"Are we there yet?" I hear Nathaniel ask for the
hundredth
time since we started walking this morning.
"
No
," Elisabeth growls from the front of the group. "Now
stop asking
."
"Yes, dear," Nate sighs.
Corrine and I share a look, no doubt thinking the same thing: What does she see in him?
"We're almost there," Adam says from his position in front next to Liss (short for Elisabeth). "We should have just made it past the orc camps." The people in the last town told us the orcs in the area were mostly peaceful, but we still wanted to play it safe and steer clear. I've also never actually met an orc before, so I'm not entirely sure I believe them.
Where we come from, there aren't any orcs. Or many non-humans at all. Growing up, I learned there were orcs on the mainland in the south and east, but everything I knew came from the stories I heard. They didn't exactly paint a pretty picture: lots of fighting, blood, and death. Sometimes they were a race obsessed with honor, other times creatures who would invade your land and raze your fields. So yeah, holding my breath on that one.
The current marching order has become our default travel formation. Adam, Liss, and I are the muscle, though those two have me beat in that department lately. They stay on guard in front while I take the rear, with our two squishy magic users sandwiched in the middle. I don't mind—Corrine is surprisingly fun to talk to—but sometimes Nate is just so fucking irritating. I swear he does it on purpose. That's what happens when you agree to travel halfway around the world with someone you barely know.
The five of us have been traveling together for a month now (two if you count that godsawful boat ride), and even rang in the new year together just a few weeks ago, making all sorts of plans as a group. Our goals as exploring adventurers are still a little undefined at this point, but after wandering up and down the coast taking odd jobs for weeks, we
finally
got a lead on something good in Holbrooke, the last town we stayed in. Apparently, a few years back, an earthquake uncovered some elven ruins in the mountains. Most people stayed away because of the orcs, but the rumors of there being something magical and powerful inside were enough to sway us. The desperation to do
anything
besides making a delivery or killing a giant rat may have contributed as well. That was four days ago.
I'm not sure what awaits us once we get to the ruins, but I trust my team to be able to handle it. Well, most of them at least. I've known Adam forever: tall, blonde, muscular, your classic golden boy who was nearly always the top of our class. I say nearly because the two of us were usually engaged in a friendly competition over...everything—sports, archery, sword fighting. Once, in the middle of a school day, we both jumped in a lake just to see who could hold their breath the longest. We met Liss when we entered the knight academy after finishing school. She's maybe an inch or two shorter than Adam with fiery red hair that she normally dyes brown and cuts short. Since that's not really possible out in the forest, she's taken to wearing a hood over it. I'm just a couple of inches shorter than she is, clocking in at around 5'10" last time I checked. My black hair is currently shaggier than I like it, and I've got the beginnings of a beard from the three days we've been out here.
Corrine and Nathaniel joined us only a few days before we got on the boat. I was the one who noticed Corrine in the tavern, not that it was hard to spot the tall blonde pigtailed woman dressed like a nun. After asking me not to call her that, she told me she was looking for a group to make the journey across the ocean with for her "missionary work." She seemed a little weird, but there was a healthy amount of fear and disgust over the establishment we were sitting in, so I knew she wasn't totally out of her mind. Other than some Bible-study and group prayers, I haven't seen her do much missionary-ing, but she says that "helping out anyone in the name of God is good work."
We met Nate the following night in the same tavern after he answered an ad Adam posted. We were getting desperate for a magic user, but I still told Adam we might want to rethink going with the obvious mage-school dropout. His robe is dirty, his brown hair messy, and he seems to have perpetual stubble, even after spending days in the forest. He's also
just
a little taller than I am, which wouldn't be something I'd ever pay attention to if he didn't point it out
over
and
over
and
over
.
At some point during the boat ride, Liss and Nate started fucking. A month on the water with only your hand is no fun, and it's not like I have any experience myself to speak of, so I didn't blame her for taking care of what she needed to. I was just surprised it continued once we were back on solid land, and there were more viable candidates around. A lot more viable. I mean, he's been a
fine
wizard, I guess.
"Are you sure we didn't pass it?" He's just so fucking annoying.
"I think I see it." Liss points as we pass a hill to reveal the base of the mountain. A few more paces and I'm able to see what she means, spotting a cave in the distance. Large boulders sit on either side of it, huge cracks split the ground and mountainside, but there's still a clear path—as if the rocks have been moved intentionally.
As we get closer, the details get less fuzzy, and I can make out some of the stonework carved around the entrance. I've never actually
seen
elven ruins before, so I don't know if this is what they usually look like. There's a smooth column along each side of the cave, but they've got to be purely decorative.
We stop just outside the entrance. The cave is dark—duh, it's a cave—but that's not an issue since Adam is already grabbing a torch and flint from his pack. There are letters along the top of the entrance—Corrine calls them runes—but I can't read them. I swear it feels like I've seen them before, which is weird because, again, this is a first for me. For all of us, actually.
"Okay, I'm taking point," Adam tells the rest of us. He's technically the leader of our group. I'm second in command, though Liss might argue differently. "Once we're inside, Nate and Corrine will start checking for magic. Elf ruins aren't known for their traps, but David and Liss, keep your eyes peeled for anything I might miss." He reaches in his pack for another torch, handing it to me once it's lit. "Ready?"
"Ready," we agree in unison. Adam draws his sword and in we go.
The walls of the cave are smooth, like the floor and ceiling. They're plain at first, but as we move deeper inside, I see carvings along them. At first, it's just more of the oddly familiar script I saw outside, but soon there are small figures, and then full-on faces, very detailed and obviously elven.
I don't get much info on who they are, mostly because I still can't read any of this. I'm trying to take in the details on the walls but also
everything
else
since you never know when there might be a trap or a secret passage. These places have those, right? But so far, it's just been one long hallway. I look back periodically and watch the cave entrance growing smaller behind us. I also hear some kind of ringing or buzzing in my ear.
"Hold." Adam slows down. It looks like we've reached the end of the hallway and the entrance to a larger room. Adam and Elisabeth enter first, the orange-yellow light from the torch illuminating the room around them. "I think we're good."
The rest of us enter the room carefully. It's pretty big. You could probably fit three or four dozen people in here. I count one, two...eight walls, including the one we entered from. They go very high, each one carved from floor to ceiling in intricate designs. I see words, figures, entire scenes depicted, the light making the details harder to see as they vanish into the darkness above. But what
really
pulls focus is across from us, facing the entrance. Without being prompted, Adam steps closer and holds up his torch.
In the center of the wall is a large, very detailed sculpture of a man. I guess I'm not sure sculpture is the right word.
Is it a relief?
I didn't really pay that much attention in art class. It's a part of the wall, but it also seems to be coming
off
the wall. He's tall, though I guess I'm not sure if he's meant to be life-sized or not. He's in a robe, arms at his side, with short slightly curled hair and a full beard. He's also got pointed ears, so not a human, but an elf.
"Do you guys hear that?" I rub my ear in irritation. The ringing worsened when we walked inside, and it's making it hard to focus.
"David, get over here so we can get a better look at this." Liss points next to Adam.
"Hold on." Somehow, my ear and the wall aren't the only things grabbing my attention in the room.
In the center of the room is a raised platform with a large pedestal, a brazier on the floor on either side. As I step forward, the buzzing in my ear grows, but it's not so bad that I can't light the two with my torch. As soon as the second one is lit, eight smaller braziers along the wall light up by themselves. The sudden illumination makes everyone jump, Liss even drawing her sword. No one says anything, waiting to see if we just sprang a trap.
"Shouldn't you be telling us about things like magical lights?" Liss gripes, sheathing her weapon.
"Sorry," Nate sighs before muttering a spell.
"I think that's Zeus." Corrine's voice echoes through the chamber, startling herself. We all stare at her and then back at the wall.
The elf is flanked on either side up and down by clouds, each of them thundering with lightning. Strewn among the clouds and lightning are dozens of eagles, each carved so intricately I can make out the individual feathers from here. I've heard the name Zeus, but my family has never been terribly religious and wasn't exactly interested in learning about someone else's. But I'll take Corrine's word for it—she is the "missionary" after all. And if we're looking at a god, I guess he might be life-sized after all.
"He's not usually depicted as an elf though." She steps past me, looking confused.
"The only other magical thing in the room is inside that box," Nathaniel announces to the rest of us and points to the pedestal in the center of the room.
"Fuck, I think that's where that sound is coming from too." It hurts a little to even look at it.
"What are you talking about?" Adam uses the floor to put out his torch now that the room is lit.
"Seriously, does no one else hear that?" I put my own torch out and rub at my ears again.
"No." Elisabeth moves forward. "What are you hearing?"
"I dunno, like a really high-pitched screech?" I shut one eye and rub my ear as if that'll help block out the sound. The rest of the group converges on the pedestal while I stay put. Getting closer to that box makes my head hurt.
"Looks like it's made of lead," Nate says before tapping the box with his staff. "It's pretty rusted and banged up. Probably meant to block out whatever magic thing David is hearing."
"What happens if we open it?"
It's not gonna make my head explode, is it?
