Page 47 of By the Horns (Royal Artifactual Guild #2)

Thirty-Six

Gwenna

Knowing that you’re going to feel the dead below the ground doesn’t soften the blow of descending into the caverns. I’ve got my pack on my back, my new weapon slung through a leather loop in my belt, and I’m roped to the others as Master Jay leads us into the practice tunnels.

We’re in the very first drop. The shallowest of tunnels, the ones closest to the surface.

These are considered the practice tunnels, which new students are brought to so they can get a feel for what being a guild artificer is about before they delve into the deeper maze of the Everbelow. This is as introductory as it gets.

Yet the moment we descend, my skin begins to crawl.

“Note the height of this tunnel,” Master Jay begins as our team follows along behind him like ducklings. The weirdest set of ducklings ever, perhaps. Kipp is in the lead, with Arrod and Hemmen behind him. I’m behind them, and Raptor takes up the rear.

Arrod wanted Raptor in the second spot, as befitting a team’s shield (to Kipp’s sword), but Raptor declined. “You’re not going to be able to see around me,” he told us. “And I already know what I’m doing down here.”

When the others turned away, he pinched my butt. I smacked him, but only half-heartedly. My head is swimming, the dizzying fog starting to creep into my senses and muting the voices of the others.

“The farther in you go, the more likely the tunnels will be a great deal narrower, so keep that in mind,” Master Jay continues. “If the fit gets too tight, you are always welcome to widen the pathway…with the right permits filed, of course.”

“Of course,” Arrod pipes up, and I don’t know if he’s mocking the teacher or just enthusiastic.

“This particular tunnel goes on for two yents in this direction and three in the other. It’s rumored to be one of the first tunnels dug out by Sparkanos and his people. For all that it’s historical, I’m sorry to say that this particular tunnel is devoid of all artifacts.”

A sour feeling drifts through me, as if saying wrong .

I don’t know if it’s my thought or a dead person’s, but a moment later, I feel a throb, like a bug bite, off in the distance.

More whispers fill my ears in languages I don’t understand.

They hiss and chatter, drowning out whatever Master Jay says next, and I blink repeatedly, trying to focus on Hemmen’s collar ahead of me.

He’s got a lantern on a staff, like the one I’d carried for the Taurians the other day.

The light doesn’t seem nearly bright enough to push away the darkness around us. Normally I’m not afraid of the dark, but this one has ghosts in it, and they’re whispering in my ear. I stare into the shadows, my skin covered in goose bumps.

I don’t notice that we’re moving forward until the rope gets tight at my waist, jerking me forward.

“Keep up,” Hemmen calls back.

“Sorry.” I walk a little faster.

“You all have your pickaxes and your shovels, I trust?” Master Jay asks, pausing again as the cavern opens.

The rock walls sweep away, revealing what looks like the crumbled remains of a temple pushed off to the side.

The strange, pervasive lichen that covers everything down here is all over the marble bricks and the shattered columns, and the ceiling arches so high that it disappears in our lantern light.

A heavy hand clasps the back of my neck, shockingly warm and making me jump. Raptor leans over my shoulder, his muzzle near my ear. “You all right?”

I manage a nod and reach up to brush my fingertips over his muzzle. I touch the ring in his nose, and then his lips before trailing away. I don’t know when it was we got so touchy-feely with each other, but right now, I could use more touching.

“Now, let us go over our gear again,” Master Jay says, hands clasped behind his back.

He looks completely comfortable—if slightly bored—in the echoing recesses of the tunnel.

“Normally this would be the responsibility of the Five’s gearmaster, but we’ll split jobs up in the future as you become more familiar with moving about in the tunnels. Show me your weapons, please.”

I hold up my morning star—which Master Jay fussed over earlier today, but only a little, because Raptor glared at him.

Raptor holds up his pickaxe, because he’s stated before that he’s best with his hands.

Only, this morning, he looked at me as he said it, and winked, and it took everything I had not to snort with amusement.

Or blush.

“What else is absolutely vital when in the tunnels?” Master Jay asks, his gaze moving down the line of us. “Hemmen?”

Water drips on my head from above—not a surprise, as the stone floors here are wet and there are stalagmites and stalactites along the uneven edges of the walls.

Under the pillar.

It’s not really a voice in my head as much as it is a flash of a memory that’s not mine. I turn my gaze toward the shattered remnants of a marble pillar close by. The tugging at my senses continues, telling me that it’s not that one. That I should look farther up. Up. Up.

Sure enough, there’s a stone cornice—the decorated top of a pillar—on a ledge above, heavy with moss and nearly hidden. There’s a pulsing there, like an open wound, and I want to rub my arms to whisk away the chill that’s set upon me.

“And you, Gwenna?”

I jerk back to attention, pinching my arm. “Mm? Sorry, I was taking a mental count of our foodstuffs,” I lie quickly. “But my canteen is full.”

“I was asking about your rescue signal stone,” Jay says in a sour voice.

“Got that, too.” I smile brightly and do my absolute best not to look up at the column that the ghosts keep whispering to me about.

I bite the side of my tongue, forcing myself to pay attention as we finish checking the gear we stuffed into our packs not an hour ago.

Hemmen gazes at our surroundings with a hint of disdain, but Arrod looks thrilled to be in the tunnels.

Kipp is stoic, but then again, he’s Kipp.

He licks his eyeball once, gaze focused on Master Jay, and I know he’s excited.

He always licks his eyeball when he’s excited.

It’s the only tell I’ve been able to figure out for him so far.

“Do you feel you’re ready for the next step?” Master Jay asks us.

“So ready,” Arrod exclaims, and Kipp thumps his thick tail on the ground twice.

“Ready,” I agree, hoping my voice doesn’t sound as faint as it feels.

“Ready,” says Hemmen.

“Let’s do this,” Raptor drawls. “Before I die of old age.”

Master Jay shoots him an irked look, but then smooths his expression again.

“As I said, I have hidden an artifact in the tunnel here. You are to find it and return it to me, and then we’ll discuss how an artifact is properly cataloged.

No need to worry about damaging the relic—this one is powerless.

Your goal here is simply to find it and return. Remember that you must work together.”

My breath speeds up. Find the artifact? I could laugh. The ghosts just told me exactly where it is, and I could end this quickly and get us out of here…but I can’t. I can’t even tell the rest of my team because they’ll all wonder how I know, and I’ll seem even more suspicious than before.

Arrod raises his hand. “How do we know what we’re looking for?”

“No artifact hunter knows what they’re hunting for when they come into the tunnels.

I aim to duplicate that joy of discovery for you.

Instead, focus on clues in the environment that might lead you to excavate in a certain spot.

Look for ruins, of course, but look for breaks in the rocks.

Look for moss growing over unusual shapes.

Raptor can tell you all about this, I’m sure. ”

“I thought I was supposed to let them learn for themselves,” Raptor drawls.

Master Jay shoots him a look. “You can guide but not overrule.”

“Right. That sounds like me.” His tone is full of sarcasm.

“I’ll leave you all to it, then. Good luck and good hunting, my fledglings.” Master Jay nods at all of us, and then takes the lantern from Hemmen’s hand, leaving us in the darkness.

Immediately, the whispers fill the air. I can sense the dead even more now that it’s dark. I rub my arms, shivering. Waiting for the feelings to go away. Instead, they just get worse. They grow deeper, seeping into my pores. Into my bones.

“He took our light,” Hemmen complains, distracting me.

“I would imagine he expects you to make another one,” Raptor comments. His big hand kneads the back of my neck. “I can see just fine, so you’re not in danger, but you might want to establish a light source anyhow.”

“Right. Who’s got the matches?” Arrod says. “Kipp, I hope that’s you patting my leg.”

Pillar , the ghosts remind me, the thought flaring so intensely in my head that I jump. I dig my nails into my arms and squeeze my eyes shut. That voice was too close and too strong. Like it was hovering right over me…touching me….

I need to get out of here. The urge rolls over me like a wave, and then I’m tearing at the rope around my waist, pulling myself free from our group tether. I drop my pack to the ground.

“Where are you going?” Raptor asks as I stumble away from the group.

“Wait, she’s leaving?” Hemmen complains. “We can do that?”

“No one is leaving,” Raptor growls, even as I turn and head back the way that Master Jay came. I rush forward in the darkness, stumbling blindly ahead.

I don’t know where I’m going. Just…away from here. Away from the ghosts.

A large arm wraps around my waist, and then I’m hauled up against a massive, muscled body. I bite back the choked scream that rises in my throat, because I’m surrounded by warmth. The living have warmth, I remind myself. Not the dead.

“Sneaking off?” Raptor whispers in my ear. “Like a thief?”

I shake my head violently. “I just…need…a moment….”

Raptor sets me back down on the ground, but he keeps his heavy arm around my shoulders, pinning me against him. “What’s wrong? You’re not acting like yourself.”