Chapter 46

  By the time the moon had started to set, Snow had the horses packed and Sage in Pheobe’s saddle. They were waiting on Max and Titus, who were packing a few more provisions and talking with the half dozen villagers that were still crammed into Sage’s house along with three tied and blindfolded saviors.

  Despite the late-night hour, Max’s urgent request for help ran like wildfire through the community. It started with a knock to old Wilem’s door, who then had his daughter run to another farmstead. Within an hour, there were lanterns on the dark road and a steady stream of villagers coming to Sage’s door. A handful of farmers and priestesses came with baskets of food and supplies. The local blacksmith arrived with tools in hand to check their gear free of charge. By the middle of the night, there were more goods than Mooch and Pheobe could safely carry, but the more important matter was what’s to be done with the saviors.

  It had been determined that they were to be held until sunrise, then allowed to return to their captain. There would surely be more drama to follow, but it was better than any other suggestion. And there were plenty of them. Still riled over the burning of the temple, the moment the villagers heard that the saviors had come for Sage, Max had to convince them to let the saviors go at all.

  Two of the saviors seemed content to be in Sage’s house rather than six feet down in her garden, but the third continued to tell them they were all demon worshippers bewitched by a monster that deserved to be burned at the stake. This, despite Sage taking the time to heal his broken nose through her divine connection with Ilone. Snow had been surprised the goddess didn’t refuse when Sage called her power to reverse the damage. He was only half surprised when Max didn’t take it as an invitation to break it again.

  Maybe there’s hope for Max yet.

  “I’m going to miss that house,” Sage said sadly as she ran ger fingers through Pheobe’s mane.

  “It might make it through,” Snow replied before realizing that Sage might have already seen its destruction in the months to come.

  Sage didn’t reply.

  The two of them waited in silence for a few minutes longer until Max and Titus emerged with sacks over their shoulders and a few bundles of wood.

  “Tell me again how far we’re going to travel with these loads?” Max complained as he tried to scoop up a basket full of fruit and potatoes as well. “We’re not going to get very far overburdened like this.”

  “We’re heading for the temple,” Snow nodded to the ruins in the distance.

  “What? What are we going to do there?”

  “Have faith, Max,” Sage spoke up.

  Titus too was shouldering what looked like a cartful of supplies and struggling under their weight. “Why do we need to take so much?”

  “Because I haven’t been home in months. There won’t be anything to eat or burn unless we bring provisions,” Snow said as he started leading Pheobe forward.

  Mooch had been tied to Pheobe but the stallion seemed content to follow Snow’s mare anyways, so long as Titus walked along side.

  “Hey, how come you’re not carrying anything!” Max barked at Snow.

  “Because I do the magic,” Snow replied.

  Max grumbled something about pompous, asshole magicians that made Titus chuckle.

  The path around the lake was quiet despite many distant lights in the houses dotting the gentle landscape. Snow looked out on them curiously and wondered how many had been stirred awake by all this drama. Were mothers sitting around tables with their children wondering if this place was still safe? Were they planning on leaving now that their lands had been invaded by these callous soldiers parading like righteous knights?

  This Tindale had been a tranquil paradise and the thought that it was forever ruined by the saviors made Snow’s blood boil. The fact that he was now forced to ferry Sage to the safety of his home was reason enough to hunt down the so-called elders of this hypocritical order and show them what a real monster can look like.

  “You know,” Titus’s voice came up beside him, “I wasn’t even sure if you had a home.”

  “A man needs somewhere to call his own,” Snow replied.

  “How does the temple figure into it?” Titus nodded towards the dark, hollowed out building that was growing before them.

  “I need a door.”

  They could smell the temple long before approaching it.

  The ruins still stunk of smoke and ash as if it had just burned yesterday. Snow paused at the steps to briefly take in the sight. The temple had been built of white marble, the color of a full moon, but now blackened swaths ate away at its remaining beauty, turning every dark corner into an endless void. The roof was gone; cracked by the heat and collapsed inside the main hall where it shattered the floor, making a minefield of jagged stone.

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  It was possible that the healing rooms towards the back were still intact, but he dared not try to take the horses through that mess of rubble. All Snow needed was one standing archway.

  “Stay here,” he told them before walking up the steps and surveying the damage up close. Despite his command he heard footsteps following behind him at a cautious pace.

  “What are you looking for?” Titus asked.

  “A standing stone archway. Preferably one exposed to the sky.”

  The two men looked around at the destruction trying to see stone beneath black ash and discern any possible doorways from pitch-colored walls.

  “There,” Titus pointed to a standing arched doorway leading to the side. It had been coated black by the ash and was nearly invisible in this dim light.

  “That will do if we can get the horses up and through it,” Snow replied.

  Titus slowly made his way there. Snow followed, gesturing to the jumble of broken blocks to slide them to the side with care. It was tempting to use his power to push everything far to the sides and make a wide path, but he didn’t know how stable any of this was. One block he sent back five feet quickly fell down a hole he couldn’t see. It made a violent, heavy clatter that he could feel through his feet. Titus shot him a quick look over his shoulder as he and Snow went still for a long moment – fearing that the rest of the floor might give. Both soon breathed a sigh as the temple remained stable.

  “This should work,” Snow said to Titus as he reached the doorway. He reached a hand up to touch the top arch and realized he was a foot too short.

  “Want a boost?” Titus asked. Snow didn’t need to see the smirk to know it was there.

  He gave Titus a flat look before calling over another broken block to stand on. With the top archway now in reach, he began wiping away the black ash with his sleeve until he could again see the white marble.

  After a quick look of dismay over his ruined sleeve, Snow pulled out a small knife and nicked his finger.

  “What are you…,” Titus started in confusion until he saw how Snow used the blood to write strange runes on the archway. The strangeness continued as the magician then held his bleeding hand up in front of the writing and spoke some odd language

  Then… nothing.

  “Okay,” Snow said as if he had done something perfectly mundane. Titus looked between him and the stone archway.

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s it,” Snow replied as he stepped down and pushed the block away again. He then turned back the way he came, leaving Titus to follow along the cleared path.

  Back at the horses, Snow found Max quietly grumbling to Sage about something as she sat with a soft smile.

  “Time to bundle up,” Snow said to Sage.

  “Bundle up?” Max repeated in confusion.

  Snow took Pheobe’s reins as Titus picked up his loads again. Max and him shared a confused shrug before following Snow and the horses up the stone steps and long the cleared walkway across the damaged floor.

  “How bad is it?” Sage asked.

  Snow didn’t mince words, “bad.”

  Sage sighed.

  When they came to the doorway Snow had marked, he made the party stop.

  “I’ll walk Sage and the horses through, then I’ll come back for you two.”

  “Come back?” Max replied as his frustration was growing. “Come back from where?”

  Snow didn’t bother with any more explanations. He took the reins and told Sage to duck down low to Phe’s neck before he gently coaxed the mare forward into the dark beyond.

  Max and Titus watched as first the pale gray mare disappeared into the dark. Mooch gave an unhappy whinny at the sight and pulled at the guiding rope until Snow’s disembodied hand reached back out of the shadows to guide him forward as well. The blackness suddenly seemed alive as it enveloped them, swallowing up all sounds and leaving the doorway eerily silent.

  The two men looked at each other again in disbelief before cautiously stepping closer.

  “Snow?” Titus called.

  There was no answer.

  Titus dropped his sacks and stepped into the doorway to find nothing there but more black shadows. He reached out with his hands but felt only air. He stepped further into the dark but couldn’t find Mooch’s rump or hear any footsteps.

  “What on earth are you doing?” Snow’s sudden voice almost made Titus jump as he spun around to find the magician back in front of the archway again. Awkwardly, Titus stepped back out of the darkened doorway confused.

  “Where the hell did you go?”

  “Pick up that stuff and I’ll show you,” Snow gestured to the sacks.

  Max huffed. “This better be good.”

  Snow waited until Titus had his arm’s full again. He then stepped between the two men and took hold of their sleeves.

  “Now, walk in.”

  “Into the dark?” Titus asked.

  “Just move!” Max had clearly had enough of this mystery.

  Titus squared his shoulders to the dark archway and slowly stepped forward into its blackness once more. He was suddenly met with a bitter cold wind and the sound of the horses complaining about it. Stars were still above his head, but the moon was in a new position. He was no longer standing in the broken temple, but a small courtyard of stone and bushes. Before him stood a rounded stone building. It sat nestled in a jagged wall of bare rock that extended far up into the night’s sky. He turned back around to find a new stone archway that looked out onto silver grass blowing on steep slopes. There was a sense that they were high up somewhere, but in the dark, Titus could only see the distant outlines of nearby mountains.

  Snow had let go of him now and was walking towards a simple door that had no handle. Sage already stood there waiting for him with her shawl wrapped tightly around her against the biting cold.

  With a simple touch, the door opened for Snow who ushered Sage in first before letting Max and Titus come in and drop their supplies inside.

  “Welcome to my home,” he said. “… Don’t touch anything.”