Page 8

Vienne

I descend the steps deeper into the cave, Graz close behind. It’s humid in here from the waterfall, and droplets cling to the stone walls. No wonder there’s so much moss growing in here.

Graz is tracing every last inch of the carvings, trying to suss out what they mean. We haven’t found a pair of matching handprints here like we did in the swamp. I think that the pedestal is important, given that it features in one of the carvings, but I don’t know what to make of the two bodies on top of it.

When we reach the bottom, we both stand in front of the design, studying it. Then Graz moves on and I follow him to the other side of the cave to inspect the other one, too. I walk up to it and run my hand along the groove, thinking I might be able to touch the magic woven inside it, but my hand comes away clean. Even when Graz places his hand alongside mine, nothing happens.

There’s nothing else down here , I say, annoyed. I came all this way for some more drawings on the wall?

Graz shakes his head. There has to be something here. I just think it’s hidden.

But how do we open it this time? I ask. There’s nothing obvious, even after I’ve searched the entire floor of the cavern. The only thing here is that damned pedestal in the middle.

What does it mean?! I let out a frustrated sound and squat down on the floor. Then I remember I still have one of those magic worms left in my pocket. Oh! Do you think this would help?

I pull it out and hold it up. Graz reaches into his own pocket to pull one out, too.

We can try, I guess , he says. I don’t think it could hurt if we’re careful with what we ask.

What about... show us what it means?

Sure. He gets a mischievous smile on his face. I’ve never tried something so esoteric. We’ll see what happens.

So I stand up, holding the worm out in my hand, and make my wish: Show me what this means and what we’re supposed to do.

The magic inside the worm glows brightly, growing and growing, until suddenly it winks out.

Absolutely nothing happens.

We exchange looks. I think that’s the last thing we expected.

Hmm. Must have wished for the wrong thing , Graz says.

What would you wish for? I shoot back.

He just smirks at me. Something else. Maybe... open up?

Simple enough. I do feel a little silly for not thinking of it myself.

He holds up one of his own worms, closes his eyes, and his mouth mutters words I don’t understand. Like mine, the magic inside his glows brighter and brighter until it abruptly goes dark.

And still, there’s nothing. Though the purple inside the grooves of the carvings seem to glow a little brighter, that’s it.

Damn it. I smack a fist against the wall of the cavern. I came all this way!

This magic, Graz says gesturing at the wall. This has to mean something. I’m sure ancient people knew.

I sigh and roll my eyes. Maybe. But what is the wall telling us?

I can’t say I know the answer to that.

We both start searching again for some hidden panel, some way to reveal the secret of this cavern.

I’m exhausted, Graz finally says after he’s traversed the entire edge, examining every carving and drawing. He sits down, rocking forward to drop his head into his hands. Whatever happened to me out there, it sapped all my energy.

Right. I think of all his eaten food, when clearly the visiting animals hadn’t woken him.

What happened to you, anyway? I ask.

I couldn’t tell you. I started feeling sick a while back, and it only got worse. However long I was out... I don’t remember any of it.

I was sick, too. Now that I think about it, I feel better now than I have since I arrived in the Stoneteeth. But not anymore, it seems like.

Graz’s eyes travel up the cavern wall to the domed ceiling, shrouded in darkness. He slowly turns to me, tilting his chin down so he can look me in the eyes. You were able to wake me up.

I guess so, but I don’t know how . I shrug. Maybe I was just in the right place at the right time. You should get some rest. And tomorrow, you’ll be thinking more clearly. I could use a good sleep, too, after how long I’ve been traveling.

Graz grunts. That might not be a bad idea.

He heads to his pack and pulls out his bedroll, and I do the same. We arrange ourselves not too close to each other, then Graz puts out the light.

* * *

When I awaken, it’s to the sound of many, many voices. They’re all speaking animatedly, but in a language I can’t understand.

I sit up, panicked, to find myself sitting on the cavern floor without my bedroll. The voices are coming from people all around me, people I’ve never seen before, dressed in leather tunics and loincloths. Their legs box me in, and I let out a cry as someone gets so close to me they almost step on me.

Vienne?

I glance around at the sound of Graz’s voice. Where is he?

Graz? I try to stand up despite the mass of bodies. Not far away, though many people fill up the distance between us, I spot Graz’s tall, wild hair and green skin. Though there are mostly humans around me, when I rise to my toes to get a better look, I find there are trollkin here, too, in a variety of green, blue, and purple hues.

I push my way through the crowd toward Graz, and he reaches out to me, grabbing my hand. No one around us seems to even notice our presence.

Where are we? I think frantically. Who are these people?

I don’t know. He doesn’t let me go as we’re pushed about by other bodies, coming at us from every direction. He pulls me against him so I’m not swept away.

Then, suddenly, a horn sounds. Everyone stops moving all at once, and their voices drop into silence.

Graz and I turn in unison as we catch sight of movement. Two figures are being lifted up onto the massive pedestal in the center of the room—one human man, and one trollkin woman with purple skin and purple hair.

They’re both completely naked. I gape openly as they stand up on the top of the pedestal, their hands linked. A wild cheer goes up from the assembled people, humans and trollkin alike waving their arms and roaring. The two participants on the pedestal bow together as if they’re about to put on a play, and then turn to face each other.

The human trails his hand down the troll woman’s side, smoothing it over the swell of her breasts to her thick thighs. Silence falls again when he grips one and she sags toward him, as if this is an intimate dance they’ve danced before.

But now, we are all watching.

What’s going on? I ask Graz, unwilling to pull away even though we’re uncomfortably close. I’d rather be in his bubble than near all these mysterious strangers. Where did all these people come from?

I have no idea. He peers around at the humans and trollkin alike crammed in tight. They’re dressed strangely, too.

He’s right. They look like they’re from another time, before we invented textiles.

Up on the pedestal, a harsh moan captures my attention. The human is now plucking the troll woman’s nipples, his hand wrapped around one breast while he leans down to lick the other.

Graz...? I ask with deep uncertainty. What are we looking at?

He says nothing as the two performers continue. His eyes are riveted to them, his mouth slowly opening. I follow his gaze to where the troll woman has spread her legs, and the man kneels between them to bury his mouth in the crux of her thighs. The troll lets out a pleased whimper, and murmurs spread throughout the crowd.

Then the man pulls the troll woman down onto the pedestal with him, and his cock is hard and thick. He positions himself with her knees to either side of him, and I cover my mouth.

He’s going to do it. Right here, in front of everyone. I squeeze Graz’s arm tighter. Why are all these people watching this?

Why are we watching this?

The man plays with the troll’s pussy, smearing himself all over her before he finally sinks his cock inside her. I gasp, while the people gathered around us hoot and holler.

The troll woman moans as he buries himself deep, then pulls out of her again. They fuck like that, her arms winding around his neck while I stare, unable to tear my eyes away. I’m getting warm all over just watching them, at the sight of them staring into each other’s faces as if none of us are here while he pumps his cock in and out of her.

Graz grips me tighter, too, keeping me close at his side and away from the others with one arm curled around my back.

Now both of them are moaning, the troll woman’s legs curling around the man’s hips as he drives in, the slap of their bodies filling the air. The troll throws her head back, crying out as the man fucks her harder, the muscle of his ass flexing with every thrust.

It is, bizarrely, beautiful.

* * *

Graz

Oh, I am definitely getting a boner. An absolute raging hard-on, watching this human man plowing a trolless until she’s screaming something incomprehensible. And Vienne, with her gun in the holster, is gripping me like I’m her last lifeline. I’m tingling every place we’re touching, all along the arm that’s wrapped around her shoulders, and the other arm that she’s holding onto tightly.

The entire time, I’m sporting a tent.

Where did all these people come from? While enraptured with the event on the pedestal, I’m still trying to piece it together. It’s as if a whole civilization appeared out of thin air. A civilization where humans and trollkin live side-by-side.

This can’t be real. Whatever we’re seeing, perhaps that sickness has truly taken hold of us both. Is this the actual Vienne next to me, or just a figment of my imagination? Am I dreaming?

If it were my dream, though, she’d probably be wearing fewer clothes. It’s impossible not to imagine it while this goes on in front of us.

Up on the pedestal, the trolless cries out her ecstasy as the man plunges into her again and again. And then, as their cries climb in volume, the base of the pedestal begins to glow. Purple light emanates out from around it, billowing up brighter and brighter as the two pursue their climaxes. Soon, it looks like they are beings of pure light moving in unison.

There’s no question in my mind, looking at them, that they’re mates. The man guides his face lower, so their noses are touching as they both, at last, reach their finish.

The stone pedestal creaks as the light grows brighter, and then it begins to rise. The trolless and the human man are both panting as they ascend into the air, and beneath them, the pedestal reveals a pool of bubbling, glowing magic down below.

Everyone around us falls to their knees as the pool is exposed, leaving the two of us standing there. None of them reach out to touch it—they all keep a safe distance. We are ignored, as if we aren’t even there.

After only a few moments, they rise to their feet again, and at once they turn around to leave. And then, everything goes dark.

* * *

Whether I wake up only seconds or many hours later, I have no way of knowing. My eyes snap open and I sit up, wrapped up in my bedroll as if I’ve been tossing and turning all night. Beside me, I hear Vienne’s labored breathing, and turn to find her gaping at me.

I don’t need to ask to know that we were both there. We saw the same thing.

Did we cause that with our wish?

And now we’re back here again, completely alone. The cave looks much different, too. In our dream—or vivid hallucination, it’s a matter of taste—there was no moss decorating the walls, no vines hanging down from the ceiling, no ivy creeping along the rock faces. It’s likely that hundreds, maybe thousands of years, have passed since this cave looked the way it did in our dream.

Are all those humans and trollkin who gathered here dead now? Were they ever real at all?

That happened, right? Vienne asks, still frozen in her bedroll. Did you see it, too?

I nod. Clear as day. That was... something.

Her mouth bobs open like she’s going to speak, but then she closes it again. Her whole face turns red and her gaze darts away from mine.

Ah. Right. I still have a hard-on under my pants that I’m hiding with my own blanket.

There’s magic hidden under there. She gestures at the pedestal in the center of the cavern.

If it was there once upon a time, what’s the chance it’s still there now? Finally abandoning my bedroll, I creep over to the pedestal to investigate. Sure enough, there’s a seam along the floor where it detached and rose, but there’s no sign of anything down beneath it.

I think it’s there, Vienne insists. If we can figure out how to open it.

She joins me, standing rather close to my side as we both inspect the ritual site. But my thoughts keep gliding back to what we saw up there, how that trolless and her human lover appeared to have summoned it through their coupling.

That can’t possibly be the trigger—except that vision was appallingly clear. I know what we have to do.