Chapter 7

We wrap up the treasure hunt here in this chapter. Once the automatons are dealt with the crew is free to explore the cave and makes a number of discoveries, both expected and unexpected.

Eugene and Cassandra leapt out of the way of the charging robot. Cassandra slashed out with her sword as it passed, but it bounced off harmlessly from the machine’s metal hide.

“What do you think the chances are there was an off switch hidden somewhere in that mosaic?” she called to Eugene.

“Pretty much guaranteed, I’d say,” he replied, ducking under a swing from another bot. “But just as likely there’s at least one false switch that would have released these guys anyway. Or worse.” He too made a swing with his sword, but it was knocked aside in a flash of sparks.

As they were busy parrying and dodging the nearest machine, they heard a loud roar from the western tunnel followed by the wrenching of metal. They spared a glance over in that direction and saw Catalina, still in her werewolf form, literally tearing one of the machines in half. She then sprinted straight towards the robot they were engaged with, lifted it up off the ground with surprising ease, and threw it into another of the machines. Both automatons shattered from the brutal impact.

Catalina quickly looked towards the last remaining machine, then swayed where she stood. “Uh oh,” she said, then ran back towards the entrance. The others saw her shrink back to normal just as she hid behind the remains of the first machine she destroyed.

“You okay, Catalina?” Eugene called as he and Cassandra flanked the last remaining machine.

“Yeah,” she huffed, “just ran out of stamina. Healing really took a lot out of me, I guess. Sorry.”

“No need to apologise,” said Rapunzel as she entered the room along with Kiera. “You took out three of those things far faster than we could ever hope to. The rest of us can deal with the last robot ourselves, so you stay safe, okay?”

Despite what she said, the automaton did not go down easy. Its armour made their blades practically useless, and it was fast, reacting to any motion within sight almost instantly. After several thwarted attempts at attacking it directly, Eugene managed to distract the creature long enough for Rapunzel to sneak in and smash its eyes with her frying pan. The machine began to flail blindly, trying to strike out in retaliation, but missed.

“Ha! Not so tough now that you can’t see, huh?” Rapunzel taunted.

The machine suddenly shot out an arm and grabbed her in its large hand. The steel grip was far too strong for her to break free from.

“Blind but not deaf. Got it,” she said as she struggled uselessly against the machine’s grip. “A little help?” she called.

“We’ve got you, Raps, don’t worry,” Cassandra replied.

The robot reacted to the sound of her voice and swung its other arm down at her but Cassandra had anticipated and easily dodged to the side. The fist hit the ground so hard the floor cracked from the impact, sending small splinters of rock scattering in every direction.

Kiera took the opportunity to quietly slip up next to the machine. With the one arm holding Rapunzel still outstretched, she could see a gap in the armour at its armpit and, quick as a flash, she jabbed her dagger inside. Sparks flew and a dark liquid began spraying out from somewhere inside. The arm went limp, releasing Rapunzel. Before Kiera could pull back, however, the machine kicked out with one of its legs and struck her in the side, sending her sprawling to the floor and rolling for several feet.

“Kiera!” Catalina cried from behind cover.

“Ow. That’s going to leave a bruise,” she said, regaining her feet. “I’m okay, but my dagger is still stuck inside that thing.”

“You’ve done enough, Kiera. Keep your distance,” Rapunzel said as she uncoiled her whip. “I’ll distract it, you go for it’s other arm,” she said to Eugene, who stealthily moved in close to strike.

She cracked the whip, and predictably, the robot lunged at the source of the sound with its one good arm. As soon as it reached for the whip Eugene stabbed his sword into the exposed armpit, and once again sparks and fluid began to shoot out before the arm fell to the ground, limp and useless. The automaton spun its body like a whirlwind, flinging its now floppy arms in an attempt to strike out at Eugene but he managed to pull away fast enough to avoid being hit. Rapunzel lashed out with her whip again, wrapping it around one of the robot’s legs. She tried to pull, but it wasn’t until Cassandra came to help that they had the strength to pull the leg out from under it and it fell to the ground.

With both arms disabled, the robot was unable to right itself, though not for a lack of trying. While it was prone Eugene borrowed Rapunzel’s frying pan and began wailing on its head. A half dozen hits later had the metal dented and bent in several places, but the creature showed no sign of stopping. However, with that damage, cracks between the armour plating could be seen. Cassandra noticed a particularly large one near the neck, jumped up onto the machine’s chest, and with a powerful thrust drove her sword deep inside.

There was a horrible sound of metal grinding against metal, then came a loud pop before the automaton stopped moving and smoke began to seep out of it. The group took a moment to look for any further threats but nothing else moved in the room, so they all let out a collective sigh of relief.

Kiera retrieved her dagger while Cassandra headed over to where Catalina was hiding. The older woman pulled off her outer shirt and offered it to the teen. “Here, you can wear this until we get you something better.” Catalina donned the shirt immediately. It was long enough to cover herself, but just barely. The wide neck hung low off of one shoulder and the lower hem reached just below the curve of her buttock, leaving a rather large amount of skin showing. But at least she wasn’t naked.

“Shall we head back to the caravan to grab you a spare outfit?” Eugene asked.

“No,” Catalina said, tugging the shirt as low as it could go. “I’ll be fine.” Unfortunately, they hadn’t thought to bring extra clothes with them and a round trip to the caravan would take over two hours. She didn’t want to waste that kind of time now that they’ve come so far and was willing to put up with a little exposure if it meant pushing forward immediately.

They resumed their trek down the northern tunnel, alert for more trouble. In only a few dozen feet they encountered a locked wooden door, and after checking for traps they quickly picked the lock and flung it open. This must have been Gothel’s treasury, for the room beyond was filled with piles and piles of coins, gems, and precious jewellery, as well as paintings and sculptures all around the room. The teens’ jaws hung open in awe, and even the adults were stunned at the sight.

“Oh mama!” Kiera said once she found her voice. “Now THIS is more like it!” Unable to restrain themselves, she and Catalina darted into the room and started rummaging through the treasures.

“Hey Cass, remember when my dad said you would never be able to repay the financial losses you caused?” Rapunzel asked as she gently hip-checked her friend.

“Yeah,” Cassandra replied, unable to hold back a smile at the vast wealth before her. “There’s probably enough here to reimburse everyone three times over.”

Kiera looked back from inspecting a large ruby. “What? You’re not going to just give this all away, are you? What about us? Don’t we get a say in what happens with it?”

“You can relax, Keira. We’ll make sure to divide this up fairly, and I’ll pay back the people with only my share.”

“You know you don’t actually have to give this away, right?” Eugene said. “The king declared you debt free.”

“I know, but I want to, even if it takes all of what I get from this. Besides, it’d look pretty bad for me if I suddenly show up only a few weeks after having my debt forgiven with a massive pile of treasure and just keep it all to myself.”

“Not to downplay what we found here, but there are still two other tunnels to explore,” Rapunzel pointed out.

The others reluctantly agreed, the girls and Eugene much more than Cassandra. After a careful inspection of the room for any hidden danger, which took longer than it should have with everyone getting distracted by the gold, they made their way back to the main chamber.

“So which one next?” Catalina asked.

“Let’s just keep going around the circle,” Cassandra said so they headed down the eastern tunnel.

Unlike the north tunnel, this path held no door but instead simply opened up into a wide room whose walls were all lined with bookshelves. There was a large table in the middle of the room, itself covered in more books and sheets of paper, and there was even a bed tucked away in a corner.

“I guess this was her library,” Rapunzel said.

Kiera rolled her eyes. “Boring. Can we go back to the treasure room?”

“Until we know this place is safe, it’s best if we stick together,” Cassandra replied. “Besides, it was a library that held the map that led us to this place. Just because it’s not as obvious as the last room, doesn’t mean there’s no treasure to be found here, too.”

“Don’t give us any of that ‘Knowledge is the greatest treasure’ nonsense. We’re not interested.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say NOT interested,” said Catalina. “I mean, it’s definitely not as exciting as the gold and jewels, but there might be some amazing secret that only Gothel knew hidden down here.” As she spoke she walked up to the nearest bookshelf and reached up to take a book from the upper shelf. In doing so, however, her shirt lifted up, exposing her backside to the others.

“Catalina!” her sister yelled.

Startled, she turned to see what the problem was and noticed where they were all looking. She let out a yelp and quickly pulled down the shirt to cover herself, blushing heavily.

Several seconds of embarrassed silence passed before anyone said anything. “Um, how about you let us get any books from the top shelf for you, okay?” Eugene asked, his own face a slight shade of pink.

Catalina was still too embarrassed to say anything and simply nodded.

“Unless, of course, you want to show us your cute butt again,” he added, grinning. Catalina’s eyes went wide in shock and embarrassment.

“Eugene!’ Rapunzel exclaimed, slapping him on the arm. “Don’t tease the poor girl.” It was a playful slap, but perhaps it was just a bit harder than normal.

“Sorry,” he said to both Catalina and Rapunzel. “It’s an old habit. I flirt in awkward situations, even when it’s not appropriate.”

They spent the next ten minutes searching the room for danger but thankfully found none.

“I definitely want to look through these books more thoroughly,” said Cassandra, “but shall we go check out the last tunnel first? See what’s down there?” The others agreed.

The southern tunnel also opened into a large chamber lined with shelves and drawers, but these were filled with bottles, flasks, and tools. A large central table was covered with all manner of devices needed for alchemical manipulation. A couple of simpler things, like the burner and weight scales, they recognized but most of the items they had never seen before and couldn’t even begin to guess what their purpose was.

“Nerd stuff,” Kiera complained. Despite her words, she was checking out the various contraptions with more than a little curiosity.

“Varian would love this place,” Eugene commented. “I bet he could figure out what all this does in no time.”

Again, the group spent some more time looking for traps or danger, but found nothing. One thing of note they did find was a drawer labelled ‘recordings’ and inside was a pile of small hand held mirrors.

Rapunzel turned to Cassandra. “Do you think...?” she began, leaving the thought hanging in the air.

“Maybe,” the other woman agreed.

“Um, what are you talking about?” asked Catalina. She and the others were quite confused.

“When Cass and I were still, ah, butting heads, we both ended up stumbling across one of Gothel’s labs. In it she had a bunch of different mirrors that she had somehow enchanted to repeat past events.”

“Zhan Tiri used one of those mirrors to trick me into believing that my mother truly cared for me, which only drove Raps and I further apart,” Cassandra added. “The truth wasn’t nearly so pleasant.”

“So how do they work?” Kiera asked, picking up one of the mirrors.

“Don’t really know. All we did was touch them and they started to play.”

Kiera held the mirror up and gazed into it, tapping the surface with a finger. A couple seconds passed before her own reflection dissolved and was replaced with an image of Gothel, who then began to speak. Her voice seemed to come from the mirror itself.

“This hopefully will be one of my last recordings on the subject, as I have nearly perfected my research on remote mirrors,” Gothel began. “By using my most recent formulae and swapping the now enchanted glass, each of the paired mirrors essentially reflects what the other would, allowing me to look into one and see what lies beyond the other. Distance seems to be no issue, though how to also transfer sound still eludes me. It’s a good thing I’ve made that breakthrough, it will let me keep an eye on my holdings as mobility is becoming an issue.” She then angled the mirror down to show the visible baby bump at her stomach. “God, I can’t wait to get this thing out of me.” The recording ended and the mirror reverted to normal.

Cassandra bristled at that final comment. Anger and pain rose up because the one woman who was supposed to love her unconditionally instead seemed to resent her even before she was born.

“Don’t listen to that old witch,” Rapunzel told her, hugging her tight. “She might have given birth to you but she doesn’t deserve the title of ‘mother’.”

Cass wiped away a tear. “Which begs the question, why? If I was such an inconvenience for her, why did she bother having me at all?”

“Regardless of her reasons, I’m glad she did,” Rapunzel said, holding the hug for several more seconds before letting Cassandra go.

“Maybe if we keep watching these mirrors or reading the books in the other room we might find something,” Eugene suggested.

“Speaking of other rooms, think we can go do some exploring on our own now?” Kiera asked. “There haven’t been any traps since the robots.”

After a brief check with each other, the adults nodded. “Okay, but be careful around that flower mosaic in the central room,” Cassandra said. “That’s the one spot we haven’t checked over yet.”

“No problem.” The two girls quickly darted off back to the treasure room to inspect their loot.

“Well, shall we?” Eugene said once the girls were gone, holding up another of the mirrors.

It took the better part of an hour for the three of them to view the remaining recordings stored in the drawer, but they were all about various stages of the remote mirror project. Some were quite technical and made little sense to any of them, but they figured someone like Varian might be able to glean something useful from them, maybe even enough to recreate the process she was describing. Thankfully Gothel had no more disparaging comments about her pregnancy in any of those recordings.

They performed a more thorough check of the lab and discovered a large ornate mirror hidden under a bedsheet. As was always the case, Eugene immediately tried to check out his reflection, but all he saw was black.

“Huh, strange,” he said. “Either this isn’t actually a mirror, or...”

“Or it’s one of those remote mirrors. Maybe a prototype,” Cassandra finished. “But why is it black? Is it broken?”

“Could be,” said Rapunzel. “Or maybe the other mirror is just in a pitch black room.”

“But wouldn’t the light from our room at least brighten up the area surrounding the other mirror?” Eugene asked, and brought his torch right in front of the mirror. With the added light, they could just make out another sheet of cloth covering their entire view.