[LUCIELLE’S POV — LATER — THE MISTY MOUNTAINS]
THUMP!!!
My boots landed on the rocky ground. I immediately took one step forward and nearly slipped. Cassian’s arms tightened around my waist before I could make a very embarrassing appointment with the ground.
"Don’t jump like that; you might fall," he said gently.
I nodded obediently, point taken because he’s right; maybe jumping around on a mountain like I was auditioning for an action movie wasn’t the smartest idea.
Cassian kept one arm around my waist anyway; I didn’t complain.
It was cold and the mountain was slippery. And obviously, I required professional safety equipment.
My husband apparently counted for that.
I looked around.
Mist curled between the jagged rocks, drifting lazily through the mountains. Snow clung to the stone surfaces, while the faint sound of water echoed somewhere below.
This place was beautiful, mysterious, ancient, and probably full of things that wanted to kill us. Basically, a five-star fantasy vacation.
absolutely nothing resembling a magical money printer.
I turned toward Cedric.
"Captain, do you see the hot pools?"
Cedric scanned the area; he looked left, then right, and then up toward the mountain. "I do not see anything, your grace."
Cassiand and I turned, and Aurelius stood several steps away, looking exhausted. I stared harder to find an answer; maybe there was some secret magical vision required. Maybe the hot pools were invisible. Maybe we needed to complete a quest first.
Maybe...I glared at Aurelius, and he could feel my questioning glare.
"You don’t have to shoot arrows with your glare, Your Grace."
"Then stop making me want to."
Aurelius sighed, saying, "The hot pools are not easy to find in this frozen land, your grace. We need to find them; they’re hidden somewhere in this misty land."
. . .
. . .
"Are you telling us that the hot pools are hidden?" I asked.
"Yes."
. . .
. . .
"So you’re telling me, we came all the way behind the Misty Mountains..." I gestured toward the endless landscape. "...and the hot pools are playing hide-and-seek?"
Aurelius’s expression remained annoyingly calm. "We have to find them."
I stared at him, then at the mountains and then back at him. "So let me understand this. You know there are hot pools here."
"Yes."
"But we can’t see them."
"Correct."
"And you don’t know exactly where they are."
Aurelius paused. "...Not precisely."
I stared at him. Cassian’s expression darkened, and Cedric suddenly became extremely interested in a nearby rock.
I slowly turned toward Cassian, pointing my trembling finger at Aurelius. "How...how can you summon...."
Cassian rubbed my back, calming me down, saying, "Calm down, beloved."
I breathed heavily, and then Cassian asked, "If they’re hidden...how exactly do you know they’re here?"
Aurelius smiled; there it was, that smile, the smile of a man who knew something we didn’t.
"I studied an ancient map."
Silence.
. . .
. . .
Cassian and I stared at him. Cedric stared at him; even the white fox beside me seemed to stare at him. Cassian and I both looked back at Aurelius.
An ancient map – that’s his evidence.
Anancient map.
I leaned on Cassian, taking a slow breath. "Cassian, why...do I suddenly feel like we’ve been conned by an officially licensed con artist?"
Aurelius’s smile disappeared. "I’m an archmage."
"Exactly, that’s what makes it worse." He frowned as I continued. "You have fancy robes, a mysterious title, suspicious knowledge, and an ancient map nobody else has seen; that is literally the starter pack for a fantasy scam."
Cedric coughed; he was trying very hard not to laugh. Cassian’s lips twitched as I turned back toward the misty mountains.
Fine.
Maybe Aurelius was telling the truth, maybe the hot pools were really here, and maybe the ancient map was legitimate, and maybe there really was a natural mana-stone source beneath these mountains.
But if we walked around this place for three hours and found absolutely nothing... I was going to personally frame Aurelius’s ancient map and hang it on the wall under the title:
MOST EXPENSIVE PIECE OF USELESS PAPER IN ASHCROFT HISTORY.
I took a breath and rolled up my sleeves
"Fine. Let’s find our fortune."
I looked toward the endless mist; somewhere beneath these mountains was supposed to be enough mana to make Ashcroft one of the most powerful territories in the empire.
And if Aurelius was telling the truth...we were standing directly on top of it; now all we had to do was find it, easy and simple, and nothing could possibly go wrong.
***
[LUCIELLE’S POV — THE MISTY MOUNTAIN — LATER]
Somehow, we had managed to get separated.
The knights had taken different paths through the mist, Cedric had gone with a group toward the eastern ridge, and Aurelius had disappeared somewhere ahead with his precious ancient map.
Which left me with Cassian.
Because apparently this man had decided that leaving his wife alone for more than thirty seconds was against the laws of nature.
He was still holding my hand firmly.
As if I might suddenly vanish into the mountain if he let go. I glanced at our joined hands as he was looking around cautiously, his other hand holding the ancient map Aurelius had given him.
I leaned closer to look at it.
. . .
I immediately regretted it.
What was this? Lines. Dots. Curves. Tiny symbols, a drawing that looked suspiciously like someone had dropped ink onto a piece of parchment and then decided it was geography.
I squinted, then squinted harder, and agh...my eyes hurt.
I missed Google Maps; at least Google Maps had the decency to tell you You are here.
This map seemed to be telling me: Good luck.
"Why does this look like a treasure map drawn by someone who was losing a fight with a crayon?"
Cassian glanced at the parchment. "It’s an ancient map."
"That doesn’t make it better."
He raised an eyebrow. I pointed at a crooked line. "What is that?"
"A mountain range."
I pointed at another squiggle. "And that?"
"A river."
I stared at him.
"And this?"
"A forest."
I slowly lowered my hand, missing Google Maps more than I cursed it. "So basically...we’re playing Dora the Explorer."
Cassian stared at me as he didn’t understand because, of course, there was no Dora in this world.
I looked around; mist drifted between the rocks, curling around the mountain paths until everything beyond a few dozen meters disappeared into pale gray.
Somewhere around here are supposed to be hot pools, natural hot pools, hidden behind the Misty Mountains. Which raised a very important question.
How exactly do you hide a pool?
It’s a pool, water.
A hole in the ground with possibly a lot of steam. It wasn’t exactly something you could put behind a curtain and hope nobody noticed.
"Maybe there’s a secret code."
Cassian looked at me. "A code?"
"Yes."
"Why would there be a code?"
"Because this is a magical world," I gestured toward the mountain. "Everything has secret codes here."
Cassian’s expression remained skeptical. I wasn’t convinced either, but we had been wandering around for what felt like three geological eras, and I was running out of ideas.
I released his hand. Cassian immediately looked at me. "What are you doing?"
"Science."
His eyebrow twitched. I stepped toward the mountain wall, then I took a deep breath, spread my arms, spread my legs and, with all the confidence of a wizard who had absolutely no idea what she was doing, I shouted—
"ABRACADABRA!"
Silence.
The mist drifted; a bird somewhere in the distance made a single confused sound. I waited, and nothing.
I raised my voice.
"OPEN SESAME!!!"
Still nothing.
I slowly opened one eye, and the mountain remained exactly where it had been. No secret door, no glowing runes, no magical staircase, and not even a suspicious puff of smoke.
Nothing.
I lowered my arms. Cassian was staring at me with a dumbfounded expression.
"Beloved."
"Yes?"
"What are you doing?"
I straightened as I cleared my throat. "I was merely casting a spell."
"A spell?"
"Yes."
"What spell?"
I thought for a moment.
"The...please reveal the hidden hot pool because I’m tired of walking spell."
Cassian stared at me. I smiled innocently. "What if speaking something absurd makes the hot pool appear?"
There was a long silence, then he said, with complete seriousness, "My beloved knows far too much about absurdity."
I placed a hand against my chest. "Thank you."
"That wasn’t a compliment."
"I choose to interpret it as one."
He sighed, and I turned back toward the mountain. "This is a magical world, Cassian. Anything can happen."
I pointed dramatically at the rocks. "Who knows? Maybe we tap this mysterious mountain...the pool might appear."
TAP.
Nothing.
I tapped again.
TAP. TAP.
Still nothing. Cassian watched me carefully; maybe there was a hidden talisman. Maybe the mountain was enchanted. Maybe there was some ancient mechanism. Maybe the hot pool was protected by a magical security system and the activation sequence was—
TAP. TAP. TAP!
Nothing.
I moved to the next stone.
TAP.
Nothing.
Another.
TAP!
Still nothing.
I moved farther along the mountain wall, tapping every suspicious-looking rock I could find. "Cassian, don’t you think this one looks suspicious?"
"It looks like a stone."
"Exactly."
I tapped it.
TAP! TAP!
Nothing.
I moved again. "Beloved, you should be careful."
"I’m fine."
I tapped another stone.
TAP!
Nothing
Cassian followed behind me. "There is no need to hit every stone."
"But what if there is?"
"Then we can look for it without—"
TAP!
Maybe the power required more force. I raised my hand.
TAP!
"Beloved—"
TAP!!
"Please be careful."
TAP!!!
I stepped backward again; maybe the mountain was just being stubborn, fine... I could be stubborn too. I raised my hand for another strike. Cassian’s voice came from behind me. "Beloved, stop moving backward."
I waved him off. "I’m trying to activate the mountain."
"You might slip."
"I won’t."
"Lucielle—"
I took another step backward; my boot landed on something slick. For one heartbeat, nothing happened. Then—
SCRAPE.
My boot slid, and my stomach dropped. I looked down; the ground beneath my foot wasn’t snow. It was ice, thin, glassy ice covering the edge of the rock.
My eyes widened; my balance disappeared.
"Wait—"
My other foot slipped too, and the world tilted violently.
"AH—!"
I threw my arms outward, my fingers clawed at empty air as Cassian lunged as his hands shot towards mine, reaching for me
"BELOVED!"
Our fingers brushed; for one horrifying second, I thought he had me, then—
SLIP!
My hand slid away; I went over the edge.
"CASSIAN!"
The mountain vanished beneath me; there was no ground, only empty space. My body dropped; the wind slammed into me so hard it tore the breath from my lungs.
My scream disappeared into the mist. Above me, Cassian’s face flashed between the clouds; his eyes were wide with fear.
"LUCIELLE!"
I reached toward him. "CASSIAN!"
But he was already disappearing; the mist swallowed him, and I fell deeper. Rock walls blurred past me, snow whipped against my face, and my cloak snapped violently in the wind. I tried to grab the cliffside; my fingers scraped against stone, and pain shot through my palm, but I couldn’t catch anything.
My heart hammered against my ribs; this wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to die here, not after finding Ashcroft’s mana stones, not after deciding I could actually live.
Not after—
I DON’T WANT TO DIE.
The thought ripped through me with such force that I couldn’t breathe. I had spent so long joking about death,, but this wasn’t a joke anymore.
This was real.
The mist below me suddenly began to swirl, and somewhere deep beneath the mountain I heard a sound.
SPLASH!!
And then the blue light exploded upward. I had just enough time to realize one horrifying thing. I hadn’t fallen off the mountain. I had fallen into something. And then the darkness swallowed me whole.