Trial Run

I’d bargained at markets most of my professional life. How different could it be, bargaining with a goddess? The first time, she’d just shown up and made demands. This time, I wanted more. Actual powers, for starters.

You have to dedicate yourself to me in truth. None of this half-hearted business. And I want full access.

The door dragged forwards again. I dug my heels in, to no avail. Two hands poked through now. I could see an eye, too. Was it Katla peeking through?

I’m not giving you full access!

Well then! You can just-

A dagger swept through. I pulled a hand off of the knob just in time, dodging it. It jabbed into the doorway just past my arm with a twang. It had missed me by a hair’s width.

If you don’t help me, I’ll be dead, and you’ll be out of options.

That was a gamble, even by my standards. I was sure Andrena had lots of options, but she kept going back to me. Was it just the sword? Or was there some other reason she kept asking me to be her paladin?

Fine, she said. I thought I heard some petulance in her ringing voice. We will call this a trial run. When you see what I can do for you, you will understand that-

I don’t care. Just do it!

The knob was slipping away from us, and they were making no progress behind me. We had to stop it, unless I was willing to fight Katla and whoever else she had beyond the door.

As my hand began to slip away from the knob, the heat from the blade became nearly unbearable. It even began to glow, a pale white with green around the edges. I tried to loosen my grip, but I couldn’t- my hand was holding onto it so tightly my knuckles were aching.

My arm moved of its own volition, moving the tip of the blade so it pointed at the bottom of the door. I felt my entire body trembling as the blade stilled, the glow intensifying. When the blade finally made contact with the door, there was a faint clunk.

Then the door itself shivered.

It showed first as a trembling. A faint cracking at the bottom of the door. Then the door itself began to glow faintly. It stopped moving outwards, frozen in place as the bottom began to transform. What had previously been a normal plane of wood began to tremble. And…. Grow. It started as little tendrils, then full roots. They twirled out, seeking the stone floor and somehow plunging through, growing thicker until they were a tangled mass.

When the largest root was the width of my wrist, the glow dissipated. I stared as the knob rattled, but the door itself stayed where it was. I still had my left hand on the knob, but it wasn’t doing any work now. Those roots were keeping the door in place.

You’re welcome.

Before I could tell Andrena to get out of my head, a hand reached through and grabbed my wrist where my hand was resting on the knob. I tried to pull myself free, panicked. I wasn’t fast enough. Quick as a flash, a knife reached out and sliced into the back of my hand.

The pain was hot and immediate. As I tried to yank my hand back, a second hand gripped my wrist tightly and pushed a vial through the crack in the door, scooping up my blood. Katla? It had to be Katla. I hadn’t seen anyone else looking through the door.

“What was that?” I yelped.

Apis had stepped back when the knife poked through the crack, letting go of the handle. I used the newfound space and swung forward with the Abyssal Blade. Unfortunately, I moved too slowly. By the time it was in range, the hand had pulled back.

“Ow!” I pulled back my hand and massaged it. I was dripping blood everywhere, and I thought I could feel my other hand throbbing from where it had channeled… whatever that energy from Andrena had been. At least it had worked, it seemed. The roots were still holding strong.

Still. Why had she taken my blood?

“A miracle!” said Apis.

I poked at my hand and took a few more steps back. Andrena had stopped responding. “I want my blood back!”

The door didn’t move. Katla didn’t respond. I kicked at it, anyway. I could no longer see movement beyond the crack. Had they just run after stealing my blood?

Behind me, Duran cleared his throat. “Um, Madam Elysia? We’re out of keys.”

Great. All of that work, and the keys didn’t even match? I wheeled around and shoved the blade back into the sheath. It felt good to be back in control of my own body, at least. Even though Andrena had only taken over for a few seconds, it had felt like years.

“You’ve already checked all of the keys? You’re sure?”

Duran pointed to a large pile of keys. It had migrated, from the center of the room to just beside the door.

“We tried all of them,” he said. “None of them work. And I tried to kick it in again, but…”

I had gone in and offered my autonomy to Andrena to help us get through this section, and we still hadn’t found the key? Oh, I was sure there was some trick. Some little puzzle we had to solve. Probably some deep reflection about the reality of truth, or some little metaphor about squid. I didn’t care. I wanted to be out of here. My hand was still dripping blood and I had a horrible headache, although I wasn’t sure if it was from Andrena or the pipe hitting me in the forehead yesterday.

I strode past Duran and Balbinus (who was on the other side of the pile of keys) and knocked firmly on the door, three times.

There was no response. I knocked again.

On my third knock, I said sharply, “It’s not polite to keep people waiting! I want to speak to a manager.”

There had to be someone in charge. After a few more seconds, the door cracked open. A single eye peered out. I thought I could see a faint set of gray robes beyond. “You’re another one of them,” said the voice. A raspy voice. It sounded like a woman, maybe a little younger than me.

“I certainly am not!”

I didn’t know for sure who they were, but I thought I had a good idea.

“You are,” she said. “You’ve got a big sword, and you, you…” She was losing confidence by the moment. “Anyway, go away.” She began to close the door. “The temple’s closed!”

I wasn’t going to bother arguing. I pushed the door open. It seemed she hadn’t been expecting me to barrel through. With a shout of surprise, the woman beyond tripped backwards. I strode through.

There was faint bruising on her neck, and she seemed very distressed. When I offered her a hand up, she shrieked and scrambled away. “No! I won’t do it!”

At least the rest of my group hadn’t wasted time. I checked behind me to make sure, and they had all stepped through- even Balbinus, who had seemed reluctant at first.

We had come out onto something almost like a courtyard. We stood on a lip of stone only an arm’s length or so wide. Steps descended into a massive pool of water, clear and shallow at the edges but frothy in the center as a waterfall fell perfectly into the middle. Above, there was only the sky. It was night, I realized. I could see the full moon and a few stars for the first time in what felt like months.

Of course. I had seen the waterfall cascading into the temple from the outside, but I hadn’t realized it truly came down into the building itself. I wondered, briefly, how much room for error they’d given themselves (when it was a dry season, did the waterfall still fall into the center of the pool? Or did they have a backup plan?) before I realized there was something far more notable about the pool.

There was a squid in it. A giant squid, based on the tentacles I could see. It moved, shimmering, underneath the froth. I couldn’t see much. It must get deeper in the center, for that thing to survive.

I swallowed, hand back on the Abyssal Blade. “I thought squid only lived in seawater.”

“Through Teuthida, much is possible,” said the woman I’d knocked over. She pushed herself up and folded her arms. “Whatever you want, however much torture you put me through, I won’t break! You’ll never learn the secrets of this place through me, regardless of your trickery! She Determines All, And….”

I ignored her, turning to face the others and check that the door was closed. “Everyone, sound off. Who’s alive?”

It would be better to leave the door open for Aemelia, but… at this point, it was fend for yourself. She was better at fighting for herself, anyway.

“I think I got cut,” said Duran. “But it’s not on my cooking hand, so I’m probably fine.” He held it up to show me. “Aren’t I? Do you think? Or should I amputate it, to be safe?”

“Could you always do miracles?” said Apis. “That would have been very helpful in the Capital.”

“Were we always able to solve the temple by just asking for a manager?” said Balbinus.

I was about to answer all of these questions in order, but I was interrupted by a voice behind me.“Elysia?”

The sound echoed over the water, making it hard to identify the voice. I was already beginning to reach for the blade again when I finally made out the face. “….Herminius?”

“It is you! And Balbinus, would you look at that!” He was smiling, but he was bruised, too. I had to admit, I was surprised he had made it this far. “You would not believe what’s happened. Teuthida truly works in strange ways.”