The Blue Pearl 24 One Last Stop

"Haven't seen him."

"No."

"Don't know."

"No."

"No."

"No."

-were all the answers Tristan got as he asked around. It was not like he had expected anything else. Even before looking Tristan could feel his master was not there. Olean was still with him, silent and sharp. They traced all the places that his master had gone and then some more.

The deep tunnels and the ma.s.sive crypt, all newer territory he hadn't seen before. In fact he was forbidden from entering them by Nowsen. They were vast and wide and dark, that seemed to contain the entire mountain's belly. His master once said that if the temple was a man then he would be kneeling inside the mountain with only its head showing above the ground. Tristan didn't understand the scale of it then, he didn't still now but he was having a much better idea.

Upstairs, the villagers were preparing a feast for their imminent survival. Nothing fancy, just some meat and bread, but considering their past meals, it was Divine-sent. But Tristan still didn't feel much like partic.i.p.ating in it, he was looking forward to the food but not the mingling. Time he could spend doing something else, learning, reading, and practicing were always better than the people. He even wanted to give up looking for his master, knew it in his heart that it was futile. But Olean was eager, following one scent after the other and wouldn't let him. And he wasn't brave enough to deny her. And seeing how much she cared about her own master Ava, he didn't think she would understand him abandoning his.

So he pretended to care and followed the girl.

Piercing the darkness he saw they were on stone bridge up ahead over loud darkness. The water underneath was a river, a rapid that flowed inside the mountain. Another unfamiliar place.

"Where are we going?" He asked waving the torch around in a vain hope that it would pierce deeper into the darkness.

"He was here, recently" Olean answered, "this is the last place, only a faint smell."

"So he isn't here either then?" Tristan asked, bitter at being hauled around in their fruitless quest.

"We might get a clue." Olean hesitated and paused. "Aren't you worried?"

He wasn't really. But…

"I am but he was already dying. I have made my peace with it long ago. I just… want to move on." Some lies, some truth. He hoped it was enough.

Olean blinked at his answer and was about to say something but stopped short. And then, after a short and silent walk asked again.

"But… aren't you curious what it is we will find here? You said you haven't been this far down." Olean asked, with a slight hope in her voice.

"Hmm, I… am…" He was surprised that it was not a lie this time.

Tristan knew his master had taken trips down in the tunnel when he was better. Warning him to never follow after and sometime seven spend days missing.

What would he find there?

"This is the last place. I don't have any other leads after this…" Olean sighed. She had been leading them by her nose for about an hour by now. It was surprising that he was not tired. He had been running after the girl constantly through the dark hallways.

Nora.

Though he was not certain about it. That the saw called leader of Sharak's effect on him was more than just his deeper well.

"Then let's go." She frowned at his sudden enthusiasm and then smiled.

She hummed as they walked across the stone bridge, filling their quiet. "This is so big." She said with wonder as they stared into the wide avenue.

Tristan too only realized now. The ma.s.sive size of the structure they were on. Wide enough that his entire village would fit here. And the other end… he couldn't see it. There was the loud booming noise from underneath, water, a river. It was muted and far away he could still feel its ma.s.sive size.

"Was this really just a temple? This all… look so strange." Olean was looking around, her eyes glowing like emerald embers in her face. Another reminder for him that the girl with him was not just a girl. In that vast darkness and the ma.s.sive structures that surrounded them, Olean's presence was not diminished eve a little. In his mind, she glowed like a bright beacon. And out of everything there, his instincts told him, she was the most magnificent thing.
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"It's too far to walk..." She suddenly twirled in her place toward him. And gave him a helpless smile. He swallowed, not liking her suddenly predatory eyes on him. "I am sorry but this is the only way to make this quick."

He didn't even have time to think what he meant when he felt her strong arms under him and he was being carried like a new bride.

"Close your eyes." She warned and the wind hit him like a hammer. He heard thunder past him, wind buffeting in his clothes and tried to open his eyes. He raised his hands over his nose to be able to breathe and finally relaxed.

"I CAN RUN BY MYSELF!" He shouted despite knowing it to be false.

"No, you can't."

She answered or so he guessed. He couldn't be certain in the noise. He just held onto her as tightly as he could and hoped they were across soon.