"Would you prefer to navigate or watch out for the traps?" Sarai deferred to her friend. But by the smirk on her face, she already knew the answer.
"Even with the map, I will still run us into trouble. You tell me what to watch out for, and I will keep us safe." Noble passed the map to the fiery awakened.
Both women looked at Kosi. The Symncus was clearly not meant for the small door that had formed. It was taller inside the tunnel but seemed to be made to fit no one bigger than the Beast God's priest.
'Another safeguard against the Tyrant since his human form was taken from him.'
"What do you think, do you want to try and come?" Noble asked the golden-haired creature.
Sniffing at the entrance, Kosi snorted. His face twisted in a way that Noble had never seen. The Symncus whined and pawed at the ground.
Seeing his reticence, Noble patted him lightly. "It's ok. You can stay here. We will be back soon."
Kosi whined again, rubbing Noble with the top of his head.
'I wish I had Counsel's gift to know what he is saying,' Noble smiled and hugged the concerned creature around the neck...well as far around his new puffy mane as her arms could reach.
"We will be back soon. You can wait here. If something goes wrong, find Counsel right away." Noble would fill the other protector in on her discovery when she returned.
The curiosity to see what the tunnels held was too great. She could almost hear it whispering to her, beckoning her forward with an irresistible pull.
Kosi whined once more, before laying down dejectedly and placing his chin on his paws. It was the most adorable thing she had seen outside of her children's antics.
"Sweet Kosi," Noble blew him a kiss goodbye.
Then she summoned two Memories. The first was the most necessary. It was the [Lucent Taper]. There was no visible light in the tunnel, and bringing a luminous memory made more sense than carrying a torch. The candle flickered in her hand.
The second Memory she called was the [Bread Crumbs].
Taking a step, Noble looked behind her to see the luminescent crumbs she left behind.
"Can you see those?" she asked Sarai, motioning to the glowing tidbits.
"See what?" the redhead furrowed her brow as she looked behind the other woman.
Holding out her hand, Noble allowed Sarai to touch the oddly shaped stone.
"OH!" The fiery woman gasped. "What are those?"
"These are bread crumbs. The map should lead us straight to where we need to go, but if we somehow end up in a labyrinth underground, this will be our assurance that we can get back to the surface." Noble explained.
'That answers the question of if others can see it!' There was a small part of Noble that wondered if everyone could see her glowing trail when she had chased Derik. It was a relief to know that the only one aware of her folly was herself.
Sarai summoned her protective tunic and a helmet for her head before pulling her cloak around both. If she was going to be looking down at the papers, it was a good idea to protect her body and head.
Not that Noble would ever let anything happen to her.
Passing the candle to Sarai and tucking the [Bread Crumbs] away, Noble pried the bracelets from their home and put them back on her wrists. Then, drawing her sword, she entered the abyssal darkness.
"Hurry!" Noble heard the soft rumble of the ground that had precipitated the door opening. Sure enough, it swung shut catching the edge of Sarai's cloak.
The younger woman pulled it free just in time. "Whoa!"
The inside of the door looked much different. Instead of a stone facade, it looked like a steel frame encasing glass.
The two ladies could still peer inside the arena as if they were looking through a massive window. The golden Symncus lay on the floor exactly where they had left them.
Sarai waved. "Hello, Kosi!"
Of course, the sad creature could not see them, but his ears perked up at the sound.
"Oh!" The redhead covered her mouth. "Sound travels. I hope he knows it was me and doesn't think it was a ghost."
"There are already some palace boys who think this area is haunted. I still wonder if Emira did that on purpose or accident?" Noble allowed a small smile to come to her face.
As much as Noble wanted to hate Emira to feel better about going after the throne, the thought of her having a sense of humor and scaring little boys into behaving made her laugh. It was more likely that she wanted to keep the secret of the tunnel safe, but Noble liked that explanation less.
'The one-way window must also be how Emira knew when to time her exits.'
If the Queen came down here often, then it was the only explanation as to how Noble and Counsel had never seen the door open before.
'And that is why this area is the least likely to crack. It has the strongest magic supporting it...'
It was truly a marvel!
As Kosi settled down to nap, the women pulled their eyes away from the strange magical doorway. They hadn't come to see it anyway.
Speaking the Names of light and growing brighter, Noble lengthened the Lucent Taper's reach. Noble couldn't pull light out of the darkness–at least not yet–so enhancing the available light was the best she could do.
But it was enough. Since the hall was narrow and not terribly tall, they could see all around them without any problem.
There would be no chance for a surprise attack unless a creature burrowed through the walls. But that seemed extremely unlikely.
The sorcerer had not made Crestfall's protection simply a dome, he had made it a complete sphere. So somewhere deep below them and out to both sides, the matching invisible barrier protected them from outside forces just like the surface.
Crestfall existed in a gigantic bubble.
And if Noble had anything to say about it...it always would, safe from any harm once the Tyrant was dead.
No matter what became of this Nightmare when she left it, Noble wanted to have the peace of mind knowing that she had done her best to protect them.
"Slow down, we are getting close." Sarai squinted at the paper and then mentally calculated the distance.
Noble tensed. They would need to disarm or avoid the obstacles on their way or they would end up in a very sticky situation.
"Just another couple of steps. Wait, no. Stop now!" The redhead's panic caused Noble to halt faster than her words.
"What is it?" Noble gripped her sword, using her second sight to sense for enemies. The only thing she found was an anomaly on the wall that was unnoticeable to the naked eye. There was an invisible seam which ran the length of the wall and across the ceiling and floor.
On the other side of the seam which was hidden in the rock...
lay a small pile of undisturbed ash on the floor.
They had come to the first trap.