Chapter 29 Sprung #2
Venrick blinked at the place where Lark and Ezra had been a fraction of a second earlier.
The ground where they had been standing had stitched back together immediately, the stone slabs around the shaft knitting back together as if nothing had happened.
Venrick dropped onto the stones, pushing on them but none so much as budged.
Ingamar was there an instant later. He bumped Venrick out of the way and clawed at the granite paving stones.
In his panic, Ingamar should’ve easily been able to rip out the stones and dig into the soil.
Nothing, not a single stone scratched or budged as a result of his efforts. Ingamar roared in frustration.
“Hardin, what did you do?” Venrick gasped.
Hardin dropped the emerald orb on the ground. “I don’t know. All I did was pick this up,” he said.
“They’re gone. Where the ash did they go?”
“I… I didn’t mean to. I grabbed it because I thought it might be the Hyalite.”
“Hyalites are blue, not green,” Venrick said brusquely, running a hand through his thick hair.
“How am I supposed to know what color they are? It was a glowing orb on the ground, so I picked it up.”
“Try it again.”
“What?”
“Maybe whatever triggered the trap door will do it again.” Venrick looked at Ingamar, who had squeezed himself onto the landing ready to dive in if the trap was sprung again.
Hardin picked up the orb again; this time nothing happened.
“Where was it the first time?”
“Here,” Hardin said, planting it down near the mine where it had been. Again, he picked it up, but nothing happened to Venrick and Ingamar.
“What’s different?”
“I don’t know,” Hardin said, trying again and again. No matter where or what way he tried to pick it up, the opening did not reappear.
Ingmar started tearing apart the ground around the stone.
After each claw strike, the disturbed soil moved back into place.
“Those are the wards at work,” Venrick growled.
Venrick paced, his eyes working back and forth as he ran through every scenario he and Tel had experienced.
Nothing like this had ever happened. If there was a trap, Tel would’ve spotted it, set it off or gone around.
But this trap wasn’t just sprung once. Venrick slowed.
“That’s why Ezra couldn’t get in,” he said.
“What?” Hardin asked in frustration.
“Ezra said this entrance and the mine were warded by dwarves, but what if the wards have been broken?”
“Either way, I am a Ward Walker. All I need to know is where the latch is to open the door or set off this trap again. So why isn’t this working for me?”
“Because this isn’t warded, it’s something else,” Venrick said.
Venrick, Ingmar and Hardin now focused on a swirling light that took shape near the landing.
For an instant, Venrick wondered if it were Lark emerging from the trap, but this swirling energy was familiar.
It was the same swirling light that formed moments before the portal appeared to allow Sasja’s escape with the Hyalite back in Astral City.
Ingamar growled, his lips parting as the doorway to the portal formed.
“Hardin, get back,” Venrick said, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him out of the way.
An instant later, fire jetted from Ingamar’s open maw.
Venrick felt the blast of heat across his cheeks as he fell out of the way with Hardin.
The numbing heat stung for a heartbeat, then faded as the stream of dragon fire vanished.
With a roar, Ingamar snapped his jaws at the closed portal.
The dragon reared back and took off, bounding through the forest.
Venrick sat up, resting on his elbows, face still warm from the fire. His head swam trying to comprehend what happened. Ingamar had run off in a rage. They were alone, Hardin and Venrick, alone with the weapons wagon.
“Venrick,” Hardin said from behind him.
He rolled up onto his feet. Hardin had Giant and Thunder by the reins and was leading them away. He waved for Venrick to follow. Wind sounded near him, though there was no breeze. A swirl of light formed; the portal reappeared before Venrick.
He cursed, setting out after Hardin. They ushered the wagon off the path, behind the trees.
Light shot through the portal. An attack at Ingamar, but the dragon was long gone.
Venrick hid out of sight, leaning up against a tree. He listened for movement.
Footsteps crunched on the charred ground. Venrick chanced a glance around the trunk, to see the young woman with blonde hair and bright blue eyes walking carefully across the burn.
“Impressive,” a second person said from within the swirling light of the portal. Venrick wasn’t at the right angle to make out their features, but that voice… He had heard it somewhere.
“The dragon is gone,” Sasja said.
“The dragon is, but the rider is not.”
“She won’t make it through the mine,” Sasja replied, looking down at the stone landing. “There are things in there that would scare even you.”
“This one is tougher than you give her credit for. We’ll see if she comes out the other end.”
“And if she does?” Sasja asked.
“Then she dies for good this time,” the other said.
Venrick glanced across to the tree where Hardin had been only to see that he was crawling his way toward Sasja and the swirling portal.