She didn't think sisters was ever going to be on the table. Though if it was, it did bring up a pressing question. "Do I have to die?"
"Only if we do." Heln shrugged. His eyes were still a little glassy. "Clearly."
Rhyss tried to equate this Bel, with her ripped jacket, dirty face and determined expression with the girl that flirted with anyone at school except for Rhyss, all smooth smiles and composed lines. They didn't mesh together in her mind at all.
Though maybe Heln was a little right about the flirting. Not that Bel was ever serious about it or anything else in her life.
She seemed serious about staying together, at least.
"I already have four sisters so I'm good there, but I'll take Heln." She turned from the tree, smiling at Bel's squawk of protest at being left out. Sisters, she wasn't so sure about. Friends sounded almost doable.
It was hard to leave the room, but Bel had a point. She didn't know why, but she felt that the room wasn't meant for them. It was certainly not meant for sleeping. "Let's drop our things off at the entrance and explore."
Chapter Ten
Rhyss mentally listed her priorities.
Water. Food. Rest. Those should have been the very first things they did, but she wanted to know the lay of the land before anything else. She didn't need another magic eater literally getting the drop on them. Again.
She would never, ever say it out loud, but she was glad Bel and Heln hadn't let her go off on her own. It was incredibly against protocol. If she wasn't already expelled then she would have been when she put in her report. Though it wasn't as if the seemingly safe courtyard was any better than trying to find a way to the top of one of the towers, so at least she could argue her case.
If she even wanted to.
Joining the Guard had been her life's dream. Her entire childhood had been spent listening to her mother's tales of daring and adventure. Under her mother, her sister Reta had risen in the ranks. Her step-sister, Brina, was one of the best healers the Guard had at their base.
So, no one was surprised when Rhyss turned fifteen and immediately signed up for the Guard. Not a single person questioned that she was the top of her classes both in the Guard and at the Eleti Academy. Of course, it was absolutely expected that she would be brave, strong, and hold true to the motto of the Guard: to defend City, citizen and magic itself.
Fear crawled in her guts like snakes at just the thought of going up to the tower alone. The sounds the magic eater had made echoed in her ears, the sound of her boots against the ancient tile too much like the clacking of its beak.
"Stay behind me." It was easier to be brave in front of other people. Especially Bel and Heln, who were just unobservant enough to believe it despite how her hands trembled and her voice was just on the edge of shaking. "Even if this room somehow keeps the constructs out and it seems safe, we have no idea what could have moved into these ruins."
"I'm voting dragons," Bel said.
The expression she threw at her over her shoulder had once made KwaTelin burst into tears, and he was nearly twice Rhyss's size.
Bel beamed back at her, ruining the effect of Rhyss's glare completely. She turned forward quickly. Bel's smile did not make her heart stutter annoyingly. It was a stress response to constant irritation, probably.
"Two things: dragons have been extinct for almost a thousand years, and they might not have been real. Oh, and a third thing, if they were real they were supposed to be absolutely huge. I don't even think they'd fit in this cave," Heln pointed out.
"It would still be completely amazing, maybe they'd be friendly. Friendly small dragons that want to be friends." Bel sighed at the glares she received. "Fine. I'm voting nothing but more spiders. I hope you're both happy with your lives and your decisions."
Rhyss really wanted to ask her why, but there was an equal part of her that just didn't want to know, so she ignored her.
The second courtyard was more overgrown than the first. It must have been lined with ornamental trees, but in lieu of careful pruning they had become a nearly impassable tangle. It took a while to find an entrance that led to a set of stairs.
They spiraled up into the heights of what she guessed would be the southernmost tower, but without sun or stars her sense of direction might have gotten completely turned around.
"Okay. Bel, I know it's really hard for you, but I want absolute silence." Rhyss gave her the second-best death glare in her arsenal. Either that or her words were slightly more effective this time, because at least Bel didn't smile at her. "You too, Heln."
Heln nodded, and Bel saluted. Rhyss could handle Bel's silent sarcasm as long as it stayed silent.
The staircase was dark and the stairs were cracked. The vines and leaves of a plant she didn't recognize spilled down through an opening like a green waterfall, choking up the hollow center of the tower. She saw a few small spiders scuttle away from her light and shuddered despite herself. Cobwebs draped the walls like sheets.
The stairs ended a few floors up and they stepped out into a wide room. The remnants of a mural were still clinging to one expanse of wall. Pillars held up the ceiling, carved with leaves where they weren't covered by living vines. The pillars in the center of the room had broken a long time
