Unleashed Fury (BloodRunes: Book 1) (40 page)

She was disgusted to find that the rooms
actually led to pits in the floor, pools of some nasty looking
liquid, or even in one case what must have at one time been some
sort of creature. There were the remains of a large something with
a spiked collar around the huge neck bones attached to a very heavy
chain. Whoever had built this place had certainly gotten creative
with their booby-traps.

Layna almost smiled at the reference as she
watched Gryffon blindly walk towards one of these ‘booby-traps’.
But seeing as how the situation was not at all humorous, and she
found that she had gotten a peculiar pang of jealousy as she
watched his fascination, she instead moved to intercept him.

She put herself between him and the woman,
and held out her hands towards his shoulders. He hardly noticed she
was there until he rammed into her, and he shook his head with a
soft, “Oof!”

He looked down at her. Annoyance flashed
across his face at first, then turned to confusion as if he was
suddenly brought out of a trance. Then his eyes roamed up and down
the length of her.

Layna narrowed her eyes, though she was
secretly pleased that he found her attractive as well. She removed
her hands from his shoulders to snap her fingers in front of his
face. “Hello Gryffon,” she said sarcastically, “Are you with me,
Gryffon?”

Annoyance once again took precedence and he
made a face at her. “What?”

“You don't see anything suspicious about
these lovely ladies?”

Gryffon looked around and squinted at the
women, some of whom were now removing articles of clothing in their
attempt to attract him. Layna could almost see his inward battle to
not be drawn in again.

She felt his mage sight extend towards the
women. As she watched, she saw his tendril come upon a ‘wall’, and
it was then interestingly misdirected back towards the
illusion.

“No,” Gryffon said, “They look very real to
me. Although now that I think about it, it is strange that they
would be here.”

“You think?” Layna scoffed, still miffed that
he had been distracted so easily.

“Well,” Gryffon said defensively, “what do
you see?”

For an answer, Layna ripped off a part of the
veil that had separated the hall with her knife, and dipped it into
the nearest pit, which was filled with a steaming green liquid that
burned her nose as she neared it.

As the fabric touched the liquid, it
immediately started to melt, letting off a disgusting stench as the
acid ate it. With her split vision, Layna could see this happening
to the fabric, but she could also see what Gryffon must be
watching. He saw the girl grabbing hold of the fabric, and drawing
her closer with it. Layna backed up a pace and held the smoking
veil in front of her, dropping it to the ground as the liquid
leeched up towards her hand. The illusion seemed to pale as she
moved it away from the pit, and Gryffon’s mage sight now focused on
the reality of the acid eating away at the fabric.

Gryffon's mouth formed a silent 'oh' and he
said aloud, “Well, moving right along.”

He led the way to another veil which he once
again pushed aside and ducked through. Layna followed suit,
suddenly keenly aware of her stomach which had been growling for
the last hour.

They hadn't eaten breakfast this morning, and
she was starving. Delicious aromas assailed her nostrils with a
vengeance, and Layna quickly looked up at Gryffon. He was already
halfway through the passageway, and it was filled with food on
either side of her.
Just a little taste won't hurt, right?
She glanced ahead once more to make sure that Gryffon wasn't
looking, and then she started for a table holding an assortment of
breads that were making her mouth water.

She didn't make it two steps, however, before
Gryffon's voice cut through her trance. “And just what do you think
you're doing?” he asked her.

“I'm really hungry,” she answered sheepishly.
“I didn't think a little nibble would hurt anything.”

He gaped at her incredulously “After what you
just showed me, you don't think that maybe this food is not what it
seems?” He gave her a 'you must be crazy' look and made his way
through the hall, glancing back at her to make sure she
followed.

Layna looked once more at the food, and then
concentrated looking through the food to the real image beneath.
Losing her appetite completely at the sight, and almost losing her
cookies as well, she hurriedly followed after Gryffon. She was
appalled that she had even been momentarily tempted.

She took a deep breath before stepping across
the third veil. Once across, she was immediately bombarded by a
barrage of horrible accusations being yelled at her and Gryffon
from people placed on little podiums in each of the alcoves.

Layna could see Gryffon getting more and more
worked up as the people continued their attack, some of them
foaming at the mouth in their vehemence. One of them had an uncanny
resemblance to Jezebel, and all were making pointedly accurate if
negatively skewed comments. Layna shivered at the complexity of the
spell that must have gone into the making of this trap to feed upon
an individual's particular life events, and was equally chilled by
the horrendous assortment of traps that awaited the person who
allowed their anger to overtake them and took a swing at one of
them.

Layna let out a gasp and leaped forward to
intercept Gryffon as he aimed a blow for one of the men. With her
double-vision Layna saw a nasty-looking bear claw trap as the man's
head. Gryffon's balled fist hit her hard against her shoulder, but
luckily it was a glancing impact and most of the force was lost
harmlessly in making him twirl around as he struggled to regain his
balance.

“What was that for?” he turned on her angrily
and balled his fist once more.

Layna didn't bother to try and explain, his
current level of anger making him irrational, but simply grabbed
hold of him and willed her double vision onto him in a desperate
attempt to stave off the attack that would next be aimed towards
her.

His anger seemed to melt away as the truth of
the room hit him, and he stared at her wide-eyed. “How did you do
that?” he asked, and then interrupted himself, “Oh Gods, did I hurt
you?”

Layna shrugged it off, though the spot was
still tender, and he gave her a contrite look but said nothing
else. The eerie quality of these hallways was getting to them both.
Illusions that tricked both your senses and your thoughts were
difficult to contend with.

They passed to the next section silently and
exchanged a puzzled look as the room became suddenly quiet, in
stark contrast to the cacophony of insults they had just left.

The hall was lined with mirrors of every
shape. Some were tall and thin, lined with gems and jewels worth
more than Layna could hope to ever have. Then there were plain
mirrors, rusting brass frames with cracked glass, and warped
mirrors that would change your appearance as you walked past.

Gryffon let out a sigh and moved forward, and
Layna once again followed behind. She nervously looked around with
her double vision again, and this time saw no indication of foul
play, but did not feel any better. In their short visit here, Layna
had learned that not seeing the danger only meant that it was that
much more dangerous. It was highly unlikely that the mastermind, or
masterminds, that had made this place had put four rooms with
unimaginable and cruel torturous traps only to be followed by a
harmless row of mirrors.

Layna looked around them as they walked and
her reflection caught her eye. She paused to admire the way that
the fabric clung to her figure, and as she looked she had to admit
that it was quite a nice figure too. She turned to face the mirror,
posing in front of it to see the outfit from different views. It
definitely was not the most flattering, her skin tone and hair
really would be complimented by a maroon...she gasped delightedly
as right as she had the thought, her reflection suddenly changed to
show her in a beautiful maroon evening gown. She happily thought
how much better it would look with earrings and a necklace to
match, and these too appeared. She smiled at herself in the mirror
and found herself drawn into her deep blue eyes, how mysterious and
lovely they looked.

“Hey, take a look at this,” Gryffon's voice
drifted into her reverie and she raised a hand as if to wave away a
pesky insect. She twisted her body so that she could see the
perfect curve of her-

“Layna!” a voice shouted in her ear. She
jumped backwards, cutting off her view from the mirror.

“What already, why are you yelling at
me?”

“I've been trying to get your attention for
the last two minutes,” Gryffon told her irritably, “and you've just
been standing here drooling over yourself in the mirror. Come take
a look at this,” he took hold of her hand, and led her towards the
end of the hallway.

Layna glanced longingly at the mirrors as
they passed, yearning to stand in front of them to watch her
reflection once more. She sighed as they passed each one, but
Gryffon only quickened his pace and firmed up his grip on her. He
pointed at the end of the hall, and Layna wrenched her gaze from
the mirrors to follow his pointing finger.

The last mirror, the largest in the hall,
showed an image of a very handsome young man sitting with his head
in his hands, gazing into the mirror in open admiration of himself.
Layna snorted at his vanity, but then blushed, realizing that she
had been guilty of the same only moments ago. Shame turned to
another emotion and a chill went down her back as she finally
really looked at the figure before the mirror.

The handsome image was not a reflection of
the man before it, but rather was what the reflection must have
looked like when the man first sat down in front of it. By the
looks of the skeleton draped in rags before it, that was quite some
time ago.

“I guess that's how this room gets you.”
Gryffon gave her a knowing look and Layna blushed again, following
him to the next room.

Her guilt grew and Layna found herself
wondering why Gryffon had not been affected by the mirrors while
she had. Or the room with the food. Gryffon was so good at
everything and was so sure of himself all the time, it just wasn't
fair.
Why can't I be strong like him?
He kept glancing back
at her with an odd look on his face until Layna finally stopped
short as he glanced back for the tenth time, and she asked
“What?”

He stopped, and turned to face her. “I was
just wondering how you were able to make me 'see' what you see with
your mage sight. It doesn't seem fair that I have been working with
magic my whole life and can't do half the things that you are
capable of.”

“Well, it's not fair that you got to work
with magic your whole life. I've spent my whole life trying to make
ends meet.”

“It's so unfair that just because you're
beautiful you get people to do things for you.”

“It's not fair that just because you are a
man and a noble you get more respect.”

“I wish I were you!”

“I wish I were you!”

They made this last comment in unison, and
the reverberations in the hallway echoed in the empty alcoves. They
stared at each other for a long moment before either spoke.

“I think,” Layna whispered slowly, “That
perhaps we should continue on. I don't know about you, but I have
the incredible urge to go on and on about how much better you have
things, but something inside me is screaming that we need to
leave.”

“I agree,” Gryffon agreed tightly, and he
turned on his heel to once more lead the way out of the room.

Layna breathed a sigh of relief as they
passed through the next veil and the overwhelming jealously she had
felt eased. The room on the other side was filled with armchairs of
every shape and size. Layna had never seen so many comfortable
looking seats, not even in the very expensive household of the Lady
Jezebel.

She took a step into the room, and suddenly
realized just how tired she was, and how inviting the chairs really
were.
We have been working awfully hard lately, we certainly
deserve a chance to rest for just a bit
.

She took a seat next to Gryffon in one of the
armchairs that the alcoves provided. Lazily she wondered if perhaps
she should have checked to see if these were trapped as well. But
she didn't really feel like doing it. She opened her mouth to
comment to Gryffon about how comfortable the chairs were, but
closed it again. It really just didn't seem worth the effort, so
she didn't bother.

The little voice in the back of her head was
screaming at her once more that something was very wrong here, but
she just couldn't muster the energy to concentrate on what it could
possibly be. She relaxed a little farther into the plush chair.

With great effort she glanced at Gryffon, and
saw that he too was leaning back very comfortably. He looked as
though he was about to take a nap, and she thought that seemed like
a good idea. Layna was distinctly aware of just how tired she was;
they had gotten up very early this morning for something. She
couldn't remember and didn't care to try and think about what for,
but she was very exhausted. She closed her tired eyes, letting the
embrace of sleep close in around her.

CHAPTER 34

Jezebel sniffed her disdain at having to lift
her skirts and soil her new shoes in the dank caverns of the ruins.
She'd have to go buy three more pairs just to make up for the
indignity.

The King was ahead of her, snaking through
the maze of caves like he lived there. She gave another sniff, he
was certainly showing the true colors of his non-royal blood; no
one of true breeding would find themselves caught dead in here. She
had debated revealing what she knew about his past to him, but his
close-minded obsession with finding whoever this person was
distracting him from everything else. She had decided to save the
morsel for when he would properly digest it.