While I was thankful that Prastian, Jastillian, Demay, and Behast visited me and gave me news, they were nervous to come into Premier’s former tower,
and they were anxious to leave for Southern Shala. Their patience wouldn’t last forever.
There was one other who delivered news about Krystal—Ardimus. “How is she?” I asked him. I rose from the piles of books I had scattered on the floor. Everything Premier had used had been removed from the tower, so I had no furniture.
Ardimus looked as exhausted as I was, since he was always with Krystal. “She lives,” he said, “but she won’t come out of her coma. During the night, her condition worsens. She screams, tossing and turning uncontrollably. The potions the healers brew have little effect. Only that necklace you gave her does. It flares, and she’s calm again. Until she’s at it a few hours later. Her outbreaks are fewer and less intense as time passes.”
“I wish there was something I could do.
It’s all my fault. Journeying into the Wastelands was one thing, but bringing down the Great Barrier was another. If I hadn’t gone into the nexus in the first place, none of this would have happened.”
Ardimus stepped around one of the piles of books. “You did what you had to do to at the time to save Jastillian and Demay. The princess would understand that.”
I shrugged. Were their lives worth more than Krystal’s? “Ardimus, you know the princess better than I. Do you think me being here is...wise?”
“I heard what happened in the marketplace. It’s wise that you’ve not left the castle grounds since then.”
I nodded. “So Prastian’s told me. He also told me that being in the castle isn’t helping matters. Nobles are trying to get me banished, but King Furlong won’t make a decision until Krystal wakes up...if she ever does.”
I sighed and scratched my face. “I don’t know what to do, Ardimus. I feel like I’ve been nothing but a blight to Krystal and her people. Maybe they’re right. Maybe I should go and leave her in peace. What do you think?”
Ardimus stared at me in silence while he considered this. “I think you need to talk to the princess before you do anything. I’ve known her highness since she was a little girl, and this is the happiest I’ve seen her in a long time. If you left without saying goodbye, she’d be devastated.”
“But do you think we could ever be together?”
“This, I do not know. I have lived here and served Alexandria for many years, but I am not from this land. Her people are filled with pride, like those of most great cities. They love their princess and king more than in most countries I’ve seen. That’s a good sign, but if someone harms or threatens the royal family, the people will be out for blood.”
Ardimus allowed himself a small smile. “I know you mean no harm to this city, but I don’t know if her people will ever accept you. You are a wizard.” He paused. “Maybe if Premier had never come into our lives, or if harm had not befallen the princess, they would have accepted you, but now...”
I stared at one of the open books, but never saw past the words. An idea struck me. I glanced back up at Ardimus and asked, “Do you know where Alexandria’s vault is? The one that’s guarded magic over the centuries? If I had access to it, I might be able to cure the princess.”
“Sorry, I do not. As much as the princess trusts me, I’m not allowed there. However, Alexandria
buries
her secrets deep, Hellsfire. Very deep.”
I wondered what he meant, but nodded when I finally realized it. “Thank you, Ardimus.”
“Be careful, Hellsfire.”
“I will.”
I waited until the middle of the night when the keep was quiet before I enacted my hasty plan. There would be only one place the vault would be—in hidden tunnels underneath the city. When we had retaken Alexandria, we had used those tunnels to enter the keep. There were few alive who knew about them. Krystal had guided us through the maze of dead ends and traps. Now, I would be alone.
I could have used Jastillian and Prastian with me. Their heightened senses would have been invaluable, but I couldn’t ask them. If I got caught, things would be disastrous for them and their cities. I had to do it alone.
I returned the books to the library late at night, when only three people were there. I slowly put books back until I was the only one in the library. I went to the bookshelf we had used to enter and I stared at a small group of stones on the floor. They had to be pressed in a sequential order for the bookshelf to open and reveal the secret passageway. I closed my eyes, trying to remember Krystal’s motions all those months ago. I bent down and pressed the stones. Nothing happened.
I continued to push down on the six stones, but there were too many combinations. I wished I had paid attention to the princess’s movements, but I was too busy worrying about the Wasteland creatures and Premier that night.
I mumbled a curse, worried that I would be stopped here. I tried again, and finally the bookshelf pushed outward and slid to the side. I glanced around to see if anyone had heard the noise. Seeing no one, I slipped into the hole behind it.
I pushed another stone near the opening and the hole sealed up. I turned around and peered into the darkness. I took a deep breath, remembering that I was doing this for Krystal. I had to cure her.
A small fireball ignited in my hand, illuminating the shadows enough so that I could see. I crept down the stone corridor, moving in silence and keeping my magic small so I wouldn’t be noticed.
I retraced the way we had originally entered and bypassed spy holes in the walls. Eventually, the corridor slanted down under the keep, and the stale air became colder and heavier.
At the bottom of the incline was a small wooden door. I knew that if I went through that door and continued, I would find my way to the catacombs under Alexandria. I also knew there were deadly traps waiting down there. Without Krystal, I could set off those traps and die. She had once said there were no traps in the keep.
I paused at the door and glanced down the corridor to my right. I had no idea where it would lead. Was the vault somewhere under the keep, or in the city? Would they have kept the items where they could never be taken, or where they might be accessed in case of an emergency?
I made my decision and turned right, knowing that it would take me longer to go and explore the catacombs underneath the city.
I slunk along in the near darkness as I navigated the passageways. Once I stopped and peeked through of one of the spyholes beneath my feet. Twenty feet below was a guard. I left him and pressed on.
At the end of the corridor, I reached a dead end. On the floor was another small, discolored stone. I leaned against the wall and listened. No sound traveled through it. I put out my fireball and pushed the stone. The wall opened up to darkness, its tiny scraping noise blasting through my ears. I held my breath, fearful of anyone hearing it. I exhaled in relief when no one shouted at me.
I poked my head through the opening. When my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I gasped at what I saw. A woman and a man cradled each other while sleeping on the lofty bed, their naked bodies pressed together for warmth. I left the bedroom and went back into the passageway, sealing the door.
I back-tracked and took another route. In the middle of the corridor was another stone. After I opened that one up and stepped through, I banged my head on an overhanging pan. I cursed myself when I realized I was in the kitchens. I slipped back into the passageway before someone saw me.
I spent the next two hours searching the secret passageways. My time was running out. When I put my ear against the walls, I began to hear servants scurrying about, getting the day ready for their masters.
I hurried to get back to the library before dawn broke. I was still about an hour away, and if I was lucky, there would be no one there this early in the morning. When I was four corridors away, a tiny bit of light shone near my knees. When I bent down, the opening was bigger than I thought. I cursed myself. How many other openings like this had I missed in the darkness?
I peeked inside the small hole and saw a rat scurrying away from me. I placed my hand on the top edge and glanced back down toward to the library. If I searched this place quickly, I could make it back in thirty minutes.
I squeezed myself into the hole and shimmied along. I ignited another fireball and focused on my breathing. I hated being in cramped places, but I remembered why I was doing this. Krystal.
The small tunnel turned upwards into the keep. I crawled with my forearms. Sweat ran down my face as the small flame in front of me burned. I ignored the spiders crawling by me and went faster. I understood the need for secrecy in having these tunnels, but I didn’t understand the reasoning behind the way they were built. For all I knew, this opened up in the sewers.
The tunnel leveled out again and grew brighter. Dawn’s light shone at the end. I had wasted too much time. I couldn’t risk going back to the library in case there were people there. Whatever was at the end of this tunnel, I was going to have to face it.
I extinguished my flame and crept to the end. Two pairs of feet faced me across from the little hole I peeked out of with the shafts of their pole-arms resting next to them. Guards. They stood, unmoving in front of a door. Whatever they were guarding must be important. This might be what I was looking for.
I had to take the guards out before they noticed me. I gathered in mana to render them unconscious. I inched closer to the end of the tunnel to get a better look at the surroundings. One of the stones beneath me clicked. Pink gas blew into my face from a tiny crack above me. I coughed and summoned wind to blow it away.
The two pairs of feet ran towards me and yelled, “Intruder!” Before I could disperse the gas or crawl backwards, I passed out.
----
My eyes opened to near-darkness, and the world tilted on its side. I blinked and moaned, feeling something heavy attached to me. I struggled to sit up, but shackles bound my wrists and legs. I remembered what Stradus once told me. He had said there were bindings that could be used to contain a wizard’s magic, but I still felt mine. A stench forced its way into my nose and I knew exactly where I was—a dungeon.
I had been in Alexandria’s dungeons before, but never on this side of the door. Thirty feet in front of me, near the dungeon’s stairs, was a burning torch hanging on the wall. I summoned my magic to brighten it. Nothing happened.
I stood up and performed the spell again. Still, nothing happened. I opened my hand to test my magic. A small fireball bloomed. But why couldn’t I perform any magic outside of this cage?
I stepped to the bars, and they glistened with a sheen of enchantment. I tried to shoot my fireball through the cell, but my magic dispersed when it reached the bars. I created more fire in my hand and flared it so I could see.
There were two empty cells on either side of me. These dungeons were small and couldn’t hold more than a dozen people, total. There were no guards. I sighed and sat back against the grime-covered wall. How was I going to get out of this? What was happening upstairs? I stopped my spell. Eventually, the light from the torch burned out, plunging the dungeons into darkness.
A guard eventually came. He relit the torch near the staircase, then plopped a plate of stale bread and mush in front of my cell, along with a tin cup of dirty water. Then he left, ignoring all my questions.
I marked time by the guard’s arrival. Three days passed, and all I could do was think. What surprised me was that I didn’t only think of Krystal. I thought of my home in Sedah, my mother, and of Kathleen, my first love.
Would things have been better had I stayed home and settled down with her? If I had, I might never have unleashed my powers that fateful day. And even if I had, I still could have learned from Stradus how to control them, and then returned home. Krystal wouldn’t be dying, Stradus wouldn’t have died, and I wouldn’t be stuck in a dungeon.
I banged the back of my head against the wall. Assuming I could get out of here, was it too late to return home now? Would Kathleen want me still? I knew she had been with Nathan, my childhood enemy, when I left, but that couldn’t have lasted. I stared at my hands, illuminating the darkness with my fire. There was so much I could do now.
I could control and smother any wildfire. I could make sure we had a bountiful harvest in years of drought. I could make sure wolves couldn’t get the livestock anymore.
If I went back to my old life, I wouldn’t have to worry about watching people I cared about die, about fighting creatures bent on killing me, battling other wizards, or having an entire city hate me. I could worry only about myself, my mother, Kathleen, and my small town.
What were they doing right now? Would they take me back? Maybe I could return, but first I had to leave here.
I passed the time with these thoughts. Krystal’s agony, and the hate-filled looks on the faces of Alexandria’s people, continued to plague me. And I dreamt of dozens of ways I could torture and kill Premier.
“Hellsfire,” a voice said, pulling me out of my slumber. “Hellsfire.”
I opened my eyes and lifted my tired head. The torch was still out, but the cloaked figure carried a candle. He set it down and opened the cell. I sat up, expecting Prastian or Jastillian to have come to get me, but the person was too tall, and clearly human. It might have been Ardimus.
“Hello,” she said, pulling back her hood.
“Krystal?” I asked. “Krystal!”
I wanted to reach out and hug her, but stopped when I remembered what had happened when I last touched her.
“It’s all right,” she said. She closed the distance between us. “Just be careful not to make contact with my skin.”
She slipped under the shackles that bound my wrists and swept me into her arms. We crushed our bodies into an embrace and hung onto each other, afraid to let go. She was alive and well, and that’s all that mattered to me. We stood there, the silence speaking volumes.
We pulled back at the same time, but the lower halves of our bodies were still intertwined.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
She cleared her throat and said, “Yes.”
She lied. Her skin was pale and she had lost a few pounds. Her grip on me moments ago wasn’t as strong as it once was.
She slipped back under the chains, and then the princess’s gloved hand went flying and slapped me hard across the face.
“What was that for?” I said, rubbing my throbbing face.
Krystal’s face firmed. “You’re imprisoned for sneaking around in the castle using our secret passageways. Passageways you shouldn’t have known about in the first place, or ever used again. I’m fighting for your life, Hellsfire. There are those who would see you swinging at the end of a rope both for trespassing and for what you did to me.” I looked down, not daring to meet her fierce eyes. “I’m sorry. I was looking for that magical vault you have so I could help you. The books you had in the library were useless, and it’s too far to return to the White Mountain.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Damn it, Hellsfire! That’s what you were doing? Don’t tell anyone that. It’ll only make things worse. Thank the gods you weren’t anywhere near it.”
“I wasn’t?”
“No, and I’m not going to tell you where it is.”
I threw my hands up in frustration, the chains nearly hitting my face. “I wanted to help you, Krystal! You were in a coma and you weren’t getting better. It was
my
fault you were dying. The healers barred me from you and I had to do something!” I sighed, feeling exhausted. “I would never have forgiven myself if you died because of me. I should never have gone to the Wastelands or brought down the barrier.”