by Don P. Bick
Chapter 33
Twil thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He had been watching Druc to make sure he was safe, when he thought he saw him step through the stone slab. The door didn't look like it opened; it looked like he just went right through the stone itself. However, the light wasn't the best so maybe it only appeared like that was what happened.
I should go over there to investigate, he thought, but I shouldn't leave my watch. But what if he needs my help? Maybe I should get Bran. All these questions and thoughts went through Twil's mind as he decided what to do. He went to wake Bran, who had the next watch anyway.
Bran, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, listened to what Twil told him, trying to comprehend what he was hearing. He wasn't quite awake yet, but he thought he heard Twil say Druc went through the stone slab. He got up and followed Twil out of the cave as quietly as possible, trying not to wake any of the others.
Bran left Twil at the cave while he went to investigate the stone door. As he approached the eagle's talon, he could see the torch clearly lighting up the area outlined as the door. There was no movement anywhere. He had his sword out at the ready, in case of any trouble.
Twil watched Bran reach the torch, ready to call help from the cave if need be.
Bran stood next to the torch looking around. There was no sign of Druc within the range of the light. He didn't hear any movement of any kind. He picked up the light and walked in a circle around the whole area, looking for any signs of a struggle or dropped items, anything that would indicate the direction Druc had gone. He found nothing, nor did he see anything unusual, so he went back to face the stone door.
Right in front of the stone slab was a footprint. The length and width indicated it could only be that of Druc's. Could he have walked through the door somehow? Bran didn't know, but one thing was for certain, Druc wasn't there and the door was supposed to have a way of giving access to the key. Perhaps Druc found a way to enter. That seems to be what Twil saw. Twil has excellent eyes, Bran reminded himself, and he was sure he saw Druc go through the slab. It probably wasn't his eyes that deceived him; it was probably his brain that just didn't believe what his eyes were telling him.
Bran looked around once more. The more he looked at the footprint in the loose dirt the more he became convinced that Druc had in fact gone through the doorway.
"Well? What did you find?" asked Twil, before Bran was halfway back to the cave.
"Nothing but a couple of footprints. It appears as though you saw right. It looks like Druc went through the door somehow. There is his footprint right in front of the stone slab," replied Bran. "If I remember correctly, Druc didn't even get close to the door yesterday. He insisted it wasn't a door. He said the cuts didn't go all the way through the stone. We'd better get Camran up."
"He did go through the stone?" asked Twil, still not believing what he had seen and now heard.
"Looks that way," responded Bran, as he and Twil walked up to the cave to get Camran.
"I don't know how he did it," said Camran, after checking out the area around the door himself. "Those are definitely his footprints and I don't recall him coming close to the door yesterday, either."
"What do you think we should do?" Twil asked.
"Wait, I guess. While we wait, try and figure out how to get in there ourselves," answered Camran, not really sounding sure himself. "Maybe he will come right back out, now that he knows the secret of how to enter," added Camran.
"Should we get the others up and tell them?" Bran wanted to know.
"We might as well let them sleep," Camran said. "There isn't anything they can do. Let's get Uri up and we'll watch this area, as well as the cave for the rest of the night.
"I'll go get him," volunteered Twil, heading off in the direction of the cave.