Beaufort examines the map. “I think it’s the best lead we have.”
Thorne shoves some bread in my hand and I munch on it as we pack up our belongings. Once we’re dressed up warm again, bags on our backs, Beaufort asks us all,
“Ready?” The rest of us nod. He pulls his sword from its sheath. The blade is not glowing.
“No demons,” Dray says with relief.
“I don’t know exactly what we’re going to face out there. The demons could be waiting for us some distance off. There may be more of them.”
I chew on my cheek, nodding in acknowledgement of his warning.
“I think you should ride Blaze,” Thorne says to me, “I think it would be safer.”
“I think I should send him back to our realm. I don’t like him being out here.” I peer towards the dragon who is listening to our conversation intently, his ears twitching.
“He’s here now,” Beaufort says. “It will be better for him and you if you stick together.”
I gaze into the dragon’s golden eyes and have to concede that maybe for once Beaufort is correct. Besides, while I don’t like the idea of him being out here in this stars-awful place, I don’t like the idea of him crossing it alone to return to our realm.
“Stick close to me, okay, boy?” I say.
He stares back at me and I hope he’s understood.
It seems our concerns were for nothing, though, because when we step out of the fort and away from the protection spells the Princes have cast, there are no demons in sight. None hovering in the sky, none lurking on the ground.
“Where are all those nasty little dickheads?” Dray says, sniffing at the air.
“Probably waiting to attack us someplace else,” I mutter cynically.
“Probably,” Beaufort agrees, which is not what I wanted to hear. “But we don’t have much choice – we keep on moving.”
“Which way?” I ask.
“East, like the headmaster said.”
There’s even less out here than there was closer to the border. No ruins, no bones, no tree stumps. Just endless dusty earth and wind.
Out in this featureless landscape, it’s hard to fathom in what direction we’re walking. For all I know, we could be walking in circles. Beaufort seems to know though, guided by a compass he pulls from his pocket and inspects every so often. Soon my feet are aching and my stomach rumbling with hunger. We’ve been walking for hours with only the food we can carry, plus we’ve had to fight off demon attacks twice. This mission is taking its toll on me physically, but also mentally. Out here in the gloom, my mind wanders back to the man in the fort. I see him scorched by my light and disintegrate over and over again and my heart becomes heavier and heavier.
Time’s also warped out here. We could have been walking for minutes or days. I wouldn’t know, only Beaufort and our hollow stomachs guide us and we stop at one point to eat more of the very little that is left of our supplies.
After more walking, the gloom starts to darken further and it’s then that we spot something on the horizon, through the dust and the wind, something that reminds me of those fearsome whirlpools in the black lake. Only this inhabits the sky, sucking everything its way, a giant tower of swirling dust and wind that reaches from the ground all the way up to the sky.
Around it lies the remainder of what once must have been a forest. Burned out husks of tree stumps litter the ground like spikes, and searing right through the middle, a deep and brutal cut in the ground. As if someone has taken a giant axe to the earth and split it in two.
As sinister as the place seems though, there are no demons lurking in the sky.
“What the fuck?” Dray says.
Which echoes every one of our thoughts.
“Did demons build that?” I say flabbergasted.
Beaufort shakes his head in disbelief, yanking his sword out once again. The blade remains normal, which means there really are no demons nearby.
“This feels like a trap,” Thorne says.
“Could be,” Beaufort says, “but this is the place.”
