An Ending & A Beginning, part IV

...from The Vitmar Chronicles, Volume I

Part IV: Harvest 3^rd-4^th, 232; 3^rd Era

Gabriel wasn’t sure if he would consider himself particularly inconspicuous. Lurking in a tidy back alley after sundown in all black wasn’t suspicious behavior, per se, but it also wasn’t particularly normal behavior either. He was so tense that even the slightest sound made him gasp for breath. He was starkly aware that he wouldn’t be able to easily explain what he was doing if anyone were to pass by.

The back lock of The Enchantry was no trouble to open, but Gabriel hit his first barrier when he saw a small, round pad with red etchings embedded into the door: a runelock. This sent a cold chill through his body. Runelocks could only be opened by a person of Altas or Vetas blood. Only one of the Fae mages employed therein would be able to get into the back room.

Gabriel took a moment to breathe and sipped the dragon in his flask. His tension ebbed after a moment and he leaned against the door. The lock clicked open as Gabriel’s palm pressed against it and he couldn’t avoid a small shriek, immediately tucking himself down and away from the door, frantically looking around to see who had opened the lock. He waited for several minutes, desperately trying to control his breathing, but nobody appeared.

Common sense, at this point, would have led to questions that Gabriel did not dare explore. Why did the lock open? What does that mean in the context of the Fae in this shop? Should he turn back and go home? All of those valuable questions were ignored in favor of one: was the need for a runelock proof that there was something otherworldly going on in The Enchantry’s basement?

Once he was able to breathe again, he turned the handle on the back door. The workshop was no different from the storage room in any shop. There were barrels and boxes on shelves filled with jars of powders and bottles of liquids, a wall of tools that Gabriel couldn’t have named, and unguents and oils that were giving off a variety of pungent scents that made his nostrils bristle. Gabriel ignored them all and focused on what was beneath him.

There was a hand-woven rug in the corner of the room, dyed a multitude of blues and greens in a complex yet pleasing pattern. A faint pulse from below set his heart racing and reminded Gabriel why he had come. He tugged the corner of the rug that wasn’t covered by a workbench and it revealed exactly what he had hoped to see: a trap door to a hidden basement. The enchanter had lied after all.

Gabriel paused for a moment. “This is it! Now I know for sure!” He halted the line of thought abruptly. That wasn’t true. He still had no evidence. No one would come with him to inspect an enchanter’s shop if all he had to tell them about was a secret basement. “You’re being a fool. Get proof. Real proof,” he thought to himself. He quietly lifted the hatch and descended the ladder to the basement.

The spiral stairwell was nearly twice as deep as Gabriel had expected, leading down to a place that seemed less of a basement and more of a cavern. The air was dank, fungal, and moist, making his skin crawl. At the bottom was a simple wooden door and from beneath it came a cool glow.

Gabriel approached the door and listened. Apart from the thumming vibration in his chest, he could hear a light, rhythmic tinking sound, like metal against stone. He tested the door. It only made a light creak as he slipped inside and closed it behind him. The tinking noise continued uninterrupted, as did the unsettling sensation.

He found himself in a short hallway that led to a single room. A green curtain was blocking his view of the chamber, but the glowstones lighting the stone walls told him that this basement had been converted from an underground cave, perhaps the den of a long-dead beast.

He crept towards the curtain as silently as he could manage. The sounds of tinkering stopped and the silhouette began to move. Gabriel approached from the side of the hall, hoping that he would avoid casting shadows against the curtain. The sensation throbbed under his skin, pushing the anxiety into his throat. There was something Fae in that room, there was no doubt. He felt hot saliva fill his mouth and resisted the urge to vomit, activating a pressure point on his wrist to ease the sensation while he waited. The figure moved aside, and Gabriel took the opportunity to slip closer and peeked through a gap between the curtain and the wall. What he saw was the face of the same girl who had come out to talk to him earlier that day. Then, suddenly, there was a sharp pain in the side of his head and everything went black.