Laurence groaned as he slumped to the ground, his hand clutching his stomach.
“Oh, stop being dramatic, old male. Shadow travel isn’tthatbad.” Matea rolled her eyes.
“I beg to differ, my lady,” Laurence panted.
“Is he—” I started to question, only for Matea to say quickly, “He’ll get used to it.”
I patted my friend on the shoulder, then tugged on Matea until she was sitting beside me before the map of papers.
“There’s nothing here because they aren’tinthe city. They’reoutsideof it, hidden in the mountains,” I explained.
The next few moments were consumed by catching Matea and Laurence up on my discoveries and theories. By the time we were ready to head out toward the southwest—the direction themap’soutlier was in—Laurence, fortunately, no longerfelt like gettingsick.
I felt guilty for asking him to travel by shadows once again, but it becamenecessarythe further southwest we traveled. Theamountof Northern soldiers subtly patrolling the forested area only solidified my confidence.
We had found them.
I was sure of it.
The smell from before had returned full force by the time a giant stone wall came into view through the sparse trees. No matter what we did, the smell invaded our senses. But with the wall insight, I could hardly care aboutthe stench.
That had to be it.
The wall was made up of giant pieces of the surrounding mountains, with wood and metal spikes at the top, and itseemed likesmaller versions of those metal spikes stuck out of the sides like small thorns. Every so often, there were towers built into the wall, making up what I assumed were watchtowers.
Oddly enough, though, the closer we got to the dark wall, the weaker I felt.My connection to myziriliumseemed to wane, and in the short secondswe’dbeen in our solid forms, itseemed like even the sun and moon stones adorning my gloved handsweren’tglowing as brightly.
Soon, Icouldn’thold Byn and myself in shadows any longer. Pausing in the thin forest’s darkness, not far off from the wall, I dropped my connection with myzirilium.
“Something’s wrong,” I panted. “I can’t hold the connection any longer.”
Matea and Laurence stepped out of the shadows a heartbeat later,Matea looking rattledwith a furrowed brow, and Laurencea sickly shade of green.
Byn held out his hand, and a small sparklit inhis palm as quickly as it went out.
“Something is blocking ourzirilium,”Mateaobserved, saying aloud what I had been too scared to.
Curiously, I tried to redirect the soft breeze that had just graced my face toward Laurence, hoping it would work and make him feel slightly better.
To my disappointment and confusion, thatdidn’tseem to work, either.
“Whatever it is, it’s affecting my Northernzirilium, too,” I noted, reaching for my Northern abilities within me and feeling them weakly pulsing within me.
Just like my Southern abilities.
If there hadn’t been so much riding on the four of us in that moment, I’d likely have begun panicking.
Byn shook his head, obviously trying to refocus our efforts.
“Alright. We stillhave tofind a way onto that wall, at the least. We need to make surewe’rein the right place,” Byn said—ever the logical ruler. “Any ideas?”
“Check for weak points,” Laurence groaned softly, “in the wall.”
“Good thinking.” Byn nodded, then tilted his head as if considering something.
“What is it?” I questioned quietly.
“I think you two,” he looked toward Matea and Laurence before us, “should stay here.We’reless likely to be spotted or caught ifthere’snot as many of us slinking around.”
