A giant library opened up before them, it was two stories tall and lined from floor to ceiling in books. “Wow,” Liz whispered next to her, the danger of the moment forgotten. “The Inarni would be jealous if they could see this.”
“I can imagine,” Kakri said. More crashing came from the depths of the room. “Stay alert though.”
They crept along the wall to the nearest set of bookcases and then down them, hoping to go unnoticed under the second level’s floor. The crashing grew more and more frequent as they went, occasionally tables and a few books along with lose pages flew over the edge and crashed into the ground below. A low growl came from overhead causing Kakri to draw them up close to the bookshelf behind them. The shelves dug into her back as a tail swung wild over the edge and struck out at anything that might be near. It had a long, sharp needle- like point that glistened in the light as though it were moist. As it lashed out Kakri found the tail reminding her of scorpions that favored the desert climates, famous for the poison in their stinger. You really want to make us suffer don’t you, Ahiel?
“Move as calmly as you can along the shelves,” she muttered to Liz. “It just thinks we’re here but doesn’t know for sure.”
Almost painfully slow, they crept along keeping as flush to the bookcase as they could. The tail continued to swing toward them, but stayed stationary as though whatever was on the other end couldn’t see that its prey was on the move. After several minutes of failed attempts the tail disappeared and they could hear scraping and skittering as whatever was on the other end moved above. Kakri breathed a sigh of relief and edged away from the shelves trying to stretch her aching back. She smiled seeing the door it appeared they needed to use to leave and continue on. A crash above drew her to a dead stop; it came from ahead of their current position.
“Please tell me that was not where I think it was,” Liz breathed.
“I wish I could.” Kakri jumped as a table flew through the air and crashed into the door they needed to go through. A bookshelf soon followed effectively blocking their exit. “How is this thing so smart?” Kakri demanded.
“If I was to make a guess, I would say your fellow God is giving it instructions or has made it more intelligent than most of its kind.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Kakri considered their options. She slid back to where the bookshelves on the bottom level split trying to see other exits, only to find none. “Of course not,” she muttered then rejoined Liz. “Okay, here’s the plan. You try to get that debris off the door, I will distract it.”
“Will you not be faster though using your powers?”
“No doubt Ahiel means for one of these obstacles to kill you, I’m going to lessen that chance.” Kakri replied. “Also he probably has something in place to prevent my abilities to get us out of this situation that easily.”
“You are right,” Liz glanced at her as she walked to get in position. “I know you are a Goddess and all but be careful.”
“Of course.” Kakri’s physical form faded away as she became one with the air and a breeze blew up. She darted forward causing several books to fall from the shelves in her wake and up the stairs. The beast easily was as large as one of the bookshelves it flung so easily through the air. Kakri rose higher then became solid dancing on currents of breeze she set in motion under her to keep her aloft as she blasted her power at the creature. “Over here!”
The creature roared as the wind struck its hard outer skin with a loud crack. Throwing the table it held in its claws it then charged at her. Kakri quickly darted across the upper story so it wouldn’t catch sight of Liz already busy below trying to open the exit. She hid slightly behind a bookcase. “Is that the best you have?” She let loose with another blast of wind striking it in another part of the shell.
The tail lashed out in response, extending, causing her to dodge fast and land atop a nearby case as the one she was on fell over. Picking herself up she saw the tail coming at her again, causing her to roll to the ground to avoid it. She flung a table at him and then darted on foot back across as fast as she could, pushing off and back into the air so she had a slight advantage. As the creature threw the splintered wood off of itself she could see Liz had made some significant progress on the door but it was still slow due to the heaviness of the bookcase. Reality hit her like a brick as she was clipped by the sharp edge of the creature’s claws. She narrowly avoided the full impact, moving at the last possible second. I’m going to feel this tomorrow, she thought bitterly. Oh well, my attendants always complain I do too much for myself, I will just let them baby me. She soared and darted in a breeze around the creature, keeping just solid enough for it to maintain interest but not enough to allow it to land a strike.
Whirling, darting and dancing on the air Kakri and the creature spun in circles, as it lashed out and tried to land a blow. Occasionally it would knock into one of the few still standing shelves, chairs and tables. Once in a while it would take too much interest in the noise that came below so Kakri blasted it once more; aiming for areas she had already struck so she didn’t damage it too much more. After all she was only meaning to distract and not kill it. The creature staggered more and more as their dance continued, it was like the old saying of playing cat and mouse and Kakri was feeling more and more like the mouse by the second, staying only one step ahead of the creature. It let out a low groan as it tried to shake its head to clear its vision after a particularly bad collision with a bookshelf, staying still for a moment.
Another indication that it is not alone in its actions. Kakri thought, pulling away a little but staying in her state of semi-corporealness. Floating there she saw the god she once called brother reflected in its dark eyes, almost as though he was using them for his own vision. An odd sensation came over Kakri and she felt the pressure of his power coming over top of her. Damn it, he’s trying to force me out of this shape. She fought back, the two warring powers locked in a stalemate filling the room with pressure and more destruction. The creature seemed to strain under the weight of their battle. Luckily it was centered on the upper level of the library so Liz appeared unaffected as Kakri spared a glance over at her. All I need is to simply keep him off just long enough so we both get out of here or he grows bored.
“Kakri!” Liz yelled. “Come on!”
Kakri’s feet touched the ground as Ahiel gained the upper hand in their struggle, her teeth clenched as she strained against it. It’s the only way.
“Kakri!” Liz called again.
Taking a deep breath Kakri pushed with all her might against Ahiel and launched herself in the air, once she was out of the creature’s grasp she became solid again and started down toward Liz and the door. Just as she reached the stairs she felt a sharp pain wrack her body and something sent her careening through the air toward the door and past it. She came crashing down on the opposite side against the wall. As she lay there dazed she faintly registered that Liz had slammed the door shut and began to turn toward her. Kakri lifted her upper body trying to focus on the Queen rushing toward her before her eyes fluttered shut again.
Sometime later her eyes opened to see Liz’s unique eyes staring down at her concerned. Feeling under her she was on some sort of soft cushion. Blinking she cleared the dots from her vision and groaned at the pain in her body. “How long?”
“Not too long, I am surprised you are up this soon actually.” Liz sat back to allow her to sit up.
“I’m a bit more resilient than your lot.” Kakri replied, holding a hand to her head as she rose from cushion.
“I would have thought your lot was immune to getting knocked out,” Liz teased.
“Most things won’t, but that thing in that library had help.” She swung her legs out to sit up fully. “Where are we?”
“A nearby room,” Liz looked around. “Closest I could find that seemed like a safe bet to lay low for a while if it broke out. Unless of course, Ahiel has any other tricks or super abilities up his sleeve.”
“No doubt he has this place significantly monitored,” Kakri leaned her head back against the wall behind her. The coolness seemed to help with the ache.
“I found this interesting thing.” Liz said, crossing the room to where a desk stood. “Something had me concerned since we started opening doors and finding furniture left but no sign of quick exits or combat.” She turned back to Kakri, a book in her hand. “This sheds some light on it.”
“What does it say?” Kakri asked, watching out of the corner of her eye.
“Apparently this palace was plagued by odd occurrences, and creatures began to make their home here taking the lives of many guards that tried to dislodge them. Shadows appeared in the corridors and rooms not fading for days if they left at all. It became so disconcerting that the entire court decided to leave and sealed off this place. The only thing was they had no choice but to leave behind the royal’s fortune as well because one of the creatures had called that section home. Any attempts to enter and retrieve it were unsuccessful.”
“What creature?”
“It is not named but is described as a large spider like creature with highly deadly and dangerous poison.”
“The Esaira,” Kakri said.
“That would be my guess as well.”
“My, my you certainly had this planned out for a while Ahiel. I commend you on that part at least.” Kakri stood and shook her head. “Not to mention knew all along where this was that you taunted so many with.”
Liz set the book back down on the desk and walked over. “Are you feeling well enough to continue? Who knows what in the Underworld he is going to throw at us next.”
“We’ll deal with it then.” Kakri strode to the door and looked both ways down the hall. “Now which direction did we come from?”
“Left.”
“So we go right,” Kakri started down that way. “I think I like the more structural obstacles over creatures any day.”
“To that end I think we can both agree,” Liz said. “Does this seem to be sloping downward to you?” Kakri held out a hand and grabbed an unlit candle from a holder on the table and set it down on the floor. It rolled and bounced as it hit snags in the carpet. “That answers that I suppose.”
“I just hope this means we are getting close,” Kakri said. “If what you found in that book is true than chances are where the Esaira made its home is probably more secluded given what it holds.”
“Probably,” Liz agreed and they turned down another corridor. This time it was her turn to stop them. “There is something wrong…”
“What is it?”
Liz’s eyes swept the corridor focused on the walls and floor. Kneeling she eyed the floor critically placing her face along the carpet and looking down. “Thought it looked odd,” she muttered. Dusting off her hands she stood. “Watch your step there are pressure plates along the floor mostly under the carpet. Given what we have seen I imagine they are not meant for a pleasant surprise if activated.”
“So how do we navigate this?”
“Follow me and step pretty much where I do.” Liz replied stepping forward with her feet at an angle. She walked with wide steps, each foot resting on a brick of its own before going onto the next in the same fashion. Step by step they made their way across, Kakri careful to try to match her foot positioning since the carpet made the switches difficult to make out. It was a precarious journey across this stretch of floor almost like learning the world’s most intricate dance with precise positions for the participants. Several times Kakri almost toppled over due to the angle she had to stand at while waiting for Liz to move. “Sorry,” Liz apologized softly moving her foot to the next. Kakri swayed again and attempted to regain her footing but slid off position just so much.
Click.
Kakri quickly shifted and put her foot in the correct place and felt the coldness of metal as she swayed trying to regain her balance. She managed to turn just enough to see giant spikes that intertwined in the center jutting from both walls. “I think we just saw what these do.”
“We are almost out thankfully.” Liz took a step forward to where carpet disappeared from the stone floor. “This might be an issue.”
“What,” Kakri cocked her head to see over Liz’s shoulder then looked down and her face fell. The carpet was folded over as though something had kicked it but as a result it obscured where the next switches were. “Terrific. This game of his keeps getting better and better.”
“Well- it appears beyond this we are clear at least for a little bit once we are past this last piece.”
“You go; I’ll ride the breeze and be over in a flash.”
“Alright then,” Liz nodded and focused on the path ahead. “Ready…go!” She took the step and Kakri instantly launched into the air. The force activated a portion of the switches behind her as she used the same trick she had on the creature in the library. She pushed past as Liz hit the switch in her hurry to get across the rest of the carpet. Behind her more of the metal spikes came at one another, this time from both the sides and above. In the safe zone Kakri retook her form and pulled Liz farther away from the danger though most had already past. “It appears,” Liz sighed, “That we will have to find another way out.”
“Won’t that be fun?”
The corridor went down a little ways and then fell mostly in shadow once more. Liz and Kakri exchanged a nervous glance. “What now?” Liz asked. “Is he here waiting?”
“I doubt that, right now I think he’s more interested in seeing things from a distance. He only helped out that creature in the library because I was tiring it out.”
“So, do too well and he wants to stop it. Otherwise he is content to see you struggle.”
“Pretty much.” Kakri sighed and shook her head. “Maybe I should go ahead, I have a feeling that we are nearing the end of this, at least where the Esaira is.”
“Why go alone?” Liz demanded. “That is what he wants, is it not?”
“I’m a goddess,” Kakri said. “I doubt he will try to kill me, it is you and Terra he has no feelings of compassion for. It is you two I am most worried about.”
“It becomes clear,” Liz murmured. “When you and I met you were there to bully me into keeping the throne, why?”
“To protect a future I knew was coming,” Kakri whispered. “Your father was known as the Great Uniter, before him the Eiren race were as isolated as they were before your adventure. When he married your mother and assisted the Eire with their problem it changed.”
“What problem?”
“The first sign of the mistake.”
Liz waited for her to elaborate but Kakri remained silent. “Still, I am not my father and in fact could be the worst guide for this realm. Why get me to stay?”
“For this exact conversation, Ahiel doesn’t realize it but that is your strength. You question and doubt, for all its troubles it makes you not act on the other things like greed or power when it so easy to do so. You are good in heart and that is what this realm needs, it is what Milinna noticed when you met, what the other leaders among your towns and cities noticed as wel.” Kakri took Liz’s hands. “With all that you will lead Segennya to a bright future, a future it should have had long ago had Ahiel and the mistake not happened. It is that, I need to protect.”
Liz looked at the goddess confused; she spoke as though the mistake and Ahiel weren’t the same and Ahiel said the death of her father was someone else’s fault. There were still unanswered questions and she intended to be there when the end came so she could ask them. “We need to protect it,” she said at last.
“You’re staying here.”
“No. Terra is my friend and if you were not before you definitely are now. I will not let my friends risk their lives for me.” Liz released her.
Ahiel’s laughter crackled overhead. “Touching moment, well, you seemed to have pieced so much together.” The shadows grew but lacked that oppressive burden they had felt in the maze. “I suppose you forgot all about your supposed friend being the Esaira’s plaything, so quick to forget if whoever is not directly in front of them.”
“No!” Liz cried.
“Do not fall for his tricks,” Kakri said. “Outright killing is not his style; the Esaira is probably under direct orders to not touch her until we are there as well.”
“You sound so certain. But how do you know?” Ahiel asked almost lazily.
“You have a certain style Ahiel, a murderer you are not. If you were you would have just been done with whatever caused this ages ago instead of setting this elaborate trap for the possibility of it being sprung.”
Liz took a step forward taking Kakri’s arm, “Enough of this. No doubt we will see you.” She charged into the shadow, dragging Kakri along with her.
The shadows lessened slightly as they rounded a corner and the whole atmosphere seemed a lot lighter. Kakri looked around a bit alarmed as she saw spider webs hanging quite visibly in the corners. “We’re getting close now.”
Liz glanced up next to her. “Indeed it seems we are. Think he will stay away for now?”
“More than likely.”
“I thought you said someone would notice soon what he was doing.”
Kakri shrugged. “They will soon enough I imagine, right now though he has to be careful so I doubt a lot is being revealed.”
Liz looked around and critically eyed a corner where a beam was overhead as they passed. A large web hung from it looking particularly ominous in the light. “This place is giving me the creeps,” she confessed. “Reminds me too much of some hidden areas we discovered shortly after we took over the palace. It looked like a mad mage’s laboratory.”
Another closed door loomed ahead; it looked different than the others, almost like the dungeon doors though it was solid. It hung from large hinges that looked even blacker than they were due to the light. A large knob waited for one of them to turn it next to a hole that drew Kakri’s eye to it. Going closer she examined it, at first glance it just an opening barely wide enough for a finger to fit into. Kakri looked up at Liz and indicated wordlessly to the knob, Liz nodded and she gave it a turn. It refused to move. Wondering if time had taken its toll despite the use of the area or Ahiel meant it to be difficult to turn she gave it a good twist. It still refused to even give in the slightest.
“It’s either truly stuck or simply locked,” Kakri made a rude noise.
Liz took a step back and examined the door at large while Kakri examined the opening. As her fingers skimmed it there was a mechanical noise as a piece of glass jutted out from the door, locking into position as though waiting for something to be placed on it. “Kakri,” Liz called, drawing her attention away from it. “Look at this.”
Kakri took a step back and looked where Liz pointed. Slightly faded there was some sort of writing along the edges of the door casing. “The light is horrible though,” Kakri said turning and frowning at the nearest torch. “What are the chances of this causing trouble?”
“High,” Liz said then she quickly raced over to a nearby table, turning it over and breaking off a leg. “Surely my ancestors will forgive a broken piece of furniture for something like this.”
Kakri smiled and took it from her holding it up to the flames. For several minutes it refused to do more than smoke heavily. While they waited for it to catch light Kakri handed it back to Liz examining the nearby wall closely. “This is odd,” she said squinting.
“What?”
“It’s in an old form of your common language, changed ages ago. It’s basically a warning for thieves or those that would attempt to be one.”
“What does it warn about?”
“The dangers of the passages to and from here. Even if this place is reached apparently one still has to go through their own nightmares to get out, the common fears that most everyone has.”
“Well the ones we faced are made by Ahiel. So what are they referring to?”
Kakri’s brow furrowed in concentration. “The spikes…chance and death. The prison, while a more practical purpose is loss of freedom. I think though those were the only parts of the path they refer to. The others seem too off to be part of it.”
“What about the maze?”
“It might have been there,” Kakri winced as the leg of the table finally exploded into flame bathing their faces in a bright light. “But Ahiel did some improvements to it. If it is part of their design I would say it symbolizes the unknown and probably was more for confusion than anything.”
They turned back to the door and Liz raised their makeshift torch. The words were in the same runes as the wall. “Roughly,” Kakri translated. “Those of the blood can enter and claim what is theirs.”
“How can it determine that?”
Kakri’s eyes fell back to the door; the glass glinted in the fresh light. “That!” She pulled Liz toward the door a bit more excitedly. “Just a bit crude though.”
Liz frowned knowing what was expected, she handed their light to Kakri and shut her eyes as she had above. In moments a dagger appeared in her hand and she slid the tip across her palm tipping it to allow some droplets to hit the glass.
“You’re getting better,” Kakri approved.
There was a loud clicking noise as the lock disengaged. Kakri reached for the knob while Liz ripped some of the cloth from her skirt to staunch the wound she made. The knob turned easily and the door swung open with a loud bang.
“Well let’s see where this brings us.” Kakri said steeling herself for more hidden secrets.