Chapter 14: Into the Mountain ~ Randy Astle

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Chapter D – Into the Mountain

MUSIC TRACK LIST:

Patricia Van Ness – The Nine Orders of the Angels I: Nos Sumus Custodes Angeli

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DAVID’S POV

So I pulled myself along the floor, that light my only hope. As it got brighter the ceiling got higher. I got on my knees then a bit later stood up. I could see my footing now, and it wasn’t a dirt floor, or even rough stone. It looked more like polished marble—cut into blocks. This was some kind of building.

I couldn’t see what was making the light, though—that was around a corner. When I reached it I saw there were inscriptions on the wall, like at the witch’s hut, but more of them, all up and down the walls. No pictures, so I didn’t take too long trying to decipher anything. That thing was still on my tail, after all.

I turned and looked into the room, a chamber really, is what I guess you’d call it. The light was coming from a rock, a glowing blue gem la'ying on a table in the middle of the room. And there were other stones, smaller yellow ones, set about a foot apart around the entire room, which was shaped like a tall oval with the door at the bottom. They were glowing too, lighting up the whole place. It kinda blinded me, in fact, and while my eyes adjusted I stepped in and started feeling my way around. The blue and yellow light mixed in a kind of green ether up by the ceiling, but down here, up close, after a minute I could see everything perfectly: the carvings on the wall, the animal skin on the table with the blue stone, and piles and piles of parchments. They were like in Pepper’s house, but most of them were bigger. I opened one up: more of the same kind of writing, I couldn’t make it out of course, but this time there were pictures. This had a map—heaven knows of where—near the top and a rough picture of two people—I couldn’t tell the gender—holding hands at the bottom. They were inscribed inside a circle, interlaced with a lot of little lines like a spherical prism, and around that—around that there was a perfect picture of my Chladni plates, my pillars, my speakers . . . of the lab. Oh boy.

A crash behind me made me jump. A whole lot of hillside had just come sliding down the tunnel—a gust of air pushed a sheet of dust into the chamber—which meant that I was either trapped in here or was about to have company. I set the scroll down and turned to look for something a little more like a weapon but my right leg gave out and I frankly crashed to the floor. Graceful. Laying there I noticed for the first time how badly my leg hurt and how much blood had gotten all over it. Great. Now I was going to bleed to death too.

Another crash, smaller, reminded me I probably had bigger problems. I grabbed onto the table and slowly pulled myself to my feet. The scrolls weren’t going to help me so I pushed them to one side and sat on the table, fighting off some dizziness and trying to see the far wall opposite the entrance. The glowing rocks didn’t go that far and it was actually all pretty dark. Figures. I took a halting step forward, moving into the semi-darkness. A regular scraping sound from the tunnel behind me told me I’d better hurry.

But as I limped into the shadow I couldn’t guess what I was about to see, not even after all the witchcraft and banshees and other crap I’d seen in the last two hours.

At first all I could make out was the wall—the dim light was green here, like by the ceiling, but I could make out that that was it. Great, no door—not unless there’s another secret lever. But then I looked up and thought I saw some kind of hanging carpet, like a tapestry. There could be a secret door behind that, right? I moved right up to it to take a peep behind, but then I was close enough to see what was on it. And there, woven into this medieval, fading, ten-foot tapestry, smiling down at me with her beautiful eyes, was Emma. My Emma.

And not just Emma. But Emma with a lace shawl around her neck, a silver spider charm in the center, holding out a tarot card that covered one eye. Her left eye shone like the moon, and even in this light I could see the violet of the iris. And her mouth, the same come-hither smirk that made me shiver so long ago.

It was my letter from Sweden. The flyer. The fortune cookies. It was the exact same, down to the three hags—Norns?—on the tarot card. I swooned like a schoolgirl, almost falling backwards but catching myself and leaning forward, leaning against the cool dry fabric. The scraping was getting louder, closer, but I knew this had to be the secret I was looking for. How to find Emma. Emma. My eyes were even with the words, sewn in English, “All Your Fates Are True.” Beware any without a fate. She may be your destruction—or salvation. If any fate may be true.

A burst of hot air behind me told me the creature was through. I fell forward, through the tapestry, through the wall, into the void. My head closed in around me, light flooded my mind, and I left this world behind.

A/N

Wow!!! What did you think guys??? I really loved this world and so sad it's over!! But don't worry...more to come next week. Right now I'm in an airport to leave back for Toronto. Wish me a safe flight!

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