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  Hunter ran a finger along one line. “These,” he said, “are ancient Vassiz symbols.”

  “They are?”

  “Yes. It’s a language that has been long forgotten in favor of the human tongue, but I’ve picked up bits and pieces of it over the years. Not many of my kind even know it exists anymore. But I think I can make out enough.” He paused, studying the markings. His finger ran up, following the twisting text, and he walked around the tower slowly, reading. “This predates the elders,” he said to himself with awe.

  “The elders? You’ve mentioned them before, but you never explained to me who they are.”

  “Ah. Well, just as it sounds. They’re the most ancient of the Vassiz, and they watch over our race. We answer to their demands, and they administer justice over matters of…importance. They provide their wisdom and ensure the unity of the Vassiz. They are highly revered. Almost as much as the Vassiz creed.” He smiled at Nora knowingly. “Which I broke.”

  “How long have the elders had control?”

  “Since our history started being recorded. Perhaps longer. There is not a single member of our race alive who can say they lived in a time when the elders did not rule. But this…” he looked to the tower “… this, I have not heard mention of before.”

  “You said the markings predate the elders?”

  “Yes. I believe so. If they do – if these towers do – it is a monumental discovery. There is no consensus as to how the elders came to power in the first place. But there are whispers, uttered in only the darkest of crevices, and under penalty of death, that their ascent to power was not peaceful. In fact, some say it was much the opposite. They say our race paid a great price for the overseers.”

  He turned his head back to the tower and continued reading. “I think… I think this was a place where great rituals once took place. And I think there’s more to it than just these towers.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If we look, I think we can find it. A sanctuary, maybe. A part of the writings, they say… Come hither, Thou who seek Respite, and Fear Not for your Mind. I think…this was a safe-place for the Vassiz once.”

  “A safe place from what?” Nora could not imagine a single Vassiz needing to hide from anything.

  “Maybe if we find it, we’ll find out.” He set off, but Nora caught his arm.

  “Hunter, wait. I don’t think this is a good idea. What I felt, what I saw, when I touched that tower…” She shuddered.

  “You’re with me, remember?” he said reassuringly. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Besides, I suspect the power of the sanctuary is to keep humans away.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  ~Into the Ruins~

  Nora and Hunter had been searching the area around the towers for the better part of two hours when Nora hit her foot on a stone and was surprised when it didn’t budge. She bent down to brush away the earth and grime that covered it, and froze.

  The stone was covered in washed-out markings.

  “Hunter? Hunter, I think I found something!” She dropped to her knees for a closer look.

  Hunter peered over her shoulder. “What is it?”

  “Markings. I can’t make them out, but they look a lot like the ones on the tower.”

  “Hmm.” Hunter bent down beside her. He nodded. “You’re right. Nicely done.”

  “What do you think it is?”

  “I don’t know. But I can tell you it’s not just some stone stuck in the ground. I think it’s part of a much larger structure…like a buried statue.” He looked around. “And I bet there’ll be another one close by.”

  Nora watched as Hunter examined the ground carefully, making his way forward on hands and knees to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Suddenly he looked up. “Found it.”

  “Can you tell what the markings mean?”

  Hunter looked at the stone piece sticking out of the ground and shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. It’s in the same script as was on the first tower.”

  “So what now?”

  “I think we’re getting closer to the sanctuary.”

  “Are we really going to go there?” Nora had been over this with him a hundred times in the last few hours, and he always seemed to get the upper hand. “If it’s designed to keep humans away, how do you know there won’t be any…traps set for me?”

  Hunter shook his head. “I told you, I’d notice them long before they could be sprung. And if it’s any kind of physical mechanism, it’d be long since eroded by time.”

  “What about what I felt when I touched that tower?” She shivered and tried to keep the memories from surfacing.

  Hunter waved her concerns away. “I wouldn’t worry about it. That precise feeling was likely the last defense against human intrusion, anyway. It’s nothing physical and nothing that can harm you.” He paused to smile at her. “But if you feel it again, let me know, and we’ll leave this place.”

  “But not before?”

  “Not before.”

  Nora sighed. There really was no arguing with a man, not even one from a different race.

  “Come on.” Hunter pushed his way through the ferny undergrowth. “I have a feeling we’re on the right path.”

  Nora followed him for maybe a hundred yards before they reached another clearing. This one, however, extended far to the left and right of them. The forest’s growth seemed to just stop. On the other side, about twenty grass-covered feet away, a large rock cliff stood covered with ivy. Lots of shrubbery and vines grew outward from there. They didn’t reach the edge of the forest.

  Nora started to walk forward, but found Hunter’s arm pressed against her chest. “Wait.” He held her back. “I smell something.”

  She sniffed, but didn’t smell anything other than the now familiar scents of the forest. “What is it? Is it dangerous?”

  He lifted his nose into the air and inhaled deeply. “No, I don’t think so, but…” he trailed off and walked to the other side, to the vertical slope. Conspicuously sniffing the air, he moved off to the left, coming closer to the ivy-covered rock. Then he bent to the side and ripped away a large bunch of fern with his hands. He stepped aside, smiling at Nora. Behind him, in the gap in the vegetation he’d just created, was a small opening, complete with a rotting wooden door.

  “How did you find that?” Nora walked up to him. She couldn’t have picked out the spot from any other along the face of the slope.

  “The air smelled different. Stale. It was coming from there.” He pointed at the opening.

  “Do you think this is the place we were looking for?”

  “It could be.” He stayed quiet for a minute, pensive. “I’m going to check it out. You wait here. There’s no light inside, but I can see in the dark.”

  He made to move the door out of his way, but the rotting wood collapsed as soon as he touched it. Hunter ducked into the cave, leaving Nora to wait by herself.

  She sat down by the opening and waited. And waited. And waited. The sun began to dip behind the horizon. Nora grew impatient. But still she waited, and waited some more. Half an hour passed, and then another. What was taking him so long?

  Soon, Nora’s thoughts turned dark. Hunter was taking too long. What if something happened to him? What if he didn’t return? What if there was a trap in there, and—

  Her thoughts were interrupted when Hunter suddenly emerged with a triumphant smile on his face. “Come with me.” He extended Nora a hand. “You’re going to love it.”

  Nora took Hunter’s hand and followed him into the tunnel. It was dark inside, and the air smelled damp. Stuffy, even.

  As they walked, her eyes kept trying to adjust to the darkness. But once she was a good hundred feet from the entrance, everything was pitch black. Her only guide was Hunter’s grip on her hand and the sound of his footsteps against the stone.

  Her eyes might have been glued shut for as much as she could see, but still, she kept walking. Nora thought the tunnel sloped down, but perhaps that was only
her imagination. More than once, she stumbled over a rock. Hunter caught her gently every time.

  They walked for what must have been at least two hours when Nora’s eyes slowly started to see past the dark. Dark shapes started revealing themselves around her, rocks and chipped boulders on all sides. She thought it was her imagination getting the better of her, when a pale light appeared far in the distance.

  “Do you see that?” she asked Hunter.

  “Of course. That’s where we’re going.”

  As they got closer, Nora realized it was the exit of the tunnel. And when they walked right up to it, Nora’s jaw dropped.

  Below her lay an epic cavern. The tunnel exited onto a ledge above it, which connected to a set of crudely carved stairs that led down. There, an enormous opening at least the size of a football field had been carved in the rock. Cracks in the ceiling provided enough light to see nearly everything. Nora noticed the gurgle of flowing water and looked down. Directly under the ledge ran a small river – more of a creek, really – that fed into a clear pool off to the side. And right beside the pool lay beautiful crystalized boulders.

  “What is this place?” Nora’s voice echoed across the chamber.

  “This,” Hunter replied grandly, “is the sanctuary. Come. I’ll lead you down.”

  Nora took his hand, and he walked her down the steps which curled around the outside wall of the enclave. Looking around, Nora realized the steps did not only lead down, but also up on the other side – to another ledge above the one they were descending from.

  “Hold on,” Hunter said, when they got to the bottom. “I think I see something.” He let her go and walked over to a side wall. He did something with his hands, and suddenly a small flame appeared in front of him. It flared to life, growing much larger. Nora saw that it came from the top of a thick wooden club.

  “A torch,” Hunter laughed. “And it still has tar on it!” The flickering fire cast shadows that danced across his face and the surrounding rocks. He picked it up from the wall and carried it over to her.

  “Are there more?” Nora asked.

  Hunter looked around before nodding happily. “Yes, there are. All along the walls! I’ll be right back.”

  Nora felt a rush of wind as Hunter moved away from her with impossible speed. It was the first time she’d actually seen him make use of his enhanced physical abilities. She followed the trail of light from his torch as he ran all the way around the vast chamber, stopping only momentarily to light the other torches along the wall. When he got back to her, only a few seconds later, all the torches were emitting light, providing her eyes, and the chamber, with much-needed luminance.

  “There,” he said, satisfied, “that should be much better for you, no?”

  “It is, thank you. How fast you moved…that was amazing. How is that even possible?”

  He laughed. “Sometimes I forget you’re only human.”

  Nora stuck her tongue out at him in reply.

  “I saw something that might be interesting.” He said, ignoring her taunt. “Come, I’ll show you.”

  Again, Nora followed him as he led her across uneven ground to the center of the chamber. From there, a small pathway was carved in the rock that ran directly underneath the entrance ledge. They took it, and as they got closer, Nora saw the far wall had been polished smooth and shone with a slight green luster. The river ran along the wall, making it impossible to reach. But they could get close enough for Nora to realize there were symbols carved into the stone.

  “It’s a mixture of the two scripts on the towers outside,” Hunter told her. “The Vassiz one and the other one, written interchangeably. Whoever made this was fluid in both tongues.”

  “Do you know what it says?”

  “I think they’re directions.” He paused to study the lettering. “This cave extends much deeper, I believe. It says there are tunnels crisscrossing far into the depths of the earth. There’s a warning…a warning to ‘take the Proper path’. But…I don’t think it says what that is.”

  “What else?”

  “Oh! It says here there’s another level.” He looked up above. “Yes, I think I see it.”

  “What’s up there?” Nora craned her neck to see, but it was no use. The light didn’t extend that far up.

  “We won’t know unless we check, will we?” He set off back toward the stairs.

  “Hunter, wait.” He paused, turning to look at Nora. “You’re not planning on taking the tunnels deeper in, are you?”

  “I don’t know yet,” he said thoughtfully. “If we keep going through the forest, we’ll be more vulnerable to attack. But if these tunnels can lead us through the mountains… well, if we get that far, we’d almost be scot free.”

  “What if we get lost?” she asked worriedly. “At least outside we know where we’re going.”

  “Let’s just check the upper level out first and then decide. At any rate, this is as safe a place as any to spend the night, even if we don’t take the tunnels tomorrow.”

  “Fine.” Nora didn’t want to pout, but she just didn’t feel comfortable here beneath the earth. And the prospect of going deeper in, without knowing how long the journey might take, almost brought on a full blown panic attack. She fought to suppress it, concentrating all of her attention on breathing in and out.

  She followed Hunter up the chipped rock stairs, past the ledge where they entered, and higher still. The flames from the bottom pit sent large shadows flickering against the walls.

  They reached the highest level. Another ledge jutted out from the side of the rock, built to overlook the entrance. Rocks that looked an awful lot like tombstones sat in neat horizontal rows. Panic squeezed Nora’s lungs.

  Hunter took a step forward and stopped. “Wait.” He paused, extending an arm to hold Nora back. “Do you hear that?”

  “Hear what?” She held her breath.

  Hunter shifted his weight in response, and Nora thought she heard a tiny echo of crumbling stone. She wouldn’t have picked it out if she wasn’t actively searching for it.

  “The structure’s weak here.” Hunter bent down to one knee to examine the ground. “There are cracks in the stone. I don’t think it’s very stable.”

  “Should we go back?”

  “Not yet. You stay back. I want to see what these stones are.”

  “Be careful,” Nora urged.

  “Don’t worry.” Even in the dim light, Nora saw him flash his teeth in a grin. “I’m very agile, remember?”

  “Of course,” she said drily. Like he needed to remind her.

  Nora watched as Hunter picked his way across. He went from stone to stone in the first row, analyzing each one carefully. The last one stood at the very end of the ledge, almost like a baluster. Hunter placed a hand on it to support himself as he leaned closer, and it shifted. He jerked back, hissing.

  “What is it?” Nora asked.

  “I nearly fell.” He barked a laugh. “You distracted me.”

  “Me?” Nora was incredulous. “I didn’t even do anything!”

  “I felt your eyes on me,” he said.

  “I’ll be sure not to do that anymore,” Nora answered laconically. Suddenly, the ground groaned, and Nora flinched as the sound of rubble crashing down reached her ears. The last tombstone was still there, but it now leaned precariously over the edge.

  “Looks like we disturbed some of the rock beneath us.” Hunter gingerly picked his way back to her. “There’s nothing up here to see. We should get back down to where we at least know the ground is stable”

  Nora sighed in relief. The whole situation had her on edge.

  She turned around and had started walking down, when suddenly Hunter was on her, pressing her against the wall.

  “What are you doing?” she tried to say, but it jumbled as Hunter placed his hand over her mouth.

  “Sshh!” he hissed in her ear. “Someone’s coming.” She nodded her understanding, and he released his grip on her mouth.

  “What?�
�� Nora whispered urgently. “Who?”

  “I don’t know. Stay here, and don’t move.” And just like that, he was gone, a blur streaking down the stairs.

  Chapter Nineteen

  ~A Fighting Chance~

  Nora’s breath caught as her ears picked up on the noise.

  Footsteps.

  Carefully, she inched closer to the edge of the stairs. Hunter stood in front of the entrance below, his shoulders stiff.

  The footsteps came from the same tunnel Hunter and Nora had come from. They echoed loudly across the chamber, amplified by the hollow space of the cave. Whoever was coming wasn’t afraid of alerting them to their presence.

  “Well, well, well.” A voice boomed through the air. Nora instantly recognized its source. The voice of the Vassiz who had held her captive. “Look who we have here.”

  Nora crept silently back from the ledge, willing her body to stop trembling. Her heart pounded fast with fear. How had he tracked them so quickly? Hunter had said they were days ahead of any pursuers!

  “You shouldn’t be here.” Hunter’s voice was grave.

  A wild laugh answered from below. “I shouldn’t be here? You dare tell me what to do? You are an outcast, forever damned for having committed treason against the Vassiz. You have forsaken your race, broken the ancient doctrine that binds us to who we are. You have spat on everything you have been gifted. And for what? A human?”

  “Leave now,” Hunter warned. “You saw what I did to your friend.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. Vladimir was a fool, and he paid the price for his ineptitude. He took you lightly. I won’t make the same mistake. When I deliver you and your human to the elders, all their glory shall come upon me. I will be exalted as the one who delivered the rogue to them, and I will take my place amongst the most revered of our kind.”

  Nora couldn’t see anything. She couldn’t take the unknowing, the uncertainty of what was happening below her. Summoning all her courage, she dropped to her belly, crawled to the edge, and peeked over.