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A shudder ran through me as my imagination began to paint me a picture of what we were walking into. After facing the shadow creature in both dreams and reality, I wasn’t even sure how far wrong my worst thoughts would be.
I squinted into the dim light around us, which was no brighter than distant candlelight, though I could see no source.
“Would it be a really bad idea if I added some more light?” I asked. “I can hardly see.”
“Are you sure you want to?” Noah muttered as he stepped away into the gloom on my right.
I startled as a hand pressed against the small of my back, finding Zeke beside me again. “There’s no one else here, if you have the power to spare then I don’t think a light would be a problem.”
A quick mental check told me that I didn’t have a lot of magical energy left after trying to break through the entrance here, but a standalone orb wouldn’t drain me, and it would give us a couple of hours of light to see better. With a small nod of understanding, I lifted a hand and crafted a swirling ball of energy, cutting it off from my power and sending it floating up above us.
My mouth dropped open as the new light revealed the chamber to me. The enormous, broad roots of an ancient tree wound down from the ceiling high above, lining the walls and creating the irregular shaped dome we found ourselves standing in. A thin set of stairs curved up and away in the opposite wall, but no other entrance seemed to lead in other than the doorway back into the tunnels. A blackened altar lay in the centre of the floor, sunken lower than the rest of the room, with rusted chains hanging from the four corners. Cases of books, trinkets and crystals lined the walls, with the skulls and bones of numerous creatures littered between them in varying states of decomposition. The roots in the walls were singed with huge black slashes, like they had taken the brunt of the sheer level of power that had been used down here. Or like a caged creature had tried in vain to escape.
Runes had been carved into every surface and dark energy poured from everything in sight, my senses recoiling from it all as acid churned in my belly. But what caught my attention above all else was the gilded throne that faced the altar, or more specifically, the small, motionless body slumped on it.
A hand caught my arm as I went to run forwards.
“Careful, Princess,” Liam warned as I turned to glare at him.
Giving him a begrudging nod as I admitted that he wasn’t wrong to be suspicious, I moved forward more cautiously.
“Hello?” I called gently as I walked nearer, reaching the first of the three short steps that led up to the dais.
There was no response of any kind. Liam stepped up behind me, close enough that I could feel the heat of his body against my back.
“There’s no heartbeat,” he murmured close to my ear.
I sighed defeatedly but climbed the steps, something making me need to investigate further. It was a girl, that much was clear, her simple, brown dress creased and showing dark stains. Long, dark hair curtained her face, her chin touching her chest where her head had fallen forwards. One of her arms was stretched out along the ornate arm of the chair, with the thin sleeve pulled up to reveal wrinkled skin that had a purple tinge to it like the final stages of a bruise. With a surprisingly steady hand I reached out to brush my fingers lightly against her exposed flesh, unsurprised to find it cool and stiff.
I frowned at the texture of it though. It was dry, the flesh deflated and shrivelled beneath the skin and unlike any other body I had seen. Reaching higher, I brushed back the thick curtain of hair, mystified by how soft it still was. I tucked a gentle finger under her chin as I tried to lift her head to see her face.
“What the hell?” Liam rumbled as her sunken, withered cheeks were revealed. “It looks like something has sucked her dry.”
I nodded even as a frown creased my brow, tilting my head to the side as something niggled at my memory. A large rune had been carved into her forehead, but it had twisted out of shape as her skin had warped and was now unrecognisable.
I shook my head slightly as my eyes roamed over her distorted features. “This was some sort of spell, but I don’t know…”
My words fell flat as I gasped, realisation hitting me and making my hand snap back. The girl’s head dropped back down, blanketed once again with her hair, but I didn’t need to see it anymore to be sure. I covered my mouth as I choked on a sudden sob, feeling Liam pull me away in panic.
At the bottom of the steps he stopped and gathered me into his arms, banding them tightly around me as I tried to hold myself together. I dimly heard the others return from their own snooping, running over to us as they heard my pain.
“What the fuck happened?!” snapped Zeke as I felt Noah’s warm hand smooth circles on my lower back.
Pulling away slightly, Liam pointlessly swiped the tears from my cheeks as they continued to stream from my eyes in a flow that I had no chance of stopping. “Princess, talk to us.”
It took me three tries to find my voice, a part of me not wanting to admit what had devastated me.
“It…it’s Thea,” I choked out.
I could see the confusion in his gaze before a spark of recognition hit him. Noah gave a low curse behind me before Zeke spoke.
“The maid from the castle? The one who helped you escape?”
Liam cradled my cheek in his palm. “I’m sorry.”
A fresh sob broke from my chest, my heart breaking for my friend as Zeke walked up to the throne and examined her body. “This was not a normal death.”
“Well duh,” Noah answered as he resumed his soothing touches on my back. “This is not a normal room.”
