Here is another deleted scene from the novel - there has been quite a few snips to the original manuscript!
***
Edessa turned the final page of the book and
slammed it shut, sneezing as a cloud of dust lifted.
“Nothing,” she muttered between gritted teeth.
Across the room, Sasha was bent over a pile of
papers. She was carefully sorting through the mountain of parchment that
Riadamor had left upon the desk.
“How goes your search?” Edessa asked her
companion.
“Slowly,” Sasha replied with a grimace. “Most of
these are illegible – the damp has ruined them.”
Edessa slowly ground her teeth. This news was
unwelcome. The contents of this chamber had to contain the secret to unlocking
the Collar of Jade. Riadamor would have recorded it somewhere, she was sure of
it.
“It will be here,” she insisted. “It is likely
Riadamor would have hidden it, just in case someone discovered her chamber.”
Sasha nodded before gently picking up a piece of
parchment, only to watch in horror as it crumbled in her hands. “That’s just as
well, for these are useless to us.”
Edessa gave the young Esquill a baleful look.
“Check everything you can, nonetheless. And don’t damage anything else.”
Sasha nodded, her mouth thinning slightly. She
then returned to sorting the parchments. This time, she moved with extreme
care.
Edessa rose from the low stool, where she had been
leafing through books, and let her gaze roam around the interior of the small
chamber. It was an odd space, and she, once again, wondered at its origins.
Presumably, one of the kings of old had built it, as a safe-hole lest the
fortress come under attack. However, had that been the case, she would have
expected a larger chamber. No wonder it had been so difficult to find; the
doorway had merely been one of the hundreds of supporting columns that lined
the network of corridors under Deep-Spire.
Three days had passed since Sasha had discovered
the secret chamber – three long days of searching. Edessa, not patient by
nature, was being stretched to the limit by the wait. Nevis of Foresthill still
was not talking and the harlet she had sent after Seth Falkyn had not yet
returned. Waiting was all she seemed to be doing these days, and it was slowly
driving her mad.
“I shall return later,” she informed Sasha. “The
‘audience’ begins shortly.”
“Shouldn’t I come with you?” Sasha asked.
Tradition dictated all the order were present during the day of ‘audience’.
“No – you’re more use to me here. I will deal with
these people’s petty complaints as quickly as I am able. When I return, I hope
you will have something to show me.”
Sasha watched the High Sorceress of the Esquill
sweep out of the chamber, and listened to her softly retreating footsteps. When
she was sure that Edessa could not hear her, she let out a loud sigh.
This chamber had become her prison since she had
discovered it. She was growing weary of being treated like a slave, and
disliked the responsibility that Edessa thrust upon her. If she did not find
the details that Edessa sought, she felt sure that she would be blamed.
Sasha sat alone in the damp chamber, and gathered
her thoughts. It was deathly silent in here, save for the gentle hiss of the
burning torches, and the whisper of her own breathing. With another heavy sigh,
Sasha shook herself out of her reverie. Then, she continued her painstaking
search through Riadamor’s papers.
***
