That was it. The cavern held nothing else. This entire vault had been built down beneath the surface of the earth just to hide whatever was inside that box.
Another ofThe Tamed Soulsmembers grabbed me by my hair and forced me to my feet. A new gun was pointed at me, and I was once against left in the exact same position as before, but my captor was now free to approach the podium at the center of the room.
His hands shook as he picked up the box, tracing his fingers around the simple edges as if savoring the moment before he opened it.
What could be so important?
A few days ago, Deputy Hillard had told us a story about how the Mothers of the Mountain had actually been born intoThe Tamed Soulscult, but eventually escaped and founded their own cult within Emberwood. Supposedly, as they fled, they’d stolen something from the leader ofThe Tamed Soulscult. It was unknown what exactly they’d stolen, but it must have been something important for them to bother going to the trouble.
Could the stolen item be inside that box?
It seemed so small, but the value of an object wasn’t always equivalent to its size.
My captor slowly opened the box.
In the dim light of the cavern, I watched as the elated expression on the man’s face melted away into confusion, and then shock.
“What?” Several other cult members called out as they crowded around the box. “What is it?”
Letting the box fall from his hands so it hit the ground with a loud crash, my captor held up the object that had been contained within.
It was a single wooden dowel, cylindrical in shape and about eight inches long. It had been polished, so the dowel had been made intentionally, but otherwise, it looked no different than a piece of scrap wood you could find at any hardware store.
One of the other cult members snatched the dowel from my captor’s hands, turning it over as if the dowel’s true meaning might be carved on the underside of the wood. “Is this some sort of joke? This can’t be it.”
It sounded like even these cult members didn’t know what theMothers of the Mountainhad stolen from their founder, but they’d obviously expected something much more impressive.
I didn’t dare to do so out loud, but internally I laughed at their plight.
“No,” the cult member shouted as he threw the dowel to the ground. “They’re making fools of us. We’ve come all this way just for a damn wild goose chase.”
My captor retrieved the dowel, still handling it as though it were a precious object. “It can’t be a trick. We know those sisters stole something from our founder. Something so important he went after them to retrieve it. They killed him to keep him from getting it back and hid his body where it wouldn’t be found for generations. Why go through all of that, why build this whole vault then hide the key and the entrance, if it was just a trick. It doesn’t make sense.”
The cult members were growing angrier by the second. They’d come here expecting riches or ancient secrets and were instead, left with trash. In the heat of their disappointment, they quickly turned on each other. One cult member knocked the dowel from my captor’s hands, while another pointed their weapon at him.
“Do you have any idea how many risks we’ve taken all because you promised us that it would be worth it in the end,” the cult member pointing the gun shouted. “We’ve broken the law. We’ve stolen. We’ve taken hostages. Now there’s a target on our back, and for what? We all know these military men are dangerous. They may be retired, but we’ve seen firsthand what they’re capable of, and now we’ve made an enemy out of them for nothing. We’d have been better off never getting involved.”
The hand in my hair relaxed slightly as the cult member holding me captive was distracted by the growing argument.
I might have been able to get away from him, but what good would it do?
They were still armed when I wasn’t, and Brody was tied up on the other side of the cavern. Even if I managed to free myself, I’d be gunned down before I could do anything.
Rather than be intimidated by his own people waving a gun in his face, my captor only grew bolder. Standing up straight to his full height, he stared his fellow cult member down and smacked the end of the gun away from him.
“You think these military bastards are too dangerous? Fine. Let’s take care of it.” Taking hold of the same gun that he had previously pressed under my chin, he cocked back the hammer with an echoing click of metal. “Doesn’t matter how dangerous they are. They’re not a threat once they’re dead.”
With his gun primed, he turned toward Brody.
A voice screamed inside my head, but no sound came from my mouth. I was frozen in shock as I watched my captor advance on Brody, gun ready to fire at any moment. Brody struggled against his restraints, blue-green eyes blazing with hate at the approaching danger, but he couldn’t get himself free.
“No,” I screamed in my mind. “Not again. I’d already buried one person I loved. I couldn’t do it again.”
I didn’t even think about acting. I just moved. I slammed my head backward into the face of the cult member standing behind me. His nose broke against the strength of my skull, and hestaggered backward. I didn’t even notice the pain from the impact as I spun and grabbed his gun from his hand.
I knew nothing about weapons. I couldn’t even identify what type of gun I held. However, I didn’t need any special training to understand the most basic concept of a gun.
Aim the barrel and pull the trigger.