Page 17 of For the Love of the Quest

“Agree to disagree,” Edith said distractedly.

Past the candle, at the far left side of the room, was a marble statue carved into the shape of a tree. There was a perfectly round hollow halfway up the trunk. Edith drifted toward it to examine it up close. It was a beautiful piece of artwork. The rough divots in the marble gave the appearance of tree bark, and the branches were impossibly delicate. They looked as if Edith could reach up and snap one off like an icicle. Inside the hollow, there was a little gold tray set into a recess carved into the base. She touched it, and thetray dipped under the weight of her fingers with a little click. Nothing else happened, though.

Edith furrowed her brow and stepped away from the tree. On the right side of the chamber was another marble statue. This one was even more peculiar but just as eerily beautiful. It was shaped almost like a cauldron, but the surface wasn’t flat. It resembled a roiling sea, with crashing waves and bubbling sea-foam. On top of the circular sculpture, at the direct center, was a large basin. The marble was veined with shimmery blue. At the bottom of the basin was a little opening, like a drain. Edith leaned forward to look directly down into it, but she saw nothing but blackness.

She moved back to the center of the room and surveyed the two sculptures before her. Edith looked over her shoulder at the locked portcullis and smiled. This was a puzzle.

Chapter Eight

Thomasin supposed she had to give it to Edith. She really hadn’t thought there would be anything here but an old stone. So in that regard, she could give Edith a win. However, Edith was now smiling like a maniac even though they were going to starve to death in this dank little cave. Not to mention the fact that there was clearly no treasure. Thomasin was just about to recommit herself to trying to shoot the portcullis when Edith started digging in her satchel.

“What are you doing?” Thomasin asked.

Edith looked up at her with a crazed smile. “It’s a puzzle,” she squealed, fishing around in her bag some more and pulling out a cloth pouch. She shook it at Thomasin, the sound of gold coins jangling inside.

“As much as it pains me to admit, gold is not going to save us from starving to death.”

“Ugh, no!” Edith gestured dramatically toward the statues. “It’s just like the story, don’t you see?” At Thomasin’s blank look, Edith took her wrist and all but dragged her closer to the tree. Sheput her hand in the hollow, and Thomasin felt the gold slab wobble.

“It senses weight,” Edith said, pushing Thomasin’s hand against the platform over and over again, “but nothing happens.”

“Okay …” Thomasin said. “And we want nothing to happen?”

Edith’s hands went to her hips as she fixed Thomasin with a look of exasperation. “Of course not!”

“Then why are you so happy?” Thomasin yanked her hand from the hollow.

“Because I’ve ruled this out as a possibility, which means that I’m right.”

Edith moved to turn away, but Thomasin pinned her in place with firm hands on her shoulders. “Right about what, you crazy woman?”

Edith laughed, not offended in the slightest. “About how to solve the puzzle!”

It had not once occurred to Thomasin that there was a puzzle in this room. Nor would she ever have considered that a puzzle would be the thing to rescue them from their fate.

“Slow down and explain,” she commanded Edith.

Edith took a deep, beleaguered breath before beginning. “King Arthur received a mortal wound at this site. Before he was taken to Avalon, he gave Sir Bedivere a task. He told him to cast Excalibur back into the lake, where it would be safe from falling into the wrong hands. But Excalibur was extremely valuable and Bedivere wanted to keep the wealth for himself, so he buried Excalibur under a tree, then lied about it to Arthur.”

“It’s a dick move, but I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same,” Thomasin interjected.

Edith shot her a withering look and continued. “But Arthur had a connection to Excalibur, and he would have felt it once the blade returned to Avalon. He gave Bedivere another chance, onlythe knight left the sword buried again. King Arthur knew that Bedivere was a noble man, and so he gave him one last chance in the hopes that his chivalry would finally overcome his greed. And it did. Sir Bedivere threw Excalibur into the lake, which summoned the fae of Avalon, who received the sword and King Arthur, then ferried them both to their resting place.”

Thomasin opened her mouth to ask how in the hell any of that would help them, when Edith gestured expectantly first at the tree, then the basin. The answer to her own question hit her like a ton of bricks. She pulled Edith in for a rough hug. “You little genius!” she said into Edith’s hair. Thomasin pulled back, giving her an excited shake before letting her go.

Edith laughed and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Well, go on,” Thomasin urged.

Edith started, shaking herself, then hurried over to the basin. She unlaced her pouch of gold, and as she poured the entire contents into the basin, said, “We must surrender our desire for wealth and release it to the water.”

The clanging of gold on marble echoed through the chamber as each coin spiraled around the basin before falling into the drain and out of sight.

The last gold piece fell, and silence blanketed the room. At first, nothing happened. Thomasin watched as Edith’s face began to fall ever so slightly.

Suddenly, there was a gravelly crunch as one of the cobblestones in the wall swung open to reveal a secret compartment. Behind them, the gears of the portcullis groaned and the iron lattice stuttered back up into the ceiling.

Thomasin was so happy about the prospect of not starving to death, she almost forgot about the compartment. Maybe there was a treasure after all! This chamber was clearly meant to protectsomething. She strode over to where Edith was bent over thecompartment, examining the contents. As Thomasin came up behind her, Edith straightened. Thomasin’s gaze flicked down to Edith’s fingers, which were fidgeting with a roll of parchment. Thomasin looked into the compartment, expecting gold or jewels, but it was empty.