Slaide sighed. “That’s the problem. It’s extremely versatile. It is good for protection and magical cleansing in small spaces. Some people wear it in its granular form, usually in glass vials. Others imbue it into small trinkets or jewelry.”
“I thought obsidian was used for protection against magic?”
He nodded his head side to side. “It is, and it is far more potent for that purpose than black salt. Obsidian isn’t entirely practical for personal use, though. Its anti-magic properties are far reaching, which is why it was chosen for the obelisks all those years ago. It does a better job of amplifying anti-magic spells and warding on a grand scale.”
“What else is the salt used for, then?” Slaide looked at her, appraising. The unspoken words were written on her face:why was there salt sprinkled at the Border?
“Black salt can temporarily amplify certain spells… and nullify others. It’s as powerful as it is brief. That being said…”
“It could last long enough to get someone through the Border?” she finished for him. But something wasn’t adding up. “Where does this kind of salt come from? I always thought salt was deposited near coastlines by rain and sea air. We aren’t even remotely close to a coastline.”
“No,” Slaide said. “We aren’t.” His face darkened.
Slaide looked out at the Border, and she noticed how his shoulders tensed. He turned back to her with a crease between his eyes, apprehension clear on his face. “Come with me. There’s something you need to see.”
The pair ledtheir mounts quietly back through the Kingswood, hoping to avoid any further surprises. The only sound they made came from the plodding of horse hooves into the dirt path.
After a while, they reached an area where the grassy plain rose slowly into a hillside. Without a word, Slaide brought Phillip to a stop and dismounted, and Hazel took this as her cue to do the same. She crossed the few paces between them, leading Nanna by her reins.
“We’ll leave the horses here. They’ll be too easy to spot from the hilltop,” he said, turning his back on her, black cloak billowing slightly behind him as he started up the hill. She followed, wishing she’d worn more than her borrowed leathers.The higher they climbed, especially now that they’d left the protection of the trees, the more blustery the wind grew.
As they approached the crest of the hill, Slaide crouched and signaled for her to do the same. He stared straight ahead as he spoke.
“What you are about to witness is something few know about and even fewer have seen. There’s a reason for that, which you’ll soon understand. Before we move forward, I need you to understand me. Youmustkeep your head down. While this is the best vantage point to what I am about to show you, it’s also more exposed than I like. If you sit up too high, you’ll give us away.”
Well, that isn’t unsettling at all.“I understand,” she whispered.
He spared a moment to glance at her before crawling forward, and she followed despite the growing warmth of her locket. They crested the hill, where Hazel found it wasn’t a hill at all. It had been the rear slope of a cliff. The drop was devastatingly sharp, but that wasn’t what took her breath away.
Below them, in a crater carved deep into the ground, people bustled about. The rim was dotted with caves with people going in and out. Wagons and wheelbarrows were overflowing with minerals or ore, she couldn’t tell. It was a mine system, larger than any she’d ever heard of. Practically its own town.
“Welcome to Blackrock Gulch,” he spat as though the words soured his mouth.
She was dumbfounded. A place of this enormity would have taken years to carve out. Thousands and thousands of hours of work. Countless workers and horses traveling to and from…
“How?” Hazel asked. “How does seemingly no one know about this place? This must be the biggest, best-kept secret in Aeos. But I don’t understand how it could stay hidden in plain sight like this.”
“Until recently, I didn’t know much about its origin. I just assumed it was a natural cave that the Kings of the past dug deeper over time. But I now have a book in my possession that has made everything a lot clearer. Sometime in the years before The Thousand Years War, the angels fell from the heavens. Based on location descriptions given in the old text, I believe Blackrock used to be the crash site known as Angelfall. Which may have something to do with why the harvested ore is so powerful; it was imbued with Aetherial energy.”
Gods… but then that would mean…
An air-splitting snap tore her from her thoughts. Screams followed.
No.She searched for the source of the sound.
Thwack.The sound lashed out again, and Hazel’s gaze landed on it. A man was on his knees in the mud, arms stretched above his head, where he was tied to a post. A whipping post. The color drained from her wind-lashed cheeks as her stomach turned over on itself.
Crack.She watched the knotted leather cord cut through the air. Watched as it made contact with the already bleeding flesh. Watched as it tore a new gash through skin and muscle, spraying blood and gore. Watched as the man vomited before going limp against the post. Watched as the overseer lashed into him again.
Hazel buried her head, desperate to block out the scene. Why had he brought her here? She could still hear the whip as it continued to sound despite covering her ears. Bile rose in her throat.
She brought herself to look at Slaide. Had he known? The answer was etched into his features, guaranteed by the guilt shining in his eyes. Of course he had.
“This isn’t just minework. This is slavery.” She choked on her words, trying to whisper but wanting to scream.
Slaide said nothing.
Anger boiled within her. “Take me there,” she demanded.
