Heart of Silver, Soul of Glass
by Stomlight
Chapter 12
The next evening found Serena in the history vaults again, poring over book
after book with renewed determination. She was alone this time, having picked
the key from Endymion’s pocket when he wasn’t looking. Quite the handy little
trick; she’d learned it from one of the newer soldiers recently...a cute,
foul-mouthed, fire-haired man only a few years older than herself...and had
locked herself in the room, determined not to leave until she’d found her
answers.
Of course...it had never occurred to her that there might be another key...
She squealed in fright when the heavy door abruptly swung open with a
deafening wham, sending dust and dirt flying in its wake. The candles and
torches sputtered, danced wildly, and nearly went out altogether. Wide-eyed,
she stared at the open doorway and waited for the dust to clear, wondering if
Endymion really would kill her this time for picking his pocket.
It wasn’t the crown prince who stood there, much to her relief, but rather
his sister, dangling a silver key identical to Serena’s own from her fingers,
a sweetly calm expression on her face. Serena gulped and casually edged her
way around until the dusty table stood between her and Rei. She knew that
what that look really meant. An angry Rei was a dangerous Rei, and she
preferred to have some kind of shield in front of her should the princess
decide to start throwing things. "Ah...Rei, what’s wrong?" she asked
nervously, gripping the edge of the table in preparation to throw it over on
its side, should the need arise. "Are you still upset about King Ayurhu
leaving?"
If anything, Rei’s black look went even blacker, and Serena winced. Oh, this
was not good. She was really mad at her, for some reason or other. It would
be the guillotine for Serena if she wasn’t careful. It was time for the
tried-and-true method of apologizing profusely until the princess either
calmed down, or forgave her out of sheer exasperation. "I’m sorry! I’m sorry!
Really I am! I didn’t mean it!" she wailed, clasping her hands together and
bowing repeatedly, nearly braining herself on the table in the process.
"Whatever it is, I’ll fix it, honest!" She paused, then added in a tiny
voice, "Um...could you at least tell me what it is I’m supposed to fix,
first?"
Rei continued to stare at her, but now she looked a little befuddled. She
blinked a few times, then scowled. "Serena, why didn’t you tell me?" she
scolded. "How could you not tell me about something like this?"
Serena hesitated. "Um...I...that is...it slipped my mind?" She blinked, and
now she was the one who looked befuddled, trying to remember what she was
supposed to have told the princess.
Rei sighed, realizing that Serena had no idea what she was talking about. As
usual. "You’re neck, you dolt!" she snapped. "Why didn’t you tell me about
your neck?"
The other girl winced. Oh. Right. Her neck. How did Rei find out about that,
anyway? For that matter...how had Rei found out that she was down here?
"When I went to get some tea from Luna, I overheard Endymion asking Mitsukake
for some healing salve for your neck, since you refused to get some for
yourself. Mitsukake, naturally, wanted to know what had happened, and
Endymion explained the entire situation. He said Ayurhu had tried to strangle
you! Is that true?" Rei demanded before Serena could voice her question.
Serena glared. "Stop doing that! It’s creepy," she pouted. "And he wasn’t
supposed to say anything! I should have known he couldn’t keep his big mouth
shut!"
Rei looked horrified. "So it is true? He really tried to hurt you?!"
Serena winced. "Well, no it wasn’t like that, exactly!" she protested. "I
mean...it was...but he was trying to look at this..." She held up the
pendant. "...and it happened to be around my neck at the time, is all."
"Didn’t he notice?" Rei demanded angrily.
She scratched her head and tried to laugh. "Actually, I don’t think he did.
He seemed to be too focused on the pendant to realize that I was turning
blue," she replied flippantly.
"Why didn’t you tell me?" Rei cried. "Or Miaka! Why didn’t you tell your own
sister?"
Serena squirmed. "You both have enough to worry about without me adding onto
it," she muttered. "I wasn’t trying to keep secrets..."
Rei gave an un-princess-like snort at that blatant lie. "You thought I
wouldn’t believe you if you told me, didn’t you?" she huffed, pointing an
accusing finger at her friend. "Admit it!"
Was it just her, was it suddenly rather warm in this room? Serena tugged on
the collar of her dress uncomfortably, and Rei abruptly had a clear view of
the fading bruises that marred the delicate skin around her throat. The
princess’s hands came up to cover her mouth at the sight of the undeniable
proof. "Well...the thought had crossed my mind," Serena was muttering. "I
mean, he’s your fiancee, for heaven’s sake! You’re in love with the man! Of
course you wouldn’t want to hear that he tried to strangle your best
friend!" She paused and glared. "And you wouldn’t have, either!" she accused,
pointing her own finger at the princess. "You’d have gotten mad at me and
accused me of being jealous or something! Wouldn’t you?"
Now it was Rei’s turn to squirm. "Maybe," she muttered. "But look at your
neck, Serena! I mean, good grief! How could I deny it happening when you’ve
got the evidence right there?!" She sighed and threw herself into a chair,
absently waving away the cloud of dust that immediately rose from it.
Serena raised an eyebrow and amusedly wondered how long it would take for the
princess...who prided herself on maintaining an immaculate appearance...to
realize that she was sitting in dirt. "So now that you do know, what are you
going to do about it?" she asked bluntly.
"Hmmm?" Rei looked up at her in surprise, as though she’d forgotten her
friend was there for a moment. "Oh, I’ll simply call off the engagement, of
course," she sniffed, waving a hand in a dismissive gesture.
Serena’s jaw dropped as she stared at her friend in shock. "J-just like
that?" she sputtered. "You’re just...going to tell him you aren’t going to
marry him anymore?! But...but...I thought you were in love with the man! How
can you be so...so dismissive about it?"
Rei sighed and examined one manicured hand. "Well, whoever said I was in love
with him, anyway?" she asked simply.
Serena almost fell over. "Are you kidding me?!" she almost shrieked. "All
those weeks of ‘Oh, he’s so wonderful!’ and ‘Oh, he’s so handsome!’ and ‘Oh,
I’m so lucky! He wants to marry me!’, and now you’re telling me you don’t
love him?!"
Rei rolled her eyes. "Really, Serena. Screaming is unbecoming of a lady."
Before Serena could react to that statement (Talk about the pot calling the
kettle black!), she continued conversationally, "You cannot tell me you’re
really that naïve," she sniffed. "Just because I thought he was handsome and
wonderful, it doesn’t mean I love him!"
"Then what does it mean?" the younger girl demanded.
"Serena, you simply have no idea how things work in royalty...although you
should, considering you grew up with us!" Rei shot her a scolding glance. "It
was an arranged marriage, between my father and King Ayurhu. Elithia is a
small kingdom, and just like Palash it is attempting to gain military power
by marrying into the family, so to speak. If I marry Ayurhu, his kingdom will
be joined with Davinshire, and it will be twice as strong."
"How could you simply accept something like that?!" Serena sputtered
indignantly. "Don’t you care that it’s your life your father is playing
with?!"
"I’m really rather lucky, Serena," Rei replied soothingly. Then she grimaced.
"Or I thought so, anyway. King Ayurhu is a relatively young, extremely
attractive man, who does have a lot of wealth even if his army is small. His
kingdom can benefit ours the same way we can benefit his. I always knew I’d
be forced into marriage eventually, and I’ve long since learned to accept
it."
"So how does that make you lucky?" Serena demanded.
She sighed. "I know of several women...and not just princesses...whose
parents forced them to marry men who were old and decrepit, simply for their
own financial gain. Those who were lucky enough to marry someone slightly
younger than their grandfather are now forced to deal with adulterous
husbands. If any one of them strayed, it would be imprisonment or death for
their actions, but of course nobody would even think of punishing the
husbands for the same crime!" Rei’s tone was bitter as she spoke.
"How do you know Ayurhu wouldn’t have done the same thing to you?" Serena
asked softly.
Rei shrugged. "He lied. He told me that I was the one he was looking for all
his life. He told me he would take care of me. He told me I would never want
for anything." She paused and looked at the floor reflectively. "He never
once told me that he loved me..." she finished softly. She sighed and shook
her head. "Part of me knew he wasn’t telling the whole truth, but I was
determined to make the best of my situation." She looked up, and her gaze was
hard. "Still, now that I know what he’s truly like on the inside, I will not
marry him. I’ll go to my parents and tell them what he did. My father isn’t
stupid. He won’t force me to marry someone when my life is potentially at
risk."
"But I don’t want to be the cause of any trouble!" Serena exclaimed. "Won’t
Ayurhu be offended? It could start a war if you deny his engagement!"
"It could start a war if I marry him and he kills me, too. I’d rather be
alive to know, either way," Rei replied humorously.
Serena scowled. "I don’t see how this is funny."
"It isn’t," the princess replied. "Now come on. We need to go see my father."
"Wait, I need to keep searching for this," Serena protested, holding out the
pendant. "It’s important that I find information on it."
"What is it?" Rei asked curiously, and Serena explained where she’d found it,
and Ayurhu’s reaction to it when he’d seen her wearing it. When she finished
her explanation, the princess looked at her for a moment, then calmly picked
up a book and began to page through it. "Well, if we’re ever going to get
through this mess, we’d better start looking," she stated simply. "We can go
see my father later."
Serena grinned at her friend, then opened another book and once more began to
read.
~~~{~@ ~~~{~@ ~~~{~@
That’s where Endymion found them three hours later, when he finally realized
that his key was missing and that Serena was nowhere to be found. After
questioning Miaka...who immediately became curious and, looking for anything
to take her mind off her troubles, decided to tag along...Endymion hurried
his way down to the history vaults. They came upon Nuriko on the way, who
insisted on coming with them upon learning of their destination.
The three stopped in front of the door and stared at the two serene girls,
books and scrolls piled around them and their faces, hair, and clothes
smeared with dust. They didn’t even notice the intruders, so intent were they
on their reading, until Endymion made the snide comment that he could barely
tell which one was his sister beneath all that dirt, whereas Rei calmly
picked up a book and threw it at him.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, grinning. "There you are! What in the world are you
doing?"
Serena shot Rei a wry glance. "And he’s supposed to be the smart one?"
Rei shrugged. "Don’t ask me. He’s just my brother," she replied.
"Serena, what are you doing?" Miaka asked seriously, looking around the room
in distaste. "Endymion said something about researching a pendant...?"
Serena and Rei glanced at each other, and then Serena sighed and stood up,
taking her sister’s hand and leading her away. The others pretended not to
watch as the two girls spoke quietly to one another for a few moments. Then
Miaka’s soft gasp was clearly heard as Serena adjusted the collar of her gown
to reveal the fading welts. After a few more words and a brief hug, the
sisters rejoined the group, where Miaka picked up a book from the "unread"
pile and began to page through it in grim silence.
~~~{~@ ~~~{~@ ~~~{~@
"You would think that with all the records in this room, one of them would
actually have some useful information in it!" Serena complained loudly,
shoving the thick volume away from her in disgust and succeeding in knocking
an entire pile of scrolls off the table in the process.
"Watch it! I haven’t read those yet!" Rei protested, hastily gathering them
up before they got mixed in with the "read" pile.
"What’s it matter? They’re probably as useless as the others are," Serena
huffed.
"Come on, Little Sister, don’t give up yet," Miaka soothed. "One of them has
to say something about your pendant."
"Look on the bright side. You probably know more about your country now than
you ever learned during lessons, since you always managed to sleep through
them," Endymion teased, and got another book thrown at him for his efforts.
"We have been reading a long time," Rei added. "It’s very late. My suggestion
is that we follow Nuriko’s example and call it a night."
They’d forced the minstrel to bed an hour ago after catching him nodding off
over a book. He’d been rather embarrassed when they woke him, and insisted on
staying to help, but Serena wasn’t having it. She finally bullied Endymion
into ordering him to his room, and Nuriko had reluctantly acquiesced,
although he insisted on taking several scrolls along with him to read over
breakfast. Serena had helped to carry those and two thick books to his
chambers, laying them neatly on his table, and when she’d turned to bid him
goodnight, the minstrel was sprawled haphazardly across his mattress, already
sound asleep.
"I agree with my sister," Endymion was saying as he closed his book with a
snap and rose to stretch his cramped limbs. "We’re all tired. Therefore, I
order you all to retire to your beds for some decent sleep."
Serena looked like she was about to protest, but Miaka clapped her hand over
her sister’s mouth and said teasingly, "That was an order from the crown
prince, Serena. We can’t argue with that!"
"He always gives orders to get his way! It isn’t fair!" Serena whined.
"Well, you certainly weren’t complaining when it was Nuriko’s turn," Endymion
pointed out with a smirk.
She glared at him and pouted, before moving to the door and grabbing the
tarnished handle to pull it open. To her surprise, it didn’t budge. She
blinked, then tried again. "Um...everyone? We have a problem," she muttered,
pulling on the door with all her might. Again, there was no movement. "It’s
stuck!"
Endymion rolled his eyes. "Let me handle this," he stated arrogantly, gently
pushing Serena aside like an errant child.
She glared at him, half-tempted to kick him, but immediately felt better when
he gave a mighty pull on the door and succeeded only in pulling himself into
it. He grunted and stumbled back, rubbing his stomach where the handle had
jabbed him, and stared at the door in bewilderment. "You were saying?" she
smirked.
"It must be locked," he replied with a glare.
"How can it be locked?" Serena snapped. "We’re all in here, and besides, Rei
and I have the only keys! See?" She held hers up, and Rei did the same.
"Well, maybe something’s blocking it from the other side?" Miaka suggested.
"There isn’t anything in that hallway to block it, and besides, the door
opens inward, not out. It wouldn’t do any good to block it from the
outside," Rei pointed out.
"So what do we do?" Serena asked, starting to panic. "Don’t tell me we have
to spend the night in this place! What about ghosts?!"
"There are no ghosts, you ninny," Rei snapped, whacking her across the head.
"Those are just stories!"
"But what if nobody realizes we’re gone?!"
All three of them shot her incredulous looks, and she blushed. "Right. Stupid
question," she muttered.
"Look, Nuriko knows where we are, and as soon as the guards start to realize
we’re missing, he’ll figure out that we’re still down here and come looking
for us," Rei began soothingly. "Until then, we may as well keep reading." She
sat back down and picked up the scroll she’d been looking through, and Miaka
did the same.
Endymion headed back toward the table, only to stop and give Serena a worried
glance. "Are you coming?" he asked softly.
"Something doesn’t feel right," she whispered, hugging herself tightly. Her
face had grown pale, and her eyes looked haunted in the flickering torch-
light. "I feel...cold..."
He was immediately beside her, wrapping an arm around her and rubbing up and
down her arm soothingly. "There’s nothing to be afraid of," he assured her
gently, pointedly ignoring the sly glances the other two girls were throwing
at him. "It’s only a few hours until dawn. Somebody will realize that Rei and
I never made it to our beds tonight, and they will sound the alarm. People
will start panicking, and everyone will know we’re missing once the servants
get wind of it. Nuriko is sure to find out, and he’ll come get us
out...hopefully before my father sends guards out scouring the kingdom for
our whereabouts and causing a national panic. It’s as simple as that." Serena
nodded slowly, but didn’t look at all convinced. He smiled and gave her
shoulders a friendly squeeze. "Look on the bright side," he added cheerfully.
"We certainly won’t be bored, and there’s plenty of light left to read by."
At that moment, the torches and candles flickered out. All at once. As though
they’d been snuffed by an unseen hand.
There was a moment of stunned silence as utter blackness settled across the
room like Death’s shroud, punctuated only by harsh, startled breathing...and
Rei’s somewhat ironic statement, "You just had to go and open your big mouth,
didn’t you?"
"Okay. So. Can I start panicking now?" Serena asked in a choked voice,
unconsciously reaching out to clutch Endymion’s arm in the dark.
"There must have been a breeze," Rei explained, not very convincingly.
"Even though the air was perfectly still? That makes sense," Serena huffed.
"Well, if you have any other brilliant ideas, I’m more than willing to hear
them!" the princess snapped.
"Ladies, now is not the time to squabble," Endymion’s voice cut in
commandingly. "We need to find some match sticks and get the candles lit
again."
"That’s all well and good, but I left the match sticks on the table, which we
can no longer see," Rei pointed out. "They’re probably buried under a pile of
scrolls or something.
"We’ll just wait for our eyes to adjust," Miaka exclaimed.
"But there’s no light," Rei replied. "There are no windows or anything."
"Look," Miaka began practically. "If there’s air in the room, there has to be
another door, right? Light isn’t any thicker than air is, so of course it can
get in just as easily!"
"Unless the place the air is coming from is just as dark as here," Serena
muttered.
There was another moment of silence, and then Rei exclaimed sarcastically,
"You certainly have a knack for murdering hope, don’t you?"
"Stuff it, Rei!" Serena snapped, not in any mood to be polite, even to a
princess.
"Endymion, we’d better get out of here before these two kill each other,"
Miaka proclaimed, and the prince chuckled. "I agree. Let’s see if I can get
the door opened this time." He reached out into the darkness for the handle.
"Ow!" Serena yelped as his seeking hand made sharp contact with her stomach.
"Er...sorry."
Serena carefully moved out of his way, on the chance that he would take out
her eye next, and looked nervously around the blackened room, imagining all
sorts of creepy-crawly things that could be sneaking up on them at that very
moment. She just wished she could see something!
After several moments of squinting at nothing, she suddenly became aware of
an odd sort of glow, and blinked rapidly at it, wondering if her mind had
decided to start playing tricks on her now. But no, the faint gleam of light
did not abate, and she cautiously moved toward it. She pictured the span of
the room in her mind and determined that it was coming from the back left
corner, where some of the older records were kept that she’d not yet gone
through. "Does anyone else see that?" she asked curiously, certain now that
she was not seeing things.
"See what?" Miaka replied.
"The light! Coming from over there!" Serena pointed to it, before remembering
that in the dark nobody could see where she was pointing, and added hastily,
"It’s in the back corner."
There was a moment of silence. "Yes...yes, I do see something," Rei announced
slowly. "It’s getting brighter, too."
"What is it?" Miaka asked nervously.
"Maybe it’s the local spirits coming to pay us a visit?" Rei suggested
teasingly.
"Don’t even joke about that!" Serena snapped, moving to where she thought she
was and whacking her on the head.
"OW! Serena!"
"Whoops." Serena giggled and scratched her head. "Sorry about that, Miaka."
"Well, there’s only one way to find out what it is, and that’s to go
and...well...find out what it is," Endymion stated obviously. A moment later,
Serena saw his shadowy form passing her in the darkness, and she realized
with a start that the light had now grown bright enough for her to see him.
She hastily followed, latching onto his sleeve, and felt Miaka and Rei fall
into line behind her. They moved cautiously toward the back of the room,
maneuvering cautiously around the stacks of books, trying to pinpoint the
source of the strange light.
To Serena’s growing dismay, it didn’t seem to come from anywhere. It was
just...there, glowing softly enough to highlight the shadowed forms within
the room, with no discernible source. And it wasn’t exactly like the glow of
a candle or torch, either. It was too...white. Too pure; more like a shaft of
moonlight streaming in through a window than a candle. Only there were no
windows, and there was certainly no moon. So...where was it coming from?
"This is magic," Serena whispered certainly. "There’s no other answer for
it."
"Don’t be silly," Rei sniffed. "There is no such thing as magic."
"That’s not true, Rei," Serena protested. "I used to think that, too, but I
found out in some of the history books that magic actually did exist."
"Really?" Miaka questioned curiously. "What did you find out about it?"
"Well, mostly the history of how it disappeared," Serena replied. "Magic was
a common practice, especially in Davinshire, hundreds of years ago. But not
just anyone could use it. Only certain people who were...I dunno...born with
this certain knowledge of how it worked were allowed to study the spells and
such. Mostly it dealt with alchemy and scientific knowledge. Mixing plants
and minerals and such. But there were a few who were born with...extra
abilities, I guess they could be called. They had real magic, casting spells
without aide of potions and such. The book didn’t really explain how it
worked."
"That’s just...frightening," Miaka muttered, shuddering a little.
Serena shrugged. "Those with the most power were called Mages, and they’re
the ones who taught the ones with lesser power to work with the minerals and
such. The Mages were well-respected among the kingdoms, and many were given
high positions in court as councilmen and advisors to the king, since they
were said to be so wise."
"So what happened to change all that?" Endymion murmured, still searching for
the source of the light. Every instinct was screaming at him that something
was wrong, but other than the unnatural glow in the room, nothing seemed out
of place.
"Some of the Mages became too ambitious," Serena was explaining, "and they
rebelled against the king and tried to usurp the throne, thinking that he
wasn’t doing a good enough job of ruling. The king was warned, however, by
two of the Mages still loyal to him, and they devised a plan to trap the
traitors. I don’t know what they did to catch them. The book didn’t really go
into detail about that, either." Serena sounded somewhat disappointed. "All I
know was that it involved a very powerful spell, and that it worked. The
Mages, once caught, were then put to death, and their books and scrolls were
burned, and it was decreed thereafter that anyone caught practicing magic
would be banished from the kingdom. Even the Mages still loyal to the king
were no longer trusted, so they eventually decided to leave with some of
their remaining students, taking all their secrets with them. So after
that...magic just kind of disappeared."
"You know, that’s a very interesting story...but how does that explain where
this light is coming from?" Miaka asked nervously.
"Obviously this is Mage-light," Serena replied knowingly. "The book talked
about that a little. It’s the source of a Mage’s power. It usually heralds
the use of a spell."
"Wait..." Endymion stopped in his tracks. "It heralds the use of a spell?
Just what kind of spell are we talking about here?" he questioned gruffly,
his brow furrowing.
"I don’t know. It could be anything," Serena replied. "From what I gathered,
there wasn’t much a really powerful Mage couldn’t do."
"Anything like...what?" Rei asked. She, as well as the others, were growing
increasingly nervous.
"If the Mage is strong enough, he could do anything." Serena paused as a
sudden thought occurred to her, and she looked at Endymion and finished on a
breathless whisper, "Anything as powerful as causing a storm to blow up out
of nowhere...or as simple as keeping a trapdoor from opening. Maybe Nuriko
had been right, after all."
Endymion paled, but before he could voice his thoughts, Miaka suddenly
shrieked. "Look over there!" she screamed, pointing to a pile of scrolls
sitting on a nearby table.
They all looked...and blanched at the sight of another glow issuing from the
stack of rolled parchment. This light, however, wasn’t magical in any way.
This light came from the tiny, yellow-orange flames that licked hungrily at
the dry paper, growing brighter and larger with every passing second. "Where
did it come from?" Rei cried, even as Endymion stepped forward, hastily
pulling off his shirt to smother the flames before they grew out of control.
"I think we just found out what kind of spell was being cast in here," Serena
replied unsteadily, trying to still the tremor in her hands.
"To burn us? That’s...that’s..." Rei couldn’t even begin find words for it.
Endymion stepped back and brushed his hands. "I think that did it," he
announced, then made a face. "Too bad. I really liked that shirt, too."
"Quit joking. It isn’t over," Serena whispered.
"What do you mean?" Miaka demanded. She looked to be on the verge of panic.
"I mean it’s still here! The Mage-light! It hasn’t left yet!" Serena cried,
non-to-calm herself. "W-we have to get out of here! Somebody’s trying to kill
us!"
"Relax," Endymion soothed her, taking her into his arms. "We’ll be fine now.
Look, I put the fire out, so what else can happen?"
The Mage-light abruptly vanished, plunging the room into blackness once more.
"Endymion, in the future, will you please make a better attempt to keep your
mouth shut?!" Rei growled at her brother.
"Oops?" the crown prince offered by way of apology.
"Is it gone?" Miaka asked in a whimper.
They stood in tense silence, waiting for something...anything...else to
happen, and when nothing did, they began to relax.
"It’s over," Rei breathed. Then, forcing a mocking laugh, she added, "I must
say, despite the scare, if that’s all the powerful a spell can get, then
magic has been highly overrated."
Serena froze, her eyes flying open as she turned in what seemed like slow
motion to scream a desperate warning to her companions.
Too late.
Brilliant light flared all around them...almost blindingly bright...causing
everyone to cry out and cover their eyes. There was a roar that sounded like
the waves of the ocean pounding against a cliff, and then everything around
them abruptly exploded into heat and flame.
To be continued...
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