The Phantom Seagulls

"Who's there?" Katheren, startled into a cold sweat, whirled around, her silver gun trained on where the lady in white had just been, only to see the shadow flicker and vanish into the night.

"What's going on?" Grayson approached from behind, peering in the direction Katheren's gun pointed.

"Just now, I saw..." Katheren, her voice trembling with uncertainty, looked back at Grayson. "There was a woman there, and suddenly she was gone!"

"What woman?" Grayson's curiosity piqued, his eyes scanning the surroundings for any sign of suspicion.

Katheren described the apparition's appearance, and Grayson listened intently, then nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe you mistook what you saw. From your description, it sounds a lot like Lia. Perhaps the surrounding atmosphere reminded you of the night we met her," he said, gently patting Katheren's shoulder in comfort.

Nodding hesitantly, Katheren cast one last uneasy glance toward where the figure disappeared before turning to leave with Grayson.

Under the owl's guidance, they navigated swiftly through the gloomy forest, skirting hidden trails to arrive outside a cave veiled by withered grass and deadwood.

"This must be the entrance the captain spoke of," Grayson surveyed the area, noting the overgrown weeds and towering rocks, with only the path they'd taken leading in.

He signaled for Katheren to stand guard as he approached the cave's mouth. Pausing at the entrance, he threw a pebble inside before swiftly retreating.

A burst of blue flame followed the pebble's arc, disintegrating it instantly. "Not your regular flame if it can burn a rock to ash that quickly," Grayson remarked to a stunned Katheren.

"Where's that warding stone?" he asked the owl perched on his shoulder.

"Right behind you!" the owl pointed with her wing to a large stone beneath the tree behind him. Grayson, accompanied by Katheren, investigated the rock, brushing off the dust to reveal the inscribed words.

Grayson read the text silently, then nodded with understanding. "So, this island was once a magical testing ground for the Mage Tower. These wards were set up for the apprentices' barrier-breaking trials, but they've long been abandoned."

"This must be the counter-spell," he said, pointing to the last line: "When the seagulls alight sideways upon the cliff above the cave's mouth, their wise gaze will awaken the sleeping stone of hell, and only the stone of hell can extinguish the flames of hell."

"What does that mean?" Katheren's confusion prompted Grayson to dissect the phrase line by line.

"When the seagulls alight sideways upon the cliff above the cave's mouth..." Grayson considered the smooth cliff as though it had been cleaved by an axe. "Little one, can you land on that wall?" he asked the owl.

"Let me try!" The owl attempted to grasp the rock face but slipped down repeatedly, unable to gain a foothold on the slick surface.

"No good, too smooth!" she reported back.

"If this tiny owl can't land head-on, how could a seagull twice its size land sideways?" Grayson pondered, lighting a cigar from his pouch.

Studying the words on the stone, he fell into deep thought, while Katheren waited impatiently, not wanting to disturb him but growing restless.

Suddenly, she noticed movement in the underbrush along the path they'd arrived by. Hand tightening on her gun, she watched intently as a shadowy figure materialized, its eyes glowing red in the dark.

Katheren blinked hard, confirming her vision, then fired her gun. But at the sound of the gunshot, the figure vanished, and the bullet whizzed harmlessly through the underbrush.

"What happened?" Grayson, alerted by the shot, quickly joined Katheren, who recounted what she saw. Grayson scrutinized the area, then nodded gravely.

"This island's bound to have its share of trouble," he called, "Elyra!" The owl flitted to his shoulder, receiving her next instruction to scout from a vantage point and alert them to any danger.

From atop the high cliff, the owl's bright eyes surveilled the cave entrance and surrounding area, ready to signal at the smallest disturbance.

"Don't be afraid, come here," Grayson reassured Katheren, guiding her back to the warding stone, where they stood watching the relentless blue blaze guarding the cave.

Then, a light illuminated the cliff, prompting Grayson to look up. A rounded silhouette perched high on the rock wall, bathed in a ray of moonlight, casting an elongated shadow down the cliff face.

"I've got it!" he exclaimed to Katheren and Elyra. "The seagull's standing on the cliff... It's the shadow! The sunlight, or in our case, moonlight, must cast the bird's silhouette onto the rock above the cave!"

Indeed, the owl's shadow was cast on the cliff, resembling a seagull looking down. Katheren clapped her hands in delight, "Brilliant!"

"We owe it all to me!" the owl proudly proclaimed.

"You've done well, but we still have another line of the riddle to solve," Grayson said as he read from the stone: "They shall use their wise eyes to awaken the sleeping stone of hell..."

He took a deep draw from his cigar, murmuring, "Shadows don't wake anything; it must mean where the bird gazes. If it's standing sideways, it can only look left or right..."

As he prepared to scan the area, his gaze landed on the withered tree beside them. Its branches stretched over to the cliff where the owl was perched.

"Why would seagulls land here, so far from the sea?" Grayson thought. "Even if the Mage Tower kept seagulls on the island, contained by outer wards, they wouldn't necessarily stay unless something drew them down."

"I've got it, the tree's fruit! It must be this side then!" he strode toward the right side of the cave, searching the underbrush but found nothing.

"Could I be wrong?" He straightened up, tapping the rock wall with his bladed fingertips, dislodging a few small stones.

"Hmm?" Grayson peered into a crevice, noting man-made alterations, and uncovered volcanic rock inside.

"Volcanic rock forms from magma after a volcanic eruption. So, the stone of hell mentioned in the riddle... could it be this?" He backed away and sent blades into the wall, prying out chunks of rock.

With the stones in hand, Grayson approached the cave's mouth and tossed them into the flame. Unlike the pebble, these stones absorbed the fire's energy and glowed red-hot, extinguishing the flames.

With the fire gone, Grayson motioned to an excited Katheren, "Looks like we've passed the test. Let's go, darling."

They entered the cave, advancing through the narrow tunnel, passing several skeletal remains along the way.

"This is the adventure guild's badge," Grayson said, plucking a badge from a corpse. "Morven has one just like it; we call it the 'Boot' badge, only official members have it."

"Why did they die here?" Katheren asked, eyes fixed on the corpses.

"Perhaps we should worry about who repaired the wall outside," Grayson said, his tone weighty. "These people must have found the solution and acquired the volcanic rock. Yet the wall is intact. Isn't that strange?"

"You mean, it's a trap?" Katheren asked, her voice shaking.

"Clearly," Grayson replied, striding deeper into the cave.

They stepped over the bones to a broad, towering cavern. The ground at its center rose like a giant burial mound.

Suddenly, a shriek from Katheren drew Grayson's attention: a rotten hand had emerged from the mound, clutching at her ankle.

Grayson kicked the decaying appendage aside with a scoff, "So it begins?"

A roar echoed through the cave as a putrescent creature, pocked with boils and flesh peeling away, lunged out of the earth at Grayson.

Leaping clear, Grayson countered with a fierce heel strike, crushing the creature's skull beneath his boot.

"Lucky day for you, little zombie," Grayson smirked, looking to Katheren's pale face. "I suspect there's more where that came from."

His words proved true as rotted arms breached the soil, hoards of zombies pulling themselves from the mound towards them.