“Until you figure it out, we’ll keep moving,” Hiix stated.
They had to, lest the King’s Elite, led by Maric, the general knight—the lover she’d betrayed—find and drag them back. Given the King’s ruthless nature, she had no doubt that Hiix and Venna would be punished. Not to mention, he’d render her powerless and old again.
“I agree with moving around, but it should be with intent,” Venna declared. “There has to be a place that retained a historical record of what happened the last time the mist rose.”
“More paintings?” Hiix cajoled, a reminder of the images they’d found concealed in an art gallery. They’d seen the strangest pictures, indicating that the Abyss hadn’t always been a place of mist, monsters, and death.
“I’m sure there are more images somewhere. Just like there have to be more books. The King surely doesn’t own them all. Look at the tome we once found in the Ninth Shield.”
Having heard the story, Agathe almost rolled her eyes.
Apparently, her bratty toddler butt had found a hole in a wall and crawled inside, creating panic. That crack had led them to find a secret room with a book in a strange language and a map showing the most impossible thing, a world bigger than just King’s Valley.
“Is this you suggesting we go banging on walls in the Abbaes to see if we find another?” Hiix asked.
“Yes, actually.”
“Not all of them are empty. Their inhabitants might not like us poking around. And by that, I mean the human ones,” Hiix reminded.
“I know.” Venna shooed away Hiix’s concern. “I don’t think we should pass any Abbae without sending Agathe inside for a peek. Her magic might sense things we can’t.”
“What of my eyes?” Agathe remarked.
“Only if they see them. We can drain enough to turn them brown.” Venna waved a hand.
“So, is that the plan, then? Go inspect the nearest Abbae?” It was more than Agathe had to offer.
“Yes, and we need to inspect closely. Especially for possible hidden rooms. They are places of old secrets and great wonders.”
“Wonder is right,” Agathe muttered. The Abbaes and the Citadel were of a level of intricate stonework construction beyond anything else in King’s Valley. The Citadel being a monolith several stories high, while some of the Abbaes were chiseled into the mountainside itself.
As if reading her mind, Venna said, “The Abbaes and Citadel are massive endeavors. Yet, there is nothing in any of the books I’ve read about how either was built. Cities and towns appear to have a history, yes, but the Citadel… It’s as if it already existed and the King simply took up residence.”
“And?” Hiix had little patience for books and stories. She preferred action.
“Who built it?”
“We did. Humans,” Hiix retorted.
“Don’t be so sure,” Venna tsked. “The craftsmanship is unlike any other. Add that to the fact there is no history of before…”
Agathe caught on to what Venna was attempting to explain. “You mean there are no stories of when we used to live down there.” She jerked a thumb in the direction of the Abyss. It surrounded the mountainous spire that held the valley. The walls were almost sheer but for the path that wound around it, dotted with several Abbaes of the Shield. The most vulnerable of the Abbaes had all been abandoned in the last decade because of the mist.
The Soraers’ own fault they’d lost them. They’d not needed to defend against monsters for generations and had forgotten their purpose. Except for Hiix, Venna, and the original Agathe. They’d been firm believers in the Goddess and her ways, especially once they found an orphan on a dark and misty night.
“Those stories are false. We can’t get off this mountain,” Hiix declared. “The road ends at the Ninth Abbae.”
“Does it?” Agathe couldn’t help but ask.
“I lived there longer than you and can state with assurance that there is no path onward or downward.”
Venna, though, mused aloud, “What if it’s hidden?” Not unfeasible, given they’d discovered a secret chamber that had been concealed for a long time.
“Or it was destroyed.” Hiix remained true to her pessimistic self.
“Should we return and look? At the same time, I can use my magic to search the Abbae,” Agathe offered. The last time she’d been to the Abbae, she’d not had her magic. She’d wandered in blind. Perhaps now, more mature than before, she would find a clue.
“I think we should inspect them all on the way down,” Venna agreed. “But before that, there is one other place we should stop and inspect.”
“Where are you dragging us now?” Hiix asked, as brusque as ever—perhaps more so since she’d left Baer, her giant lover, behind.
“The Obaelix.”
Chapter Two
“The Obaelix?” Hiix repeated. “You mean that ring of rocks on the rim?”
“Yes.” Venna’s head bobbed.
“What do you think we’ll learn there? It’s literally just stones.”
“Just?” Venna huffed. “I’ll have you know that monument might predate the Citadel.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because it’s not mentioned in the books either. It must have a purpose, and yet no one seems to know what that is,” Venna enthused, her hands flying with animation.
“It’s rocks of different sizes in a circle. I don’t see how it can help us.” Negative Hiix wanted to be convinced.
“How do you know it won’t?” Venna argued.
“Have you ever seen it in person? Because I have. I passed through there on my way to join the Order of the Shield. There’s nothing to it.”
Venna didn’t waver in her conviction. “According to you. Were you looking for a secret entrance the last time?”
“No, because solid rock doesn’t have any. The Obaelix sits on a massive flat stone that doesn’t have any cracks or sigils. Nothing at all.”
“What about the altar?” a tenacious Venna tossed.
Hiix snorted. “If that’s what you want to call the rock sitting in the middle, sure. If you ask me, it’s probably an old piece of art. Have you seen what passes for it these days?”
“You are impossible to reason with,” Venna huffed.
However, Agathe found her curiosity piqued. “You really think we should go?”
“I do, and not just because it’s old. When I was trading with that traveler for the salt”—a man pulling a cart with a mishmash of supplies that Agathe had avoided—“he told me he’d taken shelter within The Obaelix once after breaking a wheel on the path because it seemed the mist avoided it at night. As did the monsters.”
“Perhaps it’s got some kind of protective spell,” Agathe mulled aloud. Much like the Abbaes had enjoyed before their magic failed. She eyed Hiix. “When you passed through, you’re certain you didn’t see sigils in the rock?”
Hiix shrugged. “Not that I recall. But I also wasn’t really looking for any at the time, being somewhat upset.” Because she’d lost both of her purple-eyed children to the festival. While her husband celebrated their newfound wealth, Hiix left and joined the Order of the Shield, the only place for a woman to go if she chose not to be wed.