Whispers (Book 3 of Wielder series)

Chapter 33 - Too Late

Darrel stood motionlessly in the shadows, masked both by the cloak of night and a twinge of magic that encouraged anyone passing by to look the other way. He had to wait, Willy had said, until the group of the thousand soldiers came into view.

So he waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally, he spotted the heads of the front lines marching up the path.

He lifted his hand, imagining a small mirror. It caught the light of the moon and reflected it across the plateau where the other two hundred soldiers had already made camp for the night. He flashed it against the wall beside the portal, but only for a second or two. Then he tucked the mirror away, so that no one could realize where the light had come from.

That was Willy's signal. Now it was time for the two of them to act.

Stepping out of the shadows, Darrel marched with purpose out into the open. A couple of soldiers sitting nearby noticed him, startled, and jumped to their feet. He ignored them. They called after him, but he just waved them off, as if they weren't important.

And they weren't. Not yet.

Victoria stood with her back to him, but stiffened and whirled around when he called joyfully, "Well, well, well, what have we here? Throwing a party without me, my sweet?"

She stared at him with her jaw slack. It took an agonizingly long moment for her to collect herself, her anger overtaking her in a rush. "Kill him!" she ordered firmly.

"Aww, and here I thought you liked me," he said in mock disappointment.

A moment later, a rush of soldiers swarmed him with swords, pistols, and magically charged hands raised. But Darrel just smirked, his arms crossed over his chest, and vanished.

He reappeared further down the path, well within sight of the approaching thousand soldiers. "Can't catch me," he teased, sticking his tongue out at them.

Alarmed, but having heard Victoria's order, they raised weapons to him as well.

He disappeared again, popping into place on the ledge just above the path. "You'll have to move faster than that," he mocked as random blasts of plasma shot out from pistols that had fired on him too late.

The scene below him turned to chaos. Soldiers scrambled to keep up with his movements. Swords thrust forward into other soldiers. Pistols fired in all directions. The once calm, collected, organized group turned into a sudden swarm of complete mayhem.

Once he was satisfied everyone was all completely mixed up, confused, and - most importantly - very pissed off, he disappeared once more and reappeared beside Willy, right where he stood next to the portal.

The Wielder had been busy. His hands pulled on an invisible force, dragging out a thick rope of lava from Fire Mountain through the portal. It glowed a dangerous molten red-orange, oozing at their feet.

Somewhere in the chaos, Victoria spotted them. Her shout rang out above the others, though few understood or heeded her call. A few heads turned their way.

They were too late.

Willy lifted the lava high, encasing them in a dome of molten earth. He cut off the supply from the portal, then threw magic over the surface of the lava. It hardened instantly, cooling with a suffocating amount of steam until it turned an ugly black.

Darrel grinned at him. "That was the most fun I've had in ages."

"Let's just hope the wards that protect Fire Mountain don't answer to Victoria," Willy grumbled, shaking out his weary arms, "or this will be a very short escape."