“Mossant? If we push, we might get there before the day is done.”
“Good, I’d like a bed.”
There wasn’t much conversation for the rest of the day. Each of them was dead tired. The inside of Vi’s thighs ached and her fingers had gone numb. They’d prepared for the Waste, but Vi hadn’t packed appropriately for snow and cold.
In Mossant they restocked and slept at an inn for a night. The horses had time to rest and be fed properly. They were warm and safe. It was the best possible thing for them right before their final push to the Caverns.
The main road in and out of Mossant lead to the Great Imperial Way. That was the road they had come in from. But the road they left on was far less maintained.
It was more of a hunting path. Branches reached out for them, trying to snag on their packs and clothes. The overgrowth was annoying and, to Vi, oddly comforting. Had a group of Knights come trudging through, they would’ve left their mark on the frail branches. The absence of any such tracks meant they were still ahead of the Knights—for now.
That night, they laid eyes on the entrance to the Crystal Caverns. They came to a stop at the edge of a ridge. Switchbacks led down to a valley where Vi could see they curved up and around once more to a narrow cliff.
“So, that’s it, then,” Deneya spoke first. Her breath appeared as a cloud in the fading light of day.
“That’s been the cause of my family’s shame…” Fiera murmured. The birth hadn’t been too hard on her—or Lightspinning was far superior to Waterrunners and clerics of the Dark Isle—and the Empress was far more alert after staying at the inn than she had been in days.
Set into the mountain face was a large, pointed archway carved directly into the stone. It was a gaping hole that Vi suspected was positively massive up close. Carvings of wyrms and men surrounded the archway.
Raspian.
A shiver ripped through her. She could almost feel his presence curdling in her stomach like cream mixed with vinegar. She felt the edge of his magic in the air like red electricity right before it collected into a bolt of lightning.
“How could anyone see this as something to tamper with?” Vi mused aloud.
“Men are ambitious fools,” Fiera said dryly.
“Judging from the snow, we’re still ahead of them,” Deneya observed. She sounded as uncomfortable as Vi. “Let’s get this over with.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The moon had just risenwhen they arrived at the entrance on foot. Their horses were tied off down the mountain, behind some large rocks and out of sight. Vi usedkotto hide their footprints once more.
Deneya went in first, followed by Fiera. Vi approached the entrance but stopped, hovering where the snowdrift met the stone pathway within. An invisible force pushed outward like the dying sigh of a dragon. She stared up at the icicles that lined the top of the archway, imagining they were teeth. Imagining they might come crashing down on her at any moment.
“Yullia?” Deneya called back. “Is everything all right?”
Nothing was right about this place. “I’m fine.”
Vi crossed the threshold. The moment her boot met the crystal-dusted floor of the Caverns, turquoise magic pulsed outward like a ripple in water. She felt magic ebb and flow from her as ripples reverberated all over the stones, bouncing off each other, reaching every corner. They illuminated the magical veins in the walls, columns of crystal becoming sources of light.
“What did you do?” Deneya asked.
“I don’t know.” Vi shook her head and took another step forward. This time, there were no other pulses of magic.
“Well, now we have some light, at least.” Fiera gave a slow turn. “It’s large enough to fit a palace in here…”
Now that she could see properly, Vi assessed the Caverns. A pathway had been cut through the center—perhaps it had been made that way from the beginning—leading to another smaller archway. The ceiling was so high above them that it was merely a hazy blue, motes of Yargen’s magic falling toward them like snowflakes.
“A palace of death,” Deneya muttered.
“What?”
“Don’t you feel it?” Deneya asked Fiera. Vi could. “This place… it’swrong.”
“Wrong or right… let’s set up this barrier.” Vi turned to Fiera. The faster they could get out of here, the better. Perhaps, if they moved quickly enough, they could get out of sight before the Knights arrived and there would be time yet to return Fiera to the West. Vi’s heart skipped a beat, nearly tripping her on hope.
“Let’s go farther in.” Fiera pointed to the inner archway. “I need a smaller opening to attach the barrier to. I can’t just make it in the air and the main entrance is too large.”
