the street. It took her a few seconds to get oriented and find the chapel. It wasn’t a very large building and didn’t look like much of a church. It was a square building about twenty feet on a side sitting at the end of a row of taller buildings and shops right next to the canal.

There were several small groups of men and women standing around pointing frantically to the east. That would be where the attack on the warehouse was happening. There’d been no more gunfire, but that didn’t surprise Cari. No one was going to take the time to reload a single shot musket or pistol in the middle of a fight.

As the rest of the group came up onto the street, the small groups of residents noticed there were suddenly armed people in their midst. Most of the clusters of people turned and ran for one of the nearby buildings. Cari discounted them. They were likely ordinary residents trying to get away from trouble.

Two of the groups didn’t run. They drew their swords and charged Cari and her companions instead. There were ten gang members in all.

Cari’s friends spread out to receive the charge, weapons ready.

Five of the charging thugs suddenly slipped from their feet and fell to the ground as a sheet of ice appeared on the cobblestone street beneath them.

Cari smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Divide and conquer,” her father said. He fired off a stream of ice darts in the direction of the disabled crew as they struggled to regain their feet. Several of them went down again and stayed down.

Cari didn’t see what else happened with them. She was busy as the other band of thugs reached them. There were five in this group as well and Cari’s crew rapidly overwhelmed them. Cari crossed swords with one of them for a brief time then Thad drove his sword in from the side, killing the man.

Within ten seconds the street was cleared of any living threats. All the nearby members of the Eighth Canal Gang had been dealt with.

“Come on,” Mona called out. “We still have to search the chapel and find the entrance. I suspect it’s not going to be easy.”

Cari’s mom reached the chapel first and tried the door, finding it locked. She knelt, pulling a strange device from her utility belt. Cranking a tiny wheel on the side of a small box the size of a deck of cards, Mona inserted the metal rod sticking out of one end into the lock. She pressed the button on the top of the box and Cari heard a soft whirring followed by a distinct click from the lock. Her mother smiled and pulled the device from the keyhole, stood and pushed the door open.

“That’s pretty cool, Mom. You have to get me one of those.

“You can have mine when we’re done here.” Mona stepped inside, followed by Hal, Cari, and then Jaycee and her trio of assigned guards. The Dragoons brought up the rear.

Frescos and religious scenes in bright painted colors covered the walls and even parts of the domed ceiling above. That much was visible even in the dim daylight filtering in through stained-glass windows on the front wall.

“What are we looking for?” Cari asked.

Her mom looked around and shrugged. “It’ll depend on a lot of things. Just search for something that doesn’t look like it belongs, like a seam or crack in the wall, or a mark on the floor that might show where a secret door scraped against the tiles.”

Helen, Francesca, and Percy remained in the center of the room with Jaycee, the three dragoons spread out to check the walls along with Rodrigo. Cari and her parents spread out on the opposite side of the chapel and began searching the walls there.

They searched all along the plaster walls for at least ten minutes but found nothing. Cari ran her hands along the wall in front of her. It all felt the same as the rest.

The walls were painted white plaster, with no visible seams anywhere. She found it hard to believe there was some sort of door to be found there.

“Could these walls have been plastered after the opening was built?” Cari asked. “There’s no way there wouldn’t be a seam or something visible otherwise.”

“I suppose that’s possible,” her mom said. “Kareena said she never went into the tunnel.”

Chance shook his head. “This plaster is old, as old as the building itself if I’m correct. It’s been painted recently, but it’s been here a long time.”

“Maybe the entrance is outside somewhere next to the building like the basement entrance we used to escape into the sewers a few days ago,” Rodrigo suggested.

Cari knew they didn’t have much time to waste. They’d already taken too long. Still, if they went outside and were seen searching around the exterior of the chapel, it would cause the residents here to send for help, if they hadn’t already. Cari shook her head. “Save that as a last resort, Rod. I have to think the entrance is in here, somewhere. We’ll have to go over the walls again.”

“What about the floor?” Her dad said. He pointed at the tiles on which they stood. Cari glanced down. The floor was covered in a mosaic of tiles forming patterns and arranged in panels of various images displayed in the intricate tile work. She walked along, retracing her steps when she first entered the chapel. She examined the tile images depicted at her feet. The first one showed a knight on horseback charging a dragon with his lance lowered before him. The next one in the row of mosaic panels along the center aisle depicted what looked like some sort of magic user or wizard, judging from the staff he wielded. Lightning played outward from the end of the staff. Below the mage, a group of enemies cowered. She walked forward towards the altar to the third and final scene depicted in the tiles. In that image, a king knelt in front of a throne. A robed man placed a crown on his head.

“Here,” Cari said. She pointed down at her feet. “It’s got to be here. The others came over and stood around the scene set in the tile.

“Why do you think it’s this one?” Her mother asked.

“Because the other two scenes on the floor depict things happening outside and seem to be sort of random depictions of heroic individuals. This one, though, shows a king kneeling to be crowned. It’s not anything like the others.

“Maybe it’s not a king,” her dad said. “Maybe it’s an emperor.”

Cari smiled. That clinched it. It had to be underneath here. Now they just had to figure out how to open it. “Look around for an access point, or a button, lever, or something like that.”

While the others looked along the edges of the eight-foot-wide mosaic set in the floor, Cari knelt down in the center of it and ran her fingers across the image of the Emperor. The tile was so expertly set, she could barely feel a seam between the individual tiles beneath her fingertips. They were cut in such a way as to fit like a puzzle against each other.

As she ran her hands across the floor in the center of the image, she felt a slight ridge around the circle of the emperor’s crown. She reached down with her fingertips again, running them across the floor and over the crown again. Everything was smooth until she reached the crown. It was raised just a fraction of an inch above the other tiles.

Cari pressed down on the crown.

Nothing happened.

That made sense, though. You wouldn’t want to door randomly opening when someone stepped on it. Cari tried something else. She drew her dagger and tried to wedge the point in at the edge of the crown along one of the low ridges.

After a little bit of careful work, she worked the tile free from the mosaic and lifted it up. It was about the size of her palm. There, beneath the crown, was a metal ring. Cari reached out and hooked her fingers into the ring. She took a deep breath and turned it. It took a little effort, but she managed to twist it ninety degrees clockwise until she felt a click.


Skill acquired — Find Secret Doors

5,000 experience awarded


The sound of stone grating on stone drew her attention towards the altar just a few feet away from the kneeling emperor. The carved marble altar slid back towards the rear wall of the chapel. It revealed a rectangular opening leading downward. Metal rungs set into the stone walls of the shaft formed a ladder descending to the bottom.

“I think you found it,” her dad said with a smile. He started down into the shaft beneath the altar. “I’m the only one here who has the ability to see in the dark. I’ll go first and check it out. I’ll let you know when it’s clear.”

Cari wasn’t going to argue with him. But she reached into the pack on her back and pulled out the small travel lantern she had there. Her mother had a similar idea. Mona took a cylinder about the size of a small flashlight from her utility belt. She shook it vigorously for a few seconds then flipped open the brass cover on one end. A bright yellow glow shined out from the end of the tube. Mona smiled. “It’s a reusable glow stick. Your father recharges it with magic from time to time. You shake it to activate it just like the glow sticks back home. You can use it ten times before it needs a recharge.”

Cari opened her mouth to say something, but her mother interrupted her. “Let me guess. You want one of these, too? Let’s wait until we get this mission done and we’ll talk about what I have that you might want.”

Her father called up from the bottom of the shaft. “This definitely leads in the direction of the palace. I can’t see to the end of the shaft, but it leads straight in that direction as far as I can see. Come on down.”

Cari climbed down the rungs of the ladder. Rodrigo followed her, then Mona and Jaycee. The others followed until Chance came down to bring up the rear. He cast his magical light spell from the back of the group. Between that, her lantern, and her mother’s chemical flashlight, they had enough light to see the horizontal shaft heading towards the palace in the distance. Cari used her Earth Sense and map overlay of the city above to verify this headed in the right direction.

Her dad led the way a good ten to fifteen feet in front of the group. Cari sped up so she could catch up with him, but her mother laid a hand on her arm holding her back. “His dark vision ability won’t work if there’s another light around. Sometimes he can see things in that light spectrum that we can’t see. Let him go first in case there are traps that need to be disarmed.”

Cari slowed a little, letting her father stay in the lead as they walked through the ten-foot-wide passage leading to the palace. Part one of their plan was successful.