Page 35 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)
T he shrill sound of rock scraping against stone consumes everything else.
I clamp my hands over my ears with a grimace, and Vash follows suit.
His eyes are wide with alarm as the tunnel exit seals itself before the walls begin rotating around us.
Corvina stumbles backwards from the sudden change in motion, and Agni swiftly catches her in his arms before setting her back up gently.
A sharp, unexplainable tension manifests between my neck and shoulders at the sight of it.
Watching the cavernous walls spin, I palm another knife, then promptly lose my balance and jolt forward a step as the floor beneath us pushes upward.
We're both rising and spinning now, like some sort of giant corkscrew.
I look at Vash and see that he's also working to balance himself.
The ground keeps rising for another minute before coming to a violent, screeching halt.
I begin inspecting our new surroundings, as do the others. We’re still encircled by stone, but the walls framing us now contain two large colored gems on opposite sides, one blue and one green .
“Brilliant—what in the fuck is it now?” Captain Agni grumbles darkly after observing our new predicament with clear annoyance. I’d be inclined to share his sentiment if it wasn’t repulsive for me to find myself agreeing with him about anything.
“Are we supposed to press them, or something?” Corvina questions her boyfriend, whose eyes are still scanning the walls.
As if in response to her question, the floor begins to tremble once more. I brace myself, but we remain mercifully motionless. Instead, an inscription on the floor reveals itself in a swirling script of radiant flecks.
In spirals of three, I hold the worlds
Each of them captured within a curl
The first of which you’ve been before
Yet to others is little more than lore
The second one is here and now
Once together but split by a vow
The third realm is bright and true
Only in the dark can you truly view
“It’s a riddle,” Vash states, taking in the newest addition.
“No shit," Agni deadpans, and Corvina laughs. “Good to know you weren't promoted into captaincy for your quick wits.”
“Just shut the fuck up for one second, would you?” I snap, throwing a murderous glare in Agni’s direction. “As Vash said—it is in fact a riddle. Ergo, we need an answer. Anyone have any bright ideas? Like it or not, we are currently trapped inside this hellhole together.”
Agni scowls at me in return but shockingly doesn’t argue. He folds his muscular arms across the width of his tightly corded chest, and I glimpse the cuts lining his hand from smashing his wine glass. My jaw locks angrily at the unsolicited reminder .
Corvina obviously takes her cues from him and begins studying the floor instead of hurling back the insult I’m expecting. Or maybe she’s just fond of her fingers.
It's silent as we read and re-read the riddle below.
"Time,” Corvina answers at last. “The first world is the past, the second is the present, and the third is the future,” she explains, and for a moment I’m stunned by her cleverness.
The giant green stone on the wall lights up, and I think we’ve got it. But then the floor drops . We all stumble backwards and work to keep a shred of balance until the plummeting floor comes to halt a few seconds later.
“Ugh, okay, so not that,” I mutter while re-steadying myself, and Corvina shoots me a nasty look. Rolling my eyes, I squint at the words still glowing beneath our feet, rethinking them while biting on a lip. It just seems like something I should know .
Another minute passes in silence before Vash and Olsson suddenly answer in the exact same breath. “The triskelion.”
The word rattles around in my head until it finds purchase in understanding.
The triskelion is the three-wave symbol that adorns the Raider King’s Crown of Bone and Salt, and is the emblem stitched upon his flags.
Each wave represents one world. The first being the spirit world of Nawai, the second being our world of Pontus, and the third being the Celestial realm.
The blue gem blazes brightly, and the stone around us rumbles once more as the walls begin to twist while we rise upwards.
We move higher and higher, finally stopping with an eardrum-bursting stone shriek.
We're closer than before, but our surroundings look exactly the same—rock walls with opposing blue and green stones as their only marking sign.
I instinctively look down, and a short breath later a new riddle flairs to life.
I am home to those who guide the way
I’ll be here still long after your decay
My limbs do connect between the veils
For I am mother to the mighty trail
Innocents and miscreants come to me
A place to plead for dreams or mercy
You may find solace beneath my cover
But don't blame me for what you discover
We’re all quiet in heavy contemplation until Vash breaks the silence. “A compass,” he answers.
The green gemstone lights up the shadows, and I barely have time to brace myself before the floor buckles beneath us, and we plummet for far too many seconds before slamming to a halt.
My hands hit the ground in front of me at the violent impact, and all four of us struggled to right ourselves.
Looking upwards reveals we’re almost all the way back down where we started.
My throat tightens in worry.
“ Deos subsuperficie —don’t just blurt out any errant thought that crosses through your fucking idiotic mind!” Captain Agni seethes while brushing himself off.
Vash glares back with palpable anger. It takes a lot to get under Captain Larceon’s skin, and Agni has managed to wedge himself there in a notably brief amount of time.
Blowing out a breath, I study the words again and again until something finally clicks. A memory of the legends we’re taught by the Sons and Daughters lends me the answer.
“The Sálix” Corvina and I answer in unison.
The Sálix is the name of the sunken sallow trees whose roots are fabled to grow between this world and Nawai. It’s from this underwater shelter that the watery souls made into guiding Nix stars leave and return to on the night of the Sál Moon. They are like temples, sort of.
My narrowed eyes meet Corvina's across the room .
Blue light flares into the small circular chamber, and the floor rumbles upwards in success. I’m tempted to just sit down at this point. We stop once more at what I’m hoping is one of the last identical areas and wait for yet another cryptic question to appear.
It doesn’t take long.
From darkest depths and skies aligned,
We remain forever intertwined.
Together we weave a timeless tale,
Of promises kept and lies unveiled.
A millennia may pass and the truth forgone,
But when reunited, we herald a new dawn.
Two spirits given form to play,
We rule the world with our might and rays.
Agni snorts with a disbelieving shake of his head. “This is fucking asinine.”
I give him a look of annoyance, even though I myself can’t find a correlation between any of the riddles. They’re seemingly random, pointless even. My brows knit together in frustration.
“It’s not the sun and moon; that first bit wouldn’t make sense,” I speak the thought aloud to make sure we don’t go crashing all the way down with another impulsive answer.
The tension in our small space is increasing with every tight-lipped comment.
My hand drifts back to the edge of a weapon handle, just in case.
I begin pacing near Vash to think through the inscription.
I’m worried that if we get it wrong, we just might drop all the way to the bottom level, and there may be no way back up.
I chew over the words. They’re disarmingly familiar.
Almost like fragments of a lullaby I used to know.
Then it hits me. It’s so obvious I almost laugh.
“ The sun and the sea. ”
But my voice is not alone.
I scowl before pivoting on a heel to face Captain Agni, who’s answered in the same breath as myself. My mouth curves downward in irritation and his expression perfectly mirrors my own.
Successful blue light illuminates our room, and the ground shakes once more. The walls no longer twist, but the stone beneath us continues its ascension. We pick up speed, and it’s an effort to keep myself upright, I give Vash a look of dread when my ears pop from the incline.
The never-ending ceiling above us suddenly has an end, and it's a very solid one at that. We continue rising and rising while the teeth-like stones above us race closer at daunting speeds.
Incredible .
We’re going to be fucking impaled in here.
Corvina screams as the sharp rocks come only meters from us. I grab a blade for comfort and close my eyes tight. But before I can meet a truly terrible end, there is suddenly bright white light flooding the chamber, nearly blinding me even through my closed lids.
The blinding light is followed by an eardrum-splitting roar.