The Traitor's Heir

Chapter Fourteen

The bright clear light shone from Lina's hand, illuminating the staircase that appeared before them. While the City itself was obviously very old, both girls understood immediately that the passageway before them was ancient. The archway above their heads and the smoothly worn stairs beneath their feet were relics of a time that was long past by the time the white marble city had been built on top of it.

"I knew that when we came down here that this was going to be the adventure of a lifetime for you," Lina spoke in a low voice that was little more than a whisper, "but I didn't realize that it was going to be more than a walk through the most familiar of streets for me." Pausing she shifted the light to her left hand and reached behind her with her right. "Take my hand. We need to stay close together." Her tone was light but Quara had the distinct impression that holding hands wasn't for her benefit alone. Slipping her hand into her sister's they began to walk side by side down the staircase.

"It's wider than I would have expected a secret staircase to be." Quara whispered the words, and then wondered why she was whispering. The City was empty and had been for a very long time. She was certain that the tunnel had been empty for just as long, if not longer. "I mean it's nearly as wide as the sidewalk outside. It makes me wonder if upon a time this path wasn't inside the castle at all, but was a street, open to the cavern outside."

"Maybe." Lina was reluctant to speak and Quara realized that she seemed to be listening hard for any sounds from further on inside the tunnel.

They walked on in silence. It was true that the path before them was exceptionally wide. The smooth grey granite stretched out in front of them, descending gradually, with rather wide steps that stayed straight for the first five minutes as they walked on. Gradually the stairs began to curve to their left and Quara realized that it must be taking them ever so slightly back in the direction of the City's lake.

"Lina?" A thought suddenly occurred to Quara and she gripped Lina's hand more tightly as she spoke. "What if they're nearby and they blast through this tunnel while we're in it? What if they blast behind us and we're trapped further down in the earth?" Quara's voice rose towards the end of the second sentence as she felt a tight panic spread through her chest, threatening to crush her lungs.

"Let's add that to the list of things we aren't talking about right now, okay? In fact let's not talk at all right now unless it's an emergency. An immediate emergency." She raised her hand before her sister could speak again, knowing that in Quara's mind, in that moment, nearly anything that happened could qualify as an emergency. And if Lina was honest with herself she knew that she wasn't really all that wrong. This was one of the stickiest situations that she'd ever gotten herself into and she wasn't exactly sure how they were going to get out of it.

As they followed the staircase deeper into the ground she wondered what the odds were of a blast damaging the staircase. She supposed that it was unlikely that the miners would come so close to the staircase as to damage it, but she was worried that the hallway would collapse as the staircase above had collapsed, leaving them stranded, or worse, plummeting to the surface below. But staying in that room would have only meant a slower death that was nearly guaranteed. No one was coming to find them. She was almost certain of that fact. Even if by some miracle the miners made it into the city they wouldn't know that the girls were there and were in trouble. Even if the City was discovered and her mother realized that they were missing it would be nearly impossible for anyone to make the connection between the City and their location.

So a risky staircase that could potentially cave in at any moment, that was headed towards an unknown location, was suddenly their very best chance at getting back into the upper part of the City alive. After meandering to the left for nearly twenty minutes, which Lina was certain put them below the lake, if not beyond it, they began to head again to the right. Glancing down she noticed that the stones beneath their feet had changed. Now they were a smooth grey cobblestone, carefully fitted together, both on the walls on either side of them and below their feet. The light, which Lina had begun to refer to as the Egg, cast a crisp clear light all about them, but it began to fade about seven lengths out.