“Don’t let him cut you!” Syla shouted, patting along the stone wall and checking the wyvern statues for levers or switches.
“I’m trying!” Vorik groaned as Jhiton strode toward him again.
At least the device hurling purple bolts had stopped. For the moment.
“It’s over there.” Relvin pointed across the laboratory to a workstation with a black dome on it. Like so much down here,it emanated magic. “It took a moon-mark to activate it.” Relvin held up his hand. Was he silently admitting that he’d helped set things up to imprison these people? Probably. “But it’ll knock you on your ass. It didn’tlikethe moon-mark. Any magic might have brought it to life.”
Syla followed the wall toward the device, giving the battle a wide berth. Vorik managed to kick Jhiton away, ducking to avoid slashes from the glowing swords, but he bled from several wounds including a gouge in his side. Syla’s stomach churned with the fear that her warning might have come too late, that Jhiton, powered by agod,was too great a foe for Vorik and had already infected him.
“Syla!” came Teyla’s voice from the tunnel.
She and Fel had made it down and stood with the soldiers, but they couldn’t get in. When Fel swiped at the barrier with his mace, it flashed green and knocked him backward.
As Syla continued to the dome-shaped device, hoping it could bring down both barriers, she also looked around for other artifacts. There had to be some way to help Vorik. Could she call upon the weapons platform to send a projectile in here? Without blowing up the cliff and dropping the entire castle into the harbor?
Maybe it would be worth it to kill Jhiton and stop the storm god. But she had to get everyone out of here first.
Bracing herself, she touched her moon-marked hand to the black dome, willing it to bring down the barrier restraining the prisoners. But, as Relvin had warned, a tremendous burst of power came from it, and it flung her backward.
She struck the wall so hard that it knocked the air out of her, and she crumpled to the ground. Jhiton delivered a similar blow to Vorik, and he flew across the laboratory. He somersaulted to land on his feet, but he staggered as he did, a pained slump to his shoulders. Blood spattered the floor around him.
Syla cursed. Was she going to be too late?
Groaning, she pushed herself to her feet and returned to the device. A muffled roar came from a tunnel on the far end of the laboratory, the one that led out to the cliff near the harbor. Syla sensed Wreylith and Agrevlari near the exit, the spot where Jhiton and all the cursed fog had entered. Unfortunately, the hole wasn’t large enough for dragons. Too bad. If theycouldcome in, they could help turn the tides, and there was plenty of room in the laboratory itself for their kind.
Again, she thought of trying to call to the weapons platform to launch projectiles, but dozens of her moon-marked kin might be killed. All those in the castle might also be in danger if the great power weakened the bluff above.
When Syla lifted her finger toward the device again, it hummed angrily at her, and she paused. “Are yousureit was a moon-mark that activated it, Relvin?”
These were the storm god’s artifacts, after all. Why would they respond to magic granted by the other gods?
“It might have been my ring,” Relvin called after a moment. He held up his hand to show an emerald bauble on a gold band. “But I can’t get it to you.”
Dragon roars sounded as swords clanged, Vorik again clashing with his brother.
We are tearing away and attempting to melt the rock to widen the entrance,Wreylith said,but it will take some time.
Thank you. Hurry as best you can.
Once more, Vorik tumbled away from Jhiton, who didn’t hesitate to stride after him. He’d also been injured and wept blood, butVorik’sblades weren’t infected with evil magic.
We need dragons,Syla added to Wreylith.
Then she blurted, “Oh, dragons,” to herself as realization swept over her.
Syla dropped herlefthand onto the dome, the one marked by Wreylith’s tattoo. This time, the device responded to her, flaring green, the same green as that of the barriers.
“Lower those,” she whispered and attempted to telepathically share the order with the device. A crackle of energy radiated from the dome along with a sense of indignation. “Lower them, or I’ll hurl you into the sea, and you’ll be forgotten forever,” she growled before she could consider that bribery and cajoling might work better than threats.
But the device listened. The barriers disappeared, and the light level dramatically lowered in the laboratory. Only the glows of a few artifacts and Jhiton’s foul swords gave off illumination. But it was enough for the prisoners to realize they were free and to hurry out of the alcove.
“Go up to the castle,” Syla yelled, waving urgently at them. “I’m going to—” She almost said blow the place up, but she caught Jhiton looking over at her.
Vorik was on one knee a few yards from him, his sword raised as he struggled to rise again, but Jhiton didn’t continue his advance toward him. From the beginning, he’d been focused on Vorik, but now he turned and strode toward Syla.
“I’m going to follow you!” she yelled to the prisoners, not wanting to give away her plan. Just because Jhiton was possessed didn’t mean he didn’t understand. She didn’t want to warn him.
“Syla,” Fel barked, rushing into the laboratory with Teyla.
