Chapter 124Of Mortar and Pestle

The spiral stairway was very dark and proved quite solid. Pure stone, no wood anywhere around for support. The stones themselves appeared to fit together perfectly, giving me food for thought about how they build this place. Me, Nuru and Faith headed in while Afentis took up the rear. He knelt down by the entrance after we had head in.

"Not cement." He talked softly.

I turned around. "What?"

He stood up and smiled. "The order didn't find this. No one did. We're the first."

"Because?" I wondered out loud.

"The mortar used for this wall is old, not cement. So they closed this before the fire. I wonder why though."

I rubbed my hands. "Great! Protected secrets below!"

Faith handed me the torchlight. It was a sort of open flashlight with some LED's that gave an even blue-white light. It wasn't concentrated in a beam and gave of a nice light to see by. I hoped the batteries would last for long enough.

Nuru stayed at my side as we headed down the stairs, deeper into the lower Abbey. The stone was old and gray, without any decoration save for the rusted torch holders in the walls. The layer of rust on them was subtle though and appeared to be no more than superficial. Maybe the water didn't get down here. But our torchlight was enough. It did give a cool, distant hue over everything we saw. But it felt safer than a real torch.

Though it would have been nice to have one.

The corridor we ended up in reminded me of the church we saw the order in. But in reverse.

We ended up in a large hall with many old desks, surprisingly intact. As we came closer we saw the desks were well-treated wood that would last for ages before they would collapse by damp or other. The air was in fact surprisingly dry. Something that would surely change now that we had opened it up. That, however, was a worry for later. Now it was time to explore.

The desks were very uninhabited, strengthening the feeling they had walled up this part before the fire. There were no ink-jars anywhere, no visible scrolls or other personal stuff visible. Yet, it didn't feel like a dead place. There was a gentle silence down here. Our footsteps, despite being reverberated around, came back as warm full sounds.

"They took it all with them." I spoke silently.

Faith pinched my arm gently. "Think we will still find anything here?"

Nuru giggled, her voice like crystal in the large room. "Miss Amy will find something. They took a lot, but not everything."

I turned around. "How do you know?"

She smiled warmly, visible to my intense vision. "I saw it in a dream. You protected me."

Leaving me confused she walked a few more steps. Faith followed and looked back at me, pulling me almost with her glance. Afentis smiled as I picked up my pace. Nuru was walking in front now and suddenly I had a feeling of something about to happen. Nuru's words were still echoing in my mind and I just knew something would happen.

I ran toward her, the doorway at the end of the hall she was standing. But everything was alright. Faith smiled softly and shrugged, we just continued walking toward the arches in this corridor. We were only a few steps in when I heard a noise from the ceiling.

Our footsteps apparently loosened something off the ceiling and made a large, squarish stone fall down toward Nuru!

Without even thinking I surprised myself by not pushing her away. Instead my hand shot out toward the stone but was unable to reach it. Yet... The stone moved direction as if I had almost caught it and moved it to the side.

Nuru hadn't moved, she simply smiled.

Her voice came into my mind, I never noticed her speaking. "See?"

It was the last thing I heard before I fainted. It was like an enormous weight that pulled me down. Much heavier than the sleep that came daily. More like being knocked unconscious like I had felt not too long ago. I wanted to panic, but my body didn't let me. I simply collapsed.

Seconds passed.

Faith sat to my left, knelt next to my body on the ground. For a moment I saw a flash of the whole situation as if I was standing a few feet away. How odd. I saw Afentis standing behind Faith, looking worried but not unduly so. He was also wearing a very strong expression of surprise. What did I do?

Nuru sat on the other side and tended to me with materials handed to her by Faith. Both of them were a bit giggly and their crystal laughter rang through my ears as it echoed around.

The walls disappeared, causing me to see the whole layout of the church as it had been. It didn't last but it was enough. My sharp memory picked up all the details presented to me and allowed me to analyse them with care and patience. I blinked and looked at Nuru.

"Your dream?" Where did those words come from?

She nodded. "Yes, Miss Amy."

Sitting up, I couldn't help but smile. "Then I know where we have to go."