[Tyrana]: 64.Xaadn.Chapter Two

As soon as Xaadn’s legs were functional again, she scurried back and forth on the floor, first looking under the slate into the room she had been peering before, then lifting one above the hallway, then one above the retiring room, just outside her godfather’s bedroom, then back to the first again. She did this for a good amount of time, checking and re-checking, until she was sure she could make it downstairs quickly and quietly enough to take whatever was left for her on the fireplace, and make it back upstairs unnoticed. She would have to hide it, she knew. But hiding things was not something that was unfamiliar to Xaadn. The attic of the small castle was full of places to hide things. Xaadn had practically full-reign of the attic, which wasn’t much more than a crawlspace, and wasn’t even used for storage, save a few forgotten chests of blankets (which Xaadn made good use of, considering how dreadfully cold it got; especially lately, due to the unusually harsh winter). Most of the slates that made up the floor lifted up to reveal not only the rooms underneath, but several places in the rafters below where objects of varying sizes could be hidden. When put back into place, and the cracks were filled back up with a good layer of dust (which wasn’t hard to come by), the slates looked as if they had never been moved, and as solid as ever.

Xaadn checked under each of the three slates a few times more (For good measure), and when she was sure everyone was asleep, opened the hatch in the corner, and climbed down the narrow ladder.

The ladder led into one of the little-used pantries in the kitchen. When the kitchen was most busy, Xaadn could usually slip by unnoticed and sneak into the pantry, and up the hatch, which she could conveniently lock behind her.

Xaadn opened the pantry door a crack to check outside. When she saw that the kitchen was dark and entirely deserted, she walked across it, and into the empty hallway. Running her fingers along a wall, so as not to get lost in the pitch dark, she made her way first to her uncle’s room. The cautiously pressed her ear against the door, all the while wishing desperately that there was a stone she could lift to peek inside and know for sure if the man was asleep. She heard no noise, however, so she then hurried down and across the hall to the room with the fireplace. She could hardly see her hand in front of her, but she had been down this hallway in the dark several times before, and it proved to be little trouble. She reached the door, and saw the soft orange glow under it from the fire, which had not yet died. The door had a crude lock, which had long been broken; Xaadn’s tiny finger easily slid inside to push the latch up. There was a soft click, and the door pushed open.

Xaadn felt the warmness of the room hit her like a wall; she wasted no time, however, in running quietly to the fireplace. The instrument still lay on the mantle. She picked it up in both hands, scooping up the bit of paper with it. It was unusually heavy, but she didn’t risk taking time to examine it quite yet. She scurried as fast as she could to the door, and shut it carefully behind her; lacking the key, she simply slid her finger in again to push the latch back down. Then she made her way back down the hall, through the kitchen, and into the pantry.

She pulled the hatch down, climbed the ladder, and locked it behind her. She collapsed on a blanket, and let out the breath she wasn’t aware she had been holding for some time. When her heart slowed back down, and the acid lowered from her throat, she opened her hands.
In one hand she had a small crumpled slip of paper. Or… it turns out, two slips of paper, folded together. One was circular, with small pin-point dots on it. There were arrows and circles and some very small writing. It appeared to be a map. The other slip of paper was even smaller, and said one word on it; or so she thought. It was in a language she hadn’t even seen before. Roughly seven symbols in a row, and they all connected in some sort of bizarre scripture.

Xaadn set them aside, and took to examining the instrument further. It was… a cylinder. The top of the cylinder (or what she had assumed was the top) was very warm, but Xaadn figured this was due to the fact that it was on the fireplace for a good amount of time. There were four knobs running down one side in various sizes. The one nearest the top was larger than the rest, but still no bigger than the fingernail on her smallest finger. The rest of the knobs were roughly the size of one you might find on a watch, all in a row. It was all made entirely of some heavy dark metal, which, when caught in the rays of her lamp, reflected a deep red light.

Crossing her fingers and holding her breath, Xaadn gingerly touched the first knob, felt it beneath her fingertips, and turned. To her surprise (And in a sense, to her disappointment) nothing happened. She turned it a few more times, with the same result. Seeing that the first knob was hopeless, she moved on to the one below it. This one was too small to fit her fingers around, so she gripped it as hard as she could with the tips of her fingernails, and turned.

There was a click, and the top of the cylinder slid to the side, revealing the inside. Xaadn put her eye up to it, and saw that there was only a shallow space under the sliding top. This space seemed to be completely empty, though very warm. She found she could push the top back, and it would lock into place once again, and she could just as easily turn the second knob to open it again.

Xaadn then focused her attention to the third knob. This one, too, she could only move with her fingernails. It clicked once, twice, and at the third click, emitted this terrible noise. It was a high-pitched hiss, and louder than anything she had ever heard before. She immediately dropped the instrument to her knees and covered her ears. This made no difference. The noise ripped right through her hands, piercing her ears, and flooding her brain. Terrified, she grabbed the cylinder and blindly began to shake it and scream. The noise persisted. Xaadn saw red. Her head swam, and she became very dizzy. She desperately fumbled for the knob. She felt one between her fingertips, prayed it was the third, and turned.

The noise stopped. Xaadn noticed she was no longer on the blanket, but had made her way across the narrow room, and was curled up in the farthest corner. She felt something warm run against her neck. She put her hand to it, and when she pulled her red wet fingers back, realized her ears were bleeding. Tears ran down her cheeks as she stared fearfully at the tiny instrument that made what was undoubtedly the world’s most horrible noise.

That’s when she heard another noise. Someone was climbing the ladder in the pantry.