It was a small voice, distant and singular.The hyenaimmediately tensed.
“I know you’re down there!Don’t bother stayin’ silent!”
Isaac could not identify the species.Whatever Soren was,she was too far away, her voice too obstructed by sand and stone.Even still,the silence around her words made them echo through all the clearer.She spokelike someone who expected others to listen.
“Were you not satisfied with the lives of my crew?”Sorenyelled.“Huh?Was it purpose or vengeance that drove you to sunder a ship ofthe fleet?Did youreallythink I wouldn’t purse you, now, to the endsof the waste?”
Zaria did not respond.
“You put thirty men to the groundwater, ya fuckin’ bilgerat!That makes forty souls crossed by your hand!The entire fleet o’ Crookspur’s now wise to your blackened crime!All herskimmers are bearin’ course to this place of death!And when the Crookcommands, you willfuckin’answer!”
A few pirates shouted in agreement.Isaac cleared histhroat, feeling guilty.
“Listen here!”Soren called down.“I want no more pirateblood on your hands!You come out with whatever hostage you’re dragging in tow,and we fight proper!Dueling blades!Otherwise, I’m bringing this titan down onyour head!”
“There’s no way out,” Zaria whispered, almost to herself.“No door down here.I can’t go up there.She’ll slaughter me.She’ll make itslow.She’ll—”
“Zaria—” Isaac began.
“You got one minute!”Soren yelled.“One minute to bare yourfurry visage, traitor!”
“This is a mortuary chapel,” Isaac said.“There are hiddendoors.It’s supposed to fool grave robbers.She’ll never know where we went.”
Zaria looked at him, terrified.
“Do you want to die?”he asked.
She shook her head.
“Get the fuck off me, then.”
They stood up from the floor, shaking off bits of stone anddust, and Isaac guided her to a transept over to the side.In the littlealcove, there were rows of friezes and cornices on the back wall, smooth linesof stone rising and falling in subtle patterns.Isaac trailed his hand downover the decorative grooves, searching for the hidden trigger.It would be apressure plate, something nearly indistinguishable from the rest of thearchitecture.
“Best not be craven!”Soren yelled, clearly losing patience.“I got enough boomin’ powder to split a palace!”
He found the spot.He pressed with his fists, and a smallrectangle of stone sank into the recesses of the wall, triggering a shudder ofmechanisms.The sound faded.No hint of a doorway emerged from the wall.Itremained as smooth and seamless as any other wall.
Zaria nudged him.“Hurry this along now.”
“It should’ve worked.”He pressed the square again.“Something’s wrong.”
“Time’s up!Light the fuse!”
He bashed his shoulder into thewall and felt the slightest bit of give.A fine crack of darkness emerged in avertical line.“It’s stuck.Help me push.”
They braced against the door, digging their feet into smoothtile.The crack of darkness slowly grew into a thick line, and Isaac could feelsome bit of ancient and broken machinery audibly straining against theirefforts.It was taking all their strength just to budge it inch by inch.
Another explosion ripped through the chapel.The shockwavepulsed through his guts, nearly knocking him to the floor.Around them, stoneand masonry crumbled.Two gigantic chunks of vertebrae snapped off the spineand crushed an entire column of pews, including the statues standing upon thealtar.Isaac noted, almost absently, that he’d never studied the figures, orthe engravings on the altar itself.He had completely missed theirsignificance.
The crumbling increased, forming a quake of earth and stonethat was growing louder and louder, rapidly building upon itself.By now, thecrack in the doorway was almost as wide as a bookshelf.Zaria squeezed throughfirst, scrapping the cavalry hook of her poleaxe across the wall.Shedisappeared into blackness.For a moment, Isaac was left alone with a growingavalanche of stone.Then, like a corpse rising from a grave, her arm reachedout from the dark, grabbed his elbow, and yanked him bodily through the gap.
He collapsed onto a floor of dirt just as the roof of thechapel split apart with another explosion.Large chunks of ceiling piled up atthe open doorway.The crashing shook his bones.In seconds, only a few sliversof green light entered through the rubble.As the destruction of the chapelcontinued, and more wreckage flooded to the floor, the door cracked almosthalfway open, but did not budge a single inch further.This time, it was stuckfor good.
Eventually, the rumbling ceased, and his ears stoppedringing, and all he could hear was the gentle fall of dirt and dust, settlinginto the cracks of wreckage.
His heart pounded in his throat.
Without warning, an orange fire blazed through the dark.Zaria had lit a torch.She stuffed the flint into the pocket of her trousers,handing him the flame.With his wrists still tied, he had to grasp it with adoubled fist, fingers pressing awkwardly against each other.The hyenaunsheathed her poleaxe and turned away from the door.
