Page 6 of Sword & Shadow
Deckard shook his head dubiously but began to follow their team.
The false start caused Evylin’s grip on her magic to stutter. Her skin didn’t tingle with the same ferocity, and her senses returned to a natural awareness. The flowers didn’t smell as sharp, her eyes didn’t adjust to the light, and their footfalls now sounded rather muted, like she had a pillow pressed over both ears.
It worried her, yet they crossed the rooftop without incident. Evylin couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all too easy. They should be fighting for their lives, yet they were about to enter the Chamber at full strength. She supposed she should be grateful for the blessing. But she worried this was lulling them into a false sense of security.
They reached the marble obelisk, its door a replica of the Keep’s entrance. While Ethenn watched their backs, Rafferty took the lead, holding the door open for the Calders. The troop stepped into the obelisk’s stone interior, a spiral staircaseleading them into the Chamber. Winding down what Evylin imagined to be dozens of flights, she worked to maintain a touch of her magic. Even if the Guardian below allowed them to pass, they would enter the Night Keep in mere minutes. She had to be ready for whatever insanity it would throw at them.
The Day Chamber sprawled before them, creamy marble with golden veins covering every inch. The columns, the floors, and the ceilings—all of them shone with brilliance. No windows lined the space, but it radiated light as though the sun’s rays beamed over it all. At the far end of the Chamber, the dais awaited with a pair of metal gates at its back. And stretched out in front of the dais lay a massive golden dragon.
Evylin’s heart fluttered at the sight of the beast. The echo of Ryen’s memory whispered to her. They’d dreamed of fighting a dragon as children. It was part of her vow to him when she left Whickam Village.
“Win dozens of duels, rescue a princess, fight a dragon...and become legends worthy of five hundred tales.”
She’d fulfilled her promise, but it had come at the cost of Hewitt’s life.
Evylin’s fingers trembled against the grip of her sword. No matter how docile the Guardian seemed, the troop crept forward cautiously. When last they were in the Chamber, the dragon’s talons had sliced open Deckard’s stomach. If it hadn’t been for Auden’s Day magic, Deckard would have died.
Even weeks later, Evylin’s body grew cold at the memory.
Leaning toward Auden, Rafferty motioned toward the Relic. “You think that thing’ll let you control the Guardian too?” he asked.
“I hope so,” Auden replied.
The dragon lay still as they approached. Its golden eyes watched them, though it never lifted its head. Nor did the creature seem surprised by their presence. It simply watched.
Cautiously, they moved around the Guardian for the dais. Stepping up and to the back, Evylin kept one eye on the dragon, sword at the ready. She couldn’t fathom that it would be this simple, not even as they all crowded onto the platform before the gates.
Ilain hurried up to Auden’s side before the pair of gold metalwork gates. A pulsing yellow light beckoned, so bright Evylin couldn’t see what lay beyond it. The scrollwork of the gates twisted like vines and branches, coiling up to encircle a half-sun and two half-moons.
The gates whispered danger to Evylin—a warning of darkness and death on the other side.
She tightened her grip on her sword, shoving down her fear.
Stepping up to her side, Deckard stared at the gates with a narrowed gaze. His hand brushed over the marble pedestal where the Relic once lay. His jaw had clenched, and his brow pinched together in that way of his—a sure sign of his worry. “You said the Keeps are mirrors of one another?” he said.
The Calders turned back to him. “That’s what our studies suggested,” Auden confirmed. “The ancient Mages’ accounts claim this as a back door between Day and Night.”
“That seems like cheating,” Ethenn remarked, watching the Guardian warily, arrow nocked securely.
“You got a problem with that?” Rafferty asked, twirling a short sword in his hand.
“No,” the hunter returned, letting his arrow relax a little in his grip. “I’m simply saying that it doesn’t make sense. If this is truly a back door, and if the Keeps truly mirror one another, then doesn’t that mean we’ll walk right onto the dais, right next to the Relic?”
“Theoretically,” Auden said.
Ethenn nodded at his point proven. “Why would the makers of the Keeps do that?”
A slow grin worked across Ilain’s face as she scanned him. “You’re right. It’s a trap.”
“You’re telling me we’re willingly walking into a trap?” Thom demanded.
“We don’t have a choice,” Auden countered.
“To little Loxley’s point,” Rafferty said, “aren’t we walking straight up to the Relic?”
“To the best of our knowledge.”
“Then who cares if it’s a bloody trap?” he returned. “We walk right in, you grab the Relic, Highlord Existential Mage, and poof! There goes the Night Guardian.”
