Chapter Five: The Inquisitive Stray Spark
Kaita stood, her eyes widened and her mouth ajar as she saw the stone monolith door open outward. She stood there for another few seconds and then grinned her inquisitive grin, and began to laugh. She laughed at the fact that, for years, she had searched for a lever or a button or some mechanism or word phrase to open the door and in all that time, she had never considered the fact that these ruins were rumored to be home to pyromancers, and that the door would respond to pyromancies! Such a simple way to open, she though as she continued to laugh, yet quite difficult a key to procure. She gulped for air finally and pulled her water skin from her gear and drank greedily from it, still snickering as she did, spilling some water over the dry stone floor. She looked down at the floor, still smiling but more solemnly now. She closed her eyes and sighed, smiling still. "I found out how to open the door today Dad. You were right, this place is defiantly linked to pyromancy, and I'm going to find out why. I'm going to learn all that I can about this place, and continue the search. I Won't let you down."
She raises her head, now determined and goes over to- "It's over here!" Voices. Voices that are close, too close. This is one of the reasons Kaita liked her hiding place; the wind and hills echoed voices from a good distance off, giving her ample warning if anyone were to come after her. Kaita listens intently for the voices again. She is about to dismiss the voices as her own imagination when she hears them again. Her blood boils and her face contort into one of pure hatred and she jumps up as she recognizes the voices of those who destroyed her home and killed her father; those damnable clerics! She grabs her dagger and tightens her glove, about to rush out to find and kill them and starts going over to the wooden door when she trips a bit on something laying on the ground.
She looks down and see's her old wooden training sword. There were dents all along the wooden blade and the leather wrapped handle faded and rough, fraying in places. She picks it up and closes her eyes. She remembers her father, and all that he taught her. The days she trained and trained with him. She thought back on all he had taught her. He had always worried on the possibility that someone might find or run across them, even in isolation, and had trained kaita with both physical and mental training. He taught her never to act on anger and never attack a force that outnumbered, or was better equiped or trained then you if possible. She clenches the dagger in one hand, and her training sword in the other a few more seconds before lessening her grip and letting out a long breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She opens her eyes and slides the training sword into her pack, the handle poking out.
She looks around the room and thinks. She can't go out the one way door to the outside, they'd see and catch her in seconds, even with her knowledge of the land. The voices seem to get closer and more frequent. She looks back at the large open stone door, for so long a mystery, and now her savior. "Well, looks like I'll be exploring you sooner than expected!" She quickly gathers her equipment and her pack, which she fills with two spare water skins, canned foods, and salted and packaged meat, along with some spare clothing and other essentials. She puts the brazier out with a bucket of water and gathers all things essential and takes one last look at the wooden door and her hideaway, the place she spent days in now and as a child. She shuts her eyes and lets a single tear fall and says,"I will come back, and I will have vengeance."
She steps into the open stone door and then looks around hurriedly for a way to close it. She shoulders her large pack, sheaths her dagger and places her hands on the door and allows a flame to erupt from both hands. She steps back quickly as the doors designs glow a brilliant red and orange begins to close. She watches it until it's fully closed, then turns around to face the dark hallway infront of her. She takes a deep breath. "Here we go." The only sound to be heard was the echo of her boots the hitting the stone ground.
Jaceyn signals to Jerom and nods to the wooden door built into the ruins. It was lightly hidden with some lichen growing over it, but nothing Jaceyn's sharp eyes couldn't see through. Jerom signals to Diaru who quickly runs over to them both. Jaceyn points to the wooden door and grips is claymore and sets himself against the left side, while Diaru sets himself quietly against the door and Jerom takes the right side. Diaru nods and counts down from three on his hand and then opens the door as he quickly charges in and secures the front while his apprentices take the right and the left. Once they are confident it's empty, they inspect the small room, tipping over the bed, opening the canned food, searching all over for a clue as to the whereabouts of their prey.
Diaru narrows his eyes on a wet spot on the floor and the still smoking embers of the braziers fire. He see's foot prints scuttle across the room and then to the door he had come in and curses. "She's already gone, but been here recently. Jaceyn, you have greater skill in analyzing and investigating than I and Jerom. See if you can find any clues as to where she's been and where she might be. Stay within a mile radius of this hideaway and we'll search the outlying surrounding area and be back tomorrow. If she returns, orders dictate non lethal action, apprehend and containment only, Understood?" Jaceyn hesitates, then nods, slightly irritated he get's baby-sitting duty and sets about to organizing all that's in the room and investigating. "Jerrom, with me." With that, he sprints out of the room, with Jerrom close behind.
Jaceyn sighs as he rights the bed and sits down, placing his heavy pack down on one end of the bed and removes his black leather and steel helmet and places it on the chair across from him. He massages his shoulders, strained from the burden of amount of gear in his pack. He then stands with a grunt and looks around the small room. He begins by inspecting the wet stain on the ground and wet embers of the fire in the brazier and comes to same conclusion as Diaru; she's been here recently but left, but to where? He ponders this and then proceeds with his search. He goes over to the canned food and finds much of it has been canned recently, if the lack of dirt and dust is anything to go by. He then goes to the bed, which shows signs of being slept in within the past day as well, due to the slight bodly like imprint in the crude matress.
He then notices an odd arch in the dirt on the floor that leads to a large stone door he mistook for a wall. He sees the carvings of the intricatly carved stone door and he runs his fingers across them, trying to see if maybe there's a way to open it. It's been opened recently, but he can't seem to figure out how. He thunks his now sheathed claymore against the door with his ear against it and finds that the space behind it makes a hollow thump. He tries looking for a switch or mechanism for another hour or so before sitting in a chair facing the door, confused and yet intrigued by the door. "Now you are a mystery, now how do I solve you?"