As it turned out, Elena did know where they were supposed to be heading. A winding path through the forest eventually opened up to the increasingly steep slope of a hill, which she charged right up without hesitation. "Mom! Dad!"
"Elena?"
A woman and a man echoed each other in utter disbelief that made Mint chuckle. "Sounds like we've found our target."
They cleared the top of the hill, coming to a plateau where Elena had joined the couple that were most definitely her parents. Her mother had similar hair color, if brighter than Elena's soft pink locks, and they both had a similar gentleness to their expressions. Her father was currently seated by a snuffed fire pit, his leg propped up slightly.
Elena must have noticed at the same time they did. "Dad, what happened to your leg?"
"I just twisted it, it's fine," he said. "Really, nothing to worry about. I can still walk home. But Elena, what are you doing here?"
"What do you mean, what am I doing here? It's been five days!" Elena said.
There was a clear moment of chagrin from her father, who snuck a look at his wife, sheepish when she nodded. "I'm so sorry, honey. I must have just… gotten wrapped up in my work again."
"Of course." Elena sighed. "Well I'm here now, and it looks like you need to come home anyway."
"Yes, well, we'll see," he hedged. His eyes landed on Rue and Mint abruptly and he raised a brow. "Who are your friends?"
"Oh, this is Rue — I call him Polly — and…" she hesitated, glancing back.
"Princess Mint," Mint said smoothly. "At your service. We escorted your daughter after she ran into a little trouble."
"Trouble?" Her mother repeated.
"There were a couple thugs who tried to mug me," Elena said. "But Polly and Mint ran them off. They were amazing! Rue can turn into a pollywog, that's why I call him Polly!"
"I see." Her father looked at them with interest. "Well, I'm Klaus and this is my wife, Mira."
"A pleasure, I'm sure," Mint said. "Elena mentioned you're researching the local [relic]."
Klaus beamed, eyes bright with enthusiasm. "Indeed I am! I can't say I've really run into too many people familiar with it, however."
"It's what brought us to Carona," Mint said.
"Oh really? Academic curiosity? Treasure hunting?" Klaus asked.
"We've got a couple wishes to make," Mint said. "And this [relic] is supposed to be powerful enough to do that."
"I've heard some impressive tales about it," Klaus agreed.
"We've heard there have been a lot of magicians in Carona over the years," Rue said. "And that there were ancient ruins here."
"There are indeed several sites!" Klaus nodded. "My studies suggest that one of the magicians was actually an Aeon, and the creator of a [relic]. That's why we're out here, in fact. There were several magicians of old who made a study of the [relic] — I'm hoping to learn from their findings."
"An excellent idea," Mint said. "What was out here?"
"Well, we were tracking down the atelier of a magician by the name of Cadomon, you may have heard of him," Klaus said. "He did similar studies to my own, looking into earlier work in an effort to get the [relic]. I'm hoping to find some further clues as to where some of the older ateliers are and see what progress they might have made in finding the [relic]."
"What a coincidence! We're looking for the same thing," Mint said. "We should work together."
Rue side eyed her skeptically — they hadn't had anywhere near so clear a plan, but he couldn't argue that it had merit. And Mint was nothing if not adaptable to new situations. "That… really would be helpful, sir. If you don't mind."
"Oh no need to call me sir, just Klaus. Doctor, if you must," Klaus said. "And I think that's a fine suggestion. I think my wife is getting sick of running me around, unfortunately. I could most definitely use your help. Let me bring you up to speed on we're doing right here."
He hefted himself up, walking with a clear limp over to the edge of the plateau and waving them over. "You see, somewhere down there is supposed to be the entry to Cadomon's atelier."
Mint arched a brow, looking down the steep descent, nearly a cliff face. "Uh huh. And you tried to go down that, didn't you?"
"Well, it looked like there were some handholds," he said, rubbing the back of his head.
"There are," Rue said. "If you're used to climbing this sort of thing, it's probably doable."
"We could do that," Mint said immediately. "All you all have to do is go down to the forest and find a safer way around through there. Also doable."
"That may take some time…" Klaus said.
"So will climbing down safely," Rue said. "But it's going to be much safer for you. You don't want to risk further injury, Doctor."
"I suppose." He sighed. "Alright, be careful going down. You could come around with us, you know."
"This is fine." Mint flashed him a smile and a thumbs up. "We'll be down there finding that entry in no time. You just take your time and we'll have it all open for you."
"Well thank you. Mira? Elena?" Klaus glanced at them with a hopeful smile. "Shall we?"
Elena wrinkled her nose, but sidled up to him. "Alright."
"And now our turn," Mint murmured, looking to Rue. "You go first. I'll be right behind you."
"Try not to go too fast," Rue said. The last thing he wanted were stepped-on fingers.
The path down started steep, rock sharp and unforgiving through his gloves. But the thick leather held, and slowly as they made their way down there were better holds – ledges, eventually, which gave enough room to step down on solidly. Of course, at that point there were little creatures about – oversized rodents called stingers that curled up and rolled towards them, hides spiking up aggressively as they went for the ankles and feet. Of course, with both of them wearing boots it didn't work, but they gave it a good try. Rue aimed to nudge most of them back out of the way and continue climbing.
The rodent attacks started to peter off as they got back into a forested area, trees shading the cliff side and branches starting to reach in at them. It made climbing awkward and dangerous, but with the ledges it was still doable. He shuddered to think of the doctor trying to come down that way, however; while the older man looked to be in decent shape, athletic was not what had immediately come to mind.
"I think I spotted a clearing up ahead," Mint said, hopping down and dusting her hands off. She hadn't had the advantage of gloves, still stubbornly refusing to wear them, but there was no sign of injury so Rue didn't comment. "This way."
Rue nodded, following her. There was something off… it took him a moment to place it.
It was too quiet.
No birdsong. No animals rustling the bushes. Not even a breeze through the trees. Nothing.
It made him uneasy, the unnatural stillness of it all.
The forest opened up abruptly into a clearing, patches of old stone flooring showing through between grass that had grown up in the cracks and moss that had attempted to grow over it. Roughly in the center there were two pedestals, one of which had a gargoyle perched on it. The other opposite it was empty.
They paused a moment, observing, before Mint started right for it. "That's a fake."
"What?" Rue hurried after her, hand going to his blade's grip just in case. "How do you know?"
"I know everything." Typical Mint, and entirely unhelpful. She examined the statue with interest, staring into its empty black eyes. "It's a good fake, though. Very well done. I can see how you'd mistake it."
Rue huffed softly, but didn't comment. There was a tall section of wall several meters away, the same aged brown stone as the pedestals, with intricate carvings framing a wide circle. The whole thing was nearly twice his height, and his head barely came up half way into the circle itself. He took a moment to examine the carvings to the sides - some sort of griffin, with the body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle. They faced the circle, one paw raised and just touching the outer edge. Within the circle was the carving of a woman's face, her long hair flowing out in disorderly waves. Gemstones the size of his fist marked three points on the circle in brilliant magenta, blue, and green. Slightly smaller ones in a deep ruby shade were embedded on the four corners of the wall.
He was so entranced by the carvings that for a moment he didn't notice the inscription. It was in some script that he'd never seen the likes of, even in the manuscripts he and Mint had looked through. And yet…
Rue blinked once. Twice. The text blurred, seeming to rearrange themselves in his mind until he came up with two words.
Gargoyle face.
"Gargoyle face?" He repeated softly.
"What?" Mint had come over at some point, brushing her hand over one of the carvings. "This is enchanted. There's got to be a trigger for something around here."
"There could be a trap," Rue warned.
"It could, or it could be the entry to the atelier we're looking for," she said. "And I'm up for dealing with whatever traps this guy tried. Between the two of us we can deal with anything. Now what did you say?"
"The script says 'gargoyle face'," Rue said, brushing his fingertips over it. "Or 'face the gargoyle,' maybe?"
The words were barely out of his mouth when a wave of magic rolled over them, the gems flashing. Behind them, there was a shrill screech.
Rue whirled, pulling the Arc Edge around in time to see the gargoyle 'statue' launch off the pedestal at them.
"And there's the trap." Mint spun her hoops around, energy rising to her call and crackling at her fingertips. "Let's see how you do with a little shock."
"Be careful, more are coming," Rue warned. He'd never fought a gargoyle, though he'd seen them before. Tall creatures made of living stone that defied gravity with their flight, pale blue with bright red undersides to wings that shouldn't have been enough to lift them and sharp black eyes of a predator. He wasn't sure if they had any natural environment, or if they always appeared in enchanted areas. Guardians, more than anything, it made sense they'd be hidden around an atelier.
Two more came out of nowhere, somewhere behind them, perhaps from around the back of the wall, shrieking as they flapped closer. They were too heavy to move quickly — that they moved at all was amazing — but they would have to be dealt with. Rue's ax scraped against the stone with screeching resistance and he turned it around to use as a club, beating at one of the wings until it cracked off. The gargoyle didn't crash to the ground, however, giving proof to his suspicion that lingering magic was what kept it aloft.
Colorful swearing suggested Mint wasn't getting anywhere with her lightning, which didn't surprise him; not against a stone enemy, there was nothing to electrocute, and the shocks fizzled out on impact. Fire and water would be equally useless. "You need more force."
"Brilliant deduction, smartass," Mint said. "I see you're just tearing through."
"At least I made a hit," Rue muttered. He eyed the creatures, backing towards her. "See if you can exploit one of the cracks I've made."
"What?"
Rue glanced at her, smiling faintly. "Blow it up."
Mint grinned viciously. "Now you're speaking my language."
With the idea planted, it didn't take her long at all to figure out what to do. The cracks Rue's hits had made created a weakness in their structure that she was able to immediately take advantage of, blowing them apart in great chunks of stone. Together, they made much quicker work of the creatures.
When the last gargoyle fell, there was another ripple of magic across the clearing. The two fighters moved back to back in self-defense, Mint's hoops spinning around a readied energy attack while Rue held his ax up like a shield.
Instead, they saw a set of gleaming, translucent stairs appear, leading up into the sky.
