Fate Undone: A Novella

Chapter IV - Part IV

One, counted Anna. Dust fell from the crypt's ceiling like dirty snow as the large crash overhead settled. It was muffled, but it was the biggest one yet. She remembered it from before. It was her only way to judge how much time she had left. Two more to go.

Quiet murmurs that had been silenced slowly picked up again. It could have been the end of the whole world outside, and the only thing the girls could do was wait it out.

"It sounds like the city is falling apart," whispered Leandra. "You don't think anyone can get in, do you? Through the door?"

"No," lied Anna. Too clearly, she could see the splinters flying into the crypt—the door being reduced to nothing before their eyes. She blinked it away and brushed the dust from Leandra's hair. "We're safe here."

The two of them were sitting in the crypt's extension, side by side, hand in hand, with their backs to the wall where King Panos's remains once resided. Leandra's head rested on Anna's shoulder, but she was not tired. She was too focused on the unseen above, as were all the other priestesses. Anna, on the other hand, was thinking of what should have been below. She had already stomped at the ground and paced back and forth enough to make the girls more nervous than they should've been. Mother Dimitra even insisted that it would be best if Anna calmed down and just sat like the rest. So, that's what Anna did.

Anna made Leandra talk about the crypt's history and she listened to it all as if she had never heard it before. And as she listened, she thought. The talking made Leandra feel a bit better, and that's all Anna wanted. Afterwards, Anna made up a dream in her head and told Leandra all about it.

"I dreamt there was a tunnel," whispered Anna. She tilted her head against Leandra, pressing her cheek into the top of her head as they stared at the floor and their feet. "It was here, beneath the tiles. It was dark and stale and it led far away. I think it went all the way to Vassilios Manor, but I don't know for sure. It seemed so real—I thought it was real—but I guess I was wrong."

"Mother Dimitra said some people can dream real things. There used to be an oracle in Atropis. I forget what she was called."

"The Pythia," said Anna. The ceiling rumbled. More dust floated down and she could feel Leandra's head squirm beneath her own. That one was too small. Still two more. We still have time. "What else did Mother Dimitra say?"

"That the Pythia had dreams...or visions maybe, sent to her by the gods. People would come from all over to make donations and ask for advice. Her words were easily misunderstood, though...like riddles. A lot of visitors didn't try hard enough to understand what she was really telling them. They misinterpreted her or just gave up too easily. Maybe your dream meant something else. Was the tunnel a good thing?"

Anna was silent for a minute. Her eyes dropped down and she gazed at her fingers, entwined with Leandra's. A solemn feeling crept up her face before she answered, "No, I guess it wasn't." It saved my life. "It didn't do much." And got you killed.

Their conversations soon had fizzled out to nothing. Anna's mind remained plagued with thoughts of what would soon come. There was only one door to the crypt, and it would become an unfriendly one. Unless that never happens—unless there's no tunnel because there's no need to escape. The crypt shook again, but it was another small tremor. Anna forced her idealized thoughts away. The men would come. She was sure of it. And the door would break. Why wouldn't there be a way out?

The burning stable and the Eressians blocking the way in the dark tunnel came back to Anna. There had been fire and soldiers in places there originally wasn't, but the architecture was all the same. Even now, here within the crypt, the layout was unchanged. The tiles and the stone of the broken sarcophagus weren't as badly damaged, but they were still damaged.