VIII

Rylan knew something was wrong. He felt a shift in the air before he had even heard the scream. He and Penelope had just returned to the camp, their search of the first room on their side of the fort – a scullery – turning up nothing of worth. Penelope had suggested they wait and see if Aroha and Damien’s room had been more fruitful before heading off to their next one, but the moment they had set foot back at the campsite Rylan had felt a wave of dread wash over his entire body. It felt like a tangible change in the atmosphere; a disturbance in the resonance of the entire world.

Then came the scream.

Faint and far-off, but the terror in it was unmistakable. Rylan turned to Penelope and her shocked eyes told him she had heard it too.

With no time to think, Rylan and Penelope took off in the direction of the room Aroha and Damien had entered. The impenetrable darkness of the library engulfed them as soon as they crossed its threshold, throwing the pair into an instant state of confusion.

‘Aroha?!’ Rylan called into the darkness. He scrambled and fumbled within the labyrinthine shelves, doing his best to find her while being unable to see further ahead than his own lantern’s dim light.

‘Rylan split up!’ Penelope said from somewhere next to him. He heard her footsteps scurry away as she took off in a different direction in the darkness. Rylan forged on ahead, trying his best to keep his bearings, one hand running along the shelves so he didn’t lose them.

He could feel the dread restricting his chest: a cold, dark claw gripping around his heart, choking the breath from him. That single, terrified scream had been followed by nothing save a deafening silence. He feared this more.

I knew it. I knew it! I knew he was going to get her in trouble! he thought to himself. Please just be okay. Please.

The longer the silence in the library went on, the more anxious Rylan grew. His own ragged breath and heartbeat were anathema to his ears. He was just about to lose all hope when he stumbled across the bookcase that Aroha and Damien had shifted. He saw the doorway behind it and knew immediately they must have gone inside.

‘Penelope!’ he cried out. ‘Over here! Quickly!’

His whole body told him to rush in the doorway, but he knew he couldn’t leave Penelope alone. He spied the strange skull on the ground and was taken aback by its alien nature. He had seen animal skulls before on the farm and this one was definitely a predator of some kind. The sharp fangs and front-facing eyes told him at least that much, but he wasn’t entirely sure what kind of predator it could have been. A wolf or something similar, he would hazard, judging solely by the size of the skull. He wondered how it had gotten inside the building and if that had been what the people had been trying to keep out.

That was when he saw the rest of the skeleton. His mind went blank. He couldn’t even properly comprehend what he was looking at. It was clearly a very humanoid body, with human-like proportions and structure, yet the skull did not belong to a human at all. All he could think is that this must have been some kind of joke. The skull and the body didn’t belong to the same creatures. That has to be it.

He was broken from his stupor by Penelope shouting out, ‘Where are you Rylan?’ from somewhere in the library.

‘Follow my voice,’ he called back to her. He kicked the skull lightly out of the way so that he wouldn’t have to look at it anymore.

‘Over here,’ he continued. ‘Just follow the sound—’

He became aware that Penelope was standing beside him and his voice trailed off.

She surveyed the scene and turned to him in confusion, ‘What happened here?’

‘I don’t know, but Aroha and Damien must have gone in this door. Come on, we’re wasting time.’

The pair entered the corridor. Rylan could quite clearly see a very bright vermillion light at the end of the passageway. It alarmed him greatly. It was too bright and too unnatural to be from a lantern or a fire and the fact that he didn’t know what was causing it made him fear the worst. He broke into a jog down the passage, with Penelope following close behind. The pair broke into the treasure room and were immediately dumbstruck by the sight in front of them.

Suspended in the air, trapped in what could only be described as a brightly glowing vermillion bubble, was Damien. It was a perfect sphere made of what seemed like pure light, perfectly encasing Damien’s body and keeping him up in the air above the altar. He did not appear to be cognizant at all. His head was thrown back in what could have been a scream, but his eyes were screwed closed and the rest of his limbs hung weak and loose. He simply dangled there, like a piece of limp clothing on a washing line, enclosed within this bubble with nothing to actually keep him aloft. The bubble pulsated gently, but otherwise, there was no movement or noise in the room save for Rylan and Penelope’s breathless panting.

Rylan looked around franticly for Aroha and was lucky enough to spy his friend’s limp figure sprawled on the ground against the far wall of the room. She was slouched over and unconscious in a pile of coins, looking for all the world as if she were simply taking a nap. She did not stir when he called her name out and from where he stood Rylan couldn’t even be sure she was still alive. He felt like a boulder had lodged itself in the pit of his stomach.

He side-stepped Damien’s bubble, careful not to touch it and scarcely even wanting to look at it, and made a beeline for Aroha’s body. Scattering piles of coin every which way, he got to her and shook her gently. ‘Aroha?! Aroha, can you hear me?’

There was no response. He checked to make sure she was still breathing and, upon discovering she was, let out a sigh of relief. He lifted her out of the pile and carried her over his shoulder back over the entrance, from which Penelope had not moved an inch. She was stuck staring in awe at Damien, her mouth slightly agape. She seemed to be broken and it made Rylan even more scared. She was always the one with the plans and order that kept everyone on track. The fact that she was at a loss in this situation terrified him immensely because he didn’t know what he was meant to be doing either.

She watched Rylan’s return, her eyes wide with terror. ‘What is going on?!’ she trilled. ‘What is this?!’

‘I have no idea,’ Rylan grunted as he laid Aroha’s body against the wall next to the passage.

He felt a wave of relief hit him now that Aroha was safe, but the bright bubble still posed an enormous problem for them. No matter how irritated Damien had made him with his impatience and willingness to put Aroha in dangerous situations, he was still a friend and he needed to be saved. The problem was that Rylan didn’t even know how to approach the problem. He didn’t know what the bubble was. A nagging voice in the back of his mind whispered magic, but he knew that couldn’t be the case. No such thing existed. That still didn’t explain what he was seeing before him.

He looked to Penelope for guidance and saw that she was grappling with the same problem. He knew he had to do something, even if he didn’t know what exactly. He grabbed Penelope’s shoulder and turned her gaze away from the bubble that so enraptured her.

‘Think, Penelope!’ he cried. ‘How can we save him?’

‘I— I don’t know! I’ve never seen anything like this!’ she replied, her voice high and strained.

He shook his head to clear the voice that was starting to scream MAGIC at him, louder and louder. ‘Let’s just think this through. There has to be an explanation. There has to be a cause!’

‘I— I don’t—’ Penelope stammered.

‘Think! Please, I can’t do this without you! I’m not smart enough. Maybe you’ve read something about this?’

‘This isn’t some natural thing, Rylan!’ Penelope screamed at him angrily. ‘This is— this is— Magic… or something. I don’t know!’

Rylan released her shoulders. Hearing her say the words made him deeply upset. He felt like she was lying to him. She couldn’t actually be serious. He wiped his face and thought: It doesn’t matter what it is! There has to be a cause! Find the cause!

He turned back to the bubble. He couldn’t even look at Damien’s face. The man looked like he was screaming in his sleep, having an unending nightmare. Stuck, frozen in time, filled with pain and anguish. He noticed the altar underneath Damien for the first time since entering the room.

Then something clicked into place in Rylan’s mind.

Altars display things, he thought. Did Damien pick something off from it?

His gaze fell on Damien’s hands, hung limp at his sides. He saw the gemstone clutched in Damien’s right hand. He stared at it for a long while, the gears turning in his head. It couldn’t be… But it had to be. It was the only new thing that Damien was holding. It must have been trapped or enchanted and had activated when Damien had picked it up.

An idea sprang up in his mind and overtook all other thoughts. He searched the room desperately for something he could use. He spied the fallen rack of swords, blasted and shattered against a wall, and ran over to it. The swords had all ruined, their rusted blades unable to bear the force of whatever had pushed them so violently into the wall, but there were enough heavily jewelled hilts for him to use. He lifted one in his hand, feeling the weight of it.

He edged closer to the bubble, still not wanting to touch it for fear of ending up in the same predicament as Damien. He reached what he deemed to be a reasonable and safe distance from the bubble, aimed carefully, and then flung the broken sword hilt at the hand clutching the gem. The hilt entered the bubble and, to Rylan’s dismay, visibly slowed down to a crawl. It did not even reach Damien’s hand. It just got stuck in the same state of suspended animation that the man was trapped in.

Rylan cursed under his breath and ran back over to the stand to find another hilt for a second attempt. This too ended in failure. The bubble slowed all the momentum of the object as soon as it entered its sphere of influence. He tried a third time, throwing with all his might, hoping against hope it would reach Damien’s hand with enough momentum to knock the gem loose. It did not. It bumped against Damien’s hand with the force of a light, sun-kissed summer breeze.

‘It’s not going to work,’ Penelope said from the doorway. She had been watching all of this transpire with great interest. Rylan could tell that she had come up with an idea of her own by observing his actions and how the bubble reacted to objects entering it.

‘Did you come up with a better idea then?’ he asked, slightly winded and visibly annoyed by his failed efforts.

‘Wait here,’ she said hurriedly. ‘Look after Aroha, I’ll be right back.’ She took off back into the passageway, her footsteps eventually fading back into oppressive silence.

Rylan went over to check on Aroha again, but the young woman did not stir at all at the sound of his voice. He started to grow concerned again. He checked her head, thinking perhaps she had hit it against the wall, and was shocked to find a wet patch at the back of her head. He looked at the bright red blood on his fingers in horror. He tilted her head forward and brought the lantern up to inspect her blood-matted hair. He parted the wet strands to reveal the nasty red gash underneath. His heart caught in his chest as he stared at it in abject horror. He could feel himself shutting down, could feel the dread creeping into his limbs like an icy tendril.

No, no, no! he berated himself. This is not the time to shut down! Help her! NOW!

Breathing shakily, he ripped off his leather breastplate and took off his cotton shirt as quickly as he could. He didn’t even care about the cold, damp chill of the room that ran down his spine. He balled his shirt up with trembling hands and pressed it to the wound tightly. He cradled Aroha’s limp head in his arms, flopping down against the wall next to her. He realized he had been crying this whole time, his vision growing progressively hazier. He rubbed an arm over his face to wipe the tears from his eyes, trying his best to choke them back completely. He couldn’t break down on her now when she needed him most.

‘No, no, no, no, no, no…’ he cooed as he wiped his fallen tears from her cheeks, biting back a new wave of tears that threatened to flood from his chest. ‘I’m so sorry,’ he whispered. ‘I’ll take care of you. I’m so sorry…’

He felt angry at himself. It was his fault she was this state in the first place. If he had just gone with her, she would’ve been fine. She would’ve never gotten hurt at all. He would’ve been there. He would’ve stopped it. He hit the back of his head against the wall. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

He heard the sounds of footsteps once again and Penelope burst back into the room, carrying her crossbow under her arm. She looked around in confusion when she didn’t see Rylan. She glanced back towards Aroha and saw Rylan cradling her on the floor. She saw the tears in his eyes and immediately fell to her knees, not even daring to breathe. Hardly daring to think.

She crawled up next to him. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ she asked, voice trembling slightly. She could feel the emotions bubbling inside of her – immense, crushing sadness and hopelessness. She did her best to fight them down. She could do nothing to stop the tears welling up in her eyes, however.

‘She hit her head,’ Rylan told her weakly. He showed her the blood-stained shirt for a second before pressing it back into place. ‘Please, help her Penelope… It’s all my fault.’

‘Oh, Mother’s mercy…’ Penelope whispered breathlessly. She sidled up next to her brother and hugged him. ‘It’ll be okay. It’s not your fault, you dummy. She’ll be okay… I’ll make sure of it. You carry her back to camp and I’ll treat her wound.’

‘Help Damien first,’ Rylan sniffled. ‘I’ll stay here with her.’

‘Okay,’ Penelope nodded. ‘Okay.’

She stood up, picked her crossbow off the ground and approached the bubble. She had observed that the objects Rylan had thrown into it had their motion slowed down immensely, but they still maintained a modicum of their energy before coming to a state of rest. The bubble was not an immediate stopping force, but rather it just siphoned their energy at an unnaturally swift rate. She reasoned that if the object entered with enough momentum, it couldn’t be slowed to a complete standstill before reaching the gemstone. She hoped the crossbow bolt would be able to do that. The weapon put enough force into a bolt to pierce armour over large distances after all. Hopefully, it would be enough to pry it loose. Hopefully, that was all it took to solve the problem.

She circled the bubble cautiously, trying to find a good vantage point. She didn’t want to hit Damien’s hand and wound him, just knock the vermillion gem out of it. She found an angle where she could clearly see the gemstone. She said a silent prayer to the Mother, then took careful aim with the crossbow, securing the tiller in the nook of her shoulder. She had always been a better shot than Rylan anyway, she reasoned. It was good it was her who was doing this.

She lined up the shot, exhaled slowly, and pulled the trigger.

Everything happened in a blur after that.

The bolt was enough. It sailed through the air at a speed not possible to achieve with a regular bow, entered the bubble and managed to maintain enough of its kinetic energy to hit smack dab on the centre of the gem. There was still enough force behind it to knock the gem clean out of Damien’s hand and, as soon as it lost contact with his skin, the bubble burst. It was not a light pop, like a soap bubble bursting as it lands in the grass. No, it was an explosion of energy – and perhaps magic – with enough force to take Penelope clean off her feet and fling her painfully into a wall. She did not lose consciousness, but she would be feeling the pain in her back from the impact for weeks to come. There was enough force to make Rylan have to bear hug Aroha’s limp body and brace against the pressure as it threatened to crush them both into the wall. Enough force to fling the piles of coins and gems and rusted weaponry to the far corners of the room.

Any gems and weaponry somehow still intact from the initial explosion in the room shattered upon this second impact. The gold was a stranger story still. Every single one of the coins melted, but it was not from heat as the explosion did not generate any that the adventurers could feel. They simply melted into a kind of useless, limp, inert liquid metal. It was still cool to the touch, and hard when pressure was applied to it, but as soon as anyone tried to lift it, it would spill through their fingers back onto the ground like bright, golden water.

Damien, for his part, entered reality again in an instant, his frozen scream finally getting a chance to play out, filling the room with its resonance. The sharp, electric pain that had caused him to cry out upon lifting the gem in the first place shot through his body all at once: a jolt of lightning that turned his limbs rigid just for that instant he was still suspended in the air. He fell swiftly and violently, suddenly once again influenced by gravity, which seemed to be exacting vengeance on him now for defying it. He crashed atop the altar, knocking it and him to the ground. The altar smashed to pieces and Damien did not fare much better, landing in a heavy, painful heap on the ground. Every bone in his body ached and hurt, but he was the least affected by the explosion out of everything and everyone in the room.

‘What in the seven hells is goin’ on?’ he said weakly, shifting painfully into a sitting position.

Rylan got up and laid Aroha’s body gently on the ground. He walked over to Damien and punched the man right across the jaw. He put his full weight behind the swing and landed in a tangle of limbs on top of Damien, whose ears were suddenly ringing and eyes watering. The pain hit him a little later and he clutched his mouth and writhed on the ground, trying to get free from Rylan in case another blow was incoming.

‘Wha’ was tha’ fo’?!’ he cried out from behind his hand.

Rylan was hunched over on his hands and knees, panting lightly. He turned to glare at Damien, ‘Aroha’s bleeding. We have to get her back to camp.’

He stood up shakily and stumbled over to Penelope. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked her, concern written all over his face.

‘I’m okay,’ Penelope groaned. She tried to stand but the sharp, shooting pain in her back caused her to fall back on her behind.

‘Here.’ Rylan reached down and lifted her up, throwing her arm over his shoulder. He stalked back over to Damien, who had managed to sit up once again. The man looked at Rylan wearily.

‘Get up,’ Rylan said coldly. ‘Help Penelope. I’ll carry Aroha.’

Damien stood up and took Penelope’s arm, supporting her weight as best he could. ‘Are ye alright?’ he asked her.

‘I’m alright,’ she grimaced.

‘What happened? What happened to all the gold? Me an’ Aroha found such a nice haul.’

Penelope looked around the room in dismay. ‘I honestly have no idea anymore. We’ll explain what happened later. Aroha really needs help right now.’

Rylan tied his lantern to his belt, doing the same for Damien and Penelope. He took Aroha up and carried her in his arms, leading the party back to their camp.

As soon as they arrived, Penelope grit her teeth through the pain and got to work treating Aroha’s head wound.

She cut and shaved the hair around the wound as delicately as she could, then cleaned the wound out and applied some salve that she had prepared in Bergia. She considered whether or not to stitch the wound closed. It was a foul cut, deep and long, but it had stopped bleeding profusely. She knew from treating farm animals that it was best to suture these types of incisions, and Aroha’s sewing kit gave her the opportunity to do so that she did not have when she had treated Damien’s wound a few weeks earlier. With this in mind, she steeled herself and carefully sanitized a needle and thread with some strong spirits she had brought along for disinfecting wounds. It was horrible work and she did her best to calm her trembling hands, but she did eventually get the wound sutured and then bound it with a linen bandage.

There was nothing else they could really do at that point, although they were all greatly concerned by Aroha not waking up. They slept in shifts to keep watch over her, but Rylan was awake throughout it all. They tried to feed her thin soup and give her water, but she couldn’t really swallow all that well. Penelope would massage her throat to get the liquids down, but it was a harrowing process.

After Aroha had been treated, the group shared their stories about the incident. Rylan was icy and antagonistic towards Damien, clearly blaming him for the state Aroha was in. Damien, for his part, did his best to apologize and accept responsibility for his idiocy.

‘I should ‘ave realized the room might’ve been trapped. An’ I’m sorry that Aroha got hurt. Ye know I didn’t intend for that for happen. Ye know I would never hurt her, or any of ye for that matter! If I had known, I wouldn’t ‘ave done it. I would’ve— I wouldn’t ‘ave done it…’

Penelope recognized that the man was sincere in his regret, and she knew Rylan saw that too. There was no malice in this accident, it was purely a misadventure. Despite this, the men still did not talk to each other for a long while and the situation made Penelope uncomfortable.

Damien and Penelope did return to the room to see if anything was salvageable, but there was nothing for them save some broken gemstones. Even Penelope’s crossbow had shattered against the wall and was now completely useless. The coins and gems Damien had managed to stuff his pockets with before the whole vermillion gem incident were miraculously untouched, so Damien offered these to the group’s coffers so that their escapade wasn’t completely fruitless.

The vermillion gem itself was mysteriously missing.