And finally, four in gunmetal grey armour with silver cloaks and heavy broadswords. Kelen and Lana's guards, from the River Kingdom. They bow to me as I jog over. They don't look panicked, and that is reassuring. I retain my ice-cool demeanour, despite the pulse that thunders in my throat. "Kelen was here?"
"He just left, Your Majesty," comes the deep voice of Won, from Hela’s kingdom; in charge of all the Vault Guards.
"Anything to report?"
"He didn't stay long, just went in and came right back out. Queen Lana was with him."
"Anyone else?"
"He had two people with him, but we didn't allow them in or near the vault," relays one of Espan's guards. I nod, watching my own guards climb up the rocks and pull a hidden lever in the rock face. Two hidden doors, the first of ten, crack into two, and Renna walks in beside me, her slick ponytail hanging down to the small of her back.
We’re in the Hall of the Gods; a long tunnel divided into sections by ten different doors, each one an enigma of puzzles and riddles. Lights float overhead, the walls beside us a series of gold-gilded paintings of past wars and events.
Renna skips on ahead like it’s a normal fucking day, knives strapped to her thighs and waist. There’s even a tiny knife behind her ear. She's fucking beautiful; danger and sweetness all rolled into one. Her heavy black boots thud beside mine on the gold and red mosaic flooring as I lead us to the second door, defended by twenty more guards.
Thirty-two bolts are in the door, each in its own slot. Quickly, I move them into an exact configuration, each one not a hair out of place. As I slide the last one over, the door clicks open and the iron locks scramble themselves once more. Renna watches my every move like a hawk, and I know that my girl is clever enough to be committing this to memory.
I take her through the door that requires a long passcode spoken aloud, through the door of riddles, and the door of puzzles, through the door of flames that I had designed, each door guarded by twenty additional guards. We reach the end of the Hall of the Gods and step in front of the final door. "Lynna and her mother made this door," I explain, as Renna looks at the dense wall of pastel pink flowers and leaves in front of her. It doesn’t look like a door at all, more of a vertical garden.
"Kelen was here?" I ask the guards. They all nod.
"And did you look in?" The guards aren't allowed to step foot in the Vault, only the Kings and Queens. If I had my way it would be only me that had access, but this causes wars and tensions, no nation wanting another one to have more power than them.
"We did, lord. All looked as it did before he left."
Thank fuck. "Fine."
Renna tries the hidden handle beneath the ivy and flowers, but it doesn’t move. "How do you open this one?"
I kneel down, picking up a small jug of water and taking a pot of soil from the intricately painted wall. I pluck a seed from the centre of one of the pink flowers, place it in the soil, and water it. I place the pot beneath the handle on the floor and Rennalya claps her hands, amazed as a vine creeps up out the pot, slithering up the wall and snaking itself around the handle, pivoting it downwards.
"Wow." She stares at it, amazed. "So how does anyone ever break in here if it's this complicated to get in?"
"Only one person ever has, and it was elaborately planned. They had the Mountain Queen hostage, tortured her into opening the doors that they could not.” A shudder rolls through my body at the memory of that day. I hope one day I can find it in me to open up to Renna about it. "Of course, the system doesn't account for the fact that it might be one of the Five Kings or Queens that betrays the others.”
I push the door open further to allow Renna in first and swipe my hand over one of the iron sconces by the doorway. All six of them in the room illuminate the age-old stone walls around us, the Vault nothing more than a small cave. "Don't step off the carpet," I order, as her boots land on the dark green pathway that leads to the pool.
"Why?"
"You're like my son as a toddler. Why, why, why, why. The carpet reduces the vibration of our footprints and keeps the pool still."
Her mouth forms a sweet little o. "Clever. Did you put it in?"
"A long time ago," I say, my hand on her lower back as I walk her over to the pool on the floor, tiled in solid gold. Towards each corner of the six-foot wide, pentagonal pool sits one of the Five Stones. There is the red Fire Stone, the blue Sea Stone, the green Earth Stone, the grey River Stone, and the white Air Stone. All five are there, floating, perfectly intact.
Something doesn't add up here. What is Kelen's plan?
"It's so serene in here," she whispers, as I stand at the water’s edge. "If I jumped in, what would happen?"
My arm shoots out to grab her arm. "Don't!"
She puts her hands up as if surrendering. "I wasn't going to! I was just wondering!"
Renna's love of fun and her light-heartedness in even the most difficult times is one of my favourite things about her, but I'm not in the mood for jokes about the deaths of thousands of people. "It wouldn't be good, Renna."
"So...what? Kelen just comes in here, stares at the stones, and leaves right after?"
My thoughts exactly.It's bullshit. "I don't think it's believable either."
