XVI
The rhythmic footsteps created clouds of dust beneath our foot. At last, we arrived at the first sinkhole. It was grand, and the diminutive gaping hole above was covered by a blinding white moon. The clouds had finally cleared tonight. The cavern ceiling stretched meters high; perhaps we were under a small mountain.
In the center of the cenote lay flattened logs that encircled a small pit of timber and coal. Around the log benches were twenty-some tent like structures, structures constructed of flaps of leather skin sewed together and pulled tightly by wooden stakes hammered strongly into the soft pebbled ground.
“Here at last,” Roslyn sighed, stretching her arms. “Well, take a seat and make yourselves at home. Arcanor, you can prepare that portal anytime.”
Roslyn proceeded to sit on a nearby log, unpacking her sack and re-examining the war scrolls. Arcanor claimed a tent nearest the entrance, taking a short rest. Glo and Foku sat down on a log, taking a break as well, and the other men and women unpacked their few belongings, claiming a marquee for themselves.
I had brought virtually nothing with me except for my two blades, which would always remain by my side. None of us had been fully prepared for this long journey, and if we returned to Sanoctuis to gather our belongings, we would have wasted more time than we could have afforded. Walking up to Roslyn, I sat down beside her. She looked up at me and smiled, continuing to unpack her bag. There was a strange looking boulder in the center of the pit, a deep slit intentionally carved on its smooth surface. There was also a long wooden spindle and a worn-out fireboard in front of the pit, so I proceeded to start a fire.
“Ulterium! Stop that!”
I looked up, seeing an unfamiliar face. He was one of Tarsus’ men.
“Allow me.”
Pushing both his hands toward the thin pile of timber, a small burst of flames leaped out and devoured the wood from his palms. The pit crackled, growing into a greater flame.
“Pyrrhon Sumnor, at your service.” He gave me a quick wink and returned to his tent. Near pyromancer, Tarsus’ words echoed in my head as I recalled who he was.
“The Pyro Faction, I presume?” I asked sarcastically, remembering where he sat at our dinner table.
“I’m a descendant of the Ignis Ordo of the Fire Faction. I suppose I’m of noble blood as well.”
“Really?” I questioned, partially in awe.
“He’s also been one of our guild members for the longest time now,” Tarsus spoke, overhearing our conversation.
“I’ve heard of the Ignis Ordo. Lord Pyr--”
“Overlord,” Roslyn quickly interrupted, eavesdropping beside me.
“Overlord,” I corrected, glancing at her. “Overlord Pyrrhus was the head of the Order, was he not?”
“He still is. But I suppose he’s broke the code of honour, now that he’s gone corrupted and all by that Tyrannust. Anyone who breaks the code is automatically banished from the Order and the faction, but that’s not likely for him if he’s truly become as powerful as Tyrannust is from that dark magic, and since he’s also the leader of the Order. Come to think of it, I don’t even know what has happened to the Order now. Have they become corrupted as well?”
“Hold on, are you saying the Ignis Ordo still exists?”
“I haven’t been in contact much ever since Pyrrhus was crowned as Lord of the Fire Faction after his father’s death. But Lord Pyrrhus is still very likely to be leading the Order.”
Roslyn rolled her eyes, mouthing the word ‘Overlord’ to Pyrrhon.
“All I know is the Ignis Ordo was a strong clan, alike a guild. It was started by Pyrrhus when he was still a prince, and the Order recruited forty-seven commanders to help effectuate the law. The Ordo is probably still here, unless Pyrrhus disbanded the group, or even worse, corrupted the group. But if he did, chances are, I’d get the information too.”
“So if, just if, we could get someone to go to Pyrrhus’ island, we may be able to recruit the Ignis Ordo to help us?”
“If we make it, yes. It’s part of the code of honour, to aid all for the good of the nation, even when it means self-sacrifice.”
“Glo! Foku! Come here!” Arcanor shouted tiredly, approaching me.
Both guilds exited their tents, taking a seat on the log benches to watch Arcanor at work. There were no Night Guild members who could do the works of Arcanor, and clearly, they were all fascinated. Foku and Glo walked up to Arcanor, who was standing near the flaming pit.
“Alright, I can’t make this portal big, and I can’t hold it open that long either. You know what happens if only half your body makes it through, so I need you both to be careful.”
“What happens?” Roslyn whispered to me.
“Well, it’s a portal,” I whispered back. “If the portal closes and you’re only halfway through, well, at least half of you made it to your destination.”
Roslyn turned away, face pale and horrified at the thought. I gave a small chuckle.
“It won’t hurt, it’s instant death,” I added on. “It’ll only be a sight for sore eyes on both sides.”
I intertwined my fingers with hers, pulling her closer to me while everyone was focused on Arcanor. She leaned on my chest, looked up at me and smiled.
“The portal’s going to open on the ground here,” Arcanor spoke, indicating a spot with his hands. “This means you’ll be falling from the sky and hopefully landing into a canopy,” Arcanor continued. “ But I mean the whole island’s basically a forest, so what are the chances you both won’t? Anyways, the portal will stay open for around two seconds - I’ll try my best. That means, whoever goes first, the next must immediately jump in right after. You’ve heard of the drill. Keep your arms tight to your side and stay vertical since this portal is going to be extremely narrow. Now I need you both to breathe in; I’m aware this is your first or second time portal-jumping.”
“Just give me a second...” Foku said, glancing at me with a terrified look.
“I think he heard you,” Roslyn whispered.
“Don’t worry, you’ll both do fine. All you gotta do is take a deep breath, jump in straight as a stick, and close your eyes. You’ll do fine, trust me. Are you ready?”
“Wait!” Roslyn yelled suddenly, standing up. “I almost forgot! Take these maps with you, since you two would make it to the king first. Tell him that I’m keeping one just to navigate out of these caverns.”
Roslyn handed Glo the sack of scrolls, taking one out and slipping it into a pocket.
“My messenger ring is also inside that pouch, so if you show it to Fulcan, he’ll have full assurance that I am safe and with company.”
“Will do,” Glo spoke. “I’m going to miss you all,” she added, looking at both guilds, then me and Tarsus specifically.
“Alright, are you both ready? Take a deep breath. Now...on the count of three...”
Glo stepped onto the area Arcanor had indicated, with Foku directly behind her.
“Close your eyes, and don’t move until I say ‘three’. You know the drill.”
The two stood like petrified statues, eyes tightly shut and breath held.
“Remember to brace for impact, and -”
“Just go!” Foku shouted, face pale.
“Three!”
The two sank quickly into the ground, trailing a loud scream that shook the cavern walls. Quickly, the portals snapped shut, cutting off two distant cries. Somehow, two portals appeared beneath them instead of one. Arcanor collapsed to the ground, eyes closed on his weary face.
“I... I...did it. I did it,” he smiled weakly.
“Yes, you’re getting good at this,” I responded, crouching down beside him. “I thought you said they had to jump.”
“I realized making two portals directly underneath them wouldn’t stress them out as much as jumping into one.”
“Well I don’t know how you made two portals, but you’re growing stronger day by day. First, a massive portal that carried four men through, and now two portals at once? That’s impressive.”
“Not as good as Zor. He can make a single portal that leads to multiple destinations at once with ease.”
“He’s been infused with darkness, but your strength is genuine. Now take care of yourself and rest. I’ll wake you up tomorrow when we start the journey again.”
Arcanor sauntered towards his tent, immediately heading for a deep slumber.
“Wish them both the best of luck,” Roslyn spoke to me. Turning to the remaining guildsmen, she directed them to sleep.
“Rest well; the itinerary tomorrow appears to be walking, walking, and a bit more walking through tunnels and more tunnels. It’ll be fun.”
“Not when we won’t have food tomorrow,” Tarsus spoke, causing some to stop in their steps.
“Food will be provided in the morning. In case you guys somehow split up, just remember that there is always a hidden supply of food in every cenote. You’ll just have to look for it. And I’m not preparing any of it tonight. It’s way past midnight.”
Satisfied, Tarsus and the rest turned around to enter their tents again.
“Alright, good night Roslyn. Counting on you tomorrow,” I said, giving her a firm pat on the back. “You’d make Fulcan proud.”
“Stay with me, Ulterium,” she quickly responded, grabbing my hand. “Just for a bit. I...I wanna talk with you.”
Everyone had retreated back to their tents now, and a wave of distant snores had begun.
“Prokun, when I first met you, I...you...”
I smiled at her. She was blushing, glancing back and forth but not towards me. She was still in my arms, her small body shielded by my embracing arms.
“You don’t have to say anything,” I whispered, a bit embarrassed that others still awake could potentially eavesdrop, especially Tarsus.
“Prokun, I...”
I stood up and pulled her into a nearby tunnel, dark and far enough to conceal us.
“I love you, Roslyn.”
I bent down and kissed her forehead. She wrapped her arms around my waist and tilted her head up until her thin lips pressed against mine.
“I...I’ve never said that before, to anyone,” I confessed. “I-”
“I love you too, Prokun.”
Her gentle breath brushed against my neck as she pressed against me.
“When you left the castle that day, I couldn’t take my mind off of you for the longest time.”
“I tried coming back every now and then, but I never got to see you again.”
“The king sent me on all kinds of diplomatic missions across the nation, but of all the men I’ve met, there was no one like you. I haven’t stopped thinking about you ever since. I guess I forgot how good you looked when we re-met,” she teased with embarrassment.
“When all of this is over, we’ll settle in a small house on the edge of Tenebris. It’ll just be you and me. I promise.”
“It’ll be you and me and two more,” she replied, softly giggling under her breath. “And you’ll make them proud of you.”
We held on to each other for a little longer. At that moment, nothing could separate us, nothing could intervene. No power nor authority, no flood nor fire, no war nor darkness.
We returned to the benches by the flickering flames at the center of the sinkhole. Her face was dimly outlined under the dying embers of the slow fire. She smiled bashfully, burrowing her face into my stomach as she lied across the log.
“Get some rest, Roslyn,” I whispered, caressing her forehead. “We have quite a journey tomorrow.”
“You too, soldier. I don’t want my Prokun tired for tomorrow.”
I smiled lightly, stroking her flowing hair. I knew we were meant to be, I knew we were just meant to be. From the moment I first saw her…
I remained on the flattened log, gazing up at the stars for a little while as Roslyn drifted off on top of me, her thin body mesmerizingly rising up and down as she fell fast asleep. I lied down beneath her gentle body, dozing off on the wooden bench with both arms wrapped around the girl I planned to soon propose to, falling into a deep sleep. Everything was perfect.
The first arrow pierced my right side as I jolted awake in pain. The fire in the center had burned out, and the entire cenote was pitch black. The only light that entered the cave was from the dim stars that hung miles and miles above us.
“Siege!” I cried out instinctively as another arrow flew down, scraping my arm. I sat up and carried the awakening Roslyn in both arms, scrambling blindly away from the open hole in the ceiling. Placing her down in an empty tunnel, I pulled out the barbed arrow in my arm and yelled.
“Wake up! We're under attack!”
It wasn't long before all had evacuated their tents, instinctively finding their path towards the wall of the great sinkhole for coverage. Roslyn quickly took in the situation and sank into the shadows, looking for a solution. A volley of arrows blanketed our camp, piercing through leather tents and fixing deeply into the soft ground.
The pitch black cavern was suddenly lit by a small flame, illuminating Pyrrhon’s visage behind the weak light.
“Put it out!” I yelled immediately, crawling to another position before giving myself away.
A wave of arrows darted towards Pyrrhon before his flame was extinguished. From the darkness where he once stood, a howl of pain followed.
Pyrrhon’s short burst of flame was enough to see what was happening. Distorted men in dark armour were dropping into the cenote through ropes, fine bows in hand with arrows nocked. There were probably over fifty and counting men, a continuous flow of soldiers sliding down the many ropes thrown over and down the small opening of the sinkhole. Nevertheless, their armours resembled the exact likeness of the invaders in Fulcan’s palace a few days ago.
“It’s the Legion and there's too many of them! We need to go, now!”
Pulling out my daggers, I slashed blindly at the larger shadows, careful not to injure any men and women on our side.
There was a faint voice in the distance.
“Over here! The tunnel exit is here!” Roslyn cried out.
Suddenly, a great blaze of flames spewed upwards, and the rim of the cenote, where grass and shrubs grew, was lit on fire. The whole cave was faintly illuminated, revealing the Legion descending upon us like an unending swarm of locusts.
In the corner crouched Pyrrhon, arrows fixed into his chest and body. He was barely breathing, yet strong enough to summon the last of his energy to light up the cavern.
“Go first! I’ll come right after!” Tarsus yelled at us, hurrying us along. He was bent down beside Pyrrhon, fending off incoming attacks and arrows with his spinning weapon.
“Get to Roslyn!” I yelled.
Most of the guild members immediately ran towards the other side of the cenote to where Roslyn was standing, where we were supposed to begin our journey five hours later.
I stayed behind, defending the entrance while other members crawled into the significantly lower tunnel. The Legion archers started falling down before my eyes, one by one. I stood there in awe momentarily. In the corner of the cenote, high above ground level, was hidden a marksman in a dark cowl.
“Go! I’m almost out of arrows!” The ranger yelled, the accent-peppered voice belonging to no other but Sylvan. Almost reloading his longbow instantly, every shot fired was fixed precisely into a Legion footman, usually in the skull as well.
I couldn’t go yet. I couldn’t leave anyone behind. Quickly, I raced around the falling Legion soldiers, towards Tarsus. I reached the area where Pyrrhon once laid, but nothing remained there except a stain of blood that soaked the dusty floor.
“Over here!” Tarsus shouted. I turned around, and Tarsus was darting towards the entrance of the tunnel with Pyrrhon tailing him weakly.
There was no time to think. The fire was quickly fading, and the sinkhole grew dimmer by the second.
I looked around and spotted Arcanor, still asleep under a ripped leather covering. With no hesitation, I sprinted towards him and picked him up, carrying him over my shoulders.
“Sylvan! You gotta get down now!”
After the last couple of soldiers fell to his bow, the mysterious ranger hung his longbow on his shoulder and shifted around the rocks towards us. I lost sight of him after a short while, but it wasn’t long before he joined the rest of us in the tunnel.
“This won’t work! They’ll just keep coming!” Roslyn shouted. “We need to block them off!”
The next wave of Legion men started their way down the ropes, finding their way towards us.
“Prokun, here!”
Roslyn hastily took out the scroll from her pocket, placing it in my hand. “Promise me that you won’t lose the stone!”
“What are you doing? What stone?”
“You need to trust me. This map has the entire underground system drawn out. Please promise me you’ll make it safely to the king with this scroll!”
“No! You’re coming with us! Let’s go, now!”
“Stop! I need to do this. For you. For all of you. For the king. For Grozorg!”
Tarsus grabbed her arm before she continued.
“Roslyn. Sorry for everything earlier. You’re a brave lad. You betcha Fulcan would be proud of you.”
Roslyn gave a weak smile before pulling away from Tarsus’ grip.
“Once they come, you need to keep running. Go down this tunnel and turn to the first left, and camp in that dugout until the flames disperse.
“Flames?”
“Go now!”
Most of the guild members headed towards the dugout, following Tarsus. Roslyn embraced me abruptly, throwing both arms tightly around my waist and pulling herself up. Her soft lips pressed against mine, and tears streaming down her face.
“Come with me, Roslyn!”
“This is the only way. I’m sorry, Ulterium!”
“What about...what about everything?”
“There’s...there’s no time.”
“But we were meant to be-”
“Promise you won’t forget me.”
She gave me a final embrace as she pulled herself away and whispered her last three words before dashing back into the cenote.
I love you.
Roslyn approached the center of the sinkhole and pulled out her short dagger, poised motionless on her toes, looking upwards. The Legion continued dropping down, surrounding her. Swiftly, she evaded a soldier’s arrow and sunk her blade into the center of the smoking fire pit, into the strange slit on the stone, creating a makeshift lever. Immediately, the inscriptions on her royal blade illuminated brightly, lighting up the entire cavern again.
As the Legion filled the cavern, Roslyn placed both hands on the short hilt of the blade and pulled back and downwards.
All at once, the entire sinkhole was filled with a great flame, and the blaze pervaded every tunnel. I bolted down the hall and swung leftwards as the fast approaching flame licked the tip of my cloak, joining the huddled guild members. Instantly after came a trembling earthquake, shaking the walls of the tunnel and rumbling the soft earthen ground. The whole tunnel was filled with dust, and then, there was nothing. The entire tunnel faded to a pitch black.
Silence filled the clay halls.
I was unaware of it at first, but tears started to trickle down my face. The girl I had met, the girl I had known, the girl I had fallen in love with, all in an instant, was gone. And there was no way of bringing her back. There was no way I could bring her back.
Roslyn was dead.
I didn’t know what to say. Everything just happened so...suddenly. One second she was with me, and the next...
“Torches are out,” I spoke, clearing my throat. “Without Roslyn...without Roslyn, they won't light up automatically anymore.”
Pyrrhon lifted his head, breathed a weak breath, and lit the sequential torches dimly with a small orange blaze. He fell to the ground, and the surrounding guild members immediately knelt down to pull out the arrows from his body and tend his wounds.
“Where to?” Tarsus broke the silence.
I took out Roslyn’s parchment, quickly wiping a tear away when a solid white gemstone rolled out and onto the dusty floor.
Bending down, I picked up the gemstone, and the tunnel was immediately reignited a blazing bright white.
“What is that?” Tarsus inquired, taking a step forward.
I shoved the entire parchment into Kadava’s hands. I couldn’t do it anymore.
“Hold on...something’s written on this parchment.”
He unravelled the old brown paper, revealing a complex system of tunnels. In the bottom right hand corner, words were messily scrawled, perhaps by Fulcan.
“‘Roslyn,’” he began, “‘you must retrieve the white stone to me at all costs. The stone wields immense power and is the last of its type. The stone I carried has been destroyed, and without the stone, we won’t be able to get back. I have placed it in the hidden vault behind my bed. Make haste and bring me the stone.’”
“What? Why didn’t she just give it to Foku and Glo to bring it to the king then? Did she forget or something?” Tarsus asked.
She wouldn’t have forgotten. I knew she wouldn’t have forgotten, I knew that girl had a purpose for keeping it, but I couldn’t think of one.
“We...we have to hurry now.” I ushered.
“The map gets a bit smudged here, but I’m almost certain we have to take a right after going down this tunnel.”
“Take charge,” Tarsus replied. “We’ll be following.”
“Keep your eyes open,” Kadava instructed. “That won’t be the last of the Legion.”
We exited the dugout and continued down the path, following the directions of the map.