From The Ashes

Chapter Fifteen - Fire And Gold, Fire And Death

Arvayn Bryvaris

Arvayn clasped a hand over his mouth and whipped his head around, meeting the gaze of his companions with shock mirroring their own. It was a moment that, while brief, entrapped in his terror felt much longer. Too long. The fear that froze him and his allies in place and iced over the blood in his veins, thawed as quickly as it had formed. Every voice in his mind was buried in obscure nooks and silenced, bar one. One that screamed and shrieked with such urgency, such pure desperation, that it echoed throughout his body, and made his head pound along in distressed harmony with his heart. He would be required to forget the consequences, forget the name of Candleiene and all he knew of her, and pry open the door. That was his goal, his endeavor, the single purpose which at this moment was all he'd been put on this world to do. He would open that door, no matter what it cost him. Even if it killed him.

He tore his eyes away from the trio, all of whom still stood peeking round the archway, still lost in their own horror, and threw himself at the door. He wound his fingers around the clattering door handle, completely disregarding how the cold touch of it sharply bit at his fingers. He twisted and turned it, wrenching and heaving it so hard he felt it strain against the wood of the door. However, the door remained stubbornly shut, sealed by a firm lock on the other side. He could hear shuffling in the room. Footsteps thudding against wooden floor with rapid desperation and aggressive purpose.

"Candleiene!" He cried through the door, somewhat losing himself to anger in his panic, "Candleiene, you underhanded coward! Open this door! You open it now!"

There was no reply beyond the already existing scuffling.

Cassian and Blythe had seemingly gotten over their shock and rushed over to join Arvayn at the door. Locke, on the other hand, dashed in the opposite direction, down the entering corridor from which they'd first come towards the stairs. The two that remained both started pulling at it, though Arvayn soon stepped away, panting.

Cassian glared at him over his shoulder, "What do you think you're doing! Help us! We must get in!"

Arvayn shook his head, the all too familiar sensation of failure taking root in his stomach and settling in his bones, "It's locked. We can't get in. She's doomed. We've doomed her. We should have argued back earlier. We should never have given Candleiene the trust we did. I should've known better. I did know better. I should have acted on that knowledge and done better."

Cassian sprung from the door and grabbed Arvayn by the shoulders, thrusting him into the wall, "There's no time for regrets! Not now! You can wallow like a swine in your own self pity anon, but not now! Not while the Lady needs you! Not while we need you!"

Arvayn gazed back at him with empty eyes. He felt nothing but the want to crumple where he stood, and give in to the despair brimming in his heart. "Your devotion is admirable, but it does not change the fact that the door is locked."

Cassian released him and sighed exasperatedly, "Yes, the door is locked. So what we must do is simple. We must either find a way to unlock it or we must find a whole other way in."

Blythe let go of the door and tentatively made her way over to the other two. She wrung her hands nervously and gazed up at Arvayn imploringly. "A-Arvayn? While it's true I-I do not know wh-what you're capable of, maybe now is the time for you to show me. May I ask you something?"

Arvayn cocked his head at the timid Fae, a sense of curiosity and, dare he even say it, hope blossoming in his chest. "Ask away."

"Do-do you know how...how to pick locks?"

How stupid had he been, so quick to proclaim the situation hopeless? His own panic had taken hold of him, and he'd allowed it to drain his mind of all rational thought, so that he forgot the more viable, pragmatic path of approach existed. He'd even forgotten that he knew how to open locked doors, something that, as a raised thief, he'd been doing for years.