Chapter Five

The next morning Maxine woke up hearing the bastard princes whispering, as if she could not hear them, she kept her eyes closed trying to listen as much as possible, to see if they would say anything she couldn’t know, or any information that made her mistrust them.

After all they had left her alone in front of a church before, and let an old man burn a scar on her belly, so she had good reasons to eavesdrop.

After a while she noticed they were just talking about things they needed to acquire, and how to find a certain weapon master, and how he was the best in the continent but refused to leave that terrible dirty village. Then they talked about how they wondered how their countries were since they left the Willow camp. Well, pile that up on top of all the other questions Maxi.

When she was about to open her eyes to let them know she was awake she heard Farak whisper “I think she looks even better here, what do you think?”, she knew for a fact they were looking at her now, she could even feel it.

“Careful, that is what I think…And she was always beautiful” Jake whispered back.

Maxine felt a warm feeling in her heart deciding she didn’t want to eavesdrop anymore, the compliments made her uncomfortable. She opened her eyes letting out a fake yawn while stretching her arms.

“Why didn’t you two just wake me up?” she asked them, sitting up straight.

“We know you were tired, and we’re going to walk some long way today so you needed that rest, we figured…Jake even used the ‘percuros’ on you so you could sleep better and not have a hang over…how do you feel?” Farak said, in his usual serious tone. So that was what percuros meant…

“I feel great actually, thanks Jake” and she wasn’t lying, this was amazing, “I thought we were staying here for a few days since you said you’d find a better room today…”

“We were going to, until you told us that you saw a man staring at you. You did see this man right?” Jake questioned.

Maxine went back over her memories of every minute since she went through the tub portal, recalling every detail, including the greasy man.

“Yes! Why would I make that up? He was thin, pale, black greasy hair, and dark lifeless eyes. He didn’t have any food or drink on his table, when he noticed I looked back he vanished” she explained to them.

“Curious…” Farak whispered to himself, “what did you feel when you saw him?”

“I felt, I don’t know if it was the booze, but I felt my fingers tickle with static sparks” she was starting to feel scared with the interrogation.

“Yeah, we’re definitely not staying in here another night…” Farak said, slapping one of his knees in affirmation, getting up.

“Shall we go?” he offered her his hand for support, as usual.

They got out of the room and made their way down the hall, listening to peoples private business in the other chambers along the way. Maxine wondered what time it was for the Tavern and Inn to be so busy with costumers, people downstairs were already drinking, fighting and laughing.

The trio went inwards the village, following what it seemed like a labyrinth of narrow streets, if by any reason Maxine lost them she would probably never see them again. Once again feeling her agony, or reading her thoughts, Jake said “If we get lost M, head back to the city wall, where we came in, and wait there…hidden if you can”. She just nodded her head in agreement… How she would find the way to the walls was another story.

They were at the foot of the east mountain of the village when Farak pointed to a set of never ending stone steps carved onto the ground, it traced the side of the mountain leading into a cave high above where smoke was coming out.

“Weapon master?” Maxine asked making the princes confused. They exchanged glances, then frowned at her, “Yes, yes. I heard everything…” she felt clever, tilting her chin up like she knew what she was doing she climbed the first of a thousand steps. Without looking at them, already ten steps ahead she yelled, “You two are quite handsome too…”

They were sweating, despite the cold, holding their cloaks on their arms, the princes taking turns on the heavy bag, when they made it to half of the staircase.

“Let's rest a little while, I feel weak” Maxine huffed, sloping onto the steps, her head on her knees, “I wonder if this weapon master has many costumers…” she joked.

“Come on we have to go, it’s part of some sort of test to be worthy of his of weapons, we have to make the way up in one day or we won’t be able to buy anything even if we had all the gold in the world” Farak explained to her. Fuck.

She got up, unbuttoning her doublet, and unlacing her shirt with the ruffled neckline, showing the sweaty skin of her cleavage to the cold breeze, then taking a deep breath of fresh mountain air, “do we have to make it down in one day too?” she asked, unhopeful. They let out a low laugh, but didn't answer, letting her think the worse.

They climbed the stairs for what felt like an eternity, when they arrived at the top it was already night time.

“Two more steps Maxine, two more” Jake whispered, his voice was hoarse, they had not drank or eaten anything. Maxine could not even speak anymore, she had no energy, her legs felt leaden, her foot had blisters all over, her knees throbbed in pain. As she finished the final step she took all her energy left to lift her head up to the colossal maw of the cave, she sighed in relief and passed out face down on the floor.

She woke up feeling her her stomach aching with hunger, her whole body sore like she had been pommelled for hours, she moved her feet caressing what seemed to be silk sheets. It can’t be, no way. She sat up slowly feeling the bed with her hands only to realize something that gave her a shiver of fear–

She was alone, no sign of her roommates. She started to breath fast, panicking.

Where are they and why would they leave me alone? It was one thing to be alone in the place where she grew up, but being left alone in a whole different dimension without knowing anyone or anything made her feel sick. It reminded her that they actually had done this to her when she was only four years old. Stubborn tears started streaming down her cheeks.

Maxine dragged herself out of bed stepping onto the cold stone floor, looking around for any openings, doors or windows, but she found none, the only light in the room was coming from the flames of the fire. Her heart was pounding in her ears, she could actually hear the rapid blood flowing.

The chamber was carved out in black marble with gold and white cracks, everything was stone, the fireplace, the floor, the ceiling, the four-poster bed she was in, everything apart from a tall carved wooden frame mirror.

“Farak!…Jake!…Anyone, PLEASE, LET ME OUT…PLEASE” she screamed.

She was feeling anxious and claustrophobic, "breathe Maxine, breathe…” she whispered to herself taking deep breaths, running her hands through her hair in despair while making her way to the only objet in the room. She looked into the mirror, at her reflection, and she felt her heart calm down when she saw the woman looking back at her.

Her hair was was fuller, her cheekbones were well pronounced, her lips were plump despite being dry, her brows thick, her lashes longer and fuller, and her eyes, her eyes were–

Maxine could not recognize herself in the mirror, she was stupefied, frozen with her own beauty. Her almond eyes had gone completely dark red except now it had golden rims, a beautiful degradê that went from gold to red to the black of her pupils. It was as if she had been a faded version of herself back in her dimension.

Eyes locked on herself she realised she was wearing a long loose nightgown made out of soft velvet with long sleeves that had a fine gold embroidery work along the hems. Maxine ran her hand over the fabric, feeling it, the softness, then brought it up to her nose taking in a deep breath to feel the lavender scent. She felt clean for the first time since she got to Morthir.

“Good, you’re up!” a familiar voice startled her. Farak was behind her in the reflection however she didn’t turn to look because she knew it was an illusion. Her suspicions were confirmed when his hand went through the mirror making the glass sway like a thin silk veil.

“Come…” he invited her.

She grabbed his hand like her life depended on it, he pulled her through the veil into his arms, “why are you crying?” he whispered. For some strange reason that only made her sob even more, hiding her face in his chest feeling ashamed for being so pathetically scared. Maxine had never felt so vulnerable, dependable, and weak, and she loathed it.

Farak lifted her chin up to make their eyes meet, the pale green and the burning red.

“It’s ok…We’re here, we won’t leave your side ever again” he said in a sweet but firm way, giving her his word, “please stop crying” he demanded.

She breathed a couple of more times before wiping away the tears.

“Why the fuck did you leave me alone?” she asked, finally leaving his embrace.

“I was with you the whole time, I just left for a few moments to check on super, I figured you would wake up starving”.

They were in a great dinning hall, all of it in polished marble, like the room she was just in, except this time the stone was grey with black cracked lines. Massive fireplaces at both extremes heated the place, torches lit up each of the enormous columns. A heavy looking metal table stood in the center, it had details worked on it made by blending different types of metal together, it was a masterpiece. Four metal chandeliers hung from the ceiling with candles burning bright. Not what I was expecting at all.

On the west side of the great hall there was a great balcony that had a view of the far rough rocky part of the cave. She took slow paces following the smell and sound of fire, furnace venting and clicking metal. Forges.

Holding on the the rail she leaned forward to realize they were inside a carved in stone castle, built inwards, completely hidden from the outside viewers.

Maxine was amazed at the size of the structure hidden beyond the entrance where she’d passed out, which was huge going from floor to ceiling, allowing the cold wild to flow inside to mingle with the hot furnace air.

The place went hundreds of meters high, but she could not guess how deep down it went because she could not fiscally see it. Two elevators brought rough material from the core of the mountain to the ground floor where men and women worked melting, forging and sharpening all kinds of weapons.

“I would never guess the size of this from outside, it's amazing…” she said, mainly to herself, Farak was quiet beside her, “where is Jake?” she asked, so casually it didn't even seem she was having a panic attack a few moments ago.

“He’ll be here shortly” he chuckled, “we are to have dinner with the Weapon Master of Mount Dyant…”

Maxine noticed Farak was wearing a white tunic that resembled her own night gown, but he still had on his black leather trousers. They were both barefoot, making their way back inside the grand hall. She was eager to see the face of the person who ran this giant factory.

“Why aren’t there any doors in the room I was in? Am I a prisoner?” Maxine asked him as they were taking their seats on heavy iron chairs at the table.

“You need only ask for doors my lady…” a deep voice echoed in the hall. She turned around abruptly to see where it came from.

“The name is Whartie” he went on.