Nothing happened, for all of five seconds. The grinding of stone on stone pulled Fam and Ihrie’s attention away from the pedestal and toward the pillars. They watched, unsure of what to do, as all three statues slid upward into their recesses in the stonework, revealing a small alcove behind each one. The girls waited longer, for any other sign of movement, but once the statues had fully receded, the cavern was once again shrouded in mist and silence.
Ihrie was the first to move, with Fam close on her heels as she approached the nearest pillar. Inside the alcove, there was an ornate box small enough to fit in the palm of her hand.
Likewise, the treasure hunters found two similar boxes in the adjacent alcoves. Gathering up all three, the girls returned to the pedestal, which was more than wide enough to accommodate the boxes.
“Fam, look, they’re the same color as the Dragon’s eyes.” It was true, that the Satori Dragon’s stone eyes were each a slightly different shade of the same color, while boxes all bore a similar shade in their panels. “What do you think it means?”
The wiggan wasn’t sure, but she wished that she could recall where she’d seen the statues before. It felt important. Her fingers wanted to just open the boxes, but until she was sure they weren’t trapped, or worse, she held back. “I don’t know. We could just open them,” the usual happy-go-lucky conviction was sorely lacking in her words.
“Why do I hear a ‘but’ in there? These are treasures, aren’t they? What if we take them back to town and they end up being empty? That would mean you hurt yourself for nothing.”
“That’s mean, Ihrie.”
“Well, if you don’t have a good reason, then I say we just open them and find out. We’ve been lucky so far, right? I’d like to make use of that and hope we hit it big.”
“But, the spirits weren’t happy about this place.”
“And that didn’t stop you from coming down here and swimming did it?”
“Um, no?”
“Then, let’s get this over with. It’s probably already dark outside, and we still have a long walk back. Unless you want to camp here tonight? I’m sure the spirits would love the company.”
Fam appeared to mull it over, but didn’t appear happy with whatever she’d decided.
“Well?”
The shorter girl continued to waffle, picking up the box that corresponded to the Eye that Sees Evil. “This one might be safe.”
“Yeah, the Eye didn’t set off any traps, so why would the box be any different? Come on, open it already. I’ll do it if you’re too scared.”
Ihrie’s mild jab proved to be too much for the excitable wiggan, who popped the lid with no small flourish. The expression on her face was unreadable as she peered at the contents.
“Let me see too,” the swordswoman exclaimed, propping her head on Fam’s shoulder to get a view. “What is that, a piece of glass?” Fam didn’t answer immediately.
Indeed, placed in a niche in the bottom of the box was a silvered shard that might have belonged to a mirror, if the perfect reflection of the faces peering into it were any indication. The edges were all evenly scored, save one, which bore a bit of silver gilding.
“I think it goes to a mirror,” Fam spoke momentarily.
“Wanna bet the other boxes have the rest of the pieces?”
---
Soon all three boxes were open, discarded on one end of the pedestal, while the girls tried to make sense of the seven shards they now had laid out. Each of the pieces bore a single gilded edge, as if they belonged together, but none of them fit together in any conceivable way.
“I’m not too good with puzzles, but I’d say that we’re missing a few dozen pieces. I mean why would someone go through all the trouble of getting these into separate boxes, and not even have all the bits?”
Fam shook her head, “Maybe we’re not doing it right. They look like they’re supposed to go together, but the edges are all wrong.”
“You can say that again.”
“But they are, one’s a, uh, moon. And that one’s a sun, maybe.”
The raven haired girl thumped a clear spot on the pedestal with her fist. “I know what the shapes are Fam, I’m not a little kid!”
“I’m sorry,” the wiggan ventured, downcast.
“It’s not your fault. Let’s just put them back in the boxes and start heading back. We’ll probably have to find someone who knows more about this, and maybe where the other pieces are.
It didn’t take long for them to swim back across to their clothes.
Ihrie wrung out her undershirt so it wouldn’t be quite so damp against the chill when they got outside, while Fam shrugged back into the winter gear still conscious of her injury. It would be a shame to have to leave the pleasant warmth of the springs, but they only had a few days worth of supplies with them and it would take most of that just to get back to civilization.
Usually, they brought pack horses, however they’d been forced to leave them at the stables of the last outpost between here and Ipsward, one of the few towns to have a decent Inn this far north. The guard station at the outpost had informed them that it would be too dangerous to bring pack animals any further due to the increasingly rough terrain. After slogging through the barren fields and jutting spires of rock, the girls had been inclined to agree. A horse with a broken leg would do no good in getting there or back again.
The journey back to the stairway didn't take quite as long as the initial trip, and the girls spent the time in contemplative silence.
Ihrie was concerned with finding a reliable source that she could hit up for information, while Fam did her best to recall anything at all about the three statues they'd found.
She felt that it was something rather important, and for the life of her, couldn't remember the slightest bit, which both puzzled and worried the young wiggan.
When the duo finally reached the surface, they found dusk had long since passed. It was also much colder than before, even in the windless mountain path.
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(Posted Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:46)
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