Chapter 27
Treya held the glass bottle up to her nose and sniffed, but whatever liquid it once held had long since evaporated. The gray powder left over at the bottom didn't have a scent. She set the bottle back near the pile of broken glass and metal where she'd found it. Judging by the mess, a shelf or table had collapsed, spilling its contents to the floor. Only a few of the bottles had survived the fall. They were coated with a layer of grime, but the glass was otherwise still in good condition.
"That room was empty too," Corec said, poking his head in through the door. "What did you find?"
The two of them were exploring the sections of the eastern tunnel they'd skipped during their first trip. The area they were in now was south of the barracks but west of the armory, closer to the chamber with the statues.
"Some glass bottles and another of those metal tables," Treya said. The table was over six feet long but only three feet wide, like the others they'd found in the area.
"Let me mark it down," he said, and scribbled some notes with one of the stormborn writing sticks. "Have you been through that other door yet?"
"I was waiting for you."
"Let's take a look."
They found themselves in a short corridor which led to yet another room. Corec sent a mage light in, then stepped through the open archway.
Treya followed, stopping in surprise once she'd entered. All four walls were lined with metallic tubes taller than a person, standing upright in rows around the edge of the room. The upper half of each tube had a glass panel in front.
Treya approached the nearest of the tubes and peered through the glass. The tube was hollow, and seemed to be empty. Her skin prickled, as if her mind had expected to see something inside that wasn't there.
Corec summoned two more mage lights to brighten the far edges of the room, then set his lantern to the side. "What do you suppose they are?" he asked her quietly.
"They remind me of caskets."
"Could the Ancients have buried their people in rooms like this? Standing upright, for some reason?"
"I don't see anything in this one. At least not in the top half." There was a seam running along the edges, and what appeared to be a handle on the right side. Treya pulled on it. At first it was stuck, but she gave it a sharp tug and the front half of the tube swung open with a creak.
"It's empty," she said.
Corec peered inside. "It's a strange way to bury someone. Maybe it was used for storage instead?"
"I don't know. I've never heard of caskets with windows, but it still feels like a mausoleum in here."
She went one direction and Corec went the other, each of them peeking through the glass panels as they walked around the room.
"Bloody hell!" Corec suddenly exclaimed.
"What's wrong?"
"They
are
caskets. This one's got a dead body in it."
Treya joined him and they peered through the window at the skeletal remains, still covered by mummified flesh. The figure was wearing a suit of gleaming armor that reflected the light shining in.
"What should we do?" Treya asked.
"I don't want to rob the dead," he said. "That armor looks expensive, but Marco doesn't need to know about it. Let's check the rest of them, though."
They continued down the row, finding eight more bodies and two empty caskets. When Treya glanced inside the last casket on that side of the room, she jerked back in shock.
"What's wrong?" Corec asked.
"Look!" she said, pointing. The body of a young woman stood inside, appearing as if she was peacefully sleeping while standing up. She had short brown hair and was wearing the same armor as the dead bodies. Like the zombies they'd encountered above, her ears were somewhat pointed, in between a human's and an elf's—similar to Sarette's.
Corec stared through the glass for a long moment. "Is this one sealed better than the others?"
"I don't think that would help. She doesn't look dead at all."
"Maybe there was some sort of magic to preserve the body."
Treya peered into the casket, wondering how the woman had died. She couldn't have been too much older than Treya herself. Without really meaning to, Treya reached out with her healing senses, then gasped in surprise.
"I think she's alive," she said.
"What do you mean?" Corec asked. "How could she be?"
"I don't know. It's very faint, like she's not there at all, just an echo of where she once was. But the echo is alive."
"Maybe that's just the magic that kept her looking like this. There's no way she could be alive after all this time."
"But what if she is?" Treya protested. "We can't just leave her here."
"If we open the casket, we might break the enchantment that's kept her like this. It would be like desecrating a body."
"But if she's alive ..."
Corec took a deep breath and exhaled. "If she's alive, you're right. We can't leave her here. And if she's dead, I don't suppose she cares too much what she looks like. All right, let's do it."
He motioned Treya to the side, then carefully grasped the handle and pulled. Unlike the other casket they'd opened, this one moved smoothly and easily, without any sound. In addition to the shiny armor, the girl had a sword sheathed at her side. She was taller than Treya—only a few inches shorter than Corec. There was a helmet resting between her feet.
There was a moment of silence and then her eyes opened. She looked at them, then around the room, her expression frantic. She said something in a language Treya couldn't understand, speaking so quickly the individual words couldn't be distinguished.
Treya was too shocked to respond, and from his expression, so was Corec. When no one said anything, a look of panic and fear crossed the girl's face. Suddenly she disappeared from the casket and reappeared behind them, stumbling around the room and peering through the glass panels, all the while shouting in that unknown language.
Corec gathered himself enough to speak. "Hello! We don't mean you any harm!"
The girl ignored him, not appearing to understand his words any better than they understood hers. She returned to the side of the room with the bodies. Seeing one of the skeletal figures, she shrieked, then shouted, "
Nak! Nak!
"
She turned to face them and drew her sword. Like her armor, the blade shimmered in the light.
"Oh, hell," Corec said, drawing his own sword and stepping in front of Treya.
The girl, seeing a target, ran at him. Just as he raised his sword to block her blow, she blinked out of sight and appeared at his side, striking at his back. His shield barrier spell flared out. The girl disappeared again, reappearing on the far side of the room.
