The Lilliad ch 21

“Elathor! Ser Alcuin! Lorit! BENK!” Lilli screamed, hearing the desert wind swallow her voice whole. Her heart and feet were pounding, and she pushed herself forward in sheer panic.

They didn’t seem to hear her, none of them turned around. Elathor slipped out of view, closely followed by Lorit and Ser Alcuin, who at least had the sense to be holding up their shields defensively.

Benk was definitely struggling, and was slowly making his way into the large entryway.

“Benk!” She shrieked, as high and as loud as she could manage. He didn’t respond. “Don’t go in! Wait for me!”

But he trudged ever forward.

‘Of course I couldn’t catch them in time.’ She lamented to herself, watching Benk drag himself into the palace.

The massive stone doors slammed shut.

It was like there had never been an opening there at all.

“NO! No no nonono…” She began to feel faint, but kept running.

‘It’s my fault. I should have stayed with them.’

“Oh my, the door disappeared.” Igni remarked loudly, from behind her. “Whoever would have guessed that whatever moved the walls could also do the exact same thing to doors. Almost like they have control of stone and sand or something.”

Lilli couldn’t really appreciate the sense of that right now. All she could think of was Elathor in there, distracted and almost certainly outmatched.

‘I don’t trust the knight, and I’ve never trusted guards.’ She bit her lip in stress. ‘They might not be able to keep Elathor safe.’

The former door, now wall, stood resolute and with absolutely no holes in it whatsoever. Not a window, or a balcony, or a little foothold.

‘There were definitely more doors and windows when we first saw it.’ Lilli looked up and examined it for weaknesses. There was nothing she could climb, nothing she could crawl into. Which meant-

“Igni!” She shouted behind her. “Can you make a hole in this wall?”

Igni laughed ghoulishly, charging ahead like a force of nature. They raised a torso-sized fist, and Lilli ducked.

There was a loud boom, just before debris and dust sprayed out everywhere. The tiny and not-so-tiny rocks cut into Lilli’s skin and smacked into her body, knocking her to the ground.

Her ears were ringing, and the world went in and out of focus. It was so bright, and then it was dark again.

Lilli closed her eyes, and swallowed dust.

When she opened them, Igni’s face was looming above hers.

“I’m REALLY good at making holes.” Igni said, sounding pleased. “I’m glad you’ve noted my work.”

Lilli crawled to her feet and looked at the hole in the wall. The edges shifted and shimmered, like they were trying to close.

“We should hurry and get inside, before that thing heals itself.” Igni clapped their massive hands, sending more dust flying. They picked Lilli up and put her over their shoulder. “Up you go.”

The palace was quiet.

Elathor and the others weren’t in sight.

“Thank you, Igni.” Lilli groaned. From her position over Igni’s shoulder she watched the wall begin to close up, slowly but with purpose. Spiderweb-like strings spread out and attached to the other side.

‘It’s like a living thing.’ She suppressed a shudder. “Igni, you can let me down now. We should find the others.”

They walked through massive halls, empty and somehow cold even in the desert. Old tapestries hung from walls, depicting battles and long-dead monarchs.

‘I bet no one even knows their names anymore.’ Lilli eyed a sand-damaged statue, details blurred by time and tragedy. ‘This place seems wiped from history.’

The walls and floors swallowed all sound as Igni and Lilli walked along. Lilli looked for signs of Elathor’s passing, but all the expensive-looking small items seemed to be in their places and there were no scorch marks anywhere. There was no sound or sign of battle.

‘That’s worse, somehow. They’re just… gone.’

Something moved farther along the main hall, in a room off to her right. Lilli crouched on instinct. Igni moved towards the wall. They crept closer, as stealthily as they could manage.

Then Ser Alcuin flew out of the room and hit the wall opposite with a sickening crunch of metal on rock. They slumped to the ground, then tried to stand up. Their shield was gone.

“I’ll get your little knight.” Igni groaned. “Go find the magician before they’re crushed into a fine powder.”

Lilli didn’t need to be told twice. She dove into the room, rolling on the ground and popping up with her daggers out. But she didn’t see anything. Puzzled, she looked around the room.

“Psst.”

She turned, and saw a single talon poking up above a large stone table.

‘Oh, thank Tuul.’ She even felt mildly religious in the moment. Elathor was her first real friend, and the only person who knew what the hell was happening. If they died, everyone was in trouble.

She was momentarily distracted by a jet of acid that narrowly missed her body.

“Look out!” yelled Benk. “It’ll burn your skin right off!”

“Shit.” Lilli said passionately, then leapt towards Elathor. She dodged more sprays of acid, noting with increasing panic that whatever was making the acid had a lot of it.

When she turned, she realized something. What she’d thought was a massive fallen statue… was just a stinger.

Stingers tended to be a smaller part of a creature. This one was bigger than Melthior’s shop.

‘Time for a retreat? Yes? Yes.’

She ran and ducked behind Elathor’s hiding place.

“Well, you were right,” Lilli agreed.

“Yes?” Elathor said, cowering underneath the table.

”The research survived.” She said it dryly.

Said research bellowed furiously.