Page 32 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)
"Oh, yee of little faith,” I chide, my expression grim.
A few minutes later finds Vash dangling me over the side of the chasm.
“A little lower,” I order, my feet fluttering for purchase. Vash makes a grunting sound in exertion while continuing to lean me down further until— there .
“I have it!” I announce, and my feet successfully hit the thin ledge. It juts out just far enough for someone to stand on.
From here, I can see the small pinpricks of light running down the side of the chasm into the dark unknown.
My hands brace the rocky wall in front of me to test how damp it is.
If I only had access to my affinity, I could easily scale down the side of this pit.
Unfortunately, I have a feeling nothing about this pillar trial will be easy.
Vash asks, “What now?” as I remove two of the knives from around my waist.
Slamming the first blade into the wall, I grin in relief, as I’d hoped it sinks up to the hilt but doesn't budge further. “Now—” I call back in response, grunting as I sink another blade, this time lower. There’s a newly illuminated ledge just a few paces away. “We stab and swing.”
I demonstrate this by moving from one dagger to the next, then carefully removing the first while hanging onto the second. Vash leans out over the void, and his jaw drops at my idiocy.
One more stab and swing, and I’ve made it to the next ledge. Wiping the sweat from my palms on my pants, I shout up at his very alarmed face, “You coming or what?”
Vash grumbles something that sounds like, “Always in a godsdamned rush to find trouble,” before turning around and carefully lowering himself to the first ledge.
He clings to the stone wall, pulls out one of his own blades, and slams it in with a wince.
It holds true, and Vash quickly copies my movements while I make my way onto the next ledge even further down.
After almost half an hour of this, my muscles are screaming in protest, and my insides are increasingly sore from the unnatural block to my affinity.
I can literally feel my strength dissipating as I reach the final ledge and jump to the bottom of the chasm, now flooded with light.
The glowing specks seem to sense our presence and only light up when we’re near.
Vash follows behind me and jumps to the bottom with a small grunt before rubbing the soreness in his arms in protest. I’m not the only one unused to this change of circumstance. Being weak does not come naturally to a raider, and I have a feeling this first test took more than our wits.
“Let’s get out of here,” he growls in irritation before striding towards the new twinkling trail.
Another tunnel passage, and several quiet minutes later we hit a second fork almost identical to the first. Two archways again stand before us, but the carvings atop them this time are different. The engraving above the left shows a completely full moon, while the right reveals a new moon.
I’m once again the first to recount our gathered knowledge. “Full moon means something like completion, and it almost always has a positive connotation. Although I doubt we’ll find anything even remotely positive in a single one of these tunnels.”
Vash studies the two options for a moment before chiming in. “The new moon is about new beginnings and starting over.” Glancing over at Vash, I find he’s studying me. His green eyes reveal an unsettling calculation.
“If the last one meant strength and it literally took our strength to complete it, then the new moon might literally start us over from the beginning. Like circle us back around,” I point out.
Vash’s mouth forms a hard line, and his brows furrow. “Full moon it is then. ”
I nod in agreement before stepping through the archway with Vash close behind.
His familiar earthy scent is not one of comfort.
I meant what I said that evening on the nets.
Vash Larceon made my life a living hell for years and he did it so discreetly that barely anyone even knows the extent.
Herse was the only one to suspect, and that’s likely more to do with her own stealthy affinity than any slip on Larceon’s part.
Though I’ll admit, he has done a damn good job this last year of making me question his true intentions. It’s forced me to wonder if maybe that darker side to him—maybe it’s due to his unruly youth and landmass upbringing—maybe it’s not exactly indicative of his true self.
As soon as we step through the archway, the opening again closes, sealing us in like a tomb.
I try very hard to ignore the anxiety that flares inside each time it happens.
Without my icy affinity to soothe me, it’s harder to concentrate.
Vash lays a hand on my shoulder, and I barely contain my flinch before turning to glance at him.
I'm startled to see the flecks of gold in his otherwise green eyes shimmer with understanding.
“We'll get out of here, Merena, don’t worry. I know you hate closed spaces.”
“It’s just a stupid, irrational fear. I don’t even know where it comes from,” I lie, and Vash tilts his head to the side. I wonder if he’s going to call my bluff. I wonder if he’s able to without the aid of his power. When he doesn’t, I break eye contact and turn back towards the path ahead.
Moving onward, we soon discover that there's more illumination in this cavern than just the green and blue speckles trailing the stalagmites above. A much more vibrant, silver-stained light comes from somewhere further away, towards the opposite end of the tunnel.
“You don't think this is it, do you? The way out?” I ask doubtfully.
“You mean, because we picked the full moon, symbolizing endings, that it would end the trial?” Vash sounds equally disbelieving .
I nod even though I don’t actually think for a minute that The Order would ever make it this easy. Even if we came prepared, it feels suspicious at best. We make it to the hollow mouth of yet another large echoing cavity, and that distant pearly luminance begins bobbing closer.
With its eerie approach, the cavern before us brightens, revealing a labyrinth of tide pools.
We suck in sharp, identical breaths before stepping back to the safety of the path behind us.
My eyes widen while studying the newly exposed room.
The floor is a pattern of thin limestone walkways that criss-cross over depthless pools, each narrow gully no wider than my foot.
Stone columns rise here and there to meet the high ceiling and cast ominous half-shadows.
“Well, there it is,” Vash grumbles cynically.
“What?” I ask, my eyes still scouring the mystifying scene.
“The other shoe,” he answers with a faint snort of disbelief.
I bite the inside of my cheek in thought before finally tilting my head towards the labyrinth of tide pools before us. “I think there’s only one way, and that’s through.”
Before Vash can argue, I take a cautious step out onto one of the narrow walkways and tread slowly until reaching the first pool on my left. The waterline is several meters below our sliver of footpath, so I lean over in curious inspection. My heart stops dead in response to my findings.
Tightly curled, in a ball of unmistakable virescent, slumbers a real ligetung eel.
I clamp a hand over my mouth to keep from yelling in panic and motion at the pool for Vash to see. He edges onto the pathway behind me and leans over, before his eyes widen in equal horror.
The little silver radiance takes that as its cue to come closer.
I watch as the light wiggles in between the stone columns, revealing itself as a small bobbing orb.
It’s beautiful really, like a miniature moon.
I’m so distracted by the peculiar sight that I forget about the giant slumbering monster beneath us.
The baby moon makes it past the last columns and meanders our way .
Its presence is like a physical shock to the tide pools nearby.
"Uh, Merena,” Vash warns, his voice ripe with fear.
Turning backwards, I find him staring at the dozing eel, except its eyes have opened.
“ Oh gods ,” I curse.
The orb, now floating above us, spins itself on a phantom wind, and the tide pools directly beneath it begin swelling with its rotation. The water rises higher the longer we stand there.
“We have to run for it,” I tell Vash, straining to keep the panic from my voice.
“It’s not safe, Merena. What am I supposed to do if you slip? Kleio will actually murder me in my sleep,” he counters, shaking his head and looking back at the now unfurled ligetung beast in terror. The thing is a behemoth. The tide pool must sink down a hundred meters or more.
“We don’t have a choice,” I snap, even as my thoughts drift to Kleio. She was waiting up for me last night and has no doubt been worried sick since figuring out we weren’t coming back.
“There's no telling what other things are in these pools, and we can’t afford to wait and find out. Besides, I'm light on my feet. I’ll be fine,” I add more to reassure myself than Vash. “But we have to hurry.”
His lips press together while glancing about the expanse once more, before swallowing and dipping his chin in silent agreement. We return to the cavern opening, and I select the path that seems widest before beginning to run as fast as I dare down the ledge with Vash right behind.
I try to keep my gaze averted from the stirring pools nearby, but it’s damn near impossible.
The baby moon follows, and the water rises in turn.
My attention quickly shifts to a rapidly swelling area on my right.
The water is so high, it floods over the limestone edge and into the nearest pools.
I pick up the pace, but the orb remains on top of us, its pearly glow throwing more horrors into stark relief.
I keep running, determined to ignore the reservoirs brimming with undiscovered terrors, until a splash from behind turns my blood cold.
“ Vash! ” I scream, whirling back around.
His name reverberates throughout the newly empty chamber.
He’s not behind me anymore, and the dark water of a rather large pool appears to be rippling with the evidence of Larceon’s fall. I dash back as fast as I dare to the edge of that tide pool.
But I find not Vash bobbing just beneath the surface.
I let out a bloodcurdling scream at the sight of Kleio's long chocolate hair fanning out in curly tendrils several meters below me. The hand gripping my throat trembles uncontrollably as I stare at the impossible.