“What is this place?” Cassius’s voice sounded unnaturally loud, echoing off the walls of the chamber.
“This defeated the Shadow long ago,” Kaia said. “It was buried here when the volcano exploded.”
“But why is it in a chamber?” Cassius asked.
“Even after stopping the Shadow, there was enough power to keep it from being swallowed up.” Kaia was almost at the top, the others close behind. “In the old days this was in the center of a great city.”
“Who build it?” Cassius asked.
“The Ones Before,” Kaia said. “Those who helped my ancestors and who also fight the Shadow.”
She stopped as she reached the platform at the very top. “But not enough to save those who served here,” she said as she saw what was before her.
Falco climbed the last step and stood behind her. There were skeletons littered all over the flat platform. The glow was coming from something next to the raised table in the center of the platform, something underneath a skeleton covered in armor
Falco went past Kaia and knelt. He recognized the armor of a warrior, but the working was very old and of bronze. The bones were large, indicating a powerful man. Carefully, he pulled the skeleton back from whatever it was covering. He blinked as his eyes were temporarily blinded by what he unveiled: a clear skull, glowing from an inner blaze of white light that now lit up the entire cavern and pyramid.
“Ah!” Kaia exclaimed as she joined Falco and reached for the skull.
“Careful!” Falco warned. “It might burn.”
“It won’t hurt me.” Kaia tenderly picked the skull up. “This is my ancestor.”
The fog was approaching rapidly, spreading in an unnatural manner, going against the wind. The Akortian Oracle could see that Nectarios would not arrive at her location before the fog.
“You foolish man,” she murmured as the fog enveloped him. Her heart was heavy as he disappeared, because she saw not the old man, but the young, strapping warrior Nectarios had been when she first met him. He’d been her lover for many years, but they had never had a child, a fact she had taken as an omen that the end of her line was near, as she knew it was not Nectario’s fault, but rather that her womb was barren. She had spent many a long day pondering what that fate meant. Now she knew.
She staggered as she sensed Nectarios dying, a feeling that cut through to the bone, and then was gone, just as quickly. She stood, facing the approaching fog. It swept over the beach, and her skin crawled from the feel of it.
Something came out of the fog and came to a halt just in front of her, two feet above the pebbles. She saw the hard white skin and stared into the unblinking red eyes.
“You are too late, demon,” she said bravely. “They had been here and gone.”
She was uncertain whether it had heard her as a second, similar creature floated out of the fog and joined the first. This one held up it’s claws, and blood slowly dripped from them. She knew that was Nectarios’ blood. At least he had died swiftly, she thought.
She could sense the creatures, and it wasn’t specifically evil that she picked up but rather something so alien that evil wasn’t even a concept to them. She realized suddenly that she was as much a thing to them as they were to her.
She saw a claw come up, holding a thin spear. As the probe shot forward toward her, she blocked it with her right hand, the metal punching entirely through, the tip sticking out of the other side.
“They’re gone!” she screamed as she curled her fingers around the probe, trying to hold on to it, as the Valkryie reeled it back to the launching tube. She staggered as she was pulled toward the creature. Her fingers were sliced to the bone as the probe was pulled out, despite her best efforts, and reloaded.
The second Valkryie was behind her, claws grabbing her shoulders, cutting the skin as it tried to hold her still as the first aimed the tube at her head once more.
“They will kill you,” the oracle said, then spat at the creature.
The probe hit her in the forehead, slicing through her brain and lodging there.
Falco stood and looked about. There was a depression in the table, human-sized. Nearby, he could see a shaft stuck into a slot, the top consisting of seven snake heads, intricately carved, as the old oracle had told them. He reached for it and pulled, but it didn’t move. He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them. He twisted and then pulled up, and the staff came free, revealing a fine blade on the other end. He hefted it. Light, very light. In the gladiator school he had been trained on all weapons, including the javelin and the thrusting spear along with bow, net, trident — every device used in the arena or in war. For the first time since Vesuvius had erupted, he smiled as his hands curled around the haft of the weapon. He intuitively knew this was the most powerful killing tool he had ever wielded.
“Ah!” Kaia spun about, the skull cradled against her chest. “They are above. They have the oracle.”
“Who?” Falco asked.
“The Valkyries. Two of them. She cannot stop them. They will know we are here.”
“Then let us go and confront them.” Falco began going down the pyramid stairs, taking them two at a time. He paused halfway down. A river of red was pouring into the chamber, boiling up through a crack at the base of the pyramid below him. Kaia and Cassius joined him, and they continued down, feeling the heat, watching the river widen from a foot to two feet.
They reached the last step. The river of lava was five feet wide and still growing. The heat was almost unbearable. Falco turned and grabbed the general and without a word threw him through the air, clearing the lava and falling in tumble on the far side. Falco looked at Kaia.
“Ready?”
She nodded. He held out the staff, and she grabbed the haft near the Naga heads he had it near the blade. “Go!” he yelled and they both jumped. He landed, rolling and coming to his feet, Kaia at his side.
“Hurry!” General Cassius was waving at them from the tunnel entrance.
The oracle’s last thought was that she had failed as she looked up at her body still being held by one of the Valkyries as the blood drained from her severed head lying on the beach. She blinked once, twice, then the eyes clouded over.
The first Valkyrie reached down and picked up the now lifeless head and crushed it, tossing the mangled remains into the water. Then they floated into the fog, heading toward Palaia Kameni.
The glow from the skull being carried by Kaia silhouetted Falco as he moved up the tunnel. His shadow was long, bouncing off the walls in front of him. He was focused on what lay ahead, all his senses alert. He probed with his mind, but there was nothing.
The light changed, and Falco risked a glance behind him. Red filled the tunnel behind them, the lava coming after them, channeled into the narrow space, accelerating.
He tucked the staff under one arm as he wiped the sweat off his hands on the tail of his tunic that stuck out from underneath his breastplate. It was as hot as Hades in the tunnel, and he staggered as the ground shook once more. He spared another glance over his shoulder and saw that Kaia was right behind him, the general behind her, his sword drawn and in his good hand. The red glow was closer.
Falco tried to remember how far they had gone down, but it was difficult to estimate, given they had traveled slowly in the dark. Sweat stung his eyes, and he swung his head back and forth like a wild beast, spraying sweat from his face.