I don’t know how long I’ve been floundering in this pit of murky cold, thick water, here in the depths of Malum Palace. But even with Ariadna’s Star melded into my chest, surging with fiery energy through all my limbs, I’m not sure how much longer I’ll stay afloat.
This strange, dense liquid saps my strength, chilling me to the bone. I shivered for what felt like hours, and then shook violently as the cold settled into me. I stopped altogether sometime long ago, too exhausted to tremble anymore.
As if that’s not bad enough, the oppressive gloom in this room hangs like a heavy net over me. There’s nothing. Not a single light. The only hope I have is every now and then, when I lift an arm above the oily water, sometimes Ariadna’s Star ignites a small flame on my hand for a brief moment. But that takes more than I can spare, the light searing in my vision, and I fall back into the oily water.
I’ve searched the sides of this room hundreds of times. There’s the slightest divot in the far right corner, but it’s not enough. I’ve even tried to use the corners to pull myself up, yet between the smooth stone walls and this oily water, I can’t get enough friction to prop myself up.
Briefly, I debate swimming down. But not only is that one of the most terrifying ideas I’ve ever had, I have a bad feeling that there’s probably nothing but the bones of other poor souls that were thrown in here.
I sink a little in the pit, my heart aching with Astralux’s presence so far. I know Astralux will want to rescue me. But Ariadna, I pray she doesn’t try. Not only is there no way for Astralux to get down here, it would be deadly for her to even attempt it. I’m also not sure what happened to Thorn and Vitegadium. Surely the Vladykars would have come boasting to me if they had been caught?
As if they had heard my thought, the metal door creaks open. A little light enters the room, painful even in such a small amount, and I stare up at Vladykar Malyncor and Vladykar Lochan as they approach the edge of the platform.
“Good evening, Ward Estelle,” Vladykar Malyncor says. “Are you ready to submit to us, and give us Ariadna’s Star? Or tell us where your bonded is?”
I shudder, feeling the tiniest bit of warmth as a little defiance sparks through me.
The corners of Vladykar Malyncor’s lips turn up. “Still no? I’m surprised. At any rate, you’ll be pleased to know that we sent word to the Wards of your arrival. I’ve no doubt that Ward Veremund and Kalteratem want to know that you made it here.”
I can’t imagine how much this will hurt my friends. I know the only reason Veremund and Kalteratem didn’t come before was that they weren’t sure how stealthy they could have been. Now, I can’t help but wonder how much more effective Veremund would have been in this same situation.
“I think some more time in the pit will change your mind.” Vladykar Malyncor pours more of the icy black mist above my head. “Or you drown, and Ariadna’s Star sinks with you down to the bottom of your grave. Either way, we keep the Star, and you live—or die—here. Your choice.” Smirking, he and Vladykar Lochan head back out, slamming the metal door shut behind them.
The fear and anger that had given me a little power not to just surrender and beg to be taken out of this pit fades away, and I close my eyes, tired of straining to see something in the darkness. Then I shake once more as the cold darkness settles on me, and my resolve wavers.
Ariadna, help me. But more than me, help get your Star to the Wards.
…
Every limb of my body feels like lead. I sink lower and lower in the liquid, barely keeping my nose above the surface. Ariadna’s Star is all that keeps me afloat now, its energy that ignites the fire within me the only reason I haven’t turned into a block of ice and sunk to the bottom. I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but it feels like months. The gnawing hunger in my stomach and my weary exhaustion tell me it has probably been days. I’ve wept a couple of times, but it’s too exhausting, and I’m so parched, so I hold back my tears.
Metal screeches from the door above, jostling me. I pull myself out of my dazed state and wipe my eyes open to see the blurry forms of Vladykar Malyncor and Vladykar Lochan walk in by the faint but painful glow of light from beyond the door. “Still alive!” Vladykar Malyncor leans down on one knee, peering at me from above. “I honestly thought you might have died. Do you surrender now?”
“Just think,” Vladykar Lochan says. “As soon as you give up this nonsense, we take you out of there. You can have a hot bath, a soft bed to sleep in, good food.” He pats a contraption beyond my vision, but I do see a strange bar attached to the ceiling just above the platform shift in response. “We can get you up now.”
How I long for any of that. To not be here anymore. To feel warm again. To have hope once more. I sigh, debating surrendering.
I can’t give up Ariadna’s Star.
“Please,” I whisper, my voice crackling with exhaustion and dryness—this liquid tastes horrendous, like drinking muddy water mixed with oil. “You don’t have to do this.”
“What’s this?” Vladykar Malyncor’s black eyes peer down at me intently. “We don’t have to do what?”
“You don’t have to stay in the darkness.” I reach up one oil-caked hand. “Ariadna would take you back.”
“Ariadna?!” Vladykar Malyncor laughs with a deep, unkind chuckle that echoes in the room. “I don’t think you understand yet, Ward Estelle. We want to follow Aneiros. He is far more powerful than Ariadna. The fact that her Star has hidden itself in you, the weakest Ward and our prisoner in the Malum Palace, is proof enough of that.” He pours yet more of the icy black mist above my head.
A small cry escapes me. I manage not to surrender and plead for rescue, although it’s all I want to say right now.
“I thought your mind would be changed.” Shaking his head, Vladykar Malyncor turns his back to me. “I will return. Eventually. If you’re still alive by then, Ward Estelle, I hope you realize that you are giving us Ariadna’s Star—either willingly, or by dropping it into the pit when you die.”
Vladykar Lochan sighs and follows his leader out. “A pity,” I hear him murmur, just as the metal door closes behind him, blocking out the last of the little light.
I strain, listening to their faint footsteps, yet they fade quickly. Once more, I’m alone in the darkness, treading this cold, heavy liquid, fatigued, waiting. But waiting for what? The Vladykars to come back when at last I’ve given up?
Ariadna.
…
Cold.
Darkness.
Rest, at last….
“Light of Ariadna!”
I jerk in surprise at the chiming voice that echoes through my head. Opening my eyes, I still see nothing, which isn’t surprising, but now my eyes feel a burning sensation. I try to breathe, but all I inhale is retched water.
I’m drowning.
Suddenly a rush of fight floods me.
Astralux?
It gives me strength, and I flail, swimming back up to the surface. I had sunk low, and after an eternity where my lungs strain, I finally break through. I inhale air, and then cough and spit up, although this action wearies me.
That was too close.
But I also wonder how much longer I can resist. When the Vladykars come back, will I just give in due to sheer exhaustion?
Ariadna, help me.
Within, the Star continues to burn.
…
From a watery haze I think I hear the creak of the metal door. But just for a moment. Then silence. I’m probably imagining the Vladykars returning. Hoping that they’ll take pity on me and rescue me, rather than just demanding my surrender. A futile thought. It wouldn’t be the first time I dreamt this.
I fade away again.
“Estelle?” a familiar voice whispers.
Startled, I lift my head out of the liquid—I’d gotten to keeping my nose just above the surface, trying to conserve as much energy as possible.
Wiping my eyes clear, I stare. Though my vision is blurry, by the faint, agonizing light from the open door, I spot a figure kneeling on the edge of the platform, staring down at me. It’s not Vladykar Malyncor or Vladykar Lochan. By the slightly thinner build, and the dark, earthy-tone clothes, I realize why I had recognized the voice—it’s Thorn.
“Estelle!” Thorn’s voice sounds pained, but I can’t make out his face very well. “Hang on.”
I’m speechless as he goes over to the far wall on the platform. There’s a couple of metal chinks, and then the horizontal bar I had seen hanging above the platform slowly lowers down.
Am I still dreaming?
The bar finally reaches the water, and I reach out, half-expecting to wake up and discover I’m drowning again.
But my hands hit the bar, and I dazedly wrap myself around it. There’s a pause, and then the chain slowly raises, until at long last, I leave the murky pit. When I’m level with the platform, Thorn slides a pin into place at a pulley system I hadn’t seen from the pit, and then walks over to me. I reach out weakly for his hand, but Thorn grabs my body and pulls me from the bar and gently sets me on the stone platform.
A cry of relief escapes me. I shake, every part of my being dead with cold and exhaustion.
“Shh,” Thorn says. He strokes my slick hair back, his hand trembling almost as bad as me. “I know, Estelle, I know, but we aren’t safe yet. Do you understand?”
I shut my mouth and nod. Thorn wrings the heavy, chilling liquid out of my hair, my shirt, and my pant legs.
“I heard that you absorbed the Sar?” Thorn asks quietly. I nod again, and the Ward exhales. “I have no idea…. Never mind, we’ll figure that out later. First thing’s first—we need to get you out of here.”
Thorn wraps me in his dark cloak, then picks me up and cradles me to himself. Despite how heavy I must be completely soaked through like I am, Thorn doesn’t seem to have any trouble as he turns and walks out of the pit room. I start to weep but swallow my sobs as he walks up the stairs.
“Astralux?” I whisper with a weak, crackling voice. I’m not sure an unbonded would have even heard me.
“Waiting outside the palace, with Vitegadium,” Thorn whispers.
Light from the scattered torches along the wall in the prison hallway is so painfully bright to my vision I close my eyes. Ariadna’s Star, still throbbing inside me, gives me the little willpower I need not to lose it as Thorn walks past the prison cells, but I still can’t help whimpering when I hear the wails of the prisoners.
“We’ll be back for them.” Thorn casts a glance to the side. “I promise.”
When I peek an eye open against the blaring light, I spot the small square room where Ariadna’s Star had been held in a cage, the circular black pool of freezing water still there. “Don’t step there,” I whisper.
“I didn’t trust it,” Thorn replies softly. “What is it?”
“Icy water. It freezes anything it touches.”
Thorn looks down at my face. “Did you fall in?”
“The key to Ariadna’s Star was down there.”
Thorn shudders and continues past to the double doors, but his grip on me tightens. He pauses in front of the double doors and sets his ear to it, listening intently. I hold my breath. Thorn slowly tries the handle, opens it, and peeks out. Then he slips out, closes the door behind him, and hurries down the hall.
Despite my apprehension, expecting to see Vladykar Malyncor or Vladykar Lochan at every junction we pass, Thorn makes it all the way to the spiral stairs leading up to the first floor. I stare up at the red light filtering down from above, and squint even more when we reach the grand hall. The dark red-tinted windows are incredibly bright, surprising to me, and I have to keep closing my eyes at the pain of the light. Even more surprising is the lack of anyone here. But I dare not question our luck, and watch with shock, and tentative hope, as Thorn hurries out of the grand hall to a hallway leading to the double doors at the entrance.
Before reaching the doors, however, Thorn turns left at a wooden door, opens this, slips inside, closes it behind him, and walks over to a small window. It looks like it was originally intended to be a slot for spearmen or archers defending the palace, but someone—probably Thorn—has dug out a few of the stones. I close my eyes again at the bright light coming through the slot.
Thorn peeks out, then he slides me through and sets me on the ground. Now I have to keep my eyes closed completely against the light, despite my fear that someone will see me here. But my heart is fluttering with hope, I feel the welcome warmth of the sun on my body, and I sense eagerness from Astralux now. Can she see me? She feels close, but I can’t see at all.
There’s a grunt and then Thorn wraps his hands around me and picks me up, now setting me against his shoulder, still bundled in his cloak. “Now for the tricky part,” he murmurs.
“Why?” I ask quietly.
The rush of wind from the beating of wings makes me jump. I don’t sense Astralux any closer, which means it’s Vitegadium or….
“A Ward!” an unfamiliar voice shouts.
“Because of that.” Thorn takes off running. He holds me tight to his chest and shoulder to keep me from bouncing. “Vite! Astralux!” he shouts.
I jump again, but this time it’s with the rush of joy and relief that Astralux pours into me. And then I hear her bellow out the scariest, deepest roar I’ve ever heard from her.
Oh praise you, Ariadna! Now please, help us all get out of here alive.
