Chapter 5
Take care my child, for the peris will come.
Take care and watch the River.
Take care my child, they’ll steal you away.
Take care and watch the River.
—Songs of Astola, collected and compiled by Mahira Nazir
Yaseema
Bair and I dug for hours. The grave was deep enough that wild animals couldn’t disturb him, but as shallow as possible in consideration of how little time we had.
And when we were finished, we said a soft goodbye to Ghassan, sprinkled a few black cumin seeds on his grave to ward off any churails or ghouls wanting to raise the dead.
After that, we trudged back to our homes in the deep hours of the night.
But as soon as Bair left me at my door, I slipped back out again, stealing Safiyya’s shovel to undo all our hard work. I rubbed black cumin seed oil on my wrists for protection and muttered one of my mother’s songs under my breath to stave off any other evil that would come for the unburied dead.
Everything in me recoiled at what I was doing. To dig someone up I’d just buried felt so wrong it was like I was peeling my own skin off.
But if my magic had revealed the key on his wrist, that meant it was important. That meant it was something I’d been looking for.
And given the state of Ghassan’s home and the fact that the key was hidden under his sleeve, I wondered if Ghassan had really killed himself. It was highly possible he had stolen it from his work at the Citadel and they had come looking for it, killing him in the process.
At last, I dug far enough to reveal Ghassan’s bony hand, dark fingers curled in the soil, like fresh roots. I let out a scream under my breath and pressed my forehead to the earth. My stomach turned, but if my magic had led me here, I had to follow it.
And if doing this could save more from his fate, I had to try.
Slowly I dusted around the fingers, revealing the thin gold chain slipped around his wrist, and the ornate key dangling from it.
I snapped the chain, the metal cool in my hand and the feeling of death still clinging to it.
Then I reburied him, refilling the grave with dirt and respeaking the funeral rites.
In the moonlight I lifted the key up, turning it over until the light caught an inscription on one side.
My breath caught in my throat. I studied the words in the quiet of the wood.
It was in a language from one of the fae courts, but an ancient one. But beside it was a tiny jasmine flower—the insignia of Queen Azari from the River Court.
I studied its shape, the jagged top like leaves or thorns. It was the perfect size for the key I’d been searching for all these months.
And if it was the key I’d been looking for, then I only had a few hours to use it before the Citadel’s excavation of the Golden fae vault in the morning.
* * *
Daylight began filtering through the darkness, and I didn’t bother to return home, cutting through the forest instead before reaching the edge of the mountains.
There I reached the door hidden behind a tangled swath of vines and thorns, a door with a lock that my magic couldn’t open, with a jasmine insignia carved directly into the stone.
And the keyhole the perfect shape for the ornate golden key in my hand, with a matching insignia, the stamp of an ancient fae queen.
I pressed the key into the opening, the cool metal meeting the untouched stone. Then I turned it, the teeth of the key clicking into place in the lock, the sound so exhilarating I closed my eyes for a brief moment.
At first, nothing happened. Then a soft glow grew from the opening, similar to the golden haze of my magic, but instead of tendrils of power, it was similar to a fog, pouring from the keyhole like the flow of water.
Then the entire frame of the door lit up, the key doing its work, the lock unclicking inside the door, like various magical mechanisms had been undone.
My breath collected in my chest, and I remembered that Ghassan had been the one to find this key, and he’d kept it hidden all this time.
Had he been looking for the door to the Golden Vault?
Had he wanted a way across River and into the fae lands too?
I pressed my hands on the stone door—and it was no longer cold but warm. At my pressure, it swayed open, as if it hadn’t been sealed for hundreds of years, as if I wasn’t the only person to touch this door in centuries.
Some golden fog still remained, lighting up the entrance. Enough to show me that the door opened to a dark pit that was less inviting the more I stared.
But I didn’t have time to contemplate my options.
Soon the air would be filled with the roar of the Citadel’s trucks, and I knew what they would bring—excavators. They’d planned to use explosives to blow the entrance this morning, and I wasn’t sure how much ancient fae magic would keep the force of dynamite at bay.
I pulled a long rope from my satchel, along with pins and a hammer. I spent half a minute hammering in a rope so I could slowly lower down into the fae vault without breaking my neck, but no longer.
Finally, I tugged on it, testing how secure it was.
It would have to be, considering I didn’t have time to hammer another pin into the ground, not when I didn’t know how long it would take me to break into the vault.
And if I didn’t steal the relic before the Citadel got there, it would all be for nothing.
The air was cool and damp, like a mountain cave instead of an underground pit hiding an ancient vault. I slid down the rope carefully, the only light from the small hole exposed to the creeping dawn light above.
My feet landed on something solid, and I tested the ground beneath me.
Firm, unmovable.
I let go of the rope.
The space around me was vast, and the thought of excavator trucks and dynamite was like another world. A faint trickle of water sounded somewhere behind me. I took my pack off and pulled out my lantern, turning the gas dial so the light flared to life.
My gasp of shock echoed through the silent space as the light illuminated the Golden Vault filling the space in the cavern.
I was surrounded by a golden underground palace.
The walls were painted in a metallic yellow sheen, and instead of stalactites dripping from the ceiling, it looked as though it was encrusted with jewels.
I laughed aloud and the sound bounced off the walls, coming back to me in waves like a friendly ocean. The lantern shook in my hand as I lifted it up to see more of the golden cave. There was a path in front of me, paved in cobblestones and leading to two golden pillars, forming a gate of sorts.
I secured my satchel over my shoulder, hooking the lantern to the bottom of my bag and adjusting my spectacles. The rope above me swung gently and a soft breeze brushed my cheeks. Frowning, I looked in the direction of the golden pillars.
This should have been the only open entrance. Unless the excavators had already broken through the stone.
At my thought, an enormous boom shook the cavern and dust sprayed around me, the crystals falling off the ceiling of the cave in great clumps. My hands shielded my face, covering my spectacles, my stomach dropping at the realization of what was happening.
Dynamite.
The Citadel were already here.
Of course, preservation of the vault was not on their minds. They wanted to blow it open and unearth the greatest relic they’d ever found.
And they wanted a way to cross the River and into the fae world.
My footsteps were measured as I made my way down the path, trying to calm my racing heart with each press of my boot.
With every step I was confident I grew closer to the center of the vault.
But I’d now been unearthing fae relics for months, and I knew the ancient fae didn’t leave places like this unguarded.
And this time I could call on my magic with no one around for me to worry about. At my thoughts, I felt my power whisper though my mind, and I called on it to come forth.
Help me find it.
The coils of golden light spilled from my hands like an extension of my own body lighting the way. Golden threads of my power appeared and tugged me along the right path.
I rushed forward, following the illuminated path, but should have been paying better attention. Although magic had largely faded from the human world, the traps of the ancient fae had not.
A click sounded underneath my feet, as loud as my laughter that had echoed across the cave a moment ago.
Too late.
A hole opened up from the side of the wall to my right, and a thin blade whistled through it, like a long spine ready to skewer me.
I flattened myself to the ground as the long spike pierced the air above me, leaving an indentation in the empty space above my head. A breath eased out of me, as if my whole body released when that deadly spike did, missing impaling me by inches.
But then another click sounded.
I don’t have time.
I leapt up, the pathway before long but boxed in by golden stone walls on either side.
I had no choice but to plunge forward into the darkness, because long spikes flew through the air behind me, embedding themselves into the walls, creating an impossible escape unless I wanted my skin to be ripped off by a thousand thorns piercing my flesh.
If anything blocked my path on the other side, I’d be penned in, but I was more concerned with outrunning the lethal fae trap.
I ran as fast as I could, beating the shooting spikes by seconds as they erupted from the wall behind me. My calves burned and sweat poured from my face, proving with every moment that I really should have prepared more for something like this. Running was not one of my skills.
I neared the end of the corridor, the Golden Vault beyond opening up like a glimmering light.
A few more steps and I would be there, ready to snatch the fae artifact out of the hands of the Citadel and use it to cross the wall. I was so close to bringing life magic back to the human world.
A few more seconds, and I’d be there.
Using every ounce of speed I possessed, I pushed forward, trying to beat the explosion of deadly spires shooting out from the wall behind me.
A long barb slid along the skin of my leg, avoiding impaling me by seconds.
I was in a cage of metal spikes meant to trap an unfortunate thief in an agonizing death.
But I wouldn’t be one of them. Not today.
Instead, I lunged out of the golden death corridor, leaping forward, ready to land at the foot of the Golden Vault.
But I flew into free fall instead.