For a moment, nothing happened. But then a narrow seam appeared in the stone before the crypt door. It widened, spiraling inward like an endless seashell but carved from granite. The opening revealed a circular stone panel that sank slowly into the earth.

  “Well,” Nat said, brushing her hands together. “Either we solved it, or we just opened a very polite deathtrap.”

  “A polite trap is still a trap,” Connor muttered.

  Thomas leaned over the hole. Stairs descended into the dark below, cut from clean stone, framed by walls inscribed with more runes.

  “Someone really likes runes. I’ll take a look,” he said, casting his Holy Light spell to better reveal the stairs and what we might find beyond.

  I held up a hand. “Wait.”

  They all turned to me.

  “Remember all those books I read?” I was looking at Nat. “This is the part in the stories where someone says ‘I’ll just take a look’ and then ends up cursed, zombified, or temporarily allergic to air.”

  Nat raised an eyebrow. “Temporarily?”

  “It wore off eventually.”

  Connor smirked. “Right. So, do we rest first or descend into the darkness unprepared because we’re impulsive and curious?”

  I gave it a beat.

  “Option two,” Nat said brightly.

  I sighed, looking at Thomas for support.

  “I’m for heading down. We are in good shape, my casting points are nearly full, and we all need to get back to the city this afternoon for Guildfest and prepare for trials.”

  Connor’s smirk widened. “Yes, I don't want to miss Guildfest, especially since I will be representing my guild.”

  “Not Addie?” I asked, surprised. I had thought she was currently at the top of the class.

  He shrugged, guessing my thoughts. “All guild apprentices vote on it, and I guess they figured I had a better chance of winning. Her generalist skills are solid, but in straight attack power, specialists have an edge.”

  I wasn’t going to argue with him, although specialists also had a serious flaw if their opponent had protection against their element. Addie did not have the depth he had in fire spells, but he did not have as wide a selection across all five elements as she had.

  We looked back at the descent. The stairs were carved with uncanny precision, as if the stone itself had politely moved aside rather than been chiseled. Living with a master dwarf as I had for years gave me a better appreciation for such things than most humans.

  A faint breeze drifted up from the depths—cool, dry, and carrying the distant scent of old parchment and something faintly metallic.

  Thomas took the lead, his magical light reflecting along the carved walls, illuminating more runes—these more decorative than magical, as far as I could tell. Still, I kept an eye out. One could never be too careful in an ancestral tomb that warned of death in verse.

  “Smells like dust and regret,” Connor muttered from behind me.

  “That’s how you smell when you skip bathing,” Nat quipped, stepping lightly beside him. “I think the regret’s yours.”

  “Don’t confuse caution with regret.”

  “You confuse everything with superiority.”

  “I am superior.”

  I cleared my throat. “You’re both echoing. Quiet voices, please.”

  They had not bickered during any of our previous time collecting together, and I figured the stress was getting to them. I know I was worried. In some ways, this was worse than the werewolf attack. It had been sudden and urgent. Down here, if there was danger — and I assumed there was —we were intentionally walking right into it, when an easy option would be just to turn around and head home.

  “Hold up,” I said.

  Even though my voice was quiet, everyone jumped. I was right about the stress.

  “What is it?” Connor hissed, looking around at the stairs and wall runes.

  I set my backpack down. “I have a magical staff I made that I think would be helpful to have in my hands and not in the pack.”

  Nat asked, “What, now? You didn’t think you needed it against the werewolf?”

  “I didn’t have time to get it when we ran to save your cousin.”

  “Steady, there,” Connor complained.

  “I didn’t think I’d need it hunting turtles and roots,” I explained.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Nat put her hand on her hip. In the confined space, at least it was the one with the dagger and not the sword. “I did also warn you about the windstalker.”

  Thomas asked, “You weren’t joking about that?”

  She shook her head. “No, it was terrifying. My master handled it. If I had been alone, we wouldn’t be exploring these fun stairs together.” She gave us a meaningful look.

  Connor turned back to me. “Maybe you should get that staff out, and we can continue.”

  I placed my hand in the magical backpack and thought about the Dryad’s wooden battlestaff I made. It came at my summons and fell into my grasp. When I withdrew it, I couldn’t hide all the rings or gems.”

  They all gasped. Connor was the first to speak. “You made that, Gwydion?”

  The fact that he used my name and spoke to me in a polite voice said a lot.

  “Yes, it's my backup plan in case trials do not work out.”

  Nat asked, “That’s your backup plan? What are you using for the trials?”

  I spun the dwarven copper ring that I had used to cast the lightning bolt on my finger.

  “Five gems inside a ring. And they are all magical, not just decorative?” The elementalist asked.

  “Yes. Five elemental rings.” I agreed.

  “So, the spells Addie asked us to help with were for you?”

  “I didn't know you were one she had approached. Thank you. In fact-”. I paused as I reached into my robes for a second bag of rings. These were all blanks but prepared for use.

  “Since you can all use magic, here is a copper and a silver ring. They are called Single Use Spells. You put it on, cast a spell, or use a skill, and it immediately gets placed in the ring. It can only be used once, but it comes in handy because it is faster than normal spell casting.

  They accepted their gifts gratefully.

  “Are all the rings on your fingers and on the staff magical?” Nat asked.

  “All of them. Copper rings are for spell levels one and two, silver for three and four, gold for five and six, and platinum for level seven.”

  Thomas let out a low whistle. “I knew you were making rings since I helped with some when Steven wasn’t available. But I had no idea.” He paused. “Did Steven know?”

  “Not about the staff. You are the first to see this.”

  They stared a bit more, and then Connor cleared his throat. “I guess we should continue on.”

  I felt better holding the battle staff. I still knew there was danger, but having a weapon in hand with some very versatile spell rings made me feel safer, somehow.

  The staircase ended in a circular chamber. Its walls were lined with stone alcoves holding a wide range of dusty bric-a-brac, some urns, and a few scrolls. The other alcoves were sealed behind glass and housed a wide range of tomes made from various materials, sizes, and colors.

  At the center of the room stood a rectangular pedestal made of black rune-engraved marble, and resting atop it was a carved and decorated wooden box. An enchantment shimmered faintly over the lid—a barrier ward of some kind, old but still intact. My master was renowned for his expertise in ward spells.

  Unfortunately, wards were not a magical track I had followed.

  “This is it,” Connor whispered, more to himself than anyone. At least we were all being quiet.

  Thomas stepped forward, eyes scanning the chamber. “There are no remains here. This isn’t a crypt for the dead.”

  “No undead monster guards either, which is fine with me.” Nat added.

  “It’s a vault,” I said. “A place for what they wanted protected... or hidden.”

  Connor circled the pedestal. “So. What’s in the box?”

  “The ring,” Nat said, already half-reaching for it.

  I grabbed her wrist. “Not yet.”

  She looked at me with a raised brow, but didn’t pull away.

  “It’s warded,” I said. “I still have my magical vision up. And that rune near the base of the pedestal—see the spiral hook? That’s a dormant glyph of alarm. Touching the box would have triggered a magical alert. Possibly defensive. Possibly explosive. Possibly both.”

  I wasn’t sure exactly how it worked. Being able to read runes does not mean that I can use rune magic. Rune magic and wards are not necessarily the same, but in earlier centuries, they tended to work together, and this place was very old.

  Connor stopped walking.

  Thomas backed up half a step.

  Nat gave me a lopsided smile. “See? This is why I like you.”

  “I’m also good at parties,” I said, focusing on the pedestal. “Give me a moment.”

  I knelt and began reading the runes. I hoped that whatever they said would reveal what we needed to do. These runes were human in origin, but I also read Elven and Dwarven runes.

  Hey, I liked runes.

  I didn’t realize that I began to frown as I read the passage.

  “What is it?” Thomas asked after I had made my way all the way around the pedestal.

  “Assuming that what I read was not meant to be a trick, and actually represented the warding magic, there appears to be two wards. The outer ward’s easy. But the inner one’s tied to a key phrase. And if we guess wrong, it could lock permanently. Or worse.”

  Connor sighed. “Of course it’s another riddle.”

  “Worse in what way?” Thomas asked.

  “Boom.” I replied.

  “Ah.” He waved at me. “By all means, take your time to figure it out.” He went back to walking the room’s edges and looking at the books.

  “Should we try to break the glass and look at some of these books?”

  Nat was scanning the walls as her brother inspected the alcoves and books. “Maybe they left a clue somewhere.”

  They had.

  “We missed it.” She said, pointing above the archway we walked through to get into the room. There was a passage carved into the stone in smaller script. Fortunately for everyone, it was in Tradespeak. It read:

  Thomas stepped beside me. “A woman’s name. A matriarch?”

  “Likely,” I said. “And one known for making the pact that bound the family to the vault.”

  Connor crossed his arms. “Nat, did the map or your notes say anything?”

  “Only that this was The Lady Corvell’s vault. No first name.”

  We all looked at each other.

  “Do we try one?” Thomas asked.

  “Not yet,” I said. “We get one chance. Let’s tackle the easier of the two wards first.

  They all turned back to me.

  I pointed at the pedestal. “Written around the pedestal’s base was another riddle.”

  “Of course. Three riddles. That’s how they work.” Connor said.

  I didn't disagree with him. A rule of three approach was not uncommon in magic or riddles.

  “What does it say, Gwydion?”

  I read it out loud as I walked around the pedestal.

  No undead. No curses. No explosions.

  Just riddles, secrets, and a box full of questions.

  For now…