Serpents and Stairways

Chapter V - Part 3

Unlike the entrance, where ferns and moss cohabited the rocks, the inside of the cavern was slick like a tongue-caressed palate. Soon, turning her head back, Dinah had already lost the ability to tell the vignette of her vision from the black of the walls. The blot of light was getting further. The walls of the cavern were getting tighter.

At first they talked little and when they had to. Only the Dodgson counter, now in Georg's hand, would occasionally break the silence into waves of echoes. The tip of her white cane glided along the smooth stone as if on ice, and that silken feeling reminded Dinah of the skating rink in her dream and of the sense of falling that had followed her ever since that morning in the Grand Hotel. Intensity of the instrument's clucking kept rising.

"Was Timur afraid of the war breaking out?" she asked herself, "The military ranks are stamped onto the young northern aristocrats like brands on newborn piglets. So he'll end up at the frontlines no matter what he thinks—which is that... Wait. But what does the Commonwealth of Steel think of this? What does my country think?"

"Servantes," her voice spread out in grazing sawteeth of echoes, "You abstained from arguing yesterday, but you must have an opinion of your own, no doubt?"

"On the meaning of wars in mankind's history?"

"No, I mean whether the war would start or not. And if it does... I don't really follow the news, so I don't know the first thing about the political alliances or the agreements of the day. But let's say Pasha is right. Let's say Volkreich unleashes war. The Decafold Empire then will be on its side, will it?"

"With how things are—indeed it must. The lands of the empire, of Volkreich, and of Terra-di-Vittelli form the triple alliance and are sworn to battle on each other's side. That being said, were the war to come when the living ruler of the Decafold Empire abandons his throne, the story might be different."

"I see." Prince Franz was a known pacifist—Dinah suspected it to be Olga's influence. He admired the soldier's heroism in principle, yet in practice couldn't stomach a decorative hunting rifle hung over a doorway. "And the Northern Empire?"

"I'm afraid no. It's in an alliance with..."

"Right. What about the Commonwealth?"

When suddenly something flashed ahead of them, and everything stopped—the steps, the words—but the counter clucking.

"What is it?"

"There's a... string," Georg sounded tense, "A green one. Quite low to the ground, attached to hooks in the walls—one slightly higher than the other."

"But how is it flashing?"

"There's... How do I describe this? A shard of a mirror is threaded into the string, and on the shard there's a tiny hole—and there's a bell fastened through it."

It sounded like a chandelier drop, and possibly shared its flashy function of attracting attention. Dinah sighed, hung the cane on a belt she borrowed the day before, lowered herself and began carefully tucking the hems of the pants that were too long for her, diminishing the chances of accidentally brushing against things.

"There's a switch on the left side of the box, by the bottom. There's only one, you'll surely find it. Please turn it off. I think we should be making less noise going forward."

The sound disappeared. Although, of course, if the bell was here as an alarm for someone with a keen ear, the group would've been discovered already anyway. But what's done is done, and what was left was trying to not make it worse and dealing with consequences whatever those might be. Just in case, she tightened her shoelaces and, before standing up, she couldn't resist running her hand on the smooth floor of the cave.