Noble could sll the blood before she saw it. At first, it had been overpowered by the earthiness of the cave.
But the closer she ca to the pedestal, the more the sickening sll of death filled the air.
A woman was sprawled out on the ground, her face covered by her loose hair. Blood surrounded her head. She must have hit it on one of the sharp stalagmites when she collapsed.
Noble's heart clenched.
Dismissing the candle from the table and summoning it into her hand, Noble confird what she already knew.
"Pen." Tears stung Noble's eyes as her stomach threatened to empty on the ground.
She bent down and used her ability to gently pull back the woman's hair. Pen's eyes were open, her face frozen in an agonizing scream.
"It can't be!" Sarai placed her hands on her heart. She blinked, wishing desperately for the scene before her to change. "We just saw Pen when she brought us breakfast. How could she even get down here?"
"She could have copied the map you have. It would explain why it took so long for her to get it to us." Noble pursed her lips. That only explained how the girl had navigated the tunnels, not how she had gained access in the first place.
"Wouldn't she need bracelets like we did?" Both ladies looked toward Sarai's wrists.
"Rember how Pen bumped the table when she left?" Noble pulled up the image in her head. "What if it wasn't an accident, and it was a distraction to take your gold bands?"
It would explain why Sarai didn't reflexively grab them when she headed out of the room. The bracelets hadn't been there to begin with.
"She doesn't have them now. Or at least she isn't wearing them." Sarai allowed her hands to light with fire to add more light to the scene while Noble gingerly checked Pen for the missing bracelets.
"They aren't here," the Queen observed when her search was complete.
"Was she attacked?" Sarai tensed, looking around the cavern for any sign of another intruder. But nothing moved in the red light of the hall. For now, at least, they were alone.
Noble took a deep breath. "I...I think she died of shock."
One look at Pen's face told her that much. Sothing had killed her before she ever hit the ground. And the only wound was on her skull from when she hit her head.
'No...that's not true...'
"Don't touch her skin!" Sarai sucked in a sharp breath.
Up until that point, Noble had only used her ability to check the woman and search her clothes. If whatever had caused her death was sohow dwelling inside her, direct contact could spread it with dire consequences.
But Noble did not think a Nightmare Creature had caused this. The barrier was ant to keep them all out. Sothing else was responsible.
"It will be fine," Noble took Pen's palm and studied it. Her digits were curled in a partial fist, locked in place.
Prying back the fingers, Noble saw hideous black veins spreading out like a web across her pale skin.
Noble frowned. Pen had been holding sothing when she died.
'Hm…'
Straightening, the floating Awakened examined the pedestal. "What do you make of this?"
Dousing her fla, Sarai carefully avoided the fallen maid and ca alongside her. Her eyes flicked between the dead girl and the platform before finally settling on the latter.
In the strange red light of the cavern, the pedestal looked like a black vertebrae protruding from the ground.
"There's nothing on it," Sarai observed.
Noble shook her head. "Not anymore. I think Pen took it. She has the scorch marks to prove it."
"But it is gone...just like the bracelets." The redhead furrowed her brow.
The Queen nodded, her face tense. "Soone was down here with her..."
"Counsel?" Sarai's question was barely a whisper.
"Unless Pen was an accomplice of one of the kingdom's enemies..." Noble wasn't sure which option she liked less. "Either way we have to find the heart!"
The red light wavered and began to fade, pulling both won from their shock.
"We should get out of here." Noble looked down at Pen with a solemn expression. "We will have to co back after her once we figure all this out."
Noble felt guilty leaving the woman behind. Even if she had stolen the Heart from its ho, she had paid for it with her life.
'She was a good servant.' Noble pulled her eyes away.
They needed to get out and find Counsel imdiately. There was no ti to lose.
"The heart is gone," Sarai balled her fists. "We were so close. It was right here!"
"Don't!" Noble's warning was a mont too late.
Sarai tapped the platform with her index finger. She scread.
The red light pulsed, coming to life once more. Noble's bracelets suddenly glowed softly, the tal warming against her skin.
But Noble wasn't concerned with all of that. She dove, pulling Sarai away from the black vertebrae.
For a split second, Noble felt a vast amount of power be pulled from her like a vacuum. It was excruciating.
The two won flew free of the platform and lifted into the air to avoid slamming against one of the sharp stalagmites.
Sarai hung limply in Noble's arms as they hovered in the air.
"Sarai!" Noble jolted her with a bit of emotion, though she also felt drained.
The necklace around the redhead's neck glimred briefly and she gasped. Her eyes popped open to et Noble's.
"The pedestal!" Sarai's heart raced. "It's enchanted."
"I know. I felt it too." Noble lowered them both to the ground slowly.
The pedestal was constructed by the sorcerer for a very specific purpose. It was made to pull power from whatever touched it.
That was why the old kings had said not to disturb the Heart.
When Pen had taken the ball, the indiscriminating platform had sucked power out of her as well. Since Pen wasn't an Awakened, she hadn't been able to withstand even a mont of the torturous ordeal.
It was a painful death, but Noble hoped it had been rcifully brief.
The Queen's eyes widened. The room had lit when Sarai had touched where the ball had been.
The bracelets and even her friend's necklace had regained so of their life.
Did that an the Heart was powering them?
And if it was, what else was it responsible for? If the ball's power was as imnse as she now suspected, then there might be no reasonable limit to what it could fuel. That ant...
The ground rumbled.
A deep feeling of dread overca Noble. Whispers filtered into her mind and she struggled to untangle what was plausible and what wasn't.
She looked back at the platform.
The heart had been sitting on what looked like a bone.
'A familiar-looking bone...and the stalagmites and stalactites. They resemble teeth!'
Pushing back the extra feelings, Noble lifted into the air again and flew around the platform. Finding the right perspective, she froze midair.
"No, no, no...Oh NO!" She grabbed her head.
"What?" Sarai wished that she could have the sa perspective as her friend.
Noble leveled her gaze, a new sense of determination in her eyes. "We have to go. Now."
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