“Um…” the guard hesitated. “He’ll have to pay for his water, though. Ray said?—”
At the mention of his boss’s name, a muscle in Zayr’s face ticked, his amber nose ring glistening brightly with a reflection of the light from the archway.
“How do you know what Ray said?” Zayr snarled at the guards. “Have you seen him anywhere around here lately? Have you spoken to him?”
“But…” the guard muttered while the rest of them glared at me as if trying to peer through my cloak.
“I’ll pay,” I said, loosening the string of my pouch.
I wasn’t thirsty and didn’t need a drink. As Elaine’s popularity rose, we had the money to buy enough water for both of us. But I also didn’t need to attract any extra attention and had no desire to be drawn into a fight over nothing.
“Here,” I dropped a coin into the guard’s outstretched hand while another guard handed me a dented metal tumbler of water in exchange. “We’re good now?”
The guards grumped something in response, clearing the way for me and my chair.
With an annoyed glare at them, Zayr beckoned me to follow him inside, leading me into a giant cave filled with the sound of rushing water.
The sound echoed from the ceiling, giving an idea of the cavern’s enormous size. But I didn’t see the water. Only a long wall in the middle of the cavern, constructed with large rectangular stones. Veins of golden glow ran through the rocks, illuminating the cavern. And still I couldn’t see the walls or even the ceiling of the cavern to accurately judge its size, but it must’ve been the largest underground space I’d ever been in, with a ceiling higher than even in the markets of Kalmena where I’d spent most of my childhood.
“Is that…” I started saying, wondering why Zayr had brought me here.
“The main source of Ashgate’s water,” he explained, climbing up a rocky path along a wall of stacked up rocks. “The river is walled and warded. But you can see it from up here.”
I still didn’t have any idea why he came here or why he brought me along. But I failed to see how this could be a trap either.
What would Zayr accomplish by luring me here with him? He knew I had money on me. But he could’ve tried to kill me earlier when his goons were with him.
Maybe he didn’t want to share the money with anyone and thought I was weak enough to deal with on his own? But then why drag me up this path? Tossing me into the river wouldn’t kill me. Though stabbing me with a weapon made from Nerifir iron beforehand probably would.
Was that his plan? To kill me over a few gold coins? Or did Zayr have his eyes set on the much more precious treasure I had? Did he want to murder me to get his hands on my Elaine?
“Come, General,” Zayr called from up the path. “We won’t climb too high, only while it's wide enough for your chair.”
There was no menace or tension in his voice, just weariness. I wasn’t afraid of Zayr or of anything he could possibly do to me. But if he killed me, Elaine’s life would likely take a turn for the worst, which I could not allow.
I headed up the path carefully, taking note of the high wall on my left and the steep drop on my right. Veins of golden glow in the rock illuminated the path in front of me. It was roughly hewn but passable for my chair.
As I ascended, the path eventually sloped less, then evened out completely and widened into a small platform.
“Here is good,” Zayr said.
Lifting his skirt a little with one hand to get the long hem out of the way, he sat down onto the path in front of a wide opening in the wall, then placed his tumbler on the rock between his knees.
I aligned my chair with him and stopped in front of the opening too. It was a breach in the wall, uneven and rough, as if the rock had crumbled and fallen out over time. It didn’t look like an intentionally carved observation window. Nevertheless, it opened to the most spectacular view.
The golden light of the rock cast a shimmering glow onto the dark surface of the river, making the water look as if infused with magic. The wide stream rushed between the black rocks of the cavern. Sharp peaks and tall spikes broke the surface into golden ruffles of foam.
I gaped at it, mesmerized. I’d never seen this much fresh water in my life. I remembered the awe that seeing the ocean for the first time had inspired in me back when I’d first come to these parts of the Alveari Kingdom with the queen’s army many years ago. The limitless size of the ocean had reminded me of the desert. Its waves seemed like distant cousins of sand dunes, only much faster and far more chaotic in nature.
Drinking water, however, was scarce everywhere. It came in droplets of rain, trickles of creeks filling dug-out wells, or rivulets of moisture collected from the walls of underground caves.
But there it was, relentless like a storm, faster than the ocean, and just as abundant.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Zayr took a drink from his tumbler.
It really was.
“This is all Ray’s?” I asked, bringing my drink to my lips too.
