Page 46 of The Anointed's Paladin

Yes.

“Nope,” I said firmly, slapping my hands on my knees and standing. “Let's go.”

20

You’re still a baby?

Talon

We walked further into the tunnel, and the walls slowly became less jagged and more carved. Even with our good eyesight, it soon became so dark, I had to illuminate some spheres for us to see.

Nidori shivered. “Looks like I won’t be much help here,” she said, landing on my shoulder. “I need a few things to help me out—sunlight, plants, and soft dirt. None of those are nearby.”

“Don’t worry, little bean,” I said. “You’ve gotten us this far. It’s our turn to do the heavy lifting.”

“Speak for yourself,” said Kaine. “If something heavy needs to be lifted, I’ll leave you to it. Now, if you need something stabbed, bitten, dismembered, or charmed, I’ll step up.”

He was different this evening. Either the sex or knowing I wasn’t going to kill him had made him more relaxed, and he was making more jokes.

“You know, I can do more than just lift things, right? I’m actually pretty good at stabbing too,” I replied dryly.

“Oh! That reminds me.” Kaine stopped, bending down and fiddling with something at his ankle. When he straightened, he held a small, delicate blade in his hand, sheathed in an obsidian case. “Here. For stabbing strangers,” he said, offering it to Nidori.

“Really?!” she said, eyes wide.

“I wouldn’t leave my wife completely defenceless down here,” he said. I raised an eyebrow at him, which he ignored. “Besides, it’s my opinion that everyone should have at least one dagger.”

Nidori giggled and took the blade, strapping it around her waist like a sword.

“Thank you! It's so pretty!” she said, drawing it out to admire it, the handle glittering in my orb light. “But…I don’t know if I could use it.”

“Of course. I’ll teach you how,” he said, and Nidori flew over, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“But teach me how to use it to make people sleep,” she said, nodding. “I don’t want to kill anyone with it.”

I glanced at Kaine, confused, but he just shrugged. “Shouldn’t be hard for you, darling. You can grow all kinds of poisonous plants. Just crush them, dip the blade in, and there you go.”

We continued on, and the tunnel opened up into a large cavern. It was naturally formed, with craggy walls leading up to the ceiling far above our heads. I reached up, sending my orb high into the cavern, illuminating the area. The floor was mostly uneven, with faint light coming from glowing moss and mushrooms. There was a path ahead that led steeply down towards the hulking mass of a dark stone fortress that stood in the centre of the cave. Our footsteps echoed in the large space as we continued down, joining the melodic drops of water around us and the occasional unsettling wet, slithering noises.

When we reached the path, we took the fork leading onwards to the castle ahead of us, instead of the other, which led further down into the dark.

I wondered who had lived here, long ago. People who had made an entire castle inside a mountain, hidden away from the world, lit only by the dim glow surrounding us. Beyond that, what had ended their settlement, leaving only a dark ruin behind?

We walked along a bridge and a series of archways that took us to a grand staircase, leading to a massive set of rotting wooden doors. It smelled of must and the tang of rusted iron.

“So, there’s a path through to the other side of the mountain if we go inside?” I asked Nidori.

“Lei Lei said we’re looking for a crescent door. Then we’ll find a tunnel.”

“How come Leihandra gave you more instructions than we got?” Kaine asked.

“Don’t you check in with your patron?” she asked, surprised.

I snorted, and Kaine raised an eyebrow, muttering something about acreepy fuck.

We entered through the massive doorway. It opened into a hall with high vaulted ceilings and more stairs at the back. We started searching, making our way into rooms, looking for anything moon-like.

“Found it!” called Nidori’s small voice triumphantly. It was a set of double doors, actually, with a crescent moon carved into the wood. It was drier in here, and the wood was still solid.

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