I reach for my travel bag and sling the strap over my shoulder, letting it fall familiarly against my hip. When everything is organized and there’s nothing left to do, I finally look at Golem and give him a small smile before reaching for his jar.
“Until we meet on the other side.”
Golem smiles as I twist the pieces together and carefully place the container in my bag. I reach for the two maroon cloths I stole from dinner last night and cover them over the jar. By the time I look up, Golem is nowhere to be found, so I take a deep breath and head out the room.
Cal is waiting for me on the other side of the door when I open it. His broad shoulders and auburn hair are a welcoming sight, but it’s the person standing next to him that has me stopping in my tracks and catching my breath. His brown eyes immediately lock on mine, his cool and calm features nodding in quiet greeting.
“We have come to escort you, Lady Alexis.”
I look at the two men in front of me with deep appreciation.
“Thank you,” I murmur softly.
Cal does his best to act nonchalant as he shrugs. “Another day, another staircase.”
I give him a half laugh and close the door behind me, the three of us walking in silence as we take off down the hall. We descend down the staircase and come out next to one of the pillars in the throne room where a small group of familiar faces already wait.
Prince McQuoid and Princess Clair stand in the middle of the room with Alba and the Prince’s tiger sitting patiently at their sides. The two ofthem are engaged in a small conversation with Holis and Mana, all four turning their heads the moment they hear us enter.
Clair looks from me to Prince Keane and then from me to Cal, her red lips grinning as she takes a step forward and I drop in a curtsy.
“Have you eaten?” the Princess asks.
Her hair is twisted in the front again with the rest of the red length flowing down her back in a large braid. She’s wearing a grey satin dress that has intricate red threading throughout, the stitching taking on the form of small tarragon wings that fly along her body.
“No, Your Highness.”
“Clair, please,” she smiles, blue eyes twinkling, “and good. We can stop on the way. If you will all follow us…”
Clair turns to the opposite end of the room as McQuoid takes up at her side. The Prince and Princess lead our group towards a dark corner with their snow tigers, while Holis, Mana and Cal follow behind. Keane and I take up the rear and pass between two dark pillars towards what I would have thought would be a dead-end wall, except when we reach the non-existing wall, there’s a decent-sized tunnel that leads into the mountain instead.
The corridor is dark and chilly, the stone walls bare of any light that would give away its placement. If Clair hadn’t led us in this direction from the main room, I would have never noticed the tunnel was there at all.
I shrug on my cloak and follow down the dark tunnel until we reach a single torch that’s illuminated at the end. Prince McQuoid reaches for the flame and pulls it off the wall, then turns to the rest of us so we can see his face.
“The path will narrow here,” he warns the group, “make sure you stay to the right of the mountain at all times. If you need, keep your fingers against the wall so as not to stray from it.”
We all nod and watch him walk with his tiger through the archway before he takes a sharp right into the darkness. Princess Clair follows after him with Alba, then Holis and Mana. The path is indeed narrow so Cal takes a stance in front of me and disappears into the dark. His huge form is just barely visible as I follow behind with Keane bringing up the rear.
“Just watch my flames,” Prince McQuoid announces from the front, “let them be your guide.”
I slant my head higher and peer towards the fire ahead of us, following in its general direction as my hand brushes against the stone at my right. I think we’re in a mountain cave of some sorts, with everything cool and quiet and not another soul in sight. We walk for a long while until eventually McQuoid lowers the torch in front of him and the flames hit the side of the wall. The action causes another torch to ignite a ways down, that fire setting off a chain reaction along the mountain wall, with each torch lighting another until the full right side is illuminated in an intricate path.
I gasp when I look to my left, feeling Keane’s hand reach out to my waist as he stops my startle. With everything now illuminated, I can see thatthe left side of the mountain is an endless pit, its depths so deep that I can’t fathom what lies beneath. The sudden realization hits me that we’ve been walking on this narrow path the whole time, not knowing that our left dropped into an endless abyss.
I turn back to Keane with wide eyes and watch as he gives a small smile in confidence, his gaze letting me know that he’s been looking after me and was aware of the drop since the beginning. I make a mental note to ask him if Discerni have better sight in the dark than humans, then think that it must be true as him and his Lords were able to navigate the path to Fumagalli easily.
Cal bounds forward with a frown and follows the rest of the group down the path of torches. I take a steady breath and follow behind him, our group traveling along the side of the mountain for another long stretch until the torches finally make a hard right and curve out of sight. The moment I make the same sharp turn around the wall I immediately stop in my tracks. My eyes widen on a bustling city of flames and crystals, the sight completely stopping my heart and taking my breath away.
Deal Elder Father and Mother.
Homes have been built into the mountain on either side of us with various rooms and windows sticking out of the stone. Their walls are alight with thousands of crystal lanterns, while hundreds of twisting staircases weave between them. Each step connects a different building until they all start to meld together as a city might, the rocky residences stacking on top of eachother and angling high towards the mountain peak with no end in sight. There has to be enough residences for a couple thousand people, roughly the size of one of our smaller cities in Knowledge, and indeed the patrons of this city are scattered across the mountain walls, either chatting in their homes or taking the numerous stairs to visit different buildings.
Clair smiles and walks towards the city carved into the mountain, the path at our feet now expanding into a wide road between the two cavernous walls that host the homes. It’s then that I realize we’re standing in the middle of a gorge, with the road at our front large enough to allow for horses and carts to pass by.
Vendors and shops rest along the road below the homes, their businesses providing a cozy ambiance of warmth at ground level that’s even complete with little courtyards. I stare in awe at the full expanse of everything around us, my brows lifting at the hundreds of travelers who’re walking around as if they were in a normal town.
“The rumors are true,” Keane notes as he moves to stand next to me.
