A Whisper of Night

14.3 || ZALYNE 🔥

"Come on," Brennia said determinedly. She strode down the passageway, barely casting  a look behind her. "There's got to be a map of some sort here. For the Apprentices."

    Zalyne glanced over her shoulder as they headed into the maze of rock. This is a bad idea. This is a bad idea....

    "We need to get around a corner," Jae said. "And we need to stop talking...."

    They reached a fork. Without hesitation, Brennia dove down the right. Zalyne's mouth felt as dry as the plains of Scorvald - her heart was pounding. If we're caught....

    Although the cave had no torches, it still shone eerily. These caves aren't natural, she thought. There's something seriously wrong with this place....

    "There's a room here," Brennia murmured. She stopped before a door, trying the lock. It didn't budge, and she cursed. "What if all of them are locked?"

    "Let's keep going," Jae said, unable to keep the fear from her voice. "Zalyne - can you remember our path?"

    No! Of course not! "Yes," she said, swallowing. "Yeah, let's keep going."

    They continued down the passages. Left, right, straight, right again.... Soon, Zalyne's head was hurting. None of the doors they tried were unlocked, and she began fearing that they'd be stuck down here, lost until an Alchemist found them....

    "It's unlocked."

    Zalyne's eyes widened as Brennia pushed open another door. Curious, she poked her head into the room -

    It was a library.

    "Amazing," Jae murmured. "Come on - we have to search for the Nightfire Isles. But we have to stay together."

    The bookshelves were made of the same gray granite as the rest of the caves, stacked high with books and scrolls and boxes. There didn't seem to be any system of organization - everything was piled haphazardly, names and titles jumbled into a mess of different languages and letters.

    "We won't find anything from this," Brennia said hopelessly, tossing aside a scroll of runes. "We have to - "

    "Shh!" Zalyne hissed.

    They fell silent.

    Footsteps, she thought, her heart leaping into her mouth. Someone was coming their way, rifling through the books....

    "We have to hide," she murmured. As quietly as she could, she ducked into another aisle, hunching down near the bottom shelf. If someone found her here....

    "No, nothing," came a voice. "We have to lock up soon, your Majesty. Otherwise people will begin to suspect...."

    "But how can I leave when I don't know how to hatch the basilisk egg?" someone else said furiously. "They can't just give me an egg and not tell me how to hatch it!"

    "We've been searching this library for the last three hours. If the Alchemists find us in here, they won't take us kindly. You must appear too, as the father of the groom...."

    The second voice cursed. "This whole thing is a folly. If it weren't for the Lion Queen, none of this would be happening...."

    The voices faded away.

    Zalyne peeked around the shelf. Although she could see nothing, she had several lurking suspicions about the voices....

    "Was that King Sirok?" Brennia said fearfully. "How does he have a basilisk egg? We can't be caught - "