A Court of Wind and Song

32: The Harp

Leur

It was just a narrow little passage, leading to an archway at the end. That was all that lay behind the door.

My star went out the moment I stepped through it, as if it knew that I had found what I was looking for. But then the air shifted as Rhys and I stepped inside, the smell of it, the weight.

"How the fuck did we get to the Prison?" I hissed.

This was certainly no part of the Prison anyone had seen for a long time, that either of us had ever known existed- but I would recognize this smell, this tension and darkness in the air, anywhere.

"There's no way in hell we walked that far under the ocean." Rhys frowned next to me, one hand linked with mine and the other on an Illyrian sword, "That must have been a gateway."

He turned around, but what was once an iron door with a star carved upon it was now just empty tunnels.

"Looks like you're right, brother." I frowned, my voice echoing off the rock.

The archway before us glowed a bit, just enough to ensure it was visible under the golden faelights lit above our heads, as if something was calling me- us- towards it. I could feel the wards there, thick and ancient.

"I'm not entirely into this." Rhys scowled at the archway we were walking towards.

"I have no clue where we even are in the Prison, or how to get out. It's forwards or nothing." I said.

It was meant to be comforting, but instead it was just a reminder of the absolute shitshow we had found ourselves in. The wards on the Prison were too strong for getting a message out to anyone, and if we were locked in here...

"What do your shadows say?" Rhys asked as we looked at the archway from a considerable distance.

"They get very quiet in the Prison." I said, "Nothing. They don't want the others to hear them."

That was true, there was only a near silent, nondescript melody playing in the back of my head. Nothing but a few cords over and over again, no message or words, no emotion.

There were plenty of beings within these walls that could hear their whispers.

"Right." Rhys said, "Well, let's see what hell awaits for us behind door number one."

And then we were standing below the archway, staring out at the room beyond, a wall of wards separating us from it. I went utterly still at the same moment that Rhys did. Maybe it was shock, or the magic pounding onto us, a foreboding heaviness meant to keep us away... or to contain what was inside.

Maybe, we just couldn't believe what we were looking at.

The archway let to a massive, round chamber. Fanlights on the ceiling lit the space, gave rise to the intricate carvings all over the walls and the ceilings. The hair on my arms rose, goosebumps on the back of my neck.

Those were constellations carved into the ceiling.

"Those are not our constellations." Rhys breathed.

"No." I answered him, "No. Those are Midgard's constellations."

Something like a gasp left Rhys's mouth.

And then I was walking, starlight flaring into those wards as I cleared them, ancient words on my lips as I allowed us past. I couldn't truly get a breath down, couldn't do anything but step into this empty cavern and bear witness to what was carved upon the walls.

"That's Orion. The hunter." I motioned to the constellation on the left, "The Archer, the Scorpion, the Fish. These are their stars."

And on the floor, the cosmos, their solar system was mapped into mounds on the floors. The planets of their solar system, arranged in a long row, represented by the Gods they were named after.