Chapter Fourteen. In Which the Trio Discovers a Secret Tunnel That Is Probably, Most Certainly a Death Trap
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
In Which the Trio Discovers a Secret Tunnel That Is Probably, Most Certainly a Death Trap
Risa stewed. Despite sitting on a literal horse, she couldn’t manage feeling quite so high and mighty when she and the Wolf were both accompanying the prince for selfish reasons.
Revenge sounded a lot worse than trying to break a seventeen-year-old curse of bad luck, but if both ended up hurting other people, what difference did the distinction make?
Besides, the Wolf had something to offer the prince. Protection. Actual skills in combat. The means to survive. Risa had only her bad attitude and an inability to shut up in high-stress situations.
The stars had long been banished by the arrival of dawn, pale brushstrokes painting the clouds pink and purple, a dark orange glow highlighting the horizon.
It was as the sun crept over the edge that the Wolf stopped.
The Grunion Mountains stretched left to right, peaks jagged little teeth in a great yawning mouth of sky.
They were ugly things covered in more dirt than grass, but the air was crisp and fresh with the faint scent of evergreens, a pleasant change from the dust of Spearbelly’s surroundings.
The Wolf dismounted in silence and refused to cast them a single acknowledging glance.
She marched up to a rocky crag, searching along the misshapen cracks of the cliff face.
Pausing at a mangled-looking bit of stone with a series of scratches on its surface, she studied it before moving on.
At a deep fissure, her fingers trailed over the jagged edge.
She retraced her steps along the same few feet, back and forth, pause, back and forth, pause.
Javi slid from his mount and landed gracefully.
He motioned for Risa, who had no choice but to slide down into his waiting arms. Her descent was a lot less elegant than his, particularly thanks to the cat hitching a ride on her good shoulder, but he made no mention of it as he set her on her feet.
Once he was sure Risa was upright with little chance of falling over, Javi went to hover by the Wolf, hands clasped behind his back.
He asked, “How is this going to get us to San Cirilo?”
The Wolf paused her investigation to throw him a pointed look. “Do you … not know the geography of your own kingdom?”
“How many times do I have to tell everyone: I’m the seventh son. I’m better off being handsome and alluring. Don’t need to know geography for that.”
The Wolf glanced at Risa.
Risa held up her hands. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t care for geography, either.”
“The education system here is abysmal,” the Wolf muttered with evident disdain. She cleared her throat to begin the lesson. “There is only one way through the Grunion Mountains: Spearbelly.”
“That’s why you told us to ride toward the far end,” Javi noted, pleased with himself, as if he’d discovered a brand-new element or how to make airships fly without magic.
“But you cannot cross the sheriff and his post if you have committed a violent act,” the Wolf continued.
Her voice had lost its lilting quality, her accent mostly smoothed over.
She pulled at a scraggly branch. When nothing happened, she continued, “Only Risa would have been able to make it through if we had attempted to reach the other side.”
Risa didn’t want to know what happened if someone tried to cross the sheriff’s post after engaging in violence.
“What are you looking for now?” Javi asked.
“A way under.” The Wolf pressed at a particular spot. Nothing happened. “The Underground Pass.”
Brunie was displeased to hear the news. His claws dug into Risa’s skin, a deep growl starting at the back of his throat.
“I don’t need more injuries,” she admonished the cat with a mutter. “If you scratch any further, I’ll let Javi get rid of you.”
Brunie gave her a look that told her the cat did not believe her.
“Ah,” Javi said as he leaned on the wall with an elbow. “Right. The famed Underground Pass, of Underground Pass notoriety.”
The Wolf looked past the prince to Risa. “Is he always this annoying?”
“Yes.” Then, for good measure because she didn’t enjoy being on the same side as the Wolf, scowled.
“There is a tunnel system beneath the mountains,” the Wolf explained. “It takes less time than going over or around. I know there is a secret entrance somewhere. I have used it plenty of times before.”
“Do we have to speak the magic words or something?” Javi prodded. “Do a little jig?”
Risa leaned a hip against the cliffside. “Perhaps we need to cut out the heart of an aggravating prince and offer it to the mountain gods.”
“That’s not funny.” Javi turned to the Wolf. “We don’t, do we? Risa and I have already had a very traumatic experience with malevolent gods.”
It was impossible to read the Wolf’s expression with her hood pulled down. Risa assumed the Wolf was glaring at Javi in disbelief, like she was. “No. Now, if you do not mind.”
“I don’t.”
“She’s telling you to shut up,” Risa translated.
Javi dismissed her by sucking his teeth.
“Fine, I’m telling you to shut up,” Risa retorted.
A quirk of the brow. A suggestive tilt at the corner of his lips. “I can think of one way to occupy my mouth.”
“Me too. I can stuff it with rocks.”
“I was thinking something less violent.”
The Wolf had abandoned her search. Her face was shrouded, but she pointed an accusing finger at the two. “Do you always fight like this?”
“Yes,” Risa answered.
“Love is a battlefield,” Javi joked.
Risa shot him a dirty look, Brunhilda’s spell pulling at the thread that tethered them.
Inexplicably, he looked away, the tips of his ears turning slightly red where they poked out through his curls.
“Consider ending your war for the duration of this journey,” the Wolf advised, then strode to where Javi was leaning and reached for the clod of weeds behind him. She pulled, a click resounding through the valley.
Stone scraped against stone. A deep rumble trembled beneath their feet. Grinding reverberated in Risa’s ears.
The cliffside began to open, a giant maw yawning until a cavernous crack in the mountain stood where there had once been a wall. The entrance sighed, a gust of wind carrying the smell of rot.
This was a terrible idea. A horrible idea. A Bad Idea. Risa knew they should not walk into that empty void.
Even the cat was against it. Brunie hissed and seethed, fur standing on end.
“That”—Javi pointed at the impenetrable black hole ahead—“looks horrifying.”
The Wolf nodded. “It is a treacherous path.”
“Maybe we should take our chances with the sheriff,” Risa whispered.
Another rumble reverberated through the mountains as the Wolf stepped inside. Torches flared to life, flames throwing long, dancing shadows across the stone walls. She glanced back from the threshold and jerked her head at them.
“Bring the horses,” she ordered.
“What am I, a stable boy?” Javi muttered. But he coaxed the horses to follow.
The tunnel unfurled when Risa stepped inside, and with it, the telltale spark of heat across her skin that meant magic was there.
“What makes the Underground Pass so treacherous?” Javi asked. “You didn’t bother explaining.”
The Wolf marched forward with confidence, not missing a step as she explained, “It is an ever-changing maze.”
The entrance chose to rumble closed then, trembling as the cliffside shut out the new dawn.
Risa stumbled. Javi reached to steady her without looking, one hand around her elbow.
“Love it.” His voice was coated in sarcasm.
Risa didn’t want to start considering what her bad luck might do in an enclosed space with no means of escape. How many pitfalls, rockslides, and cave-ins could she sweep aside before the prince started wondering whether she was really good luck?
“I assume you have a plan?” Javi questioned. “Or a map?”
“Nope. You simply trust the maze.”
“Trust,” Javi repeated, “the maze.”
“Yes. Those with the purest of hearts will prevail.”
“That sounds like a riddle,” Javi retorted.
Risa sighed. “I guess Javi is going to have to die after all.”
Javi rounded on her. “I am the purest of hearts. All I have is heart. I give my heart away to all who want it.”
“Perhaps you should be a little more discerning,” she quipped.
He crossed his arms and regarded her with unwavering fierceness. “And perhaps you should be a little more aware.”
“You two flirt in a very weird way,” the Wolf interrupted, effectively shutting them both up. “And you would never make it to Madros without me.”
There it was again. The ease with which the Wolf was able to mention their ultimate destination, while Risa and Javi couldn’t conjure a thought about it, let alone recall its name without it slipping away. And with the way the Wolf said it, it seemed like Madros was a part of her.
“That’s rich coming from a cursed twelve-year-old,” said Risa, choosing to remark on the first comment rather than the second, since the Wolf was probably right about not making it to—wherever.
Javi turned to the Wolf, surprise on his face. “Cursed? What curse?”
“I am sixteen,” the Wolf corrected.
“What is she talking about?” Javi demanded, looking between them.
“I am more curious as to how you can see my curse. It was made to be indetectable. Literally. I am not meant to be perceived or remembered. It is why I wear this hood—to help people see me.”
Well, if the Wolf wasn’t going to dignify her with an answer to her questions, Risa saw no reason to dignify her with any, either. She ground her teeth, stuck her nose in the air, and said nothing.
“Risa is a witch,” Javi answered for her.
The Wolf stopped short.
Here was the familiar reaction people had to Risa. Flashing suspicion, pursing lips, carefully edging away as if her mere proximity promised infection. That was how the Wolf looked at her.
“I’m not a witch,” she snapped. “If I were, I wouldn’t waste my time babysitting this fool.”
“Handsome fool,” Javi corrected, thrilled at being remembered after all.
“That does not explain how you can see curses,” the Wolf said in a slow, deliberate voice.
“Or how she can break them,” the prince agreed. There was something in his tone of voice that made Risa narrow her eyes in question, searching his face for whatever hid behind that perfect smile. It did not reveal itself.
“I don’t know,” she confessed, answering them both. “I don’t believe I can do it intentionally.”
The Wolf regarded her for a moment longer before giving a curt nod. “Then I suppose you are not a very good witch after all. Not like the one who made this place. The legend says she was all-powerful.”
Of course the Pass was made by a witch.
“Oh, I bet the legend is about love,” Javi said, mostly to himself. “All the good ones are.”
“If I tell you, will you stop speaking?”
“Yes,” Javi answered, just as Risa said, “Unlikely.”
The Wolf released a long-suffering sigh. “The story goes that a despondent witch created this labyrinth when she was jilted by a lover.” She gestured at the tunnel walls with both arms.
Brunie growled menacingly. The sound ricocheted through the tunnel.
“She wanders the maze forlorn, cursing all those she encounters to suffer her same terrible fate,” the Wolf went on. “It is not true, of course. I have passed through these tunnels for several years without meeting her.”
Magic was the last thing Risa wished to think about. She’d had enough dealings with it to last several lifetimes, and no interest in meeting a depressed witch hurling rocks and digging tunnels all because she’d been dumped. Though—
The witch had to be powerful to manage the labyrinthine paths. Perhaps powerful enough to break a very stubborn curse of bad luck.
“I don’t see why she didn’t just find someone new,” Javi groused, kicking a lone pebble in his path.
Risa shot him a look.
“It’s easy to fall in love,” the prince said flippantly, as if he couldn’t fathom how others didn’t understand. “You just have to find the good.”
She thought of her curse. Of what she was. How she couldn’t find the good inside herself, no matter how hard she looked.
“What about the bad?”
Javi thought about it for a moment. Gaze soft, mouth parted. “That’s what makes staying in love hard.”
Suddenly, it made far more sense why the witch had done what she did. Risa supposed it made sense why her parents had given her up without even a goodbye.
Love was not for cursed girls.
Risa was better off without it.