Silk and Earth Read online

  Jonas hurried over to the side of a large, looming building that had once been a home. Moonlight glinted off a window high above, but there was no light inside it to hint at a presence there. There was a wooden door on the ground level, just ahead of Jonas. It was closed and he expected it to be locked. He didn’t know what this building was, but it was quiet and there were no signs of habitation.

  He didn’t sense the object he was pursuing more strongly by being inside the wall, but perhaps that would change when he got closer. For now, he crept close to the door and pressed his ear to it. There was no sound from the other side. He tried to open it, but as he suspected, it was locked. The door was near the corner of the building so he glanced around the side of it. He could see several other buildings, and as he watched, two cultists clad in black entered the nearest of the buildings opposite. Like this one, the house was on two levels, only with a larger window out front like an inn.

  A yellow light burned behind curtained windows, and once the door closed and no one else was in sight, Jonas hurried along the path of the building beside him and took the opportunity to look around. The compound only contained around half a dozen large buildings, but there were also roads, yards and stables within the walls. His gaze was drawn to the largest and most impressive of the houses, and he reasoned that the leader and other cultists of importance would likely reside there.

  He had a burning hatred for those in charge, after what they’d done to Feidhlim and its people, including Yasmin who was kidnapped like so many others. They were cruel – more than that, they were monsters. If the manse was anywhere, it was probably there.

  He felt that if the cultists knew what it was, they’d want to keep it close and well-protected, so it would likely be there or somewhere else heavily-guarded, though not in plain sight. Jonas decided to take a walk around the compound to see if anywhere else was. For the moment, he considered the largest house the most likely location.

  Chapter 5

  It was hard to properly measure the passage of time below ground, though it seemed that Knave, Cassia, Alexa and Ariane burned through the torches all too quickly.

  “Keep the last one,” Cassia suggested, frowning as their lit torch burned its way through the last of its wrappings. “We don’t know how far we’re going. I can keep a fire burning without it but I have to keep my mind on it, and when we’re travelling for 8 hours or more per day, that’s as tiring as it sounds.”

  Sister Ariane fitted the spare torch back into her pack. “It shouldn’t use up that much magickal energy, but I see what you mean. Those of us with fire magick could take turns?”

  Taking turns sounded like a better idea to Alexa. “I have little ability with fire magick and I don’t use it often, but I can create an orb of light. I can’t do much more than that, but it’s enough that three of us would be lighting the way instead of two. My main proficiency is with air magick, so if you want a desert storm or we need some air in here, I’m your girl.”

  “Very good,” Sister Ariane exclaimed with a smile. “What about yourself, sir?” she asked of Knave.

  Sister Ariane didn’t seem particularly worried about offending him, if he didn’t have magickal abilities.

  “I wouldn’t be much good to you that way,” he told her, folding his arms. “I’m good with a sword and I’m a decent cook, but that’s the height of how much help I can be unless you ladies are lonely.”

  There were sighs all round.

  “You can cook then,” Alexa told him. She was all too happy to get rid of that chore.

  “I’d guess it’s been a day or two at this point,” Knave commented, as they continued through the tunnel. Sand had made its way into the passageway, but the walls were smooth, almost like lava caves. They were wide enough that the four of them could walk side by side and so far they hadn’t encountered any other occupants.

  “We may be getting close to the end then,” Ariane surmised. “A couple of days would normally take us down to the desert below if we were travelling over land, but I’d guess we’re much further on than that already.”

  Cassia had some ideas about the tunnel.

  “Do you think there’s more than one exit? Maybe we could create our own, so if we wanted to, we could climb out before the end?”

  At that, Alexa shook her head. “I know for a fact there aren’t any other exits and we can’t make our own. To do so would disrupt the magick of the tunnels.”

  There was a visible note of disappointment in Cassia’s gaze. “I guess we’ll just have to keep following it until we get where we’re going… whenever that is.”

  “Since we have a while and plenty of opportunity to talk, maybe we can share some information,” Sister Ariane suggested.

  Cassia, Alexa and Knave had spoken at length about it between themselves, but they realised that Ariane hadn’t been involved in those conversations. She might be a lot less informed than they were.

  “I’d be happy to,” Cassia agreed, seeing no harm in it. After all, they were on the same side and they had an enemy in common. “We know the Nemorans are also known as the Warriors of the Dusk and they’re led by man named Jarlath. They attacked the Temple of Solitude not long before the Temple of Victory, but we’re not sure about our other temples. We’ve fought a number of the Nemorans before, when we were in Kalle and on the road to Kelbani.”

  Sister Ariane’s eyes widened. “You have?” She seemed surprised by that. “What can you tell me about their methods?”

  “Well,” Cassia explained, “a number of them were sorcerers – it’s how they set the Temple of Solitude on fire, we think. They were also well-supplied with weapons. Knives and swords mostly.”

  Alexa stepped forward. “My sword was one of theirs,” she admitted, drawing it from its sheath.

  It had occurred to her on the way to Mount Bridha that she was the only one among their group armed with a sword. Knave had explained why he’d chosen not to bring one:

  ‘You’re more likely to be challenged if you have a sword and cause offense. Those not armed with them aren’t expected to know how to fight with them. It’s why I’m bringing knives’.

  It wasn’t reason enough for Alexa to leave her sword behind, but she knew she might have to be careful if she wore it in public.

  As Alexa’s memory faded, Sister Ariane took the sword from her to examine.

  “I’m no weapon smith but I know a good sword when I see one. This is a good, solid weapon. Plain, yes, but well-constructed. The Nemorans are finding money and resources to equip these men to fight. That means the roots of the organisation may go deeper than we thought. They might not be merely a bunch of fanatics,” she explained. “They’re being financed and demonstrating a level of control over people that’s quite frankly terrifying.”

  “I know, but what can we do except fight them?” Cassia asked, shrugging helplessly.

  She expected that the Sisters of Destiny would have to be the ones to do it, especially with many of the Sisters taken captive from the Temple of Victory. “If we remove the leader and reclaim the manses, it will go a long way toward destroying this organisation.”

  “That’s my hope as well,” Ariane agreed.

  ***

  Their long walk through the tunnel continued, and after many hours passed, they took the opportunity to rest. Cassia took first watch and kept an orb of fire burning as the others slept.

  It was eerie how quiet it could be below the earth, where no wind whistled and no leaves blew.

  She was wondering what the land was like above them when a flicker of light down the tunnel caught her eye. It came and went – glints of pale light that seemed almost to be reflecting off a surface.

  Cassia wasn’t sure exactly what it was. It looked a long way ahead of them, but it was hard to say for sure. If it was, then it had to be big, though she wondered if her eyes might be playing tricks on her. She left her orb of light floating near the others and ventured further into the darkness. She thought about waking the
m to tell them what she saw, but they were asleep and after so much walking, they needed some rest – just like she did. It was probably nothing, but it just might be something.

  She drew a knife from her belt and held it in readiness as she sought out the light source. She saw it again for a brief moment, but it quickly disappeared. The others were well behind her now. If she called them, it would take them time to reach her. She hesitated about going further without alerting them, just in case someone or something was out there. No one else could’ve entered the tunnel behind them and overtaken them without being noticed, but perhaps they could’ve got in from the other end.

  Cassia paused and listened, her eyes searching the darkness for the place where she’d seen the light. A light breeze stirred her skirt and then surprise dawned in her eyes. A breeze! There shouldn’t be a breeze, should there?

  That was when the flickering came again, up ahead. Before it had seemed in the centre of the tunnel, but now it was on the left wall, she thought. The tunnel had a slight curve.

  Before she wasn’t sure, but now Cassia was certain it was magick. She didn’t think anyone else was out there but she didn’t know for sure.

  She turned and ran back down the tunnel toward the distant orange glow of her orb and her travelling companions.

  Alexa woke at the sound of Cassia’s footsteps. Not knowing what was going on, she grabbed her sword. She soon realised there was no one attacking; just Cassia there.

  “Alexa, it’s me,” she told her, keeping her voice down. “There’s something down the tunnel and I think there’s a way out.”

  It took a moment for Alexa to figure out what she was saying, as she was still waking up. She sat up from the stone floor, grimacing slightly from pain in her back. Not even a blanket could cushion hard ground like this.

  “What did you find?” she asked, looking around her at the others. They seemed to still be asleep.

  “I don’t know, but there’s something there. Will you come with me?”

  Alexa nodded and got up. She didn’t wear her robe, but she had on the blue dress she’d been wearing beneath it. “Show me?” she asked.

  Cassia summoned another globe of light to accompany them and led the way down the tunnel.

  Alexa slid her sword back into its sheath and kept her hand near her knife as she followed.

  It was harder to make out the slight flickers of light down the tunnel with Cassia’s orb so near, but Alexa gasped at the sight of them.

  “What is that?”

  Cassia shook her head. “I don’t know, but let’s see.”

  She felt more confident and comfortable, as she wasn’t alone this time, but Cassia didn’t want to place her sister in peril either. Up ahead, the flickering grew more intense.

  The tunnel seemed like it could’ve gone on forever, but then they noticed the outline of a man collapsed on the ground. As they got closer, Alexa and Cassia saw that he was an older man, and he lay unmoving. A knife had fallen inches from his hand on the ground. It had blood on it, which reflected inky black in the orb’s light.

  “I didn’t see him there before,” Cassia exclaimed. She knew she must’ve missed seeing him in the darkness, because she could smell the scent of death on him. She pushed at him with her booted foot and he didn’t respond.

  Alexa rolled him over on to his back and he lay there, twisted on the ground, his eyes blankly staring. His shirt was stained with blood.

  “He looks like he’s been dead for a while,” Alexa told her sister. “I’m going to reach out my senses and see if I can detect anyone else ahead. Please, stand watch over me?”

  Cassia nodded. “I will.”

  Alexa closed her eyes, summoning the element of air and extending her senses. Pacing her breathing, she focused her mind and her intent on any presence in the tunnel in their vicinity. She sensed herself and Cassia. Further back, Knave was still asleep, while Sister Ariane lay there studying him, amused by his snoring.

  Pulling her mind away, Alexa searched for any other presence. She’d thought the tunnel held no spiders or insects, but she’d been wrong. They lurked out of sight but they were there. She sensed no other human life, and the dead man didn’t register on her senses at all, but she wondered if the magickal barrier might be blocking her abilities from detecting others outside it. She couldn’t tell how far the tunnel carried on for, as the range of her senses ran out before its end, but the flickering up ahead was a break in its magick. It was so severe that she thought the tunnel ahead had probably lost its ability to contract time and space. That meant they could potentially end up walking for weeks, even months, but their supplies would run out long before then.

  She focused her mind on the break, trying to read its magick, but it was so far beyond her own abilities that she could barely grasp it at all. Her eyes opened and she sighed.

  “The tunnel’s magick is broken. I think that’s what’s caused the flickering. I don’t think the tunnel’s magick will work after this point, if it has been at all.”

  Cassia groaned. “I was hoping we were almost there.”

  “You and me both,” Alexa admitted. “Let’s have a look at this. Maybe we can fix it.”

  They approached the flickering light carefully but they didn’t get a proper view of it until they were up close. Cassia moved in her orb, and they studied what was clearly a tear in the side of the tunnel.

  There was a hole in the side just large enough for a person to crawl through.

  “That must have been where the dead man came from,” Alexa reasoned.

  A golden glow surrounded the edges of the hole, while bolts of energy sizzled and arced across the gap sporadically, striking the tunnel floor and ceiling.

  Alexa leaned forward, trying to see through the hole in the wall without getting too close.

  “It looks like there’s another tunnel on the other side,” she exclaimed, wondering if they’d just found a way out.

  “The problem is there was someone on the other side who stabbed that man,” Cassia reminded her, indicating the dead body.

  “The others are on their way,” Cassia murmured.

  Alexa’s eyes widened. “Uhhh, what?”

  With a smile, Cassia tried to put her mind at ease. “I mean Ariane and Knave. They must’ve noticed us missing.”

  It didn’t take them long to catch up, and the sisters soon heard their footsteps.

  “What’s going on lass?” He asked Alexa, and as he moved closer his expression of concern grew. “Is that what it looks like?”

  “Like someone broke the tunnel?” Alexa asked. “Yes.”

  He grinned. “No, I mean a way out, though it didn’t seem to do that guy any good. Can we climb through that safely?”

  Cassia shrugged, though it was barely noticeable in the gloom.

  “That’s the question, isn’t it?” Alexa asked.

  “We can do that,” Sister Ariane said. “A proper shielding spell ought to protect us from the energy bolts and the energy at the edges of the break.”

  It formed the bare bones of a plan.

  They soon returned to gather up their supplies and equipment.

  “No one’s suggesting the alternative – that we could just walk on and ignore the break?” Knave asked.

  Cassia gathered up her blanket and stuffed it into her pack, probably the untidiest one in their travelling party. “Alexa thinks the tunnel’s magick is broken after the hole in the tunnel wall. That means if we do, we could be walking for weeks or months.”

  He winced at that. “Let’s hope we can get out then.”

  He didn’t fancy going all the way back to Mount Bridha empty-handed. He was set on getting the manse.

  ***

  Alexa, Cassia, Knave and Ariane stood around the hole in the tunnel wall, studying it.

  “You’re sure the shield’s going to protect me from those energy bolts?” Knave asked, reaching toward the soft, pale glow that marked the edge of their exit.

  “Yes,” Sister
Ariane told him.

  He could’ve continued to question it, but it wouldn’t change the fact he’d volunteered. It was probably to impress the three lovely priestesses he was with, but he also didn’t want to act the coward. Alexa had saved his life and he wanted to repay her for it. This probably wasn’t the way, but it was a start. If it saved her going through first and putting herself in peril, that would be a good thing.

  He decided there was no point procrastinating. Knave reached forward and touched the glowing edge of the exit. He was expecting a shock or something equally bad, but it didn’t come. Golden light sprang to life, arcing across his hand as he gripped the edge, but it didn’t harm him. With a grin, he squeezed through the gap, all too aware that it was tight around his mid-section. Once he was through to the other side, Knave looked around. The tunnel was quiet and dark, but it seemed similar to the tunnel they’d been in.

  “Would you pass the light through please?” he asked.

  Cassia moved her orb through the hole in the tunnel wall and let it drift above his head. “It’s a similar tunnel,” he said, but Knave grew more excited. “There are other passages. It looks like there’s a honeycomb of tunnels down here.”

  “Are we sure this isn’t what the Nemorans want?” Cassia asked. “They could’ve arranged this so we wouldn’t reach them.”

  Sister Ariane nodded. “It’s possible, but it doesn’t explain the man with the knife. It seems more likely something happened on the other side of the tunnel wall and he was trying to escape.”

  That made Cassia realise she didn’t want to leave Knave there unattended for too long.

  “Can you cast the shielding spell on me next?” Cassia asked, wanting to hurry.

  “Yes, of course.”

  Sister Ariane closed her eyes, channelling power from the world around them. She brought her hands together in front of her, then turned them outward toward Cassia and released her spell.