Meena spun around to shake her face free of the tangles of hair which blocked her vision.
The wind calmed.
Feeling that her input was no longer necessary, Meena walked back through the group of men, giving Aizel a quick smile as she passed. She entered the door to the old ruins and closed it behind her.
Meena knew nearly everyone who lived or worked at the palace. They were good, trustworthy people. People she enjoyed conversing with and being surrounded by. The only reason the soldiers were confident enough to question Onric was because King Frederich tolerated and encouraged them to be equals, not underlings.
She hated to see the distrust growing uneasy tension driving a wedge between her community.
She breathed in deeply, stretching her arms to ease the uncomfortable feeling in her chest. The motion made her arm feel empty.
She’d left the chest on the other side of the courtyard.
Stepping back outside, she noticed that the group had dispersed, leaving only the usual gate guard. She gave him a light nod and moved firmly toward the door opposite her. She had no desire to stop and chat with the likely still disgruntled guard.
But she had barely taken a few steps into the courtyard when the wind picked up once again. One moment, the air was calm. The next moment, Meena could hardly breathe as air sped around her, whipping her already tousled hair into another frenzy.
She spun in a circle, trying to wrangle her hair back into place so she could see again.
The wind calmed. She was facing the door to the ruins again. She’d never experienced wind quite like that before. Any other time, she would have taken a moment to play in it. But now it did not feel right.
With the air calm once again, she turned back to the palace to continue on her original errand. But as soon as her feet began to move, the wind picked up.
“I knew I should have taken the time to braid my hair this morning,” Meena grumbled to herself as she swung her head upside down and twisted the flying curls into a tight knot around her hand.
But the wind didn’t let up as she walked. She blinked her eyes. They were beginning to water from the air snapping swiftly across her face. She dropped her head again, this time to protect her eyes.
Hunched over in the wind, blinded by tears, and with her hand still holding her long hair as closely as possible to her scalp, she couldn’t help but laugh at herself. “This is so not worth it.” She ran against the wind as best she could, grabbed the wooden chest behind the door to the palace, and dashed back into the frenzied greenreign weather.
At least on her return trip, the wind pushed at her back, speeding her along.
Back inside the relative safety of the old stone ruins, she managed to shoulder the door closed behind her.
Setting the chest down once again, she used both hands to attempt untwisting her tangled hair and shaking it free.
The strong wind shook the wooden door behind her, but the walls of the hall around her kept her safe from its capricious whims. The old hall she stood in had a rounded ceiling, which had likely been very sophisticated for its time, but felt ominously low as Meena picked her way across the room.
Random piles of wood and broken furniture lined the walls. Meena skirted around them, remembering how she used to dig through them for treasure. At the moment, she was slightly more worried about disturbing the rodents or snakes, which had decided to inhabit the old furniture. Fortunately, she’d never been concerned about that as a child.
Lifting her chin a little higher, she clenched her skirt in her hands. “I’m not afraid of snakes,” she murmured, aware that she was attempting to convince herself.
The back of the large hall spread out into various passageways and smaller rooms. Meena’s favorite was a trapdoor that led from the main hall to an underground tunnel, which led to a secluded place in the forest. It had likely been created to allow the inhabitants of the castle to escape during a siege. It felt a little riskier than the other places she had taken Celesta, but her father had frequently had the tunnel maintained and checked so that his own children would be safe playing in it.
And it was the perfect spot to hide a treasure. She’d already drawn out a simple map that led from the palace bedrooms to the tunnel.
As she opened the hidden door along one wall, a gentle breeze once again began teasing her hair. Perhaps the walls were not as wind–safe as she’d assumed. At least this time, it wasn’t impeding her vision. Brushing her hair over her shoulder out of habit, she looked down into the darkness of the tunnel. Her fingers and toes tingled with excitement.
She might be afraid of snakes, but she was not afraid of tunnels or treasure hunts.
Picking up an oil lamp and flint from a small alcove near the door, she struck a flame and descended into the old familiar tunnel. After a short staircase, the tunnel took a sharp turn, blocking the light from the door at the top of the stairs behind her.
The flame of the lamp shed a soft light on the walls around her, though it flickered softly as though someone was blowing on it. Meena cupped her hand around the flame to protect it. Turning a knob on the lamp, Meena increased the length of the wick to strengthen the flame.
She lightly ran the fingers of her left hand on the dusty wall to her side as she lowered the lantern so as not to blind her eyes. Currents of air continued to rustle through her hair, whispering her along. The air pushing at her back was warm, replacing the chill in the tunnel with its fresh scent.
The tunnel itself was wide enough for multiple people to walk in comfortably at once. Likely another feature designed specifically to make it a safe escape route. Despite how long it had been since she had visited the tunnel, Meena was proud that she still remembered every twist and turn. Even without the lantern, she could have made it safely through, though she was glad to have the light.
Meena kept her eyes on the floor, looking for a place to hide the treasure chest. Perhaps leaving it closer to the door would be the best plan, especially if Celesta found the tunnel frightening. Meena had a feeling her young friend was as adventurous as she was.
