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Past that:Keep away those with magic or all will suffer.
Kind of late for that.
The spider shifted and turned its head before standing and scuttling out of the chamber, leaving her alone.
Fionna wiggled as best she could and flipped to her other side. A glance at the far wall showed more messaging.I will not forget thy sacrifice and it shall not be in vain, beloved.
Odd inscription. Surely it didn’t speak of the thing in this cave with murderous intent.
She recalled Kormac saying something about a glass wall. She squirmed once more, this time trying to move sideways. The strands of webbing had loosened somewhat with her agitation, but she still couldn’t wave her hands, meaning she couldn’t weave magic. She needed to set them free.
She saw the perfect solution in the rubble strewn on the floor by the far wall. Amber hued, sharp-edged chunks of glass. The picks that had pummeled it lay on the floor beside the broken shards. While the pick wouldn’t have a sharp enough edge to cut, the glass would, the dilemma being, would touching it infect her? A chance she’d have to take because she needed to get the webbing off.
She inched her way to get closer like a worm on dry ground. As she did, the excavation became clearer.
The wall of glass indeed held something.
A body had been preserved in the glass. A woman wearing a long cloak, her eyes closed, her long hair flowing down to her waist. She held an ornate box in her hands, a box that sent a shiver through Fionna and made the ring on her finger tingle.
A voice suddenly whispered, not aloud but in her head.
Open the box.
As if she’d listen to a strange voice. “No thanks.”
Take it and you shall be the most powerful witch this world has ever known.
She eyed the corpse. “So powerful the last one got entombed.”
You have no choice. There is no escape. No rescue.
“Kormac will come for me,” she stated with certainty.
The warlord is busy. The mountains are a dangerous place. So many feeble-minded creatures to choose from.
Like the spider. She almost shuddered. “I don’t need him to save me. I will save myself.” She wiggled closer, not for the box, but the glass shards.
Stubborn just like Laurella.
“Who is that?” she absently asked as she rocked against the glass, trying to separate the sticky strands.
Airiok’s wife. Greedy wench. I gave her everything she wanted. A mighty husband. A kingdom. More power than she could imagine. But when it came time for her to fulfill her part of the bargain? Betrayal.
The last bit made her frown. “Betrayed you how?” It hit her a moment later. “She wouldn’t let you have her body.”
We had a deal. I elevated her from pauper to queen. I gave her everything she desired.
“How?” Fionna found herself curious, and to be honest, if the thing was ranting, it might not pay attention to what she did.
I taught her the magic and strategy she needed to turn a simple stable boy into a powerful warrior. I helped herfell those who stood in his way when he chose to challenge the warlord. Showed her how to push back the dragons and monsters plaguing the land, making Airiok a hero.
“If she could do all that, why would she bother letting you have her body?” Even more interesting, how had this Laurella kept the spirit out?
Because only then would she have unlocked all her potential.
“Sounds as if she was powerful already. I doubt you brought much to the mix.” Fionna deliberately taunted. The more she knew the better.
Her gifts over the elements, even that of flesh, would have been enhanced with the addition of control over death. The armies we could have raised from the bodies of those that passed would have allowed us to rule the world.
