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Ella Noran pushed her long black hair off her face, smudging dirt over her cheek as the midday sun beat down on her. She brushed the dirt off and sighed. Digging by hand was tedious work, but it was the best method of finding potential artefacts, and far less invasive than using any tech. She had to find something to prove to Griffin it would be worth excavating the area. He insisted this part of the old city wouldn’t be worth exploring, since scans had shown no potential artefacts. But she disagreed.
A faint whisper carried on the breeze came from behind her. She turned around, half expecting one of her team members to be there. No doubt Eric would try to play a practical joke on her again.
“Eric, if that’s you, then stop it. This isn’t funny!” she snapped.
No one there.
She frowned, certain she’d heard something, but shook her head. She didn’t believe the multitude of legends that said the city held some kind of monster. Most of the teams who’d come here over the years had soon returned empty-handed, using wild stories to protect their reputations. But Ella wasn’t superstitious like the rest of them. Those stories were almost as absurd as the rumours. Yet it had taken months to convince the Senate to agree to an expedition.
Glancing at her link, she saw she’d already been in her spot for over an hour and had found nothing but layers of dirt. It was already past noon, but she had a few more hours before heading back to the citadel for dinner with the rest of the team.
A low growl made her jump and scramble for her stunner. Its high voltage energy would deter any would-be assailants. Excavating the old city so close to the border where rebels lived had made everyone on the team uneasy, but she had felt bravest. Eric had stayed with her for a while before flying back to Celestus to get more supplies. He hadn’t been happy about her digging on her own. He agreed that as long as she had a weapon with her, she could take care of herself. She doubted the rebels would be interested in an archaeology student digging through dirt, anyway. What possible use could she be to them?
It’s just the wind, she told herself. Stop being so on edge.
She slipped the stunner into her belt. More whispering and the sound of chanting filled the air with words she couldn’t understand, yet she found no one there.
What is going on?
Ella glanced around for her dust bunny, looking for the tell-tale signs of his snowy white fur.
“Fidget?” she called. “Fidget! Where have you wandered off to now?”
She knew he’d come back. He always did, but he always seemed to get up to mischief.
“Fidget, don’t do anything stupid or you’ll go back in your cage.” The last thing she needed was for him to get stuck somewhere.
“Food?” chirped a voice. A pair of pointed ears appeared through the long grass, followed by the rest of the dust bunny.
Ella rolled her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. “No, you’re not having more food. I’m not wasting supplies on your never-ending appetite. We didn’t come all this way for me to feed you all the time. If you’re that hungry, go look for some food on your own.”
His ears drooped, and he gave her his best ‘but I’m starving’ look.
“Come help me dig. We’ve got to find something useful to show Master Griffin, or he’ll never take me seriously.” She cursed as another strand of hair fell over her face before scooping it back behind her ear. “I need to prove this area is worth excavating.”
As much as she wanted to find artefacts, she also hoped she’d find some trace of what had happened to her father here.
Fidget sat grooming his fluffy white coat, wagging his long tail behind him. Sometimes he helped, but dust bunnies had limited attention spans.
“I’ll give you treats after,” she promised. “Come on, just dig down a few feet for me. I need to know if there’s something down here or not.” She held up her scanner. There were signs of metal in the soil, but it didn’t tell her what kind.
Fidget perked up at the sight and used his paws to burrow through the dirt. This was the place she kept seeing in her dreams. She knew it was insane. Still, she hadn’t been able to shake off the feeling something important was hidden here, so she’d decided to investigate for herself.
Again, she found nothing but rocks and empty earth. Sighing, she rose, pushing her hair off her face again as loose strands escaped from the knot she’d tied it in. “Maybe I’m going mad letting dreams lead me here, but they felt so real. We’ve only been here a few days, and I still feel like there’s something for me to find. Maybe excitement made me act on dreams about things that don’t exist.”
Ella knew following dreams seemed like complete madness, but she couldn’t get this area out of her mind. She kept seeing another building in her recurring dream, but so far, the scans hadn’t shown much.
She muttered a curse as Fidget started tossing stones everywhere. “Stop that!”
She made a grab for the dust bunny as he continued burrowing his way through the small trench.
A stone landed by her feet, but she ignored it. Maybe Griffin was right, and she should stop searching here, even though it had been home to their ancestors a thousand years earlier. Her theory about this being a potential hotspot for their excavation hadn’t gone down well with him. He wanted to focus on what they could find in the citadel, which was still in good condition.
Ella glanced back to see its rising towers in the distance. Despite being abandoned and uninhabited for over a thousand years, its spires still reached toward the heavens and watched her like silent witnesses. It almost felt like the eyes of the ancestors were watching her every move.
Ella knelt as Fidget’s white form disappeared beneath the earth.
“Come out of there. I...”
She pulled out her maglight and pointed it down the hole. Something small glinted in the low light. She frowned as she picked up the object. A stone with a silver rune carved into it. It flashed as she rolled it between her fingers.
“Fidget, you did it! I can’t believe you found something.” She grinned and pulled more stones out of the hole. “Good boy, I’ll give you a whole pack of treats later.”
Ella turned on her keyno—a golden, orb-shaped device—to record everything as she examined each stone. It hovered above her head.
Fidget reappeared; his furry coat covered in dirt. He held a silver stone between his paws. This one looked to have a gold rune carved into it.
Oh, no! Ella groaned. Fidget loved shiny objects almost as much as he loved food.
“Fidget, give me that.” She held out her hand.
“Mine,” he squeaked.
“Yes, but won’t you let me see it first?” Ella put her hand into the pocket of her tunic and pulled out some honey drops. “You can have these.”
Fidget stared up at her with beady black eyes looking at the treats. “Mine,” he said finally. He took off, his long tail dragging behind him.
“Fidget, come back!” Ella grabbed the other runes, shoving them into her bag and rushing after the dust bunny. The keyno whirled behind her, following like a silent companion. “Fidget!” she yelled, running downhill. She dropped her bag as she went, but didn’t bother stopping to pick it up again. She’d collect it later.
The dust bunny proved too quick for her. They were hunters in their natural habitats and could move a lot faster than people.
Ella skidded downhill, almost tripping as earth fell away with each footfall. “Fidget, come back here. Please, you’ll get lost.”
She scanned the embankment, but found no sign of him anywhere. Sweat poured down her face from the heat of the midday sun. She sighed. It was pointless to keep chasing him. He’d reappear before she left. He always did, almost as if he could sense her movements.
A chortling sound made Ella turn to see Fidget waving the stone at her as he stood on the edge of the embankment. She had to get it. Unlike the other runes, that one looked like it had been made from pure gold. She didn’t care about its monetary value, but it could prove historically priceless.
“Come here!”
She scrambled down the embankment. She’d get that stone, then head back to the citadel to show Master Griffin what she had found so far. Fidget waved again, then vanished from view with a yelp as he went down the embankment.
