Chapter XLII: Cion Sky (Cont.)
Then Baen stopped. His eyes closed and he probed Cion Sky with his mind. The presences of the watchers was here…he could feel it. But it wasn’t within Cion Sky……it wasn’t within these walls. Why? What was going on. And then he glanced down as Adelia gave out a cry, stumbling about as she tried to fight the darkness in her mind. She stumbled backwards and lost her footing in one of the grooves gauged by the rock, her brown leather boot twisting in the empty whiteness of the gauge. As she fell, Baen’s eyes widened as his eyes continued to stare at the gauge. “No……..NOOOOOOO!!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The echo rolled down the hall and sent rubble cascading down on every side as Blackheart leapt to the side of a tumbling shard of glass which buried itself in the tiles next to him with a deathly screech. “What the hell is going on?!”
Thyrus glanced around as sand cascaded down onto his head and he shook it off, “I’m not sure. Baen’s trying to rip the place apart, but I sense something greater awaiting us all, including Baen himself. I just don’t know what that is.”
“I agree,” Samden said after a moment, “Things do not seem to stir right in the world of magic, I can sense strange shifts….”
“My gut says the same thing,” West said, striking a match on the wall and lighting one of his last cigarettes and marching over the head of one of the watcher statues. “Let’s get going, though, no waiting around.” The man marched on, brushing the sand from the yellow shoulder pads of his uniform. The others followed cautiously, drawing near the great pile of rubble. They arrived a few moments after West, who was busying himself trying to find a suitable hole to fit through. He drew himself back as his cigarette was caught by a piece of slipping rubble. He stared down at the crushed piece of pleasure, “Damn it. Looks like there is no way through….none big enough for me that is.” He stared for some time, trying to think of a way to get through.
“Never fear!” Thyrus leapt forward and began to examine the structure of the rubble. “Yes…yes….yes…simple as can be really!” He whirled around with a great smile and produced a small metallic device no thicker than a fist.
“And what is that?” West eyed the scientist carefully, remembering how the last few inventions had done many great things, including exploding, crashing, and almost ripping apart the fabric of time.
“It’s an explosive device that should easily clear this rubble out of the way, all we need to do is get it through to the other side.” Thyrus said marching over to West and holding up the explosive. “What do you say?”
“Me? What am I supposed to….”
Thyrus laughed, “Not you, her.” West turned to see Eza perched on his shoulder, deep in contemplation. She quickly came to a decision and shook her head and grabbed the device. She quickly fluttered off into the rubble and began to slide her way through one of the small crevices.
“Just press the little purple orb in the center, dear!” Thyrus smiled and glanced over at West, “I picked it up when I went back to my labs.”
West nodded for a moment, “But by detonating it, won’t it collapse more of this building?”
Thyrus smiled again, “Don’t you worry about that, it’s not that kind of explosive. The force of the explosion will repel everything out of our way. That’s how it works.”
West heard the beep as Eza pressed the orb, “Umm….Thyrus…which way will it repel the debris…?”
Thyrus suddenly frowned for a moment, “Ah….yes….there’s the problem. Hrm.” He turned to the others as a pulsing glow began to ripple out from the debris. “I think you might all want to duck.”
Donovan’s eyes narrowed, “Why?”
West heard the pop as the final countdown ended. “JUST DUCK!” West plastered himself to the ground along with everyone else, the debris suddenly hurled right over their heads as a loud ripple of thunder rolled through the halls, carrying the debris it shook loose with the debris the blast was removing. Finally, everything settled.
Thyrus brought himself up and glanced back to see Eza staring in awe at what the little device had just done, having been on the side the debris was not going to be hurled. “Fantastic, hey?” Thyrus chuckled and climbed to his feet as West dusted himself off and muttered to himself.
Donovan stared at the others, “Wow…that was amazing…..” He glanced over at Grail, whispering, “Don’t you wish they had come with us?”
West glanced backwards, but did not acknowledge he heard the comment, leaning over towards Blackheart, “Do you trust these two strangers? They just appear and we let them come with us. How do we know they’re not more of Baen’s agents?”
Blackheart marched towards the doors with new effort, unsheathing his sword as he saw Adelia’s body laying near the center of the center of the room. “Nine have to stand against Baen, West. We have eight, and there is our ninth. The prophecy will yet come true.”
West unsheathed his own sword as the others began to follow suit, “Or perhaps the prophecy is nothing more than a lie to get us all killed. Remember, that’s what Adelia said!”
Blackheart swallowed, “Either way we die, West. Whether we turn back or march on, which would you rather die for? Nothing? Or trying to save mankind?”