Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

The guardians and Tiberiu remained silent, their senses flaring out, scanning continuously, looking for the faintest hint of a threat as they made their way deeper into the cave system. The tunnel turned sharply and descended steeply as the chambers widened, flowing from one room to the next.

Adalasia rubbed at the goose bumps on her arms. It wasn’t cold. If anything, it was growing warmer. The prickly sensation was getting worse. The hair on the back of her neck actually hurt, as if each individual hair was sensitive at the root and growing more so with every step. She found herself placing her hand on her sword.

Sandu, I need room.

Simultaneously, the guardians, Tiberiu and Sandu stopped moving.

The guardians simply disappeared, as if they’d never been. She knew they’d dissolved into tiny molecules and were still close. She felt them in her mind, but they were moving through the cave, searching for a very real threat. Tiberiu and Sandu kept her between them but distanced themselves from her, giving her the space she needed to fight if need be.

Adalasia pulled the sword from the scabbard, and colors burst from the blade to soar to the ceiling, illuminating the walls and throwing light into every corner. At once, there was a furtive, rustling sound, the scampering of dozens of feet or hands in the dried debris on the cave floor. For just a few moments, red and yellow eyes glinted at them from all around the chamber, and then the creatures managed to hide themselves in crevices in the rock walls.

“Don’t get close to the walls,” Adalasia cautioned. “You saw the damage to the dog. These are the creatures that eviscerated the cattle and tried to do the same to the dog. This is part of Nera’s army. Her soldiers sent to wear us down.”

“Yes,” Sandu said. “I remember now. They were everywhere. Every farm. Night after night. The senseless destruction. The mutilations.”

I will destroy them, but you have to be in the next chamber. Both of you. All of you. I will follow, and when I do, Sandu, seal this chamber off quickly so none can escape.

Using their common telepathic link, she showed them the tiny white globe that was really a bomb of light. It will suck all air out of the chamber. You can’t use fire against them. They bathe in fire.

Justice taught us that. We can incinerate them with lightning, Sandu recalled, but that’s useless in these caves.

Adalasia backed to the entrance of the next chamber, keeping the sword high so the colors bounced off the ceiling and continued to illuminate the walls, making it impossible for any of the creatures to brave the light and attack. Everyone out?

Yes, and the other entrance is sealed. Once you step back, I will seal this one, Sandu assured her.

Adalasia didn’t wait. She tossed the globe high into the air, right into the center of the room, and stepped quickly back into the next chamber. Sandu slammed a transparent seal in the entrance. They watched as the globe spun, throwing colors throughout the cave. Suddenly, it stopped in midair, the sides opening with audible hissing. Then there was an abrupt stillness, and the chamber was filled with a hundred creatures rushing toward the archways. They looked like strange orange-and-yellow crabs but with legs and arms, their feet and hands claws. Their mouths were filled with double rows of pointed, serrated teeth. They stood approximately a foot high but scuttled across the floor on all fours.

At the entrance, they tore at the invisible seal, desperate to rip it down before their air gave out. The creatures collapsed onto the floor, tearing at their own throats and ribs to try to find a way to breathe. It was a ghastly sight and Adalasia turned away.

“The drumbeat is louder now. Nera knows we’re coming.”

“Before, we had to fight our way through these next chambers,” Sandu’s voice was grim as he led the way. “Fortunately, the tunnel is very wide, but it grows very hot. We have to regulate our body temperatures carefully. Do not touch the walls, Adalasia.”

“This is where we could use the Old One,” Siv said. “His scales would have come in handy.”

“A dragon trying to get through these caves would get stuck,” Petru pointed out.

“We should cover Adalasia’s body in armor,” Nicu decided. “Head to toe. Give her a helmet, too. That way, when she fights these things, if they jump on her, they cannot actually bite her or rip her in half.”

“That is not a bad idea,” Benedek agreed. “Sandu, you are her lifemate. She will be stubborn, because she is always unreasonable, but you have no choice but to protect her. Cover her in scales and armor.”

Adalasia continued walking, surrounded by all of them, listening to their ridiculous bantering and registering the way her skin reacted to each of the chambers they passed through as they made their descent. As she walked, she flicked her fingers first toward Nicu, then toward Benedek, maintaining her innocent expression the entire time.