Chapter 5 #2
“Shh, shh,” Ty said, attempting to soothe the animal, who clearly had no interest in going down the deep, dark stairs into the unknown.
“This one’s freaking out too,” Turner said, wrestling with Mahnin, who was trying to flee out of the cave.
“Iblis, this always happens with the unfamiliar ones. Let’s leave them here for now and we can send Myka up to get them later,” Ty said, leading their horse back towards the entrance and tying it to a metal bar drilled into the cave wall that looked like it was made especially for this purpose.
Steig and Turner did the same, even though Steig’s horse seemed to be having no trouble—Ena supposed that one must have been with them since they’d left the Underworld—and then the four of them continued, now horseless, down the stairs.
Ena was surprised to find that the air was damp in the cave, but not stale, and as they got progressively deeper, instead of getting colder, the air seemed to get warmer and more humid. How was that possible?
The metal lanterns that lined the staircase were strange too. The flames inside them were blue, and they didn’t flicker like candlelight. There was no wax to be seen, either, only a dark black substance that filled the bottom and which seemed to create an unwavering flame.
The staircase continued to wind down and around until it flattened and widened at the bottom, opening into a wide hallway lined with the same lanterns. Branching off the hallway were archways that led to other hallways, dozens of them which seemed to form an elaborate network under the mountain.
Ena was speechless already, taking in all of this, but as the hallway ended and opened into a huge cavern, she was in utter awe.
The chamber was enormous, the ceiling easily twice as high as the tallest tree she’d ever seen, with thousands of spiked stalactites, some as large as Ty, hanging menacingly down from it.
Her footsteps echoed as she walked, the sound of them small and foreign to her ears as they became lost in the cavernous space.
All around her, the dark-gray rock walls of the chamber were carved with giant pillars that almost seemed to blend into the stone, but upon closer examination were decorated elaborately with swirls, circles, and dots in patterns that resembled Ty’s onata tattoos.
The pillars were complimented by more pointed archways that dotted the space, leading into countless alcoves along the floor of the cave, each alight with the strange blue glow of the lanterns she’d seen walking in.
A carved staircase wove around the edges of the cavern, leading to landings every few stories up with archways branching off into more passageways into the darkness.
And to top it all off, a raised platform was carved into the wall at the far side of the cavern.
It was empty right now, and Ena couldn’t help but feel like something important was meant to go there.
Together, the carved walls and lights all around the chamber, though slightly intimidating, were incredibly beautiful and she couldn’t help but admire the artistry.
To think that these walls had been carved by hand by daemons over the course of centuries was mind-boggling.
The skill and time that would take alone left her with a feeling of intense awe for these people she knew so little about.
How was it possible witches had been ignorant of this for centuries?
Was it willful? All to keep the secret of the amulet and what they’d done?
Because staring at the wonder of what daemons were capable of…
a part of her understood witches’ fear of them, and yet she found herself utterly fascinated.
She was so overcome by the vastness of the space and the artistry of its architecture that it took her a surprisingly long time to notice that they were not alone.
At the rear of the chamber, seated around a long, wooden table braced on metal legs, there were about half a dozen daemons, and all of their eyes were on the four of them as they made their way across the floor.
At the head of the table, facing them as they approached, was a large man.
He was leaning back in an elaborate, gold chair, one of his elbows laid on the armrest as his fist propped up his rigid jaw.
He was attractive, with short dark hair and slightly golden, hazel eyes.
He looked to be somewhere in his fifties, with a similar build to Ty.
And he looked unhappy.
This must have been Ty’s uncle Cole, the King of the Underworld.
Directly to his right sat a similarly sized man with dirty-blond hair and brown eyes, who looked undeniably like Turner. This must be his other uncle, Zak. She’d never made the connection before, but there was no doubt he was Turner’s father.
The four other daemons were a mix of ages and genders.
There was a large, bulky wall of a man with even more onata tattoos than Ty; a skinnier one with greasy hair who reminded Ena of a rat; and two women—one seated next to Zak who was brown-haired with bright-blue eyes, and an older woman with black hair who looked to be the senior of the group.
All of them had onata tattoos, like Ty, Steig, and Turner, but some more than others, and they were all dressed similarly in the warm cave, with even the women wearing long-sleeve shirts and light, cotton pants, not unlike what mortal and witch men would wear in the summertime.
The only thing that distinguished the women were the leather bodices they wore over top of their shirts.
Everyone was quiet as the four of them approached, and Ena’s stomach tightened. If this room was any indication of the power the king wielded, it was intimidating to say the least.
Ty casually placed his large hand on the small of her back, leading her forward until they stopped at the opposite end of the table from where Cole sat, watching them like a hawk eyeing its prey.
“Ty,” he greeted coldly. “You’ve returned.” The man spoke quietly, but there was no need for more volume. The sound of his deep voice echoed around the cavernous space, making it loom larger. “I was beginning to think you were never coming back.”
“My apologies, Uncle Cole,” Ty responded, his voice steady and practiced. “We ran into some complications.”
“I can see that,” Cole responded, a feline smile spreading across his face. “What’s this you’ve brought?” he asked, looking directly at Ena with a mixture of curiosity and disdain.
“We’ve taken a witch,” Ty said stoically.
“Taken a witch, you say…and a very pretty one at that,” Cole said, seeming entertained by the idea.
Ena’s skin prickled under his focused attention, and she felt Ty stiffen beside her.
“It’s been decades since we’ve had a witch-slave in the Underworld. What a…gift,” he continued, over-enunciating the last word. Something about the way he said it told Ena he wasn’t entirely pleased by this development.
“Yes, Uncle. I know she’ll be most useful to us. I have big plans for her,” Ty said, unwavering in the face of his uncle’s double-talk.
“Undoubtedly,” Cole said, the feline smile returning to his face.
“I’d love to hear more of these plans you have, but I’m sure you’re all very tired and need time to settle in, and as you can see, we were in the middle of a Convening.
” He gestured with an open hand to the table filled with daemons before him.
“Of course, Uncle. I can come back to debrief you on the mission and my plans at your convenience,” Ty said, inclining his head slightly in deference.
Cole nodded once, as if in dismissal.
Ty placed his hand on Ena’s back to lead her away, but Cole stopped them.
“One more thing, before you go.” The way he spoke sent shivers down her spine, almost like there was a hidden threat to every word.
“I know I would feel a lot more comfortable having a witch around if she were properly attired.” He said the word “witch” like a curse, spitting it out between his teeth.
Ty froze and slowly turned back to face his uncle. “You know it won’t work on her,” he said tightly.
“Of course, but just for appearance’s sake,” Cole said, seeming delighted by Ty’s hesitant reaction. He turned to the daemon on his left, the brick wall of a man who looked like his nose had been broken several times. “Gunnar, fetch an imperae collar for our new arrival.”
Gunnar rose from the table, heading for one of the alcoves. It held several trunks, storing Gaia only knew what, and he lifted the lid off one, revealing a variety of metal objects. He grabbed something large and circular, and returned to their end of the table, handing it to Ty.
Up close, it looked to be a necklace of sorts, but not like the ones Ena had seen before.
It was made entirely out of a thick band of metal, iron most likely, and was open on one side to presumably slip onto her neck.
Carved into it were runes like the ones that had been on the entrance to the Underworld.
She looked up at Ty, who raised his eyebrow slightly at her. Trust me? he seemed to ask.
She gave an imperceptible nod. With my life, she thought.
He raised the imperae collar to her throat, pulling apart the metal slightly to slip it around the middle of her neck.
The metal felt cold against her skin, and she was keenly aware of the feeling of Ty’s fingers against her throat as he pushed it closed at the back.
The necklace fit snugly, warming quickly against her skin.
It wasn’t uncomfortable by any means—she still had plenty of room to breathe and swallow—but something about the way they were all looking at her made her feel like there was much more to it than she knew.
“Good,” Cole said, eyeing them closely. “Now you’re dismissed,” he added, with a flick of his hand. “Oh, and Steig,” he added as they turned to go.
Gaia, this man certainly loved to elongate goodbyes.
“I’m sure my daughter is most excited to see you, but I do expect a visit from you soon too,” he added pointedly, before turning his attention back to the daemons at his table.
Steig nodded in understanding, and turned to join her, Ty, and Turner as they all but fled the room.