Kayla's eyes fluttered open to reveal darkness and crimson light fighting for control.  As her vision focused, cast shadows on the ceiling created a silent play of a familiar shape. A small head with short pointed ears danced and grew and shrank. She sat up and the room spun.  "My head," she whispered.  Letting the world settle, she closed her eyes and the darkness calmed her.  The air she breathed was dusty and the unholy stench was pungent.  If there was something she disliked more than being dirty it was an awful smell.  But it was part of being an adventurer she accepted long ago.

"Careful now," came a friendly voice.  Wess brought over a warm grin as he crept between the sleeping bodies around him.  "How are you feeling?"

Kayla ran her fingers through her silver hair and licked her lips to get moisture back to her mouth.  "A bit dizzy I'm afraid."  She glanced about the room.  "Are we in a—"

"We're safe," Wess assured her.  "I've checked every dark corner."

The Elf pressed her lips into a painful smile.  She glanced over to see Anyu sleeping under Haygen's massive green arm.  Both of them with their hands on their weapons, ready at a moment's notice.  Otis was comfortable on his back, eyes closed and hands folded on his stomach.  His big chest heaved up and down with each breath.  Kayla's focus went to the glowing red stone that Wess fashioned to the pommel of a dagger.  "Is that one of the rocks from..."

"Yeah," said Wess.  "I chipped it out of the Wizard's cave."  He handed her the dagger and she gazed at the stone.  "I bet if I polished it with some sand it would get brighter.  Just haven't had the time to tinker."

Kayla rubbed the jagged stone between her thumb and forefinger, then handed the dagger back.  "It's beautiful."

"Well then."  The Assassin fumbled through his belt pouches and handed her the largest one he chipped from the wall.  "For you."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course.  I carved about seven out while you all slept."

Kayla smirked and shook her head.  "You little sneak thief." 

"It's what I do."

She held up the stone that was the size of her palm.  It was crude and rough with bits of other black stone about it.  She scraped away some of the dull red and with her dagger and the Faeling was correct.  A brighter beam cut through the darkness. 

"Would you look at that," Wess said. 

"It's not a stone," said Kayla, "it's a crystal."  She rolled it over in her hand, the red glow mesmerizing her.  "Be careful with these, Wesley.  Just until we investigate them.  We do not know their powers." 

Wess knew all too well the magic of rune stones and crystals.  While rune stones were ordinary rocks imbued with magic, crystals beheld a power within.  "Well, I hammered away at them pretty good with my dagger, so I know they're not dangerous if I crack on them."

"True," said the Magic player, "but be cautious all the same."  She closed her eyes and tried to wish away her headache.  "I do not sense any danger, but crystals are clever.  The larger the more powerful."  She scraped some more spots off her crystal and set it on the ground. 

"Let's try something," said the Faeling always enamored with magic. 

Kayla nodded.  He had presented her with the gift, so it was only fair to entertain his curiosity.  Waving a hand over it, she whispered one magical word.  "Illuminos." Nothing happened. 

"What's wrong?"  Wess asked wringing his hands together. 

"Nothing," said Kayla, "like I said, crystals are different.  They have their own...personality sometimes."  She tried again with a different spell.  "Caratuur."  The crystal's light grew even brighter, lighting the whole chamber like a crimson lamp.  "You see?"

"Nice," said Wess.

"It seems this kind of crystal prefers the old ways," Kayla explained.  "Less direct and more polite.  Very odd."  Again she passed her hand over the crystal.  "Darfornum."  With that incantation, the crystal went dark.  She nodded to herself and lit the crystal again.  She eyed Wesley's dagger and thought it a good idea.  She brought her voice down to a whisper.  "Have any more of that strapping?"

"Yep." He dug in a belt pouch and brought forth the deer sinew he kept for making his crossbow bolts.

Kayla handed her Blackthorn staff to him.  "You mind?"

The Faeling wrapped it around the jagged chunks of the crystal and back around the staff.  Then he spit on his fingers to wet them and soaked the sinew. Finally, he gave it a hard yank and pulled it all tight.  Satisfied, he said, "Let it dry a bit...good as farmer's paste."

"Thanks," said Kayla, "It will do for now and this will come in handy I'm sure."  She used the staff to stand and steady herself.  She felt better holding it. Casting magic made one weak and it was always good to have a staff to lean on.  It may not be her fire staff gifted to her from the Order, but it was hers and somehow it was more personal.  She swung the staff, careful not to hit the low ceiling.  The weight was a little heavy.  The blackthorn wood had heft to it.  I will make it work, she thought.  She was trained in the ways of crafting magical instruments, but never attempted it...always focusing on flame...only the flame.  Fire for the trees.

"You alright?" asked the Assassin.

"Sorry," said Kayla.  She rested a hand on her friend's shoulder.  "This arrow wound is bothering me. Show me around?"

Wess decided it better not to mention the poison incident and led her to the middle of the chamber.

They were trapped in a large crypt.  The chamber was rectangular with a walkway up the center.  Eight large sarcophagi hewn from solid granite lined the walls on either side of the walkway.  One tapestry of old still clung to the northern wall like a large spider's web.

"Where did our strange guide lead us to?" asked Wess.

A voice came from behind them.  "This is Hathelia," announced Anyu.  She stared up at the tapestry analyzing the artwork.  "A great city of Men long abandoned and forgotten.  So it is told by my elder, Tu Tahn."

Kayla and Wess recovered their nerves.  Haygen and Otis sprung awake.  Wess gave them the 'all clear' thumbs up signal and they eased back to normal.

Kayla nodded.  "The people of New Hathelia.  King Alforn's lineage.  One of the five kingdoms that fled the East.  So, this was their original city." 

"I know not of New Hathelia, but adventurers from all over have searched for this city for as long as I can remember," said Anyu. 

"Must be of some royal lineage, or importance given the crypt itself," said Otis chiming in.  He analyzed the stonework and found it to barely pass his inspection.  "But no grave markings.  No names."

"No markings," said Wess, "but there are a few slots here in the sides of this sarcophagus."

Otis said, "Here as well."

Wess said, "A keyhole, but where is the key?"  He raised his red crysal and peered into the hole.  "I smell something."

"Besides this sewer smell?" asked Anyu.

"Yes, it's much sweeter," said Wess.

"What then?"

Wess opened his eyes wide.  "Gold."

"Gold?" asked Haygen.  His ears and eyebrows perked up.

"Could be," Wess said tilting his head. 

"Wesley, let's not forget we are stuck in here and we need to figure a way out.  Do we really have time for gold?"

"There's always time for gold," Wess reiterated his mantra.

"Maybe the key to getting out of here is in one of these coffins," Haygen surmised not wanting to abandon all hope of finding riches.  "Right now I would settle for a Dwarven ale, or a smoke,"

"Looking for the keys to these sarcophagi could take an age," said Wess.  He broke out his lock tools and got to work.  He squirted a bit of oil into the hole.  "Breaking them open could spring a trap like the front door."  He glanced at Kayla's leg.  "If these locks are anything like the locks in New Hathelia..." 

An audible click echoed through the crypt, then a second one.

"Gotcha.  Help me with this, Haygen," said Wess.

Haygen looked to Otis for confirmation and the Dwarf gave him a curt nod.  He squatted low and pushed the heavy stone lid off to the side.  The lid teetered off the edge and slid to the ground with a loud thud. 

Wess pointed at the inner mechanics of the old lock.  "The lock...and the trap."  Coiled springs under a long, sharp blade ready to swing and slice unless the lock was opened properly.  He snipped the spring with a clipping tool to disarm it.  "Now for the coffin."

The coffin was of chaga wood, but bore no markings, nor finery.  It was a solid resting place that still held its form, but the lid was easy to break through and lift off without worry.  Inside lay the skeleton of a warrior in full metal armor.  An ornate longsword rested on his chest and pointed down.  A "V" shaped kite shield lay covering his knees and pointing down as well.  His jaw was open and jagged teeth protruded out as if the warrior was still screaming in his final death throes.

Without warning, or permission, Anyu gripped the longsword and removed it from the corpse.  "A fine blade.  Still sharp."  She unstrapped her own scabbard and replaced it with the warrior's that was heavily engraved with silver.  Slowly, she was looking more the part of the experienced Ranger.

"Hold on, let's have a look at that blade," said Kayla.

Anyu held it up for her and the Wizard nodded.

"Seems to hold magical properties, but I haven't the ingredients for a full investigation."

Kayla promised her she would find out exactly what the sword was imbued with as soon as she could.

Otis and Haygen took apart the armor set and spread it on the floor.  They sized several pieces up to the Dwarf, but they were either too long, or not large enough around.  The cuirass was cracked with a large puncture in it.  The killing blow? Otis wondered.  However, the shield was a decent fit, though not round like he preferred.  It was of a thinner ceremonial make, but it was better than no shield at all.  It bore a standard of an Elk's head with long antlers. 

Otis raised the shield.  "The Elk."

"Indeed he is one of Alforn's line," said Kayla.  "Which King Alforn it is difficult to say.  Judging by the decay of the city, more than six or seven centuries."

Giving up on finding any gold on the old warrior, Wess waved held up his gleaming red crystal and glanced about the walls again.  "This place though...it does not have the appearance of a royal tomb."

"Perhaps if we could talk to your King Alforn he could tell us," said Anyu.  "Maybe even Tarry Smallfoot would know if we could reason with him if his people were not acting like fools."  She shrugged and pointed to the north wall.  "Maybe the tapestry can reveal something." 

They all moved to the withering tapestry.  Pictured on it were several panels that spoke a tale. 

Wess barely grasped the corner of the tapestry and it dropped to the cold floor in a heap.  Instead of falling like a sheet, it fell apart into a pile of fine threads like a mouse's nest.  "By the gods!"

"Wesley!" shouted Kayla. 

"I barely touched the thing," Wess said.  "You all saw it."

The Wizard shook her head.  "If only you'd waited so we could get a good look at it."

"Well, you found something," Haygen said.  He pointed to the wall that once held the tapestry.  A set of stone double doors similar to the ones they entered by.  Except, in the center where the doors joined, a large bronze medallion was recessed into them.  Arcane symbols were engraved into the bronze.

"This lock is bound with magic," Kayla said answering the unspoken question.  "A simple one, but magical nonetheless."

"Sure is an old one," Wess agreed.

"Can you open it, Wess?" Anyu asked.

"I leave these to our resident magic expert," said Wess.  "I've learned my lessons."

"Is it keeping people out, or keeping something in?" asked Kayla.  She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.

Otis picked up his hammer.  "Either way, I'm not about to dig through thirty feet of rock and dirt up that stairwell.  We'll run out of air.  This could be the only way out."

"Agreed," said the Half-orc.  "Blasting the rubble with magic would either attract the Giants, or maybe make it collapse even more."

Kayla nodded.  "Looks like we open it.  Shall we open the remaining coffins first?"

They thought it wise to do so for their supplies were short.  However, they merely discovered the same equipment as the first.  Skeletal Knights in damaged armor, a sword, and a shield.  Some were missing limbs and one a head.  To Wesley and Haygen's dismay, there was no gold.  They all agreed the unnecessary arms and armor would be left behind as a cache in case they ever decided to return for the loot.

Otis said, "Alright then.  I'm afraid our water is gone.  How are we doing on rations, Haygen?"

The Half-orc removed the last of Bogu's dried meat from the saddle bag.  "Our last meal for a while."

Kayla clenched her teeth.  She could not make water, she could not make food, she could not make wind.  She and her friends continued to suffer because of her lack of skill with magic.  "I'm not hungry," she muttered.  Flinging up her hood, she spun away from her friends and found a corner to console herself.  "I need a moment to find the key spell."

"I will save it for you," said Haygen.

"No," the Wizard turned her head slightly towards him.  "Please split my share.  I'm not hungry." 

The Half-orc looked to the eyes of his friends.  A shadow of concern fell over them.  Haygen pocketed the meat for her later. 

Otis, not really understanding Kayla's concerns, thought it best to keep her busy as he would any soldier.  "Everyone take count of your gear and let's get ready to move."

"I have but four arrows," said Anyu nocking one to bowstring.   

"I'm out of bolts," Wess said locking down his small crossbows into their holsters.  He drew Ravenwing and flipped the blade end-for-end.  A second dagger found his empty hand.

Otis gripped his warhammer and his new shield, while Haygen waited patiently with Icefang resting on his shoulder.

Kayla turned from her corner and approached the bronze lock, her eyes two chips of smoldering cobalt. Her hands flashed in front of her, her blue fingers intertwined in an arcane gesture. "Sal Portum Diren!"

The lock and door stood still.

The Wizard pressed her lips together and her brow furrowed.  The old ways for this lock as well, she thought.  "Wesley, give me a coin please."

The Faeling opened his mouth to protest, but immediately thought better of it.  He handed her a gold crown from his coin purse.

Kayla greedily accepted the coin and clutched it in her hand.  She slammed the bottom of her fists together and quickly pulled them apart, releasing the tension in her hands.  "Sal Portum Silas!" 

The coin vanished, consumed by the spell.  The bronze disc rotated in a complete circle. The stone doors rocked towards them just a bit and dust fell from the seams.

Kayla's shoulders slumped in relaxation. She exhaled and lifted her chin remembering that some things did go her way once in a while.

"Well done, Kayla," said Otis.  "Let's see if we can find our way out of here."

A/N - I'd like to dedicate this one to my anonymous "silent" readers. I do appreciate you and I hope you are enjoying the story!