Troubled (The Binding Chronicles #4)

29. Welcome to Death Mountain

Welcome to Death Mountain

“ A ccording to the queen’s research, the obsidian dagger is hidden here, in Death Mountain,” Xander said, gesturing to the looming shale behind them.

They’d landed a few minutes ago, the ride one that Marius would never forget.

He snorted. “Well, that’s ominous.”

The dark mountainous location seemed just as delightful as its name portrayed. It made sense, in a twisted way, that this was where the blade resided.

Vivienne stood beside Marius, having climbed off the dragon the moment they landed.

“So, we’re going in there?” His bodyguard pointed to a cave a few feet away, and she scowled. “Great.”

She sounded like she’d rather be anywhere else. Honestly, no one in their right mind would enter a place called Death Mountain with a smile, so it made sense. Even Marius felt a sense of trepidation .

“Are you coming, Xander?” he asked as the shifter pulled a shirt out of his bag and tugged it over his head.

“That’s the plan,” he replied, walking towards the cave entrance. “Your sister thought…” Xander’s voice trailed off as he froze, his foot raised in the air. “Damn.”

“What’s wrong?” Vivienne asked.

“I can’t get in.” The shifter frowned, raising his palm and pressing it against the air. Darkness seemed to ripple and shimmer around his hand. “It’s warded.”

That could be a problem.

Marius’s brows furrowed as he walked forward, but even though magic crawled over his skin, he was able to move past the dragon shifter and enter the cave.

“That’s odd.” Marius stepped in and out of the cave, the magic tingling his skin but not stopping his movements. “Can you come in, Viv?”

The vampire grumbled under her breath about how a place called Death Mountain would surely be filled with trouble, but she was also able to enter the cavern.

“It must be warded against shifters,” she said from beside Marius, looking apologetically at the dragon shifter. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Xander replied. “The wards aren’t your fault.”

Marius ran his hand through his hair. The dragon shifter was a renowned warrior, and he would’ve been a welcome addition to this part of their quest. “What will you do?”

“Someone I care about is staying with the Nightwings,” Xander said. “I’ll visit her while you two search for the blade, and I’ll come back tonight for you both.”

Marius didn’t like it, but they didn’t have any other options. He crossed the ward again and thanked Xander, who produced two notes and handed them to him with a handshake.

Xander stepped back as Marius moved to Vivienne’s side. The warrior shifted once more, and he rose into the sky with a farewell roar.

“Well, he’s dramatic,” Vivienne remarked as the dragon became a speck in the sky.

Marius scoffed. “He certainly is.”

Unfolding the notes, Marius’s lips tugged up at the familiar handwriting on the first.

Mar-Mar.

His gaze swept over the parchment as he read his sister’s message.

I pray this finds you well. My research indicates that the dagger is at the highest point inside the mountain. Be careful, and remember, I love you.

- Lulu

Tears gathered behind Marius’s eyes. It was clear to him now that he’d taken his sister’s love for granted in the past, but that would no longer be the case. When he returned to Castle Sanguis, he’d tell Luna he loved her every single day.

The other note was from Phyrra. One side contained a hand-drawn map, and on the other, she’d written,

Good luck, Prince. The map is as accurate as possible—several villagers helped me draw it. Bring me back a souvenir if you can.

Short and to the point. He’d expect nothing less from the spymaster.

The map sketched a path that led them inside the mountain and up what appeared to be several sets of spindly stone stairs, although several sections seemed to be missing.

He showed it to Vivienne.

“Of course, we’re climbing,” the vampire sighed. “I should’ve expected nothing less from this delightful journey. We might as well get it over with.”

There was his cheerful guard.

Marius couldn’t help but smile as they followed the map, walking side-by-side down the narrow corridor, the cave walls so close that their shoulders brushed against the shale.

It wasn’t long before Marius’s stomach twisted, and his smile slid. The air was heavy, and his magic was a maelstrom in his veins. It was a warning: something was wrong with this place. Unease settled upon him like a second skin.

Everything about this place was strange. Mountains weren’t meant to be hollow. It was unnatural, and the first sign that Death Mountain wasn’t like anywhere else he’d been.

Marius had only ever heard of one other hollow mountain, and it was in Ithenmyr. Vlarone was the Eastern Kingdom’s capital city, and by all accounts, it had been built by the gods.

Bizarre magic crawled over him as he walked. It poked at him as if it was searching for something in particular. His palms were sweaty, and he couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. He swiveled his head from side to side, but he couldn’t see anything.

Scattered groups of glowing blue, purple, and yellow crystals illuminated the mountain’s interior, and neon green clusters of fungi were interspersed between them. It was as if someone had flung out their hand and thrown the mushrooms, letting them stick to the shale wherever they landed. Some parts of the corridor were immaculately lit, while others were cast in shadows.

Marius shivered, the cold air carrying hints of ice as it brushed past him.

They had been walking for nearly half an hour before he realized why this place unnerved him so greatly. The sounds—or lack thereof—were worse than everything else combined.

There should’ve been noise in a mountain of this size. Water dripping off rocks. The skittering of animals running across stones. Wind blowing through corridors. Falling pebbles.

There was nothing .

Silence that was louder than a wailing wind surrounded them, and there was a wrongness that worsened with every passing minute. At some point, Vivienne took the lead, and Marius let her. Every part of him was on edge.

He wasn’t sure how long they walked through the dark corridor, the ceiling steadily lowering until he had to duck his head, before Vivienne halted. She threw out an arm, grabbing the side of the wall.

He barely avoided slamming into her back.

“Careful, Your Highness,” she warned.

“What—” His voice trailed off; the question he was about to ask no longer necessary as his gaze swept over the space before them. “Whoa. That would’ve hurt.”

That was an understatement. His limbs ached at the mere thought of tumbling into the emptiness looming before them.

“You think?” Vivienne shuffled backward, her sheathed sword pressing against his chest. “Thank Isvana, we weren’t moving any faster. We’d be dead right now.”

Marius nodded, his heart racing. Thank the gods for his bodyguard’s quick thinking .

After taking a few deep breaths, he carefully inched forward. Resting his hand on Vivienne’s hip, he leaned over her shoulder and looked down.

The crystals and mushrooms tapered off, as did the walkway. All that remained was a black pit. That was… problematic.

Marius pulled the map out of his pocket and stepped back, holding it up to one of the crystals above his head.

“I don’t get it,” he muttered, tracing the path they’d just taken with his finger. “There should be something connecting us with the rest of the mountain.”

There was no sign of a gaping hole on the map. It seemed like a glaring omission.

Vivienne chewed on her lip, studying the map with him. “Maybe there was something, once. But now...”

“It’s gone.” Marius rubbed his forehead, the parchment dangling from his fingertips. “Damn. What are we going to do?”

They needed to get the dagger.

After studying the map for several minutes, Vivienne turned to him.

“I have a theory.” She gestured to the dagger sheathed on his thigh. “Can I borrow that?”

If anyone else had asked that question, Marius would’ve said no. He usually hated parting with his weapons. And yet, he didn’t hesitate to pull the dagger from its sheath and hand it to her.

Vivienne gripped the blade and strode to the closest cluster of fungi. She skillfully dug the dagger beneath several mushrooms, gathering them in her palm as they broke away from the wall.

Once she’d collected half a dozen, she returned his dagger and carefully walked back to the ledge. She spun one of the mushrooms in her palm, the glowing fungus casting her hand in a green hue .

“The darkness is thick,” she murmured. “Unnatural. But if I look closely, I think I can make something out on the other side.”

“You think?”

She didn’t sound confident, which only increased his unease.

“Well, I’m not sure.” She held up the glowing mushroom. “That’s what this is for.”

Before Marius could ask more questions, the vampire drew back her arm, adjusted her stance, and threw the glowing fungus. It sailed through the air, a neon streak slicing through the darkness. It seemed to travel for an eternity before it fell into the pit and disappeared.

Marius groaned, but Vivienne was seemingly undeterred as she adjusted her footing and threw the next mushroom. It flew through the air, following a slightly different path from the first.

This one tumbled out of sight as well.

Two more suffered similar fates, each traveling a different route.

The second-to-last projectile was bigger than the others.

Vivienne frowned, turning it over in her hand before launching it in the air.

Long seconds passed, and it seemed as though this one would meet the same fate as the others before a smack echoed through the mountain. The fungus broke into glowing pieces, falling into the pit.

“There it is.” Glee filled Vivienne’s voice as she caught his eye and smiled. “The other side.”

Her smile was stunningly beautiful, and for a moment, he just stared at it. He could spend an eternity waiting for her to grace him with one, and he wouldn’t regret a single moment of it.

“Impressive.” He never would’ve thought of doing that. “Now what?”

She turned, handing him the final glowing sphere.

“Now, we cross.” Her wings burst from her back in a flurry of darkness. “I’m no dragon, but I’ll do my best not to drop you.”

He bit back a smile at her teasing tone. “I trust you, Viv.”

The words came naturally to his tongue, and he knew they were true. He trusted her more than he’d ever trusted anyone, even Luna. That realization should have scared him, but it didn’t. Not one bit.

“Good.” She opened her arms. “Come on then, let’s go.”

He stepped into her embrace without a second thought, and she hugged him. He was taller than her, and her head came to his shoulder, but there was a rightness about this that echoed through his entire body.

“Hold on tight,” she warned.

He gripped her middle and promised, “I won’t ever let you go.”

Not now, not ever. Not if he had anything to say about it. Vivienne balanced him in a way he’d never even known was possible.

Did she know that?

She must have heard the unspoken meaning in his words because she sucked in a breath.

A long moment passed before she whispered, “Good. Don’t.”

With a flap of her wings, she launched into the darkness.

Marius’s feet dangled, and his pack was heavy on his back as the vampire carried him over the chasm, but his weight didn’t seem to bother her. Her wings flapped steadily, and the glowing mushroom in his hand was as good as any torch, lighting their way across the darkness.

He had no idea how large the chasm was, only that several minutes seemed to pass before his toes made contact with solid ground.

Thank all the gods.

Marius exhaled, and once Vivienne released him, he kneeled and used the makeshift torch to explore the area. Sure enough, he found broken shards of wood sticking out of the shale. Ropes were attached to the posts, dangling into the dark chasm below .

“There was a bridge here, once.” He yanked on a rope, drawing it up. The edge was smooth, not jagged and frayed. Almost as if…

“Someone cut it,” Vivienne said softly.

Why would anyone do that?

Dread pooled in Marius’s stomach, and his magic’s warning became more insistent. The eerie silence was even louder than before, made worse by the broken bridge. The hairs on the back of his neck rose, and he shuddered.

This was a dangerous place, and they needed to hurry.