Jaki gripped his shoulders for a second before he took his sword, and they entered Rinder’s room once more to peer into his tomb. Jaki stared at the Crown, with the healthy gleam Lumi remembered from before.
“I didn’t think there’d be a bed of white roses,” said Jaki. “It’s like the poem.”
After years of only seeing poor plant life, the flowers almost appeared unreal. Each rose was stark white like newly fallen snow, and their petals were broad and rich. Not a single blemish marred the edges. Rinder’s skull, wearing his Crown, barely made a dip in them.
“Some are in his skull too,” said Lumi. “He must have had the tomb built long before his death, and Elira placed the roses there as a cradle for his head. He was supposed to wear the Crown once he was laid to rest.”
As long as it stayed, Lumi was sure it would remain alive while Iceland slowly recovered and thrived once more like it should have.
It would take time for things to recover, and it needed proper uniting, but like Jaki said, it was over.
Jaki turned to look around. “That lantern shouldn’t be lit after so long without sunshine.
Norian crystals needed recharging. “After what we just saw, I’m not going to question a lantern. Perhaps it was preserved too.”
“If outlaws or anyone has ever been in here, we wouldn’t know it. Those…ice vines or whatever you’d call them…I’ve never seen anything like it. It was like animals picking a carcass clean and devouring the bones.”
He gripped Lumi’s hand and pulled him toward one wall. On the floor, little slits were visible once they were close enough. That was where the water and blood went, and if anyone else entered, the ice vines would come out. Lumi wondered what they’d see if they took a pick to the wall and broke it away.
Maybe it was better not to know.
“The High Mage,” whispered Lumi. “He would have died if he’d come in.”
Jaki’s forehead creased. “Dear Elira, to think I could have led an innocent man in here.”
Lumi glanced behind him to check the High Mage’s body. He was still there and dead with the arrow in him. “The vines didn’t take him. Perhaps some intent is sensed and required.”
“Well, it’s not like we’re about to experiment.”
“How could he have made a trap like this?”
“Maybe Elira did it. If the Crown was to stay with him, and someone was willing to rob his tomb, they could destroy the Kingdom. This was to keep people away.”
Perhaps. Lumi wondered what would happen if family took the Crown. Would they be attacked? He really didn’t want to know.
“So much history has been lost, we’ll really never know everything that happened,” said Jaki. “The best answer we’ll get is that Elira did it.”
“And we should be happy with what we have. Erm, how are we going to explain his body?”
Jaki hesitated. “We can tell the truth.”
Lumi cocked an ear. “You expect them to believe us saying vines came from the walls and attacked?!”
“What else are we going to say? Outlaws were hiding in here? They’d expect bodies. There are none besides him. They won’t think we killed him because we have no reason, and we brought no bows and arrows in. What about the rope ladder? Someone got up there and secured it. If we climb up, we’ll probably find other things back there in the space. Supplies, bedrolls.”
Lumi took a deep breath. “Fine. Let’s bring him up.”
A couple of the guards were brave enough to go down, climb the ladder, and look. Sure enough, they brought out supplies, including waterskins, slices of stale horsebread, and a half-eaten, metal bowl of porridge. Lumi imagined one of the men had used his fire magic to heat it.
The food, relatively new and certainly not anything that had been left up there for ages, convinced the rest who had appeared doubtful about the whole thing. There was also no way out of the tomb except the front doors.
The oddest thing was one of the men who’d gone said there were no words near the door.
Jaki raised an eyebrow. “Do you need spectacles?”
The man frowned. “Show me where this little poem is.”
“Yeah,” said another. “Show us.”
