The Rising Stones (Ihale Book 1)

was only sorry he had to be the one to point it out. He knew absolutely nothing about romance and even he knew they were flirting. "And you, too, Rhyss."
"Thank you." Rhyss didn't sound like she had been all too concerned with his thoughts on it.
"Better, anyway." Bel still stuck her tongue out at him and Rhyss rolled her eyes, but they both fell silent after that.
A few minutes later he almost wished he hadn't said anything. The bickering was annoying, but at least it filled up the empty spaces that began to buzz with anxiety and terror when they stretched too widely.
The staircase curled back in on itself and Heln felt a different sort of tension in the air, a different sort of magic.
"There's something," he told them. "I think it's coming from the middle of the room, where those weird stone things are."
"I hear something, too." Bel was looking down into the darkness below them, her head leaned slightly to one side like it would help.
"A low hum." Rhyss drew her dagger, but didn't activate any of the script. "Heln, stay between us."
"I like the wall, thanks."
"You can stay near the walls, just between us on the steps." Rhyss sounded like she'd much rather push him down the stairs, but he could tell she was attempting to be patient.
A few steps down from the landing a soft breeze stirred his hair.
"It's wind. That's what we're hearing. And those are trees." Bel sounded excited. "We're not going into darkness, it's just trees. But how? We're still underground. Maybe there's a way out on the other side…? Maybe it opens up!"
"I don't know." Rhyss shifted the grip on her dagger slightly. "Heln, anything different?"
"I think I'll have to be closer."
She nodded and led them down the rest of the steps. They broke through the trees and the glowing from the ceiling nearly cut out, but it didn't matter.
Beneath the initial dark canopy everything seemed to have its own light, putting the tunnel behind them to shame. Flat, shelf-like mushrooms ran up the trunks of the twisted, gnarled trees, flowers bloomed like frozen points of fire, and every single little plant or insect had its own radiance. Even cracks in the bark of the trees were glowing patterns. It felt different than it had in the tunnels, the tension was still there, but this was a sacred place.
"It feels like the Grove." Heln looked up at the branches crisscrossing above them. "Maybe those aren't weird stone things, maybe it's a building."
"Makes sense, we should head there, I bet it's the center of the room and we can get our bearings. How does that sound to you, oh fearless leader?" Bel looked at Rhyss.
If Rhyss kept rolling her eyes every time Bel said something that supposedly annoyed her, Heln was pretty sure she'd end up with some sort of permanent eye strain before they got home. Which was kind of stupid, because he knew that she wasn't nearly as irritated as she let on.
"I suppose, I think it's stupid, but…"
"But you don't have a better plan." Heln supplied for her and nearly pressed himself into the wall when he was treated to the full heat of her glare.
It cooled off faster than he expected, and she turned away. "You're right, I don't, so let's go. Maybe there's a way out on the other side of the room. Maybe the center is full of magic eating monsters. I don't know, and that's the problem. I would scout ahead to make sure it's safe but that would be leaving two defenseless civilians behind, and I can't do that."
"Oh so now I'm—"
Heln elbowed Bel in the side before she could finish that sentence. Enough flirting was enough. Now really wasn't the time. "It's okay, Rhyss. We'll be fine if you want to go, these stairs seem safe enough, or we can all go together."
Rhyss's hands balled into fists, then relaxed. "C'mon. The building isn't a completely terrible idea, it's at least a central location, and there seems to be a path."
The path was little more than pale stones that had not been covered by vegetation.
Bel grabbed Heln's arm and shook it, eyes wide, mouthing something that might have been, "not a terrible idea." Heln shrugged a bit. Bel's expression turned to something that probably meant "Really? This is what I get for trying to share this moment with you," before letting go of his arm.
The deeper they went, the thicker the canopy became, until only tiny spears of silver-blue light made it to the ground. Bel made them stop so she could pick flowers and insisted on having Heln put them in her hair, where they continued to glow softly. She tucked one behind Heln's ear and stuck another in Rhyss's braid when she wasn't looking.
Heln thought for a minute that he saw fireflies, but it was far too late in the season even above ground, and none of them were moving the right way. Unlike fireflies, these creatures floated along in the gentle breeze like little balloons.
When they got closer to one he realized it was pure magic, a tiny illumination bubble. It even had a magical signature. He thought he recognized it as part of the script on the tunnels.
Which made him shudder a little bit, wondering if each one signified someone who had created the protection scripts, and how long they had lived after that. If he hadn't been essentially the first line of defense he would have closed himself off.
"You okay?" Bel asked. "You got all tense there."
"Just… lots of magic." Heln wasn't lying, not really. "From what I can tell no one besides the two of you have actually done magic down here for ages, but there's still so much."
"That's… hm."
Heln wanted to turn around to see what kind of face Bel was making, but he kept trudging forward, trying to force his shoulders to relax. The path became more defined, the stones showing pale and hard among the leaves