Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
The hill in front of us shuddered. The ground under my feet shook.
“. . . da yu or grolcin doafe mi . . .”
Pressure gripped me, squeezing my body.
“IRCES!”
A wall of fire and light sprang into existence in front of Isadau, constructed with translucent spiked columns. The two columns directly in front of her slid into the ground, revealing the second wall, then the columns on their sides, and on and on. The first wall sank into nothing, then the second, and finally the third. The soil on the side of the hill melted, revealing a big double door, carved from gray stone and secured by a bar with a complex metal padlock.
“We are even.” Isadau walked away.
Kaiden sprinted to the door, pulling tools out of his leather satchel. Will followed, carrying the lantern with him. Kaiden looked into the keyhole, thrust a small tool into it, and wiggled it around.
“Good lock,” he murmured.
“Can you open it?”
“It’s a good lock, not great.” He stuck his tools into his mouth.
I paced along the shore. Every second counted.
Lute was looking up. I glanced in the direction of his gaze. Isadau had climbed the hill and stopped at the highest point, just before the drop.
“What is she doing?” Lute muttered.
“Waiting.”
A spark shot upward in the distance like a golden flare, fired ridiculously high.
Damn it.
The spark burst into a star.
“Kaiden!”
“Almost there.”
The star streaked across the sky toward us.
“Hurry!”
Kaiden twisted the tool inside the lock. The padlock popped open with an audible click. Kaiden pulled it free, and the double door swung open with a screech.
Will ducked inside, carrying the lantern, and I ran in behind him.
On the walls, lanterns ignited on their own, illuminating a small vault, a square cavern cut in the rock. Shelves lined the stone walls, filled with chests. Fuck. I was hoping for the papers to be in plain view.
I glanced at the doorway. The star was heading toward us, a painfully bright pinpoint of light.
I sprinted to the nearest chest and yanked it open. Gold. I slammed the lid and threw the next lid open. Scrolls in wooden cases. I tried to heave it up, but it was too heavy. Will grabbed the chest out of my hands and took off with it. Kaiden darted back and forth.
A dull roar rolled through the night, growing louder and louder. Damaes was coming.
I dug in the next chest. Spiky chestnut-looking nuts. No clue.
Next chest, gold.
Next, jewels.
Scrolls. I grabbed the chest—it had to weigh fifty pounds at least—and ran outside. At the boat, Will slid his own chest in place and took mine.
The star was almost on us. It twisted, growing longer, slimmer, twisting into a giant . . . lance. Oh shit.
“Leave it!” I screamed. “We have to go! Now! Now, now!”
Clover ran out, hauling a big sack. Kaiden was right behind her. I grabbed Clover’s sack and dropped it in. She climbed into the boat. Kaiden took a running start and vaulted over the edge.
Will grabbed me by the waist and lifted me into the boat.
Lute was still missing.
High above us, the lance streaked upward like a fighter jet at an air show. It was enormous, radiant with gold and white.
“Lute!” I howled.
Lute came running, dragging a huge chest. Behind him, the stone doors clanged shut and melted into the hill.
The lance turned, pointing down at Isadau standing on the apex.
Lute dropped the chest in and threw himself against the boat’s bow. The small vessel slid off the shore. He chased it, and Will grabbed him by the hand and pulled his brother in. They hit the oars.
The lance plunged down, roaring like a tornado. Flames burst from its point, and I didn’t know if it was air friction because it was solid, or magic spilling out.
Isadau watched it come.
I grabbed Sushi and wrapped my arms around her.
The lance smashed into Isadau. Flames and light exploded, turning the tiny island into a giant fireball. Water and steam geysered in the air. Heat slammed into us, and I turned my back to it. The blast wave rocked the boat.
Clover gasped.
I turned back and raised my head. The flames washed over the water and drained down, revealing Isadau unharmed at the top of the hill above the steaming river. She hadn’t even moved.
The magic lance hovered a foot from her head, stopped by some invisible force. Isadau raised her hands to the side and thrust them straight down. The steam swirled around the island, thickening, twisting, sliding, and spiraled up, solidifying into a pure white serpent with Isadau’s amber eyes.
Holy shit.
The enormous snake lunged at the lance, coiling about the shaft. The scaled body flexed.
The lance shattered. Thunder pealed. Magic slashed at me, and every hair on the back of my neck stood straight up.
A glowing sphere swirling with purple flames appeared above where the butt of the lance would have been. The flames melted, revealing a man’s silhouette inside a vertical ring of magic. Its rim sizzled with black and electric purple, like some twisted antithesis of a sun’s corona against a spray of distant stars.