“If memory serves me right, should be ‘round here…”
I grope about the wall and reach right for what I’m looking for, since I know what and where it is. Couldn’t have known where exactly to feel without prior knowledge. I twist the one special stone that’s embedded among thousands of others.
THUMP! CLANG! CLANK! …SCRAPE! SCRAPE! SCRAPE!
Something rotates inside the wall, clankin’ and creakin’. I can hear chains pull back, something heavy moving up and down. A good many things engage and converge. Then, the stone overhead slides sideways, spilling dim light inside. As the stone recedes, the line of light grows wider and brighter. The movement’s timed so it’s neither too fast nor too slow, but just the right speed for gettin’ your eyes used to the light. After confirming that the stone has opened all the way, I exit.
Just as I’ve heard, it leads right behind the cathedral’s altar. I pull down on one of the lined-up candlesticks. The pedestal inclines, extending the hidden chains. The mechanisms rotate once again, closing the stone slab.
Moonlight bathes the cathedral sanctuary, which is as still as death. There are no candles lit for delivering prayers or incense for purifying the room. Instead, there’s something that shouldn’t be there.
“Whoa!” My inadvertent exclamation loudly bounces off the high-rise ceiling, echoing off the walls and the pillars that support the many arches. I quickly clamp my hand over my mouth. This is where the priest is supposed to stand. Even the slightest sounds will resound to the farthest recesses of the room, since that’s what it’s built to do.
Silver spider thread densely covers the altar. That alone’s a serious issue, but the real problem only begins there. The spectacular web is actually stretched across the entire room, encompassing not only the altar but the ceiling, floor, and walls. Just how far does it extend overhead?
I carefully approach it. Water’s been crystalized into the spider’s web as it trickled down. A strange feeling comes over me the closer I get. My cloak is drawn to it, tugging towards the spider’s web as if being pulled on by invisible fingers.
Is this one of those cases where things made by the same power are drawn together?
I boldly touch the spider web with my fingertips. The silver-embroidered cloak and crystalized web react. Silver light rushes inwards in waves from the spot I touched, heading for the center of the web. There, no spider awaits me, but an orb, now faintly glowing, placed in the middle and supported by the crystal thread.
“Look at me. Don’t forget me.”
Found it, I silently mouth. Light pulses inside the orb like it’s breathing, cycling through flashes of red, green, yellow, and ending in a clear almost-transparent white. Throwing every color together, the colors alternate and cast an unstable rainbow that shouldn’t be here. Looks like the orb’s small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.
I take the bow off my back and string it. I’m gonna commit quite the sacrilege by shootin’ an arrow off in a cathedral. But it’s the best plan of action. I’ll apologize later with prayer or charity or whatever’s needed. Right now, I gotta do what I gotta…
The orb is positioned where I’d never be able to reach just by stickin’ my arm out while standing on something. And you couldn’t call my target big by any standard. But thanks to living in the forest for over a year, my skills with a bow have increased tenfold.
I brush the spider web again. This time, I bring the silver thread of my cloak directly to it. The wave of light is much brighter than the first time. I nock the arrow, take aim, and draw the bow, straining it to its limit. The ash-tree bow bends, its shape evolving from a third day moon to a seventh day.
All the job needs is a single arrow. I quietly inhale, hold my breath…and let the arrow loose towards the center of the light. The bowstring lets out a thwish, and the bow snaps to its former shape. The arrow flies in a gentle arc, then pierces the orb’s lower half in the blink of an eye.
The tension in the web breaks. I didn’t miss my mark. A rainbow bursts out of the orb. But there’s no sound.
Is there really nothing?
My ears hurt.
Small tremors from the center ripple out to the tips of the web, a growing crescendo of vibrations cause a deafening pain.
My ears hurt.
“…Crap.”
The next second, the spider’s web crumbles to pieces, creating both beautiful and dreadful music as it goes.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I move farther into the now web-free sanctuary. Normally, the sanctuary is open at all times, and few notice the hidden door that blends in with the wainscoted walls. When they learn about it for the first time they end up searching for it themselves. I know I spent many drunken nights with a woman to keep my company in the various hidden passages scattered throughout the castle in my younger years. It was an excellent hiding place to escape the abbot’s constant patrols.
I swiftly open the door, slip inside, and hide within the narrow passage that only those who clean and polish the sanctuary know about. Or only those who are trusted by the pope, his followers, and the king.
On the other side of the wall, I can hear the threads shattering into pieces and smashing onto the floor. Soon afterwards, the main double doors are thrown open and slam hard into the walls, shaking them. Talk ‘bout a thuggish and uncivilized bunch…not that I’m one to speak.
Heavy footsteps stomp inside, crushing crystal fragments underfoot. I count six armored men wearing metal boots.
“What happened?”
“This looks bad.”
“Shit.”
“Someone inform Captain right away!”
Crud, this isn’t good. The muscles in my face tense.
“No, don’t! Wait, wait, just wait a damn minute. Things’ll get even worse if we go n’ kick up a fuss. They’ll blame it on us!”
“Not ‘us’. It’s yer fault!”
“Don’t’cha turn on me now! Think ya can escape blame alone?!”
“Ain’t the front of the sanctuary yer station?”
“That goes for you too!”
“Wait, wait. Calm down. We won’t get punished if we don’t say nothin’.”
“All hell will break loose when they find out though.”
“Won’t be a problem if it happens after our shift is over, yeah?”
“…Now, that’s good. We just gotta blame it on the guys on the next shift.”
The footsteps move away and the sanctuary doors close.
All right, now’s the time to go. Their self-preservation bought me some time.
I take off, my back now to the sanctuary.
“One more to go!”