Eclair nodded, appreciating the fact that Darius said the team needed to keep quiet and not just him. Darius signaled to move out, and they continued up the narrow path toward the range of mountains in the distance.
After traveling a few more leagues, Darius spotted a stand of trees where they could stop for the rest of the night. He took first watch and signaled to the others to get some sleep. Eclair quickly curled into a ball, covered himself with his cloak, and fell into an exhausted sleep.
Dyla moved closer to her brother to talk quietly.
“What do you think?”
“I am surprised we haven’t run into any patrols yet. Vogdo must be getting soft.”
“Either that or he’s concentrating all his efforts on the objective. Maybe he’s not worrying about the surrounding area.”
“I wouldn’t count on that. We’ll run into patrols tomorrow.”
Grand Duke Vogdo’s defenses were legendary. He employed PSI guards to defend his objective so that any team trying to penetrate the encampment via a portal would be quickly discovered and captured. His use of PSI guards was a costly addition, but it was a sure fire why to make certain most teams failed to reach the objective. However, the PSI guards were limited to the objective site and not the surrounding area. Even Vogdo wouldn’t spend that much money protecting his objective.
“We should be far enough out to miss any patrols tonight,” Darius said, “but the chance we‘ll be discovered increases the longer we stay in one spot. We’ll have to get close enough to the objective to see the defenses and develop a plan to get past them.”
“Eclair’s exhausted and won’t be much help to us in his current condition. He needs some rest. He didn’t get any sleep last night, worrying about this competition. He really wants to do well.”
“OK, we’ll stay here for a few hours, but we’ll move out while it’s still dark. I want to be in a position to see the defenses before sunrise.”
“Right.”
“You’re key to our success. I’m counting on you to sense anyone in front of us before they detect us. You must put your full attention on where we’re going and not on Eclair.”
“Don’t worry, I can handle it.”
Dyla moved further back into the stand of trees, her face taut with worry. If today was any indication of Eclair’s stamina, they had a tough road ahead of them.
She lay down and closed her eyes, intending to rest only for a short time. It seemed only a few moments before she jerked up with a start and looked at the stars to gauge the time. It was still hours until sunrise, and Darius had not awakened her for her watch. She spotted him in the shadows, still scanning the trail looking for patrols.
Darius saw her move and hurried to her side.
“A patrol went by half an hour ago. They couldn’t have been the PSI guards out here because they didn’t have a clue we were here. They made such a racket that I’m surprised it didn’t wake you.”
“No, I didn’t hear a thing. I must have been more tired than I thought. Why didn’t you wake me? You need to rest too.”
“You needed to sleep more than I did. This next part will be taxing for you. Get ready and wake up sleeping beauty.”
Dyla glanced over at Eclair’s prone body and moved to wake him. She put her hand over his mouth, preventing him from making any noise, and shook him awake. His eyes fluttered open and looked around for a moment.
“We move in five,” she whispered.
Eclair nodded and climbed to his feet. He felt rested and ready to travel. He shouldered his pack and signaled his readiness to move out.
Dyla moved to the lead for this leg of their trek extending her empathic senses forward, trying to detect any life signs ahead of them. Eclair followed her and Darius covered the rear.
A few hours into their movement, Dyla stopped suddenly and crouched down along the trail. Eclair nearly fell over her. Darius quickly grabbed him, pushed him to the back, and moved up to his sister’s side.
“There are people up ahead. I feel them, their nervousness and eagerness. Someone is real anxious over the rise, high and to the right,” she whispered in his ear.
Darius motioned Eclair to stay put, and disappeared to the front. After a few moments, he was back.
“Move back, they’ve set up an ambush.”
Quickly, the three retraced their steps to a safe distance. They quietly put their heads together to strategize a new approach to their objective. Darius looked at Dyla and told her what he had discovered along the trail.
“There’s a small force lying in ambush about 50 meters along the right side of the trail. They were moving around and making noise, so they weren’t that hard to see. I also caught some slight movement on the rise behind them. There must be a spotter up there to alert them when someone gets close. If you hadn’t sensed them, that spotter would have seen us and warned the ambush we were coming. We probably would have walked right into it. They’re covering that entire section of the trail. What do you think?”
“We’ll have to backtrack and find another way around,” Dyla replied.
“Why can’t we go right through them?” Eclair asked.
Exasperated, Darius shook his head.
“How do you think we’ll manage that?”
“I’ll make us invisible and we’ll walk right past them.”
Dyla frowned at Eclair.
“That’s not funny. This is serious.”
“I am serious. Watch.”
Eclair promptly disappeared.
The twins were transfixed, staring at the spot where Eclair had stood. A moment later, he reappeared.
“Damn. How’d you do that?” Darius asked.
“It’s easy. I bend the light around me and it makes me invisible. I can do it for all of us. The range is limited, so we’ll have to walk closely together, but I can hold it long enough to walk through the ambush.”
“Why didn’t you say so before?”
“You didn’t ask me.”
Dyla smiled broadly.
“Eclair, you never cease to amaze me. How long can you hold it?”
“I don’t know. I’ve only tested it on myself and held it for about 20 minutes.”
“That’s more than enough time. If you can get us through this, you’ll be well worth all the headaches you’ve caused me,” Darius said.
As he readied himself, Eclair’s bravado quickly disappeared. He momentarily blanched at the thought of bending light around all three of them for 20 minutes. Dyla felt his anxiety level rise and moved to his side to ease his nervousness.
“Don’t worry; I know you can do this. I can feel your power.”
Eclair was special. Whenever she focused on him, she could feel an unfathomable well of power beneath his surface. That unknown depth of power gave her pause and made her wonder exactly how strong he was.
“Good, it’s settled. Let’s move,” Darius said.
The trio stood close together, and Eclair extended his power to encompass them. At first it was easy, but he soon realized that the constant forward shift of focus, while maintaining enough rearward concentration to cover them all, was taking its toll.
Within a few moments he was in trouble, but they were already committed. They had crested the hill and, even at night, they would be in full view of the ambush force if his concentration slipped even a fraction.
Dyla felt Eclair’s tension growing and his hand on her shoulder began to tighten. They had agreed to move slowly through the ambush site to minimize the noise, but something was terribly wrong. She decided to move faster and risk discovery by noise, rather than from exposure should Eclair’s concentration fail.
Darius also realized something was wrong when their speed increased, but dared not probe Eclair’s thoughts for fear of interrupting his concentration.
Halfway through the ambush site, Eclair was drenched in sweat from the effort. He was vaguely aware of Dyla’s shoulder beneath his hand and the waves of reassurance he felt emanating from her. By a
supreme effort of will, he continued to move forward, concentrating on his circle, putting one foot in front of the other. He didn’t know until later that Darius had physically helped him along from behind. Holding the power was agony, and the tension extreme. His skull was nearly splitting when they finally stopped moving.
“You can let go now,” Dyla whispered.
Eclair looked up, released his concentration, and fell back into Darius’s arms, unconscious.
Excerpt from The Chronicles of Otharia during the reign of the First Vacancy:
Division III – Trade and Commerce
Subsection IV – The Grand Competition
Every event objective had recorders that were used to capture an individual crystal’s unique signature. Every team member was required to insert their personal crystal into the device to record their presence. These devices were located at the portal stations and the objective sites to ensure the teams completed the events together. Some teams opted to simply not try certain events because they were so dangerous and time consuming. The thought behind this strategy was that no team would be able to complete all the events in the given time. The overall standing of any team in the competition was based on the number of events they completed, and the time in which they completed them. At the end of the two-week time period, each team’s accomplishments would be evaluated and a winner announced. Any team that completed all the event objectives and then made it back to the finish line first, would automatically be crowned the champion.
Chapter 15 - Ingress
When Eclair opened his eyes, he was greeted with sunshine. He didn’t remember what had happened, but as he looked around, he realized they had made it through the ambush site. He was amazed that he had held the circle of invisibility for so long and his confidence soared.
Dyla was first to notice that he was awake. She moved to his side, putting a cool, damp cloth on his forehead.
“You were burning up by the time we got through, and your clothes were soaked with sweat.”
Eclair felt his shirt, found it dry, and wondered how long he had been unconscious. This side effect had never happened in any of his previous attempts to bend light, but then again he’d never tried to bend it around three people before.
“You’ve been out for hours. You passed out in Darius’s arms and he carried you to this spot. He’s been pacing, anxiously waiting for you to wake up.”
“Darius carried me?”
“Yes.”
“It must have been the effect of bending the light for so long. Halfway through the ambush I was in trouble, but I couldn’t let go and expose us. All I remember is the pain, and then you telling me it was safe to let go. I don’t remember anything after that.”
“How are you feeling now?”
Eclair rose to his feet. “I’m fine; ready to go.”
“Good, ‘cause we need to move now,” Darius said, moving over to them. “We’ve been sitting in the same spot for too long, and we’re lucky we haven’t been discovered yet.”
“I understand. I’m set.”
“By the way, that was some feat back there,” Darius added.
Eclair beamed at the compliment. “You’d be surprised at what I can do.”
Darius nodded at Eclair. “I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough. Let’s get moving.”
The team shouldered their packs and headed toward the objective. They were moving steadily along a row of hills when Dyla signaled to them to stop. Darius moved forward to get the update.
“I sense something big up ahead, a lot of different feelings. Must be quite a big force, but I can’t be sure how many.”
“This is what I’ve been waiting for; it must be the main encampment. I’ll go ahead and scout it out. Stay put until I get back,” Darius said.
He crawled forward up the hill.
Before too long, Darius was back, signaling for both of them to come forward. Dyla came crawling up first, followed by Eclair doing his best to imitate a snake in the grass. Darius shook his head at the sight of Eclair trying to low-crawl with his backside in the air. The three situated themselves on the crest of a small rise overlooking a wide shelf where the Vogdo encampment was spread.
“Don’t be deceived by the seeming lack of defense,” Darius cautioned. “Look closely and you’ll see some devastating traps down there. I saw a security patrol leave, and there are sensor rings being turned on and off. The objective is at the back of the encampment, and with those sensors in place, there’s no way to penetrate the camp from the front. We might be able to follow a returning patrol back in if Eclair could cover us for that distance.”
“I can try,” Eclair offered.
“No way,” Dyla said. “You would have to hold your shield longer than 20 minutes to penetrate through that maze down there. Besides there are PSI guards down there that would detect us if you were using your power.”
“I’m not sure they would be able to detect it,” Eclair replied. “It’s a very different use of the power.”
“It doesn’t matter, the distance is too long. We can’t risk it. It’s too dangerous.”
“Forget the cloak for now,” Darius said. “There’s something else I thought of. We could try to get into the compound from the rear.”
Dyla looked at her brother, clearly puzzled. “How? The encampment butts up to a cliff. It’s a sheer drop, no way to get up.”
“I can climb it, and we have no other choice.”
“You can’t climb it, it’s too dangerous.”
Darius was stubborn and, once he got something in his head, nothing would stop him. This, however, was something different. It was a sheer cliff - nearly impossible to climb - which was exactly why the Grand Duke had positioned his encampment against it.
“Wait a minute. There’s another problem with that plan,” Eclair mumbled.
“What?” Darius asked, turning towards him. It was bad enough that he was arguing with Dyla; he didn’t need Eclair giving him any more headaches.
“There’s no way I can climb that cliff. I freeze whenever I’m near high places.”
“Don’t worry; I’ll do all the hard climbing. I’ll drop a rope to help you up after I get to the top.”
Eclair reluctantly explained his dilemma, his anxiety level clearly rising. “No, that won’t work. It’s not the hard climbing I’m worried about. I told you, I freeze in high spots; I can’t move.”
“Then I’ll tie a rope around you and pull you up if I have to. We have no choice, Eclair. There’s no other way to penetrate that encampment.”
“No way to disarm the sensors?” Dyla asked.
“Maybe, given enough time; which we don’t have. We would still have to deal with the PSI guards in the front. We’d be caught immediately trying to get in that way. I’m all ears if either of you two can come up with a better plan.”
Eclair looked at Dyla and shook his head; he didn’t have anything else in his bag of tricks to cover this situation. There was no way he could hold the invisibility circle for that long or open a portal without alerting the sentries.
“OK, let’s go have a look,” Dyla said.
The team left the rise and traveled in a wide loop around the encampment to the base of the cliff. They encountered no sentries as they approached the bottom and, as Eclair looked up at the face, he understood why. There was no way he could imagine anyone climbing that wall of rock. He stared up, hoping this was all a bad dream as his knees turned to water.
He plopped down in the dirt.
Darius and Dyla spent the next few minutes studying the rock face, trying to determine the best way up. Darius was confident that they could accomplish this feat.
“Let’s do this.”
“You’re joking, right?” Eclair asked.
“No, it’s the only way; but it’s not the climb I’m worried about. I don’t know whether you have the strength to lift Dyla.”
“What?”
Darius pointed directly overhead. “Look up there. We have to put an
anchor point in that crevice right above us.”
Eclair craned his neck and spotted a crack in the rock about twenty feet above their heads. “You mean that tiny crack way up there?”
“Yes. I need you to lift Dyla up so she can insert an anchor point and tie off the rope.”
“I can lift Dyla, but we still wouldn’t reach that. It’s too high.”
“It won’t be if you’re standing on my shoulders.”
Eclair stared, slack-jawed, at Darius.
“Trust me, it’s the only way to scale the cliff,” Darius said. “We need to reach that crack and set the first anchor point.”
“If you say so,” Eclair replied, shaking his head.
Darius planted his back against the rock wall with knees bent, and motioned for Eclair to climb up on his shoulders. Awkwardly, Eclair stepped on Darius’s knees, holding his shoulders, and stepped up. He tried to lift his foot onto Darius’s shoulder, but lost his balance and fell backwards. Dyla was behind him and caught him as he tumbled.
“Try again,” Darius said. “This time step up on my shoulder and lean into the cliff, holding yourself against it.”
“Don’t worry,” Dyla assured him. “I’ll catch you if you fall.”
Falling once was embarrassment enough for Eclair and he was determined not to fail again, especially in front of Dyla. He stepped up onto Darius’s knee and kept his momentum going right up onto his shoulders. He pressed himself against the cliff, and then lost his balance for a moment of sheer terror before finally steadying himself. He was standing on Darius’s shoulders, facing the cliff, while trying to use his fingernails as anchors in the rock.
“Now turn around and face front,” Dyla said.
Eclair wobbled. You must be kidding. “Right, give me a moment,” he shouted.
“You don’t have to shout. I’m right here by your foot.”
Eclair was not about to look down at Dyla. He was wobbly while standing on Darius’s shoulders. Ever so slowly, he started to shift his feet, trying to put one over Darius‘s head so he could turn himself around. In the process, he kicked Darius in the temple, nearly lost his balance, and then finally, through some miracle, got turned around.
The Quest for Nobility Page 10