Chapter Twenty-Six

VEN

I drifted in and out of consciousness, floating outside of my body. There were voices. One belonged to a woman, and others blended into a cacophony. I remembered I was supposed to do something, but I wasn’t sure what it was. The thought was on the outskirts of my mind. It vanished every time I tried to focus on it.

The woman was someone important. We were doing something together. I didn’t know what.

What I did know was that pain filled my body. Agony was a part of every muscle, bone, and nerve. The last thing I wanted to do was think about my suffering. I noticed a beautiful light. It was peaceful and beckoned to me. I knew if I went into the light all my pain would go away.

Merely moving in the direction of the glowing light felt wonderful. I sighed, feeling my pain start to disappear. I was about to enter the light when I paused.

Wasn’t there something I was supposed to do? It was related to the woman. Was she important?

The light had a magnetic pull on me, and involuntarily I began moving to it again. I heard a noise in the distance and imagined my body was moving, but everything seemed far away. The light was right here. I felt torn in two directions. It was time to enter the light, but a little part of me was reluctant to surrender. Could I stay and bear the pain?

I don’t know how long I floated between the light and the pain. The place was timeless. I wasn’t in a hurry. I had to choose between doing something easy and doing what was necessary.

Without warning, the pain receded. I felt an intense relief and immediately moved back toward my body. I glanced longingly at the light, but I realized I wasn’t supposed to be there yet. I had things to do. I felt like I had been underwater and was going back up for a breath of air when my consciousness reintegrated with my body.

Crashing back into reality, I woke up.

Everything hurt. I could hear the sound of someone crying. My eyelids were so dry that I could barely pry them open. When I finally managed to open my eyes, I wasn’t sure where I was.

It was bright here too, even though I had turned away from the light. A woman’s head was on my chest. She was sobbing like she had a broken heart. I vaguely recalled someone crying like that on my shoulder before. I wondered why it didn’t make me uncomfortable.

Suddenly I remembered everything. Searching for the ladle, making love to Emmy, getting hit with poisoned arrows, and passing out. I had no idea what had happened after I lost consciousness. All I knew was that Emmy was crying on my chest like she had lost a family pet.

I tried to speak, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was a croak. Her head came up, and I tried again. “What’s wrong, Emmy?” I thought I managed to speak clearly this time. She started weeping even louder than before, and Morley appeared from somewhere. They both talked at the same time. I wasn’t sure what they were saying. My brain felt a bit fuzzy. I knew I had to tell her one thing before I thought about doing anything else.

“Listen to me.” My voice was rough, but it worked. She took my face in her hands and gazed into my eyes.

“I love you.” Now she knew, and I could die in peace. She closed her eyes as if she were praying and leaned down to kiss me soundly on the lips.

Her touch made me feel much better. Maybe it wasn’t the kiss. I felt like I was regaining strength with each passing moment. The pain and stiffness were receding in my limbs. Soon I felt strong enough to sit up.

Morley and Emmy exchanged incredulous glances. I shook out my arms, which seemed to be working. I wiggled my legs. Did the poison leave my body? I pulled up my shirt to check on the wound on my chest and saw a round, pink scar.

“I guess the ladle is real. It worked.”

Emmy nodded and hugged me. “What about Abel?” she asked. “He’s still in there.”

Morley nodded and walked down the hall, going through a small door. He was back a few minutes later with Abel in tow.

“You didn’t even tie him up?”

“He’s my brother, Emmy.”

“Not to me. He’s a danger to everyone.” She shook her head.

Before they could enter into an argument, the room started to shake. Dust began falling from the cracks in the ceiling.

Morley looked at Emmy in dismay. “Taking the ladle was the last straw.”

“Are you saying there’s additional danger?” Abel looked incredulous.

Morley shook his head. “We have to get out of here. It sounds like the entire catacombs are at risk.”

“The Stone Goddess leaves no survivors,” Emmy whispered to herself.

Cracks appeared in the ceiling and the walls. Dust poured out of the cracks, coming down in a thick cloud that threatened to cover us.

Emmy started shouting above the noise. “It’s not regular dust. It’s hematite. Put your mask on!”

She was already wearing her mask. My hand reached into my pocket and pulled out the cover, putting it over my face. Morley produced a mask for himself, and Abel was forced to cover his nose and mouth with his shirt.

Morley motioned to the tunnel, and we followed him quickly. Once inside, we saw two paths go in different directions. One appeared to lead back to the ladle’s resting place while the other had stairs leading up. “We have to climb. I’m not sure how much time remains.”

I moved behind Emmy, and we raced up the stairs together. I kept looking back to confirm Morley was still behind us. I didn’t care if Abel died down here, but I was determined to make sure Morley came with us.

In case we needed further incentives, dust and stones began to fall in the stairwell. Emmy slipped, but I caught her ass. We stayed on our feet. My muscles started to ache from the effort, and my lungs were burning. I hoped my breathing problems were from the exertion, and not because I accidentally inhaled hematite.

We had started to slow down when we came to a door. More rocks were filling the stairwell. One crashed into my head. When I touched my forehead, my fingers came away wet with blood.

Emmy was fumbling with the door. There was a handle, but I could see her searching for a puzzle. Morley pushed past her and leaned on the release. “Sometimes things aren’t complicated.”

We all slipped out of the door, emerging onto the mountainside where we saw Abel’s team trudging down the mountain. It was cold in the shadow of the cave, and we moved out into the blissful heat of the two suns. Looking through the door, we could see the demise of the structure. I held Emmy’s hand as the catacombs which kept the Silver Mestolo of Zelia safe for centuries collapsed into ruins.