Rogue Legacy - Jeffrey L. Kohanek (dark academia books to read TXT) 📗

was obscured beyond fifty feet. She found herself slowing, the heavy rain beating the last of her energy away. The Tantarri warriors at the lead reached a higher spot, a rocky rise in the canyon floor, and stopped. Gar and the others gathered into a cluster, gasping for air as Lyra settled beside them.

“We’ve lost their trail,” Wuli, one of the Tantarri warriors stated. “The rain is going to make it difficult to track them.”

Frustration was apparent on Gar’s face. “We’re so close.”

Lyra looked down at her feet, seeing a rivulet of water running past them, down the rocky rise. She turned toward the canyon walls and found water pouring down them, gathering at the bottom.

“This canyon will be dangerous in the rain,” Wuli warned. “It could flood in moments.”

Tiri and the last three Tantarri slowed to join the group, panting from the exertion.

Gar frowned and looked down at the water flowing past, steadily gaining in volume. “You’re right. We need to get out or find higher ground, fast.”

Lyra looked up at the canyon wall to the north, finding it a sheer rise of hundreds of feet and no visible way up. She spun about to look at the other side and discovered what appeared to be a narrow ledge about twenty feet up a moderate incline.

Thunder shook the canyon and lightning crashed, sending a bright flash crackling across the sky. The rivulet on the canyon floor became a swift-flowing creek.

“I see a ledge up there,” Lyra pointed toward it. “It should be a safe spot to wait out the storm.”

Gar’s gaze followed and he nodded. “Let’s try it.”

Lyra scrambled up the hillside, her foot slipping twice as she sought higher ground. When she reached the ledge, she found it wider than expected. It continued upward, heading deeper into the canyon. She walked a few steps and turned to find Gar helping Tiri to the ledge. Half of the Tantarri huddled beside him while the others closely trailed Tiri.

Without a word, Lyra continued upward, taking the ledge around a bend, where it became much wider, providing enough space for three men to walk shoulder-to-shoulder safely. She wiped rain from her eyes and squinted at the ledge ahead, finding that it ran as far as she could see, continuously going upward.

“Where are you going, Tali?” Gar called to her.

Lyra turned around to face the others. “This ledge continues for a while and is wide enough to be safe. I want to see where it leads.”

Gar glanced at Tiri, who nodded. He then turned and spoke with the others. While they discussed the situation, Lyra looked down at the canyon floor and found that it had become a river. Judging by the ferocious current, she knew that they had made the right choice to find higher ground. The deluge at the front of the storm had eased to a steady rain, which was more than enough to continue feeding the newly formed river.

“Wuli, Tiri, and I will join you while the others remain here,” Gar said as he walked toward Lyra. “We’ll see where this leads, but only if you promise to turn back should it become dangerous.”

“Of course.” Lyra nodded and Tiri smiled.

Leading the small group, Lyra walked up the ledge while she kept one hand on the cliff wall beside her. They reached a level spot and rounded another bend, only to discover that the ledge continued upward as far as they could see.

The trail leveled and widened as a rocky wall rose on the previously open side, tall enough to obscure the opposing canyon wall. Lyra slowed to a stop as she stared into the mouth of a cave, three times her height and just as wide. Tiri and the two men stopped beside her, staring at the cave with furrowed brows.

“Come,” Gar said as he marched into the opening.

When they stepped inside, Lyra wiped her forehead and eyes dry, happy to be out of the rain. The cave was dark before them, with the slightest bit of light coming from ahead. Wuli reached into his pack and pulled out a torch and a flint. After a few strikes, the torch began to smoke. The man blew on it, feeding air to the orange spark until flame blossomed, black smoke billowing from the flickering light as the man led them forward.

The cave walls were surprisingly smooth, the floor even and flat. They rounded a bend and the light ahead grew brighter. Lyra turned and found a dark opening in the side of the cave, eight feet tall and half the width.

“Another tunnel,” she noted.

Without a word, Wuli ducked through the opening, followed by Tiri, Lyra, and then Gar. The tunnel turned and Lyra noticed drawings on the wall, depicting symbols, horses, and people dressed in strange garb. As they continued down the corridor, Lyra inspected each scene drawn on the wall, finding images of various seasons and different events.

They emerged from the tunnel into an open chamber, large enough that the light from Wuli’s torch barely reached the far wall or the high ceiling. Gar continued forward, walking toward an object that sat at the center of the room. The rest of the group followed, encircling the object to examine it under the torchlight.

“It’s some sort of brazier.” Gar grabbed a chunk from the square opening and held it up. Lyra leaned closer, finding it black and smooth.

“Try lighting it,” Gar suggested. “I suggest we all step back first.”

They backed away a step, and Wuli held the torch to the black rocks, which soon began to glow. A small flame came to light and he pulled the torch back, the flame spreading across the brazier until its glow illuminated the room.

Lyra glance up and found the ceiling uneven. “This cavern is natural, but someone made the tunnels we took to get here.”

“There’s another opening ahead,” Tiri pointed past Lyra.

“Let’s see where it leads.” Gar waved Wuli forward.

Again, Tiri and Lyra followed the man while Gar took the rear. The tunnel curved until they reached a stairwell heading upward and another going down.

“Let’s try down first,” Gar suggested.

Wuli began his descent, using his torch to sweep cobwebs away, the thin strands lighting and instantly burning to dust. Upon reaching the bottom, Lyra noticed a light beyond the man. Seconds later, they emerged to daylight.

Lyra squinted as her eyes adjusted, blinking as she tried to comprehend her surroundings. They stood in a plaza, tiled with multi-colored panels of blues and oranges and surrounded by flat-roofed buildings made of stone – not assembled stone bricks, but walls carved from solid stone with no seams and few cracks. The doorways and windows of the buildings stood open with no door or window to fill them. Daylight lit the city, emitted from a massive opening above a rock wall that ran along one side, leaving open air between the top of the wall and an overhanging cliff that acted like half-a-dome, protecting the city from the rain that fell outside.

At the middle of the plaza, beside the outer wall, was a fountain, gurgling as bubbles stirred water that flowed over the edge of a knee-high wall and disappearing into a stone grate.

With their mouths open in wonder, Gar led them across the plaza, his neck twisting this way and that as he absorbed the view.

“What is this place?” Tiri asked.

“Who made it? And where are the people?” Lyra added.

“I…do not know,” Gar mumbled. “Wuli, have you ever heard of a city like this, a city built inside a mountain?”

“I know nothing of such a city…and I would doubt that one might exist…if I were not standing in it.”

“Hello!” Lyra shouted, the sound echoing throughout the quiet city. “Is anyone here?”

“Shh,” Tiri hushed her. “What are you doing?”

Lyra shrugged. “I want to know if anyone is here.”

Not moving, the group listened in silence for a full minute, but they heard nothing but the patter of the rain outside and the gurgle of the nearby fountain.

“Exploring the city will take some time. Let’s worry about that later.” Gar headed toward the tunnel they had taken. “Let’s see where the other tunnel leads, the big one we took to get here.”

Wuli followed Gar, the two men leading the girls up the stairs, through the corridor, past the flaming brazier, and into the dark cave from where they had first arrived.

Gar turned when he reached the larger tunnel, and Wuli shifted to the Tantarri leader’s side, holding the torch up as the two girls followed closely behind. They rounded another bend, their surroundings growing brighter as they approached an opening that led to daylight. Emerging from the tunnel, the group stopped and stared in wonder.

A lush valley stood before them, filled with long green grasses, trees, shrubs, and a shimmering lake at the center. Tall cliffs encircled the valley, their sheer faces containing it from the outside world. Lyra noticed the herd of horses feasting on the lush grass, halfway between her and the lake that lie a mile away. At that moment, the rain stopped and a ray of sunlight appeared, a wide beam shining down upon the herd and striking a rainbow in the sky above. Lyra doubted that she would ever see anything so beautiful as that moment. She stared in wonder, striving to capture and absorb every detail of the scene before her, hoping to bottle the vision to cherish and relive it as a precious, priceless memory.

“My people have many stories,” Gar said softly. “Legends that we tell around the campfire. One is of a land so beautiful, so pristine, that it can be the only true home to the Spirit of Nature. In the stories, this land is called Viridian.” His voice fell to a whisper. “We have found Viridian.”