The hallway before them was long, dimly lit by cracks in the walls high up in the room and covered in dust. It was a long time since anyone had used these halls and everyone could tell. The only new thing was the corpse that was slowly seeping blood onto the floor in front of Yveth, a nameless peon of hers that she had brought along on the advice of the auger.
Over the course of the last ten excursions, she had slowly come to rely on the auger more and more, much to her chagrin. She had wanted to kill the woman when she had first learned about the Well of Yoth, but the harridan was prepared. Before Yveth had walked in, the woman set up exactly what she was looking for. Upon the plinth that stood outside the old woman’s cave was a simple scroll of parchment, crumpled and stained with blood and gore. Upon it were clues to their next location, and a time limit dictating that they would miss their chance should they not leave immediately. Unwilling to let the chance go, Yveth had sent her team off immediately, but she swore to the fields of Avalon that she would gut the auger if it was the last thing that she did.
This too and fro lasted for almost a cycle, but the breadcrumbs inevitably lead her to three clues from an ancient prophet. The hammers three, separate they be, cathedral, crypt and family. Oh ye child of the clan of bones, your doom is following the mother’s toes. The words they found carelessly scored a thousand times into the walls of a sealed room at the base of a disused well continuously echoed in her head as the empty hallway creaked with laughter in front of them. It was an open maw, just waiting to snap shut upon another victim.
“It’s simple really,” she said, pushing a red book into the hands of one of her leather-bound companions. “You fail this resonance test, or whatever it is and your bones become materials for our Gi. You pass, you get to keep the Book and gain the chance to become a power player within the halls of Avalon. Be warned though...” Her voice hardened, “You run, and I’ll kill you myself”.
The man’s face dropped immediately. He swallowed, and opened the book up, taking his time to read the first page of the Book in his hands. As he ran his fingers over the pages Yveth glanced at what he was reading and frowned. She could not understand what was taking him so long, all she could see on every page she read was squiggles. It was entirely illegible. She had looked in the Book before, but back then it was simply blank rather than filled with the pictographs that swam beneath her gaze.
“How can you even look at that rubbish? It’s just an incoherent mess of lines”.
“Uhm...” He gave her a furtive glance before closing the book in his hands and holding it out like a shield. “Of course. Yes. It was, but it was blank when Ayven opened it”.
“Ayven? Was that his name?”
“Yes, my lady, his name was Ayven,” a stern figure from behind her replied.
She walked back and leant against his chest, caressing his chin gently with one of her knife-sharp nails. “This is why I have you, my love. You remember all those unimportant details, so I don’t have to. I mean, it doesn’t really matter now anyway”.
“He is just Gi and bones now, my lady,” Dayel replied. “But serving you does get his name scored on the walls of the king. It means he still has to be remembered, despite his failure here”.
Yveth flicked her finger against Dayel’s jaw in annoyance, drawing a small amount blood as the skin was split by her nails. She turned back to the worried man in front of her and smiled, revealing her sharpened canines. “Come on, now. If you’re successful I’ll even personally learn your name. You’ll be a true pride to Avalon if you succeed, as this entire quest is one to remove the shackles of Babel from all of us”.
The man nodded and began walking, Book outstretched in front of him. Every step he took, he would shudder and swallow whatever fear and bile was welling in his gut before sighing with relief at the fact he had survived. When he reached the end of the hall he turned back and began walking back to the group as his orders dictated. Still nothing happened to him. There were no flashes of light, no whipping cables, whirring blades, sliding walls or pits opened beneath him. Only a terrified man, gingerly stepping back through the empty hallway to his nervous team standing in the doorway beyond.
“So, we know you can get across the hall, but the next question is can you bring someone with you? Dayel, who’s next up onto the chopping block?”
“T’eo, go with Samul and if you both survive I’ll give you a promotion”.
The man, T’eo, nodded and strode up to his nervous companion before grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and walking forwards. Together the two of them braved the entire hall without a trap being set off. Even when they returned, there was no reaction from any of the hidden mechanisms of death that lurked inches behind all the surfaces within the corridor.
“Owain, take up the rear. We’re going to move through this hall now”. The group as a whole clumped up and began moving behind Samul, who was slowly becoming more and more confident with avoiding the traps. Taking a deep breath, Samul finally got himself to relax and quickened the pace. Almost immediately there was a whirring, clanking and a scream as the last man in their small column, Owain, was bisected by diamond-sharp blades. The group skittered to a stop and turned back to watch their companion’s upper body hit the ground, devoid of its lower part. On the floor, less than a metre away was a pair of legs, still kicking about as if trying to move the body they were no longer part of. Blood began jettisoning his body, but Yveth just looked on, completely unimpressed with the failure of a soldier who got himself killed because he did not keep up.
“We’ll collect his corpse when we leave, Roth - take the rear. Keep close though, and if you survive I will give my recommendation for your courtship of miss Agartha. Samul, calm down. We don’t need to lose any more soldiers from you lacking focus. What can be given can just as easily be taken away again”. Immediately Dayel took action, and Yveth could not be more impressed. The soldiers came close and one shuffled to the back, nervously he glanced around before ushering the rest of the group forwards.
“You’re really good at corralling the troops,” she muttered under her breath to Dayel. She could not help but feel consternation at the sight, despite her pride at accepting such a reliable companion.
“It’s all about the carrot and stick really,” Dayel replied quietly. “You’re very good at the stick, but you have no interest in most of your peons. That means that any form of prize or recompense for work from you is slightly hollow. Sometimes you hit the mark, like when it came to me, and your ability to rile people up for blood is second to none, but really, if you want to do what I do then just pay attention to the lives of your soldiers”.
“Like the corpse back there?”
“No no no, that’s the life of your soldiers. Learn about their dreams and intentions, then base rewards for them on that”.
“Interesting... How did you learn all this?”
“Your father. When you sent me to spy on him, I watched his methods of dealing with the troops and tried to copy them meticulously. It turns out that while the man be an awful person, he’s an excellent leader. I learned a lot”.
Yveth snorted derisively, before simply walking forwards quietly. Her tongue flicked the bone studs in her cheeks in time with her steps as she ruminated over what Dayel had said. He was the only person she trusted, because she knew how devoted he was to her, but that did not mean that he did not irritate her. Jabbing her knifelike nail into his side, she proceeded to stoneall her paramour until they reached the far end of the allway unharmed.
Collectively the group let out a sigh of relief, but immediately they were confronted with a round room with a sunken area at the core. At the heart of the sunken area was a plinth with a very small hammer made of wrought iron resting upon it. The collective hearts of the group stopped as they looked at the plinth. Finally, after years of searching they had found the first key.
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