Page 77 of Obsidian Dream
He hadn’t been entirely truthful when she had questioned him about what he was sorry for.She was determined to find out what he was hiding from her.
Focusing on what was in front of her was far easier than trying to understand what had happened with Talik.And she didn’t know what to do.If she was smart, she would run away, protect herself.“What if” games had never been her strong suit, but now it was very tempting to give into the urge to see what happened—if another ending for them was possible.
Talik coughed, drawing her attention to the present.“Dante and Rieka?”
Kade nodded at the ceiling.“Gone until Dante confirms Rieka won’t be affected by the new artifact.”
The three of them stood in the center of a concrete and steel room, three levels below Villa Aurora’s ground floor.It was the perfect place to store the box.Far enough from prying eyes that they didn’t need to worry about security breaches or the thieves guild.
Talik had laid the box on a black cloth on the central table—all the weapons, guns, blasters, and knives that had been stored here had been moved to the outer edges of the space.Under the bright lights of the empty armory, the relic was slightly underwhelming.The carvings and inscriptions appeared almost childish, as if whoever had created it hadn’t quite mastered the execution of the design.Except for the perfectly rendered image of a lily.
Kade moved to stand next to him as Khalida inched closer to the box.Her fingers delicately traced the carving, the wood was surprisingly worn down.
She looked up.“Vandana’s lily?”
The flower had been a symbol of Vandana, the last queen of Atlantis.It had also been the key to finding the ancient queen’s tomb and awakening Rieka’s powers.And the O’hurani.The queen may have died more than over eleven thousand years earlier, but many of her artifacts and treasures were holy and considered untouchable.
“You found this in the catacombs, near the symbol of Ninhursag?”Kade asked.
“Underneath the carving,” Khalida clarified as she stepped back, pausing as a dark look flashed across Talik’s face.It was gone before she could register the emotion.She glanced at Kade, confirming that she hadn’t hallucinated.“Do either of you recognize the other glyphs?”
“No, but dead languages are not my forte,” Talik answered between mouthfuls of a bar he had found.Unlike him, her appetite seemed to have left her.
“I haven’t come across it either,” Kade added as he watched the two of them.
She reached out with her heightened senses; there was nothing but an iciness that greeted her—like every other time they had interacted.A hunter only had one nature, and time and time again, they had proven that no matter how hard their class tried, they could never rise over their animalistic predatory tendencies any more than an Atlantean could think they were human.For Talik’s sake, she hoped he was right about Kade.Watching Talik interact with Idris in the dungeon had been heartbreaking.Talik had hidden it well, and to an outsider, they might have observed nothing out of the ordinary.But she had seen it—the slight wavering in his posture when they had walked into the room.The flicker of rage in Talik’s eyes had been the only outward hint of emotion.
Talik picked up the box and gently turned it over.Something slid within it before it softly hit the edge with a clang.
She stiffened and glanced at Kade.He didn’t appear to have moved, except for the small tightness in his shoulders that hadn’t been there before.
“The glyphs are arranged in a pattern, repeating itself every fifth carving.I can’t believe I am about to say it, but Chaucer would be useful to have here.Dead languages are his specialty,” Talik said.
She tilted her head to the side, trying to see if she could make out a distinct pattern or clue.“Can you open it?”
“It looks like it has been carved from one piece.There is no joinery.The carvings don’t depress either.”Talik tilted it at the opposite angle.“Depends on how much we are willing to damage the box.We can shatter it and get to the object, but we don’t actually know if it’s part of what we are looking for.”
“We need to limit the damage.The weapons in this room have been secured.Anything that may be triggered by an explosion will be relocated,” Kade interrupted as he pointed to the huge metal boxes surrounding them.“I will get the box screened and checked for explosives or any item of interest.The armory was designed to withstand most explosions, excluding a nuclear threat.”
Khalida’s watch flashed a pale-blue light.She turned it off—only a handful of her guards had her direct line, and they wouldn’t use it unless it was important.“I will leave that to the both of you.”She walked out before either of them could protest or Talik could otherwise react.
After climbing the stairs two at a time, she reached the landing.She held her hand up against the black scanner, not paying attention as it beeped.The door in front of her slid open with a gush of cold air.
Outside of the armory, she leaned against the closest wall, careful not to disturb the tapestry and ensuring she was out of sight from the cameras placed within the hallways.
She looked at the message and released a slow breath.It was from Meraki.
We found another entrance to the royal vault of House Atlas.We will access it within the next thirty-six hours.
Khalida reread the message.There was no further explanation from Meraki about how they’d found it.Once Meraki and her team had access to the vault, they could search through the archives and the hidden tunnel systems that lay beneath the foundation of the Arx.A tunnel system the wayfarers and serpopards had used to infiltrate the fortress and later used to escape.Surely Vandana, or one of her allies, had left a clue for how to stop the Anki in the Arx.They were counting on it.
***
TALIK
Talik smiled and wavedat the camera as he walked out of the armory, leaving Kade behind with the artifact.He slowly stomped up the stairs, ignoring the bone-weary tiredness that was beginning to seep through him.Or the incessant pounding in his head near the back of his neck that had nothing to do with being stabbed.
Left alone with his thoughts, they took a dark turn.
