Chapter 53
We sit for several minutes to reorient ourselves, but howls start up in the distance. More shadowhounds are on the way.
“We need to get inside before more of those things sniff us out.” Thane has pulled himself together enough to focus, now leading the way toward the temple as I put on my rucksack and tighten the straps. My thigh is still aching and sore, but I can tell it’s healing.
We trail Thane to the entrance. As we approach the towering building, I have to wrap my mind around the fact that we’ve made it. This is a place that many people only dream about—but I’m here.
Up close, the temple is coated with a thin layer of red dirt and wrapped in thorny, dark-green vines. About twenty crumbling steps pave the way up to an arched entrance. Sculptures of doves line the stone rails.
We take the stairs by twos, stopping short of the entryway when Thane throws up a hand.
“There are runes,” he murmurs, studying the arch. “I heard there would be.”
I look with him, taking notice of the symbols carved into the stone bordering the top of the entrance. “What does it say?” I ask.
“Abundance is obtained only by wisdom and blood,” Thane answers, reading the runes aloud.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Rynthea rubs her chest as she stares up, too. Blood is leaking through the gaps of her waistcoat where she was struck the second time.
“It means you can only enter with a blood offering.” Thane reaches up to touch the rune, and it sparks a silvery white. He draws in a sharp breath. “It senses my magic.” After he says that, the tunnel flashes in the same white light as the runes before melting into darkness again.
He steps backward, seeming perplexed.
“I think I know how we can get in. We’ll have to do it with a bit of a twist, but it could work.” Thane whips out a dagger and passes it to Rynthea by the handle. “Carve the third symbol into my palm.”
Rynthea’s eyebrows pull together as she looks from the dagger to the symbols above. “Okay?” She takes the dagger, still confused. “And then what?”
“The third symbol means wisdom,” he explains, pointing up. “This temple seeks wisdom and blood in those who want in. It doesn’t explain how. If we all carve that third symbol into our palms and brand ourselves with wisdom, we might get access.”
“Oh, gods,” Algar says, eyes rolling. “More blood?”
“Yes,” Thane says. “And hopefully it’ll be the last bit of blood drawn from us on this island.”
Rynthea frowns at the runes. “What if we get trapped inside? Or we do something wrong, and this temple kills us as soon as we enter?”
“I’ll go in first,” Thane says, glancing at the entrance. “If I die or something happens to me, then you’ll know. But the treasure you’re looking for is most likely in there because I don’t sense it out here.”
Rynthea continues to frown, but her shoulders soften as she looks from me to Algar and then at Thane again. “Fine,” she mumbles.
Thane’s eyes dart my way. “You okay with having your hand cut?”
“If that’s what gets us in, yes.”
The hounds howl again, and the leaves on the trees rustle, a whisper that trouble is on the way.
Thane sticks his hand out, palm up, as he looks Rynthea in the eyes. “Do it.”
Sighing, she straightens her back and places the tip of the dagger on his skin. She gives the rune a quick glance before dragging the blade across his flesh.
I refrain from wincing as blood accumulates on the surface of his hand. Thane doesn’t react, of course. He simply stares at his hand while Rynthea looks between his palm and the third rune.
“There.” Rynthea drops his hand and steps back.
Thane inspects it before nodding. “Good enough.” He faces the entrance again. The howls are closing in.
“Let’s hurry this up, please,” Algar pleads with a nervous peek over his shoulder.
Thane presses his bloody palm to the temple, and the runes flicker like a faint heartbeat. Squaring his shoulders, he drops his hand and takes a step inside.
A knot forms in my throat as I wait to see what kind of threat will come for him.
Surely something will happen if he’s wrong about carving the rune into our hands.
What if he walks in and something chops him into pieces?
Or a thousand arrows fly out of the walls all at once and pierce him from head to toe?
My heart drums faster as he carries himself deeper into the tunnel. When he disappears in the darkness, I wait with bated breath.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Four seconds.
Five seconds later, rapid footsteps pound on the floor, and Thane materializes again. “It worked,” he breathes. To my surprise, I can tell he’s smiling behind his mask.
“Oh, thank Orvena,” I sigh. “Rynthea, do you want me to do yours?”
“Sure.”
She flips the dagger and offers it to me by the handle. I give the rune a good look before pressing the tip into her palm and cutting two straight lines downward and a single curve between them. Her nostrils flare, but she pushes through, keeping her other hand pressed to her chest.
When I’m done with hers, I turn to Algar, who slaps a hand over his eyes while holding out a palm.
“Just get it over with,” he groans.
I fight a smile as I start on his hand, too. “We’re so close,” I remind him. “It’s almost over.”
“Yeah.” He winces as I dig the blade a little deeper to pierce through the skin. He hisses at the sting. “Wait until people hear the stories. They’ll never believe any of this.”
Despite the howls growing louder, I crack a grin and finish up his hand.
“Okay, you two go on in. See if you can find any treasure,” Thane instructs.
“Be careful,” I call after them as they press their bloodied hands to the outer wall of the temple. When they’re inside, darkness cocooning them, I face Thane and offer him my hand.
“You won’t feel a thing,” he assures me, wrapping his long fingers around my wrist. The warmth of his hand intensifies and sparks gold beneath mine. Then he sticks the dagger into my palm to begin the symbol. He’s right. I can’t feel him cutting me.
“You know a lot of sorcery.” I watch as he works on the first line.
“I wouldn’t have been able to save your precious mortal life so many times if I hadn’t gotten the hang of it.”
I laugh. “I guess that’s true.”
Sighing, I peer up at the temple. Milky light shines from a gap in the treetops and bathes half of my face. I take a moment to soak it in. For all I know, this could be the last time I see any kind of natural light.
“Ready?” I ask, leveling gazes with Thane.
He nods, but there’s a slight reluctance. Maybe, secretly, like me, he doesn’t want our time together to end. Maybe he knows that once I have one of the prosperity stones and we’re back in Gadonia, we’ll drift apart.
Forever.
I reel him in for a tight hug. He freezes for a split second before wrapping me in his arms. “What’s this for?” he asks over my shoulder.
“For staying true to your word.” I lean back and hold his waist with my good hand. “You protected me. I wasn’t so sure in the beginning, but…it was worth it.”
His eyes fall as he lowers his head. “I told you I don’t like to fail.”
“You did.” I place a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you again—not just for this, but for helping me save my sister’s life.”
He doesn’t smile behind his mask. If anything, his eyes seem to sadden. “Zaira, I need to tell you something. I tried to tell you before, but—”
He’s cut off by a howl close by…too close.
“Whatever you want to say might have to wait. We need to get inside.” I press my hand to the temple like the others did.
Thane trails behind me as I stumble through the dark tunnel. I don’t stop until I make it to an expansive room where streaks of light from the broken roof shine down on the ruins and rubble below.
Tunnels run in all directions like wheels on a spoke.
Some have been blocked by collapsed stone, but the other passages lead to tunnels leaking with thin strips of light.
A statue of Orvena is in the center of the temple, along with towering, jagged crystal pillars.
Vines wrap around Orvena, starting at her feet and climbing to her head.
One of the statue’s arms is broken, but in her still-intact hand is a sword.
She’s been sculpted to wear robes and strappy sandals, and on her back is a pair of large wings.
I’ve never seen a statue of our goddess with wings. Is this her true form?
Water leaks from the gaps in the ceiling, splashing on fractured marble floors and accumulating into various puddles.
It smells stale. More vines crawl up the walls, while some hang from the roof.
There’s an altar in the room with a throne made of marble that’s crumbled to ruins.
The steep steps leading to the throne are probably the only thing in this temple that aren’t damaged.
Regardless, something about this temple carries a majestic grace. It seems to be filled with life and energy, despite how badly damaged it is. It feels like a beacon of hope in the midst of chaos—a feeling only Orvena could create. Xaimur tried to tear her creations down, and he failed.
I notice Rynthea and Algar standing near an old fountain.
“I’m not seeing any treasure.” Rynthea frowns as her eyes swivel to Thane.
Thane walks past me and throws up several orbs of light, one for each walkable tunnel. The orbs float through, highlighting the walls until their light fades. Only one orb returns. The rest, I assume, are lost in darkness.
“That way,” Thane says as the orb melts into his palm again. He doesn’t wait for us to catch up as he advances. Water drips on my shoulder as I follow his lead, ducking and weaving cobwebs.
This particular tunnel leads to a tower where the roof is completely gone and left in shambles. What’s stored inside, however, is enough to fill me with joy and relief.
The room is packed with wooden trunks filled to the brim with gold coins, goblets, crystals, and pearls.
“Holy Orvena,” Algar says in awe.
“Wow. The sorcerer wasn’t lying,” Rynthea murmurs.
Without another word, she and Algar dash ahead, ripping their rucksacks off their backs and dropping to their knees in front of one of the trunks to shovel treasure into them.
I smile as I watch them fill their rucksacks, then laugh when Algar says, “We should just take one of the trunks with us, right? No way we’re leaving so much of this behind!”
“It’d only slow us down,” Rynthea tells him. “Fill your bag with as much as you can.” She looks at me. “Zaira, should I fill yours? I’ll carry it for you if it gets too heavy.”
“Uh, sure. Yeah.” I can do with some coin myself once Analla and I are stable.
I remove my rucksack and hand it over to her. Once she takes it, I search for Thane. He’s standing near the mouth of the room with expressionless eyes, observing Rynthea and Algar as they laugh and send praises to Orvena.
When his eyes turn up to meet mine, he says, “Come with me.”
He ducks out before I can ask where we’re going. When I make it back to the main area, I see him walking toward another tunnel across the way that’s already lit with one of his orbs.
“Wait—Thane.” I walk as quickly as I can, but my thigh is still a little tender. He pauses, waiting for me to catch up. Then he presses on, and for some reason, my heart is beating twice as fast. Not from running or hurrying, but because his mood has changed entirely.
He’s nervous. Thane doesn’t get nervous.
Thane follows his orb of light around another corner. When it stops, it hovers in front of a solid wall. He comes to a halt and faces it, running the pads of his fingers along a vertical crack. His fingers light up as he presses down, and then the wall splits open.
The walls groan as they part, revealing a room that is much smaller than the one where the treasure is stored. Against the wall are two wooden chairs, and on one of them sits a corpse with tattered beige robes hanging off its bones.