Chapter 40
Seda
As the blackness faded, they heard insects scattering as they opened their eyes to a dark ravine filled with dense plants.
Mimicking a deep wound where sunlight could not touch, even in daylight, the cliffs surrounding them reached for the fog blanket above.
The dark gray rockface was rippled and scarred with ridges, resembling a tomb that blocked escape for anyone who tried to flee.
The only exit within this chasm was a steep set of stairs at the far side, etched into the rock.
They went rigid when a low chorus of moans began to echo through the narrow void from the opposite side.
“I don’t like this, my moon-flutter,” Elco said.
Seda walked up to him and pressed her forehead against his. “We have to do this, Elco.”
“Which way?” Roya asked Kalon, slowly extending her claws as the eerie anguish reverberated around them.
“Toward the sound,” he said, nodding his head in the direction of the moaning.
Cahir flared his magic at his palms and took the first step.
Kalon held out his hand, stopping him. “No magic works within her lair.”
Seda felt the unwanted scales of fear wrap around her throat like a wet serpent.
“What do you mean? How’s that possible?” she choked out. She knew only how to wield her power. She had no other defense besides the small knife she wore on her hip.
“Witchcraft,” he replied. “There’s a reason why I couldn’t transport us inside. It’s all blocked off.”
“Knowing magic wouldn’t work inside would’ve been nice to know before you brought us here,” Roya seethed in response, causing the small form of Suza to bristle.
Kalon glanced at Roya before shifting his gaze to Seda. “Would it have made a difference? We need the stones.”
We. Was he truly part of this with them?
Cahir growled. “You don’t give two fucks about us getting the stones. How do we know you won’t just steal it from us once we leave this place? What’s truly in it for you?”
Kalon’s eyes flicked to Seda briefly before looking away, focusing on the space ahead where the rock face curved, blocking their view of La Uma’s entrance.
A long, quiet breath passed before he answered, “You’ll just have to trust me.
” No smirk or joke lay hidden behind his words.
His face displayed a quiet stoicism as he looked into the distance.
Seda briefly admired how genuinely handsome he looked when he wasn’t being an asshole.
Not in the radiant, jade-hued way she’d felt with Cahir, but in something darker—sharp and rugged, created by evil rather than light.
She silently scolded herself for the thought, biting the inside of her cheek with irritation.
This was the same man who pretended to care for her and then disappeared into the night.
He could have just told her what he was doing before breaking her trust like that.
Cahir scoffed, but Seda drew her knife and moved forward, pushing through the thick plants and getting closer to the keening sounds with each step.
The others joined her at her side. She reached out and ran her hand down Elco’s scales, whispering more to herself than to him, “We can do this.”
With every step they took, the moans grew louder, and when they reached a narrow cave entrance in the cliff face, the sound became so overpowering that it silenced all other noises.
The entrance was narrow and crusted with glowing amethyst gemstones sharpened like daggers.
Seda held her hands over her ears, trying to block out the cries from within, but Elco said into her mind, “I cannot fit.”
Seda’s eyes widened in realization. The entrance was just big enough for them to go through.
Not only could Elco not make it within, but she also couldn’t use her magic.
This entire thing was already going wrong.
She turned back to him, readying to leave this whole mission behind, but Kalon held his hand out.
“I know what you’re thinking, Seda. Elco can stay here and wait for us. He can be our backup if things go wrong,” Kalon said over the lamenting sounds.
She looked up into his seafoam-colored eyes. She didn’t want to leave Elco here. She didn’t even want to go into this hole anymore.
“Seda?” Roya asked, walking up to her and placing her hand on her arm. “You need that stone.”
She glanced at Cahir, who watched her intently, knowing he would follow her lead. If she decided to leave, he would guide her away. If she went inside, he would stand by her side. Her eyes searched his, seeking confirmation.
He held his arms open, and she went into them, hugging him tightly. She felt the whisper of his breath in her hair and his rapidly beating heartbeat against her ear. “What do you want to do?” he asked.
“What I want and what I need are two separate things,” she choked out. “I’m worried about you going in there.” Her arm flew out in the direction of the crystallized hole as her face dug into his chest.
“I’ll be okay,” he said as he rested his hand against her head.
Her friends were right. They needed the stone this monster hoarded to help the people in Joro. This was more than just about her and her fears.
She took a steadying breath and stepped away from Cahir and walked toward Elco. She pressed her forehead against his, hoping this wasn’t the last time she would embrace him. “If we don’t come out in one hour, leave. Find Benny and make sure he’s okay. Will you promise me?”
“I offer no such vow. I’ll remain until the world exhales its last breath. Until the end of time. I’ll not leave this place unless it’s with you.” His reply made her eyes sting, and she let out a choked sob.
“Please,” she pleaded.
He growled and pulled away from her. “I promise an hour… ish,” was his only reply before he focused his glowing, red eyes back onto the entrance.
She stepped away from him.
“Ready?” Roya asked with furrowed brows as she watched the tear roll down Seda’s cheek.
Seda nodded and roughly wiped the show of weakness away.
“Ready,” she replied in the strongest voice she could muster, looking at the others and steadying herself.
“You stay here, as well, Suza. Get word back to Noctrya if we don’t return,” Kalon said, looking at the petite woman.
Suza nodded in response as she bit her bottom lip nervously, looking between the entrance and her master.
Roya took the lead and stepped through first, with Kalon following second. Seda looked at both Cahir and Elco one last time before she stepped into the cavern.
She inhaled the strange scent of lavender once within.
The jagged edges of the cave offered no support with the crystals.
Seda avoided grabbing the wall and stepped cautiously across the rocky floor.
As they descended, the narrow walls began to widen slowly, and the moaning grew painfully loud.
The pungent floral smell, mixed with decay, made Seda cover her nose with her hand, suppressing a gag.
“What the fuck,” she heard Kalon mutter over the noise. He paused in front of her, and she moved in between him and Roya.
She gasped when she saw the source of the wailing and tried to flare her magic in defence, but felt a sudden weight descend upon her, like a heavy blanket soaked in water; no magic came forward.
The cavern gradually leveled into a narrow corridor.
The immense walls were adorned with severed heads staked to the crystals, their twisted faces moaning with pain.
Various shades of blood ran down the amethysts they were staked upon, pooling onto the floor below and glowing against the light emitted by the stones.
The heads all turned toward the group, a variety of eye colors all fixed on them simultaneously, their distressed faces shifting into wide smiles when they saw them.
The moans stopped.
Cahir stepped alongside Seda and gripped his sword tightly, his knuckles white with tension. “They cannot reach us if we stay in the center of the path,” he said as he stared at the too-wide grins.
Roya once again took the lead and descended further into the lair, taking careful footsteps through the center, some of the faces following her as she walked.
Kalon looked down at Seda and said before following Roya, “Stay close.”
She looked at Cahir, whose face was pale with horror and disgust. “These are only the heads of men,” she said to him. “Are you sure you want to continue?”
“Forever by your side, Sed,” was all he said before he stepped in front and reached his hand back for her. She accepted it, feeling his warm palm within hers, and held the knife in her other hand as they began to walk through. She tucked her wings in closely behind her.
She tried to avoid looking at the eerily quiet smiles as they passed, but she made the mistake of glancing over, and the head of a man cackled at her in response.
“Do you know what I’d do to a pretty thing like you if I had my body back?” it said, licking its lips as its eyes rolled down her body.
Like a shadow of darkness, Seda felt her body tense as anxiety started to creep up her spine. It focused its energy on vivid memories of her past, of the men who had hurt her and diminished her confidence.
Cahir pulled his hand away from hers and brought his sword down onto the head of the man, breaking apart the amethyst it was staked upon. He repeatedly drove it into the man’s face, crushing the mangled face into the wet ground below, wild fury blazing in his eyes.
When the man’s face was pulverized beyond recognition, he reached for her hand once more.
Seda said nothing and accepted his outstretched hand.
None of the other heads spoke, but their smiles followed them as they moved deeper into the monster’s lair. What truly awaited them ahead if this was the entrance? Why would this beast display these heads for anyone who entered in such a manner?
They walked for a few more minutes before the pathway widened further, revealing a vast, crystal-crusted cavern, covered in cobwebs, with alcoves of darkness in the walls, as if it split into a maze beyond.
“Disgusting,” Roya said from ahead, and Seda tried to peer around Cahir, but he immediately froze in front of her, causing her to walk into his back.
She stepped around him and stared at the two amethyst stakes in the center of the path as if the items displayed on them were prized trophies.
Propped onto one was the head of a man, and on the other, a flaccid male appendage.
Seda stepped closer and stared at the face of the man, and his eyes shifted toward her.
She gasped at the resemblance.
“Father?” Cahir whispered hoarsely, his face twisted and nose wrinkling in disgust.
The temperature inside the cave dropped, and their breath started to billow out like ghostly plumes of air. They heard a skittering sound, like a massive insect scurrying across the walls.
A long, wet string shot out from the darkness and wrapped around Kalon, throwing him roughly onto the ground. He struggled to move. Roya immediately knelt and tried to pull the string from him, but also became tangled in the thick, gummy paste.
“Cahir, darling. What did I tell you about making faces?” a feminine voice echoed from the dark pits.