Vantra held onto the vine cocoon surrounding Strans, keeping him on the platform as it bumped along the tunnel into which Zepirz and Lorgan led them. Power zinged through her, and she fought to keep it contained, a difficult prospect as the continued collapse of the cavern echoed down the corridor. The amount the ex-syimlin shoved into her frightened Kjaelle, which infected all the others. Both Kenosera and Yut-ta kept glancing back at her before returning to their work of pulling the floating cart.
The shard lapped up the energy until filled, stabilizing her, but she still felt overloaded. “Anyone need energy?”
“I could use some,” Kjaelle admitted.
“Did you find the lake?” Kenosera asked.
“Yes, and the resistance was fierce. Then Mica recognized Skerezahn’s power and, well—”
The ground rocked, and the nomad and hooskine stumbled to the left; the platform struck the wall to the right, and Vantra dug her fingertips into the vines to keep Navosh on the flat top.
“Dammit, Mica,” Kjaelle muttered, helping Ayara regain their feet.
“You know the black-robed one,” the healer accused.
“I know of him, yes.”
Before she continued, roots burst from the walls. Vantra responded faster than she ever had, slinging a Sun shield around them all, then creating a bauble and tossing it to Kjaelle. The Darkness acolyte rubbed her hands over the surface, then smiled as she absorbed the energy.
Tips slammed into the surface, crumbled, broke off, and tumbled to the rough floor. The roots hit again and again, each impact making the Sun glare brighter. The bases wiggled, and the extended parts smoked, before they withdrew into the dark recesses of the wall.
She gasped and rocked as Kenosera and Yut-ta took a sharp corner into a brighter doorway to the left. The edge of the platform banged against the wall, and she scrambled to keep Navosh on top. What would happen if he rolled off? Concerned, she slapped shield-like constraints on the cocoon and wrapped the ends around the platform before merging them together on top. Not pretty, but it would do.
Zepirz and Lorgan stopped, and the shaman raised the staff Navosh blessed. Vantra floated up to see over those in front of her.
Dust and rubble still fell from the collapsed ceiling of a cave, crushed wooden objects that looked like tables, chairs and other furniture sitting among the debris. Tapestries from the walls, and most of those appeared intact. Only a scant handful of torches had survived the collapse, but the space brimmed with illuminated all the same. The brightness came from a Light shield held against a writhing mass of corruption, the root tips slamming into it.
A Light shield? Was that Kjiven? If so, he had lost control of the corruption, now that he no longer had the mantle.
She phased through the Sun shield and clutched the shard tight. Clear Rays burst from her, severing the plants. Black oozed from the stubs, and they snaked back into holes in the stone walls, knocking loose rubble askew as they vacated.
Lorgan zipped to the shield, Water shields undulating around him. As he neared, the Light faded to reveal Elora pouring energy into a limp Light-robed figure, Dough and Janny on guard.
The pirates! Happiness brimmed through Vantra; they were hale and whole. But how did they get there? And how did they hook up with Elora? Why was she there? The thoughts barely formed before she answered her question.
She came to save Kjiven. Had she been in the throne room? No; she would have sensed the priestess, and so would have everyone else. Then where had she hid? It had to have been someplace near, to react and snag the whizan after he fell.
Zepirz held out his arms, legs wide, protecting Navosh from the threat. Two vine tips rose from the cocoon, waving like snakes and pointing at Kjiven. Did they perceive him as a threat? If so, they might harm the other three. She added layers to the interior, hoping that she could keep a deity’s power subdued.
“Hold the shield, Vantra,” Kjaelle said, settling a hand on her shoulder. She nodded and sank inside her barrier while the elfine headed for the small group, alert for more roots.
“She is the one,” Ayara whispered.
“The one?” Vantra asked, landing next to her.
“The one the false Strans spoke of in lucid moments.”
“Yes.”
Their eyes sagged with sadness. “I know that look. I feel it,” they said, touching their chest. “Heart-born words ignored, but sweeter memories plant hope of rescue.”
Vantra did not think Ayara caught the look Zepirz gave them, and she pretended not to see the flicker of pain wrinkling his brow.
Scraping echoed from the walls and roots peeked through the holes. She slammed Sun shields over the walls and created a dome and floor; they battered against it, but instead of breaking, flames ate the tips. She had not meant to add those, and held the shard up, wondering if it had. It blazed an angry dark crimson, which could only mean trouble for them.
“I don’t want him near Strans,” Zepirz shouted, sharp and unhappy.
“We don’t want anything to interfere with the mantle,” Lorgan agreed. “Vantra, they need a shield to get out.” He paused and said something to Janny as she hefted a large, ornate box to her chest.
“Treasure,” Kenosera muttered with wry disgust.
Dough lifted another box, decorated with gems and gold designs. The pirates looted the citadel? That did not shock her, as she thought it should. She had heard the crew’s stories of adventure and mayhem during their living years, and most centered on the amount of wealth they could steal from their target. There was no situation too dire, that a gold coin or two would not improve it.
Elora rose, Kjiven, unconscious, in her arms. That, too, did not shock Vantra; the mantle had been his power, and once removed, he collapsed. He did not look like the man they encountered in the throne room, either; long white hair, a neat beard, sunken pewter skin, though the desaturation probably stemmed from his depleted state, rather than his normal façade. She guessed he had yet to discorporate because the priestess fed him energy. That was her choice, but in the circumstance, saving that for battles and carting him around in a protective bauble might be more prudent.
Then they could energize him later for questioning and a quick trip to the Fields.
Kjaelle took Janny’s burden, Lorgan took Dough’s, and Vantra fused Sun with the Light shield so Elora could maintain it. They rose into the hole left by the collapsed ceiling as soon as she cut off the feed, and Kjaelle and Lorgan returned to them with the loot.
“Why?” She could not help it.
“They grabbed some interesting stuff from Kjiven’s private chambers,” Kjaelle said. “If anyone else had told me that, I’d have called them liars, but knowing Dough and Janny? I’d be surprised if they didn’t.”
“How’d they find his chambers?” she asked as they set their burdens on the edge of the platform and Kjaelle coated them in Darkness shields.
“They must have snuck in, because they both refused to say and looked exceedingly sly,” Lorgan grumbled. “Zepriz, the exits on the other side have collapsed. We need to go another way.”
Quaking interrupted the rufang, and the tunnel behind them dropped chunks onto the ground, striking torches. Those extinguished, and the roots filled the space before attacking the back end of the shield. Ayara backed up, and the elfine pushed her to the platform as more roots pounded on the shield.
“Are there any torches left?” Lorgan asked.
“There,” Zepriz said, pointing to the far wall. A ledge had shielded a handful from being crushed.
They hastened forward, avoiding the larger debris. More roots struck from above, their corruption darker. Vantra frowned and looked up; wiggling lengths jammed the hole, the faintest hint of Light and Sun far above. And something else. Something ominous, with the deathly feel of a poisonous storm bearing down, ready to crush all below.
Dough! Janny!
“We have to get up there,” she said, dread clawing up her back.
“What?” Kjaelle asked, tipping her head back.
No time. No time. Solidifying the shield’s floor, she formed hooks and shot them into the roots. She could do this. She had ridden the enemy’s magic earlier, she could do it again.
“Vantra, what are you doing?” Lorgan yelled.
She yanked, sending them airborne.
