A Circuit of Time: Book Two of Spark (A MPHFPC Fanfiction)

Chapter Nine

"Don't worry about me, just go on. I will only slow you down, anyway." Blanche said.

"What if the crocs came back?" Emma asked.

"Then give me more bullets." Blanche replied.

"No, we can't risk that." Miss Bittern said.

"I can stay with her." John said. "We stay here, so she won't slow you down. And if two of us are here we will have a better chance defending ourselves."

"Alright then." Miss Bittern agreed.

*

The doorway on this side was also sealed by a rocks that seemed to grow straight out of the ground, so Olive did what she did before and blew it up. They went through a short corridor behind it and entered a room full of neatly arranged stone sarcophaguses.

The sides of these sarcophaguses were decorated with carvings depicting scenes from battles forgotten by time. None of them was covered, the deceased exposed to the air, but their appearance showed no signs of decay. Unnatural youth arrested forever in the past. Immortal, only in death.

Most of the coffins were occupied, bodies inside dressed in shining golden armor, their swards still sharp after countless centuries, their shields still reflected what little sunlight that managed to sneak into the room. None of them had any visible wounds or even scars. They looked vivid, alive, as if just sleeping, perhaps resting to prepare for the battle in the next life.

At the far end of the room, two coffins contained a different kind of corpse. Clothe tattered, bloodied, one man had part of his torso and half a face missing, a long blade-shaped tooth stuck in his skull. The other man had a deep cut on his neck and a stab wound on his abdomen.

"What happened to them?" Emma murmured.

"Miss Kestrel's companions." Sophie said, "Their clothe match the era."

"So this is what Miss Bulbul found." Olive said. "I wonder how many other crocodile-infested lakes she conveniently forgot to mention."

"What on bird's bloody earth can cause this kind of injury?" Ethan asked as she reached out and pulled the tooth loose. It was ivory white but soaked with crimson blood. The edges were sharp and serrated, tiny chunks of human tissue still hanging from it.

"I don't know." Sophie said, "Maybe lion or bear."

"Since when does lion and bear have teeth like this?" Ethan said.

"I told you already, I have no idea." Sophie replied

Suddenly, a voice shouted something Emma couldn't quite understand, and Miss Bittern quickly replied in the same language.

Then she recognized the tongue they were using. Old Peculiar.

The ymbryne gestured everyone to follow her and led them to a dark doorway. A crippled man dressed in similar golden armor as the dead soldiers sat in the opening.

"What did he say?" Emma asked.

"Even seekers of knowledge should turn back in front the gate of hell. Something like that." Sophie replied.

Miss Bittern continued to talk to the man, and he mumbled something in return, clearly not pleased.

"He won't let us pass or tell us anything useful." Miss Bittern said.

"It's not like he can stop us." Olive said, then she asked Ethan to drag the man away from the entrance.

The man cursed in old peculiar, but he didn't have the strength to fight Ethan. Behind him was a stairway that extended down into the darkness.