Gilded Serpents

Chapter Twenty: The Mask

I could not move.

I could feel my body, stiff as stone, trapped in place against the hard floor. As much as I tried, my eyes refused to open. I searched my remaining senses for any clues to where I had been transported to in the gust of sands.

In the distance, I could hear the gentle taps of feet crossing on tile or stone -back and forth, but the sound was muffled behind either wall or door. I strained my ears, but could hear nothing else but my own shallow breath.

I inhaled as much as I could through my nose, and was met, to my surprise, with a delightful combination of vanilla and cinnamon. A bizarre choice indeed for what I anticipated to be some sort of Guide-created prison cell for Blood Mages and other nefarious fiends.

There was a sudden murmur of muffled voices nearby, followed by the sound of a door creaking open. I tried again to open my eyes, but still no luck.

"Girl?" came a man's voice from above me, "I can't believe she's still out. Must be the first time being transported by sands."

I felt a slight kick at my foot, sending an uncomfortable shiver of tiny pins up my leg.

"Do you think we should just lift 'er up and bring her there? She said it was urgent," came another voice, still low but with a slight whine.

"Nah, just give her some time. We'll come back later."

"Fancy armor she got."

"Aye - Think she'll let me have it when she's done with the lass?"

They both then laughed, uproariously, until suddenly shushing each other when there was more commotion outside the room.

"Come now, let's see what they have left in the dining hall. Still a lot of leftovers from yesterday's celebrations I heard."

"Aye."

And with that, both voices left the room, leaving me once again alone in the darkness.

It felt like hours before I was able to finally open my eyes. To my surprise, I was in a white room, wall lined with lush green ivy hanging from the ceiling in laced chains. But the more I looked, the more familiar it seemed. It took me a couple more minutes before I realized - this indeed was the room I saw in my dream all those nights ago, hidden away behind the hand mirror on the beach. Before I destroyed it, the hand mirror had almost the exact same layout. Thankfully though, this room did seem to have a door.

After several minutes of effort, I was able to move my toes, fingers, loosening my body as much as I could under the tight armor, until I was finally able to sit up on my own. I sighed, feeling the weight of my unfortunate circumstance wrapping around my stomach like talons.

A Blood Mage - brought in front of the Guides themselves to answer for my... crimes?

I made a mental list.

So far I had run away from home, escaping from an inevitable trial by the Seven High Judges, brought back Gaelenod from the dead, took a dragonrider's life. Perhaps that was enough to bring me in front of the Guides to answer for.

But what about Lumo?

Would he be married off to Herculea before or after my untimely demise?

I smiled to myself, shaking my head in disbelief to the madness of this all. Perhaps I should have just stayed in the cave with Ciro. Everything seemed so impossible. Who knew that this was where my path would lead all those days ago when I did the Solia Ceremony, revealing no flame?

I leaned to the side, resting my head on the side of the lavish heavy bedframe where I sat on the floor, stiff armored legs in front of me.

I was so completely exhausted. After about a week of sleeping on the cold hard ground, even though Lumo did his best to make things hospitable, I was yearning for the promised comforts of the heavy blankets beside me. It may not be home, but it sure looked comfortable.