The Tranquil Lantern (The Tranquil Lantern Series Book 1) by Nina Carver

Author:Nina Carver [Carver, Nina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

After their magic lesson went awry, it wasn’t long before Sophie and Filoro reached the vault door. For the past ten minutes, they had been standing before a massive portal cut into the obsidian wall, a round, perfectly symmetrical opening plugged with a door made of thick burnished steel.

They had to be at the right place; Jazz Katan had led them right to it. But the door to the treasure vault was shut tight, with neither keyhole, handle, nor lever to be seen. And worst of all, Filoro’s latest incantation had revealed that the door was made of autumn steel, an alloy totally impervious to magical tampering.

Luckily, things hadn’t been too awkward between them as they followed Katan’s trail of torches down the necropolis halls. Filoro had explained that memories could sometimes cross over when two people shared a pool of magic, and that he’d been struck by an especially strong recollection at the worst possible moment.

Sophie wanted to know more about the woman she had seen, but Filoro had sidestepped every last one of her questions. At least he doesn’t kiss and tell, Sophie thought, but Filoro’s unshakeable silence on the matter did nothing to dispel her curiosity. She couldn’t help but wonder about the mysterious woman in Filoro’s memory. Was she his wife? A girlfriend? Whoever she was, Filoro clearly had deep feelings for her; and had clearly been quite deep in her, at one point or another.

Sophie sighed. She knew she couldn’t be mad at Filoro, not really. It had been an accident that Sophie saw the memory in the first place, after all, and more Sophie’s fault than his.

A loud thump jolted her back to reality as Filoro slammed his fist into the wall. With no clear path forward into the vault he was getting frustrated, and justifiably so.

“We’ve made it all this way!” Filoro shouted. He looked around the hallway, eyes blazing. “Katan!” he roared into the empty air. “Katan, let us in! I know you can hear us! You ordered us to come here. If you want us to recover the shutter, then open the damn vault!”

“I don’t think he’s gonna answer,” Sophie said softly. “Maybe he can’t open it even if he wanted to. You heard the zombie talking about how much the Tranquil Lantern was holding back his master’s power.” She eyed the door quizzically.

“The zombie gave us that special rock, right, the keystone? Maybe we have to show it to the door, wave it around a little bit?” She pantomimed a mocking dance at the door, to no avail.

Filoro sighed. “Why don’t you try that again with the keystone this time, hm?” he asked. A small blush grew on Sophie’s cheeks as she fumbled the keystone out of her pocket.

She wasn’t about to repeat her performance, especially not on Filoro’s command, so she took a moment to inspect the zombie’s gift. It was the first time she’d really taken the time to properly look the keystone over. It was a flat slice of obsidian the width of her palm.

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