Hierarchy (Book Four of the Torrent Skies Saga)

Chapter Twenty: For the Sake Of Knowing, Pt 2

Katerin's demise never came.

Though, the fall hurt brutally. Solid stone greeted her once again. She landed terribly on her chest. It took a few seconds before her arms would move. Shakily, Katerin sat up. The darkness here seemed to have returned to normal, and she could make out a straight passage, in shades of gray, and she could even see the nightmare she had just crossed behind her.

Cradling her arm to her chest, she stood and looked herself over. Aside from the various cuts and scrapes from the previous cavern, she now had several bruises across her chest, her knees and her hands. Her wrist, even in Heirum's borrowed brace, was painful enough that Katerin had to grit her teeth just to observe it.

At first, she was angry. Furious. But then a thought occurred to her. She had used no magic. No weapons. No tricks. She had no one there to promise her fears away, no one to dissuade her from the promise of death. There was no one there to save her, except herself, and she had succeeded. She was far from unscathed, but she had done it alone. Fykes and Brazen both had been making excuses for her, lately. Like in Errwood Bay. But she did not need their excuses. She was no less than before. That thought spurring her on, she began walking again.

She had this. She could do it.

Kryrial was not here, nor was Lodyne, and neither of them plagued her thoughts. She blinked at the continuation of the path. The new passage was a simple, roomy hallway. There were no torches, but it was not too cold or too hot. There were no drops, cliffs, strange lights or lava. The hall ended in a simple metal door, after only a few paces.

Her mouth agape, Katerin stared at it, before she knocked once.

After a moment, the door swung open to reveal an ancient looking dwarf. She had white hair all the way to the floor. It was knotted in a million patterns with old beads linked in, flashing in the warm torch light. She wore a strange, toothy smile, and her eyes were a bright hazel, piercing out from beneath her thick brows. The skin of her face looked like leather, and was covered in ink, to reveal parts of some complex pattern hidden by her hair.

"It's cold out there, kid. Come in." Her voice sounded like gravel, and she waved a bony hand.

Katerin stepped in to behold a large room. Stone shelves dominated it, and they rose to the ceiling, several feet above. They held books, scrolls, crates, weapons. She even saw a few plants on lower shelves, and bottles with gleaming liquids bubbling within. "Kanara?"

The dwarf woman gave her a look that said 'who else, idiot?' and Katerin smiled.

"I'm looking for information on old dwarven enchanting. It's a stone archway, and there were at least two made. They can move things, like teleportation, but at long distances and—" Katerin began, her mind whipping back to the reason she had come.

Kanara held up a hand and glared. "Introduce yourself, first. And give me a damn good reason to let you stay."

When Katerin said her name, Kanara's eyes narrowed further, and she looked like a heavily furred shrew to Katerin, with all her wrinkles sticking out.

"As for my reason... Finding the origin of the archway is the only way I see, to stop Kryrial's armies from killing more. If I can stall them, I can stall him. And... if I do that, maybe I can find a way to kill him."

"Your name is Moonshadow, and your reason for visiting is Regicide?" Kanara let out a loud snort, her teeth showing. They were far from pretty.

"Well I..." Katerin faltered. Regicide. Did it still count if the king was a tyrant, and a very old dragon? She supposed it did.

"Oh, don't dissuade yourself." Kanara shook a finger at her, her gaze sharper than a Luxian sword. "I might be able to help you with the archways, but I want to see that book you're holding."