“Oh, it’s no use,” Glen wailed as the light from his oil lamp revealed the shape of another animal. “Do you think they’re just like-”
“Shut up!” The rest shouted at him, but it was already too late.
Mage City interrupted his griping. The Baliumian took a step forward and stepped on the image of a heron. The slab shook, and then, with a creak, it dropped straight down, toward the glittering blades at the bottom of the abyss. Einen kept Glen from falling. The islander reached out his staff to the Baliumian. Clutching it like a drowning man, Glen jerked himself back up.
“For the-”
This time, it was Ramukhan who didn’t get to finish his sentence. Around the perimeter of the platform, all the columns with herons on them began to move. Shaking off their centuries-long slumber, they lowered their wings. The monolithic ceiling that towered above the platform trembled slightly, and shards of stone fell from above. Having lost about a ninth of its supports, it sagged noticeably and became heavier.
“Damned Baliumian!” Ramukhan roared, leaping backwards to avoid stone feather-spears that were flying toward him.
All the statues of herons began to flap their wings. With each flap, feathers shot out from their wings. Whistling through the air, they flew into the now open grooves on the opposite side of the walls.
The sorcerer, after dodging the first hail of spear-feathers, landed on a slab with the image of a hippopotamus. Hadjar could already see what was going to happen next. Just as he’d expected, the river monsters also shook themselves out of their stone slumber and began to move.
Blurring into the shadow of the Seven Ravens and leaping over a stream of boiling tar spat out by one of the giants, Hadjar caught Ramukhan before he fell over the edge. Pulling the sorcerer back, he stood with him on a slab that depicted a sleeping heron. The rest of the squad, noticing that the floor beneath Hadjar wasn’t going to fall away, also hurried to jump onto the same images.
Spear-feathers and clumps of boiling tar flew all around the perimeter of the platform. Fortunately, they were flying in a straight line and only coming out of the mouths or from the wings of the awakened statues.
“Only step on the images of the sleeping beasts!” Hadjar shouted.
Holding a protesting Ramukhan under his arm, he dove through the next glob of tar and landed on a slab with a sleeping lion. Hadjar didn’t want to see what the lion statues around the edges of the platform could do. For the next few minutes, the squad members leapt over the stones, dodging shells as they did so.
Everyone was smart enough to avoid trying to block or repel the attacks. For practitioners and witches of their level, they were harmless enough. But if the feather-spears or tar touched the inactive panels, the trap would get more complicated.
“Look out!” Einen shouted.
A chunk of rock broke away from the ceiling, which was shaking and cracking more intensively now. It fell toward Glen and Tilis. There were moments when instincts could save a warrior’s life, but sometimes the opposite happened. Before his mind could take control of his body, Glen drew his sword and sent a thin disk of golden light flying. It silently and easily cut the multiton piece of rock into several pieces. However, Glen’s face didn’t show any joy. Rather, he was dismayed. Chunks of the stone crashed down on the platform and rolled across it, crushing a number of the slabs. With a creak, they tumbled down and fell into the abyss. Three other kinds of statues were now shaking themselves out of their stone slumber.
The serpents, now coiled and no longer supporting the ceiling, opened their mouths wide. Acid flew out of them and mere drops of it were enough to begin to melt even those slabs that depicted sleeping animals.
The monkeys began throwing burning stones the size of a baby’s head. Leaving behind trails of smoke, they also landed in the now open niches.
The lions that had intrigued Hadjar so much did nothing. They sank down and also ceased supporting the ceiling. Then they opened their mouths and snarled, and the other beasts, as if obeying their king’s order, went wild. The monkey’s shells were everywhere, no longer following a pattern. They began to crush the walls and still sleeping statues. The ceiling, which had lost most of its supports, began to sink and crumble. Stones rained down and knocked the slabs onto the pikes.
“The exit!” Hadjar pointed to a stone door a mile away. Behind it, a steady, blue light glowed.
Carrying Ramukhan on his shoulder, Hadjar blurred into the shadow of the Six Ravens. This time, he just had to run in a straight line. Hadjar smiled foolishly as he deflected the statues’ attacks — all of this reminded him of an obstacle course he’d used to run through back at the Bear squad’s training grounds. Except the ground hadn’t used to slip out from under their feet and send the soldiers flying into an abyss back then.
As he swung his sword, Hadjar saw other statues waking up and larger chunks of rock falling away from the collapsing ceiling. Glen cried out as his thigh was grazed by a stone spear. Einen gritted his teeth as acid struck him. Fortunately, it had only grazed his shoulder. Even then, it immediately turned red, and then his skin began to burst, exposing graying patches of rotting meat.
Taking aim, Hadjar swung his sword again. The blue-and-black crescent was right on target. It didn’t hit Einen head on, but hissed by an inch from his wounded shoulder. The echo of the attack was enough to cut away the affected tissue. Einen nodded as him and Tilis glided through the shadows. They arrived at the exit at almost the same time. Hadjar had had to help his companions out, sending attacks out in all directions.
As everyone landed on the other side of the arch, it collapsed behind them, blocking their view of the crumbling platform. This time, they were in an oval-shaped room. Small blue spheres whirled around the ceiling.
Hadjar was just about to say something when one of the spheres, leaving a shimmering trail behind, spun and flew straight at his chest. After dodging it, Hadjar stared at the hole in the floor the size of his fist. The little ball of death had left it behind when it had melted through it.
“Fuck everything
…”
Chapter 401
“Jump!” Einen held out his staff.
Hadjar, exhaling in annoyance, started running. The bridge was already crumbling beneath him, and there, at the bottom of the abyss, were giant, fanged lizards. They clambered over each other and opened their mouths menacingly only a few yards below Hadjar’s feet.
Pushing off from the cliff, Hadjar leapt over the precipice. The gigantic creatures’ heavy jaws snapped beneath him. His heart was beating so hard that Hadjar couldn’t hear the other squad members’ shouts and the grinding of the lizards’ chitinous shells rubbing against each other over the noise.
In the middle of his leap, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to reach the staff. A distance of twenty yards was too great for even a strong practitioner like him to overcome. Einen also saw that his friend wouldn’t make it and unwound his belt with a sharp movement of his hand. Jumping into the abyss, he threw out his hand. The belt he was holding came alive and wrapped itself around a nearby pillar.
Hadjar grabbed the islander’s staff. They slammed into the edge of the cliff together. A few feet below them, hungry predators kept trying to reach them. The lizards’ red eyes glowed. They swarmed like an anthill, crawling over each other, desperate for the chance to taste human flesh.