Sapphire Crystalline's Arc

Chapter 5 of 12

Sapphire slept two hours and woke before dawn. The full moon was one night away. Her house had thin walls and a wooden door. Her mother's cellar had rotted through last winter. There was nowhere left to lock herself. If she changed here again, she would kill someone she knew. She went to the ruins at first light. Kael Blackscale waited at the broken arch, a satchel across his chest, a small metal shape coiled on his shoulder. The shape lifted its head. It was a snake made of jointed plates, eyes yellow as lamp oil, a pincer at its tail. It flicked a wire tongue at her. "He went in," Kael said. "I sent him. The second chamber is sealed with a stone your father set. My hands can't move it. His can." He tapped the snake's plated skull. "Give him time." She could not wait. She spoke fast. "I need a place. For tonight. Walls that hold. I have no cellar. My mother's is gone. If I stay near the village I will kill again." Kael studied her. "There is a refuge. Old warded stone. Built for people like you. Two hours south, up the ridge." "Take me." "It has a keeper. She decides who goes behind the door." He led her up a goat track to a squat building set into the hillside. The front was a single slab, carved edge to edge with runes in cyan and pink. A woman waited on the step. She was a serpent from the waist down, her coils bright green, her armor jade plated with gold. A sword rode her back that looked untouched. Her eyes did not move from Sapphire's face. "Shr'va Orvanos," Kael said. "She holds the door." "State it," Shr'va said. Sapphire's throat was dry. "Blood curse. Shadow-beast. Moonrise to sunrise. I have killed. I need the room tonight." Shr'va looked at her a long moment. "How many." "One I know of." "You came before it was two." "Yes." Shr'va turned to the slab and pressed a palm against the center rune. The stone ground inward. Beyond it Sapphire saw a bare cell, walls thick as a man's arm, no window, a drain in the floor. "You go in at dusk," Shr'va said. "I seal it. I open it at full sun. Not before. Not if you scream. Not if you beg." "Agreed." "One more thing." Shr'va's eyes went flat. "Your mother. Your brother. Where do they change tonight." Sapphire opened her mouth and had no answer. She had bought one cell. She had two people at home, and moonrise was twelve hours away. Kael watched her face and said nothing. On his shoulder the metal snake curled tighter, waiting to be sent back for the stone.