“We must approach the flame,” said Sorak.
Ryana stared at the pillar of fire. “I am not anxious to draw any closer than this,” she said.
Sorak gently disengaged himself. “We did not come all this way to fail now,” he said. “We must do as we are bid.”
“Do not get too close,” Ryana cautioned him uneasily. Sorak stepped closer to the flame. “Come,” the voice said once more. He stepped closer, almost within arm’s reach of it. “Come,” the voice spoke, yet again.
Sorak strode forward.
“Sorak!” Ryana shouted.
He was only inches from the flame.
“Come,” said the voice.
“Sorak, no!” Ryana shouted, lunging after him.
He stepped into the flame.
Korahna cried out, bringing her hands up to her mouth. Sorak had completely disappeared from view. Ryana froze, staring wide-eyed with disbelief. And then the voice spoke again.
“Come.”
“Ryana, we must go back,” Korahna said.
Ryana simply stared mutely at the spot where Sorak had entered the fire.
“Ryana, it is too late,” Korahna said. “He is gone. We must flee this place.”
Ryana turned around to look at her. She simply shook her head.
“Ryana, please... come away.”
“No,” Ryana said. She stepped closer to the flame.
“Ryana!” The princess ran after her and seized her by the arm, trying to pull her away. “Don’t! Sorak has killed himself. There is no point to throwing your life away as well!”
“Do you feel the heat, Korahna?”
“What?”
“The heat. Do you feel the heat?”
“You shall feel it all too well if you go any closer,” said the princess. “Come away, Ryana. Please, I beg you.”
“We should be feeling it already,” said Ryana, staring at the fire. “Standing as close as we are to a flame of this size, we should be feeling the heat of it. And yet, there is no heat. Is there?”
Korahna simply stared at her.
“Is there?”
Korahna blinked. “No,” she admitted.
Ryana took her hand. “You said that you had courage,” she said. “You said that you would rather die than fail to be the mistress of your fate. The rime has come to prove those words.”
Korahna swallowed hard and shook her head as Ryana pulled her toward the flame. “No, stop! What are you doing?”
“We must follow Sorak,” said Ryana.
Korahna jerked away. “Are you mad? We shall burn, as he did!”
“How does stone burn?” Ryana said. “How does flame fail to give off heat? That is no ordinary fire, Korahna. I do not believe that it shall burn us.”
Korahna moistened her lips and swallowed hard. “Ryana ... I am afraid.”
“Sorak went into the fire—Did you hear him scream?”
“No,” said the princess, as if realizing it for the first time.
“You told me you had courage,” said Ryana. “Take my hand.”
Biting her lower lip, Korahna stretched forth her hand.
“Come,” said the voice from the flames. They stepped into the fire.
Miraculously, it felt cool. Korahna marveled as they walked through the flame. Fire was engulfing them on all sides, and yet, they did not burn. It felt almost as if they were walking through a waterfall, except they did not get wet. They stepped out into a grotto illuminated by phosphorescent rock. A greenish light permeated the rock chamber, emanating from the walls. And they heard the dripping sound of water.
“What kept you?” Sorak said.
Korahna laughed. “Water!” she said, seeing the pool at the far end of the grotto. Sorak stood beside it, water dripping from his wet hair.
“Drink your fill,” he said. “It is water from a spring that comes up through the rock.”
“But... where does it go?” Ryana asked, puzzled.
“It flows down this passageway here,” said Sorak, indicating a runnel in the shadows back toward the rear of the grotto. “There must be a cavern farther down.”
As Korahna filled their water skins, Ryana came up to stand beside Sorak and looked in the direction he was indicating. Toward the back end of the grotto, on the opposite side of the pool, there was an overhang that partially concealed a tunnel heading back farther into the rock. She could hear the trickling sound of water flowing gently down a portion of that passage. As they walked around the pool, they could see that the tunnel sloped slightly to the right.
The water bubbling up from the spring had over the years cut a channel into the rock, and there was a ledge on one side, wide enough to allow passage.
They heard scrabbling sounds behind them and turned to see that the flame covering the entrance had disappeared and the kank had come up to the opening, where some plants grew up out of the rock, their roots sustained by the moisture in the grotto.
“Well, at least the kank shall not go hungry,” said Ryana. “We, on the other hand, still have to find food.”
“I am grateful that we have found water,” Sorak said. “I was beginning to despair of our chances. Undoubtedly, it was the Sage who led us here—”
“If Torian is still on our trail, he will have seen that fire, as well,” Ryana said.
“Yes, but it is gone now,” Sorak replied. “And without the flame to guide him, he may fail to find this place. It is well concealed.”
“I would still feel better if we were on our way after a short rest,” Ryana said.
Sorak shook his head. “No. Not yet. I do not think the only reason we were directed to this place was so that we could find water. The flame pillar that covered up the entrance to this place was a test of our resolve. There is something else here for us to find.”
Ryana looked around. “I see nothing here except the grotto.”
“There, perhaps,” said Sorak, indicating the tunnel. Korahna came up beside them as he spoke. “You are not thinking of going down there, surely?” “Why not?” There is no way of knowing what waits for us down there,” the princess said.
“There is one way,” Sorak said as he ducked beneath the overhang and started down the runnel.
“First through fire, now into a black hole,” Korahna said. She sighed. ” I cannot say this journey has lacked excitement.”
Ryana smiled. “Most of that excitement I could easily have done without,” she said. “After you, Your Highness.”
Korahna grimaced and ducked beneath the overhang to follow Sorak. They went slowly down the passage, which, like the grotto, was dimly illuminated by phosphorescent rock. The water flowed beside them in a channel as they started down a gradual incline, feeling their way along the wall of the tunnel. Ryana tried to listen for the sound of rushing water, which might indicate a sudden drop-off, but she knew that Sorak would detect any hazard long before she would. His hearing was much more acute than hers, and he saw well in the dark. The slope of the tunnel gradually increased, and they headed farther underground. The tunnel ran straight for a while, then turned and turned again. By that time, Sorak was well ahead of them.
Ryana was not sure how far they had walked when she heard him call out, “Ryana! Princess! Come quickly!”
Fearing that something may have happened, Ryana brushed her way past the princess and hurried ahead, drawing her sword. The tunnel turned sharply, and she saw light up ahead. Hearing Korahna behind her, rushing to keep up, Ryana started running. When she reached the end of the tunnel, she stopped short and gasped.
The tunnel opened out into a huge cavern, shot through with phosphorescent veins that illuminated the vast expanse as if with moonlight The water continued to flow in an undulating stream down a slope and toward the center of the cavern, where an ancient ruin stood. It was a keep, with a stone tower rising above the walls of mortared rock. The stream flowed into an underground lake, and the keep stood on an island in the center of it. To their left, an arched stone bridge spanned the waters of the lake, leading to the island.
Ryana heard the princess gasp as she came out of the tunnel behind her. “A fortress!” said Korahna. “An underground fortress! By the design, it must be thousands of years old! But... who could have built it?”