Radiance - The Alight Archives Book #1

83. The Signal

Just like Custas had told them, Elaine silently watched the sizeable gathering of rogue sorcerers before her, their figures clustering together in the heart of the clearing, which stretched approximately one hundred and fifty feet wide. There wouldn't be much of a point in staging a sneak attack; they'd see them coming a mile away. That was not to say that she was much a fan of what he'd concocted instead. In fact, she held serious reservations about it.

Elaine was careful not to make a sound as she peeked over the waist-high wall of foliage stretching between two galbora trees on either side of them, blanketing them all in a curtain of darkness. Kliff was crouched to his knees beside her, his crimson-colored Salamander Wand gripped firmly in his hand. If he was as anxious as she felt, Elaine would never know, as the boy was particularly skilled at masking his emotions.

Then there was Custas to her right, who was fiddling with the sleeve of his uniform, thrusting his arm to the side before proceeding to spin it in a circle, cursing to himself as he agitatedly opened and closed his right hand. For someone who had much favored a strategical retreat, she had been amazed that he'd constructed a strategy as quickly as he did. Then again, given his history with Serpent Fang, it stood to reason that out of the three of them, he would most likely be able to pinpoint what would work and what wouldn't.

It still came as a shock to realize that Custas—her friend—had once been a member of such a ruthless web of criminals. Why, imagining him traversing the dark alleyways and hidden corners of the Captial with the aim of robbing, swindling, or even...killing a noble for the tokens in their pockets was almost incomprehensible. But she wouldn't dwell on such uncomfortable thoughts, not until later. For now, there was only one thing on her mind: saving her classmates from these monsters.

Not all of them had been as lucky as they had. With a rush of fear flowering in her chest, Elaine spotted five figures lying motionless on the ground more than fifty meters from the forest line, their arms tied behind their backs and their uniforms stained with mud. Among them, Elaine recognized the ruby-eyed chatterbox Rayla as well as the light-haired Malcolm lying on his back next to her.

Most of the serpents—dressed in torn and ragged clothing and armed with either a blade or a wand—formed a ring around the students, their scowls searching the outskirts of the clearing for any potential enemies. Standing closest to their captive though were five men, and among them was a tall, lean man dressed in a dark-greenish cloak, his orange-colored hair falling over the right side of his face. Although, his pointed ears suggested that he was from Rymevar, or at least, a descendent of his was. Of whom he spoke with, a man with dark tan skin dressed in a white coat and darkish pants covered in a snake-scale-like pattern, he showed mild concern as frustrated insults were flung at him all the while the three other men cowered behind him.

"That there is Vang, their leader," Custas muttered next to her. "Just as much of a bastard as I remember him being."

"Vang, huh?" Elaine whispered, watching as he cursed at his men, flicking a forked tongue belonging to a snake's lips. His intense, orange eyes looked as if they could melt glaciers with a glance. Elaine quivered in disgust. But what most alarmed her was the fact that she had yet to pinpoint where the Void was hiding. He had to be here, didn't he? Or was he still occupied with capturing more of her classmates? "But why would they choose this as their base of operation?" Elaine softly inquired. "I would think they'd want somewhere a little less exposed."

Kliff tapped her on the shoulder and pointed ahead of them. "That's the reason."

Elaine pinched her eyelids together as her vision strained. What she soon noticed was the odd, ring-shaped pattern etched into the ground at their feet, large enough to fit thirty people, perhaps if they were to all stand shoulder to shoulder with one another. Elaine gupled. "A teleportation circle."