In both cases, the timing was improbable.
I spent the next two hours listening to the sounds of activity above while trying to figure out how anyone could have managed to plant the explosives while we were in the closed chamber. We had been there for about an hour, and that was how long it would have taken for the cadets and instructor to return to the Citadel, and for someone from the Citadel to fly back to the temple. There would have been no time to plant the explosives.
Someone must have been hiding in the Circle of Fate, waiting for the field trip participants to arrive, and for the right opportunity to present itself to take out Saphir or Kailin or both.
The other possibility was notifying someone in the Citadel about the change in plans through dragon telepathic communication, but I dismissed it. Dragons might have their own agendas, but they didn't work together with human traitors to undermine Elucia.
Finally, we heard a voice from above. "Shaman Saphir Fatewever and company, can you hear me?"
"We hear you!" I shouted back.
"We're digging out a passage. It'll take time because we have to be careful not to cause another collapse. Can you hold on?"
"We're not going anywhere," I called back.
The work proceeded slowly, agonizingly so. They had to remove each stone carefully and shore up the passage as they went. Finally, a hole appeared in the pile of rubble and fresh air began to filter through.
"Almost there!" the voice called. "The opening is small, but we think you can crawl through it."
I looked at my charges. "Morek, you go first."
He was the largest among us, so if he got through, the rest of us would have no trouble following.
Shovia went next, followed by Codric, and then it was Kailin's turn. She hesitated, staring up.
"I'll be right behind you," Alar told her. "You can do this."
After they had been pulled out, it was Saphir's turn, and I went last.
I emerged at the top of the collapsed staircase and shook the hand of the rescue coordinator. "Thank you."
Captain Derock nodded. "It will take a lot of work to restore this place to how it was before. Are you going to head the investigation?"
I wished I could, but I wasn't the best suited for the task.
"Probably not. It's not my area of expertise." I brushed dust from my uniform, wincing at all the cuts and bruises that I hadn't noticed before.
I was immortal. I would heal.
A medic was already tending to Morek's head wound. Another was examining Shovia's wrist. Kailin stood apart from the others, wrapped in a thermal blanket a medic had given her.
"Commander," Captain Odinah walked up to me. "What happened down there?"
"I'm sure you heard already. There was an explosive device. Triggered as we were ascending the stairs."
She glanced at Saphir, who was speaking with Derock. "Do you think they were targeting the shaman?"
"Perhaps."
For now, she was a suspect, and I didn't want to share my suspicions with her.
24
ALAR
I was taught many ways to kill and twice as many strategies to survive, but none of those lessons mattered when I heard Ravel shout and realized that Kailin was in mortal danger. In that instant, I understood that all my training had only one purpose: to protect the people I loved and couldn't bear to lose.
—From the journal of Alar Tekum
