[Sidequest] Watery Tomb

As it turned out, the strange brass helmet was connected to a set of bellows, much like Katla might expect to see at a forge. They had walked through what felt like endless internal tunnels, eventually ending up on a tiny little landing next to the water. On the bank of the stone was what looked like a torture device, which the Priestess had proudly declared was state-of-the-art. “You breathe with this?” Katla pointed to it. “On purpose?”

“No,” said the woman. “You will breathe with it. I will simply operate the bellows” She pointed to another part of the suit- it was made of a strange fabric, too thick and dark, not cotton or silk but something else. “I’m too tall to fit in the suit. Usually my partner does this work, if the grates need replaced or fixed.”

“The… grates?”

“We must keep Her inside,” she said, as if Katla knew what that meant. “You will go down. You will fix the grate.” She pointed to a toolbox. “It is easy,” she said, a clear lie. “Then you will come up, and it will be done.”

She gestured to what looked like a belt with a series of steel plates attached. “You may detach them, if you are panicked. But I have been assured you are very calm under pressure.”

Katla gave Herminius another glare. She was beginning to doubt this plan very much.

No. She had come south, gone through all of this, suffered through Sólveig. She could do one little swim.

“Enough of your chatter,” she said. She held her hands out. “Put this suit upon me. I will fix your foolish southern grate.”

Herminius gave her a smile. She didn’t return it.

As soon as she was in the water, Katla regretted not hearing more of the silly chatter. The water was pressing in on her from all sides, and she had only an enclosed lantern that was already sputtering. The Priestess had assured her it “hardly ever leaked”, but that didn’t seem very logical to Katla. She was already feeling short of breath. She tugged on the hose, but the rate of air didn’t increase. Surely the woman wasn’t strong enough to operate the bellows fast enough.

Katla would simply have to fix the grate quickly. She watched the stone walls as she sank. Was this what priestesses earned? A watery tomb?

They should all be necromancers instead. At least Katla had a chance of coming back and doing something interesting, like possessing people.

When she finally got to the bottom, she decided that she hated this job even more. It was horribly difficult to maneuver the grate, which had slipped away and was moving quickly in the current. It kept falling out of her hands, and keeping it in the right position was impossible. Every time she started to get one screw in place, it would just fall back away.

The Priestess could barely even see it from the top. Why did she care? Was it truly such a bad thing if Her, whoever she was, got out?

Katla fumbled another screw, then finally tightened one. The grate half-wobbled. It was sideways now, but partially on. Beyond, she could see the lower parts of the temple. It almost looked like a sewer, round tunnels and partial water level. What twisted mind had devised this?

She could feel her breaths getting shorter, the air running out, too- or perhaps she was just imagining it. She thought the glass was fogging up. Was this how she would die? Trapped underwater?

Another screw dropped out of her gloved hands. She hated this suit. It was cold and too thick, making her hands clumsy.

Katla was beginning to panic. She could feel her heart pounding as she struggled to breathe. Did the Priestess truly do this normally, or had she just tricked Katla into it?

She tugged on the hose again. There was no change in the airflow.

The woman was tricking Katla. Surely Herminius had just gone along. What did he care if Katla died? Surely he wouldn’t mind either way. He was just a damp piece of toast of a man. Anyone could change him to their demands.

Katla dropped her last screw and stared at the grate. It was half-in. Surely the woman couldn’t demand more. And if she did… well, she couldn’t say Katla hadn’t tried her best. After all, she’d gone down. She had tried.

Katla fumbled the belt free and let herself float up, holding her breath.

~*~

“You’re sure the grate is in? All the way?”

Katla yanked the helmet off and tossed it to the stone floor with a clang. “Yes. It’s done. Take us through.”

The Priestess gave her a suspicious look. Katla could feel her heart pounding with anxiety, but forced herself not to look down. Here in the darkness, it was hard to see the grate exactly. Now that it was half-in, from this angle, it looked like it was fixed properly. Only underneath the water was it obvious that Katla hadn’t completely fixed it.

Clearly, the Priestess didn’t trust her. Yet after staring into the water for a long few moments, she finally sighed. “I see. I appreciate your dedication to our temple. I will take you further within.”

“I came with a group,” said Katla. She gestured to the right height. “A blonde woman, this tall.” Sólveig. “Another man. Could you bring me to them?”

The woman gave her a suspicious look. “I said I would just take you to the center. Now you want to bring the rest of your group?”

“I am…. Worried….about them.”

Herminius, for once, was helpful. He stepped up and put a hand on Katla’s shoulder. She resisted shaking him off. “She’s truly a sweet girl,” he said. “A little short on words, perhaps, but all she wants to do is help her friends.”

“….I will bring you to them,” said the Priestess. “If I can. We will see what happens after that.”

“But-“

“Follow me!”

Katla didn’t push her luck as she followed the Priestess, kicking off the suit and leaving it crumpled next to the horrible helmet. At this point, she was just glad to be breathing again and away from the grate. She tried to keep track of every turn and twist, but after long enough in the darkness it became impossible to remember where they had been.

Eventually, the Priestess began putting her ear to the wall, frowning. She would step to the right, then to the left. Then she would tap on a rock, staring through what looked like a minor crack, then step back.

“A tall blonde woman?”

Katla nodded.

“Hmmm.”

“You can’t find her?”

“You didn’t say she had a weapon with her.”

Katla swallowed. Surprise. She had to be surprised. “Oh, no,” she tried. “How could that have happened?”

The Priestess gave her a long, suspicious stare. “You seem to be a logical girl,” she said. “I’ll tell you what I’ve seen recently, and we can make a deal. How’s that?”

Katla very slowly let her hand hover towards her hidden dagger.

“We’ve had some issues in this temple,” said the Priestess. “People pretending to be coming to dedicate themselves, only to turn on my fellow Priestess. Our Voice, hurt and captured. Now I see that your friend is armed, dangerous, and setting fires underneath a statue of Our Lady Teuthida. I begin to suspect your intentions are not entirely good.”

“Ah-”

“You have one chance,” she said. “I will allow you to go out there, convince her to place her axe somewhere far away- ideally, drop it in the canal- and come back. If you do this, I will lead you into the center of the temple, where She can evaluate you. Otherwise, I will leave you in the outer reaches of the temple. The tears have already been used. You will be, essentially, trapped forever. Are we clear?”

Katla turned to Herminius. Surely he couldn’t endorse this.

He shrugged. “She makes a good point,” he said. “You’re a very nice girl. Surely you can convince her.”

Neither of them had met Sólveig before! Was Katla’s life going to be an endless series of trials? Still… she had gotten through worse adventures before. She would just have to try. “I…” she started.

Then, before she could finish, a hand had pushed behind her shoulderblades. A door had opened in front of her. She stumbled out, nearly falling face first into a fire. When Katla spun around, there was only a solid stone surface behind her.

“Katla?”

“….Sólveig.”

At least Stáli was there, the only logical person in their group. He was huddled underneath the, yes, giant statue of Teuthida. Oh, Sólveig. Never heard of subtlety, did you? He was also noticably avoiding eye contact with Katla. No help from him, then.

Katla sighed. “Hello. I don’t suppose you have a way into the center of the temple?”

It felt good to be speaking the northern dialect again, at least. She’d gotten used to the southern, syrupy way of saying things. Sólveig barely even looked at Katla as she sat next to the fire, putting her axe away. Something bad had happened to her. She had a bandage that went all the way up her ankle and leg and a pronounced limp. There was a bruise along one of her eyes, too.

“Announce yourself better next time! I thought you were an enemy! Anyway, we’re working on our plan. You’re going to need to do some summoning, so I hope you have blood left.”

Katla glanced over her shoulder. She had about five minutes to take control of this situation. As Sólveig began to speak again, she stepped forward. Right onto where the bandage was.

The howl that resulted was exactly what Katla had been looking for. She reached down and grabbed Sólveig by the shoulder. Some people only understood pain.

“Your actions have made us obvious,” she said. “You understand?”

“Some of us are-”

Katla shook her by the shoulder. “I have a way to get us out,” she said. “But you have to do exactly what I say. No back talk. No bright ideas. And you have to hide the axe.”

“What if I don’t want to hide the-”

“Do you want more blood, or not?”

Solveig glared at Katla, but she finally rolled her eyes. “You’re always so mean. Fine.”

Katla lifted her foot off of Solveig’s bandaged ankle. She was all bark, but not much bite. “Good. Now you need to listen very, very closely.”

~*~

“In penance for her actions, she’s taken a vow of silence,” said Katla, to the stone wall. “She’s very, very sorry. She only kept the axe because it was an heirloom from her late mother. Who died in battle. Fighting for Teuthida.”

Sólveig nodded, keeping her eyes down like they’d agreed. Her hands were behind her back, penitent. Katla elbowed Sólveig. She gave a loud sniff.

After a long moment, the wall began to creak open. “Are you sure she’s apologized for-”

It was surprising, Katla reflected, how few people expected Sólveig to hold an axe to their neck. It was like children holding their hands to a hot stove. At this point, it wasn’t even Sólveig’s fault.

“This isn’t personal,” she told Herminius. “But if we take one person hostage, we have to take both. It’s just not logical otherwise.”

“You’re saying you’ll kill me if she doesn’t show you the way in!” He wiggled, trying to get out of her grip. “I thought we were friends!”

Katla didn’t respond to that.

The Priestess glared at all of them. “You still have to confront your own truth to get to the center of the temple,” she said. “I hope you know no one can fake that. It’s not up to me. It’s up to Her.”

“Why don’t you just take us to the next section,” Katla offered. “We’ll figure out our own way from there.”