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“He had to use another gate.”
“Where is the other gate, then?” Woltan asked.
“They’re all closed.”
There was a moment of silence, then.
Woltan was the first to speak. “We need to get moving. We can figure out how we will get back in once we get there. And if there is no way that will only make it safer for the family and friends we have left behind.”
If there was anyone to find a positive side to something, it was Woltan. “Let’s get walking,” he continued.
Kara nodded. “The dark lord may have scouts about, close to here. We must get moving. If we are lucky, we may be able to avoid his creatures completely, but I doubt it.”
“How do we know where to go?” I asked.
“The Book of Id will guide us. But we may all be a little lost until we get away from this forgotten city. The city has ancient magic that confuses those close to it, and makes it hard to navigate here.”
Woltan nodded. “Elias may be able to help you get out of its range.”
Kara walked quickly, and Elias followed her, and I behind him. Behind me was Karsten, Cullen and Woltan in the rear. Kara seemed to be good at finding anything that resembled a path, but I had no idea which way we were going. There were bushes and tree limbs and ivy in every direction, and when we couldn’t duck under something we had to hack or thrash our way through.
It was slow going.
I was feeling very tired, stumbling more than walking, I sensed something strange ahead. But I could see nothing through the overgrowth but a strange green glow.
Elias spoke ahead of me. “You can feel it, can’t you, Anders?”
Kara called out. “It’s the path we took into the city! After we fought the keiler!”
We walked forward, and assembled in front of a glowing line. I wondered if Cullen could see anything, but I was sure he could feel the energy.
No plants grew on either side of the line. It was like a small cut in the vegetation, with nothing growing two feet on either side. When I closed my eyes and opened the third one, I could see glowing green running in both directions, toward the city and away from it, and the platform underneath. When I opened my eyes, I could still see it faintly.
“Can we ride it, do you think?” Woltan asked.
Elias shook his head. “I’m not sure we could all get on safely, and for all we know it’s not working properly.”
“It was working fine when I and Kalle and I came in here. We rode it in.”
Elias shrugged. “You rode it in, but I’m not sure we can ride it out. Look at the way the energy is flowing. I think there were two lines, originally.”
When I looked at the green line again and tried to detect movement, I could see what Elias was talking about. The energy was flowing toward the city. I could see the wall in the distance. Elias was right.
“Should we just follow the path, then?” asked Woltan.
Kara nodded. “I know the way, more or less, once we get to the gateway at the end of this path.”
I had a funny feeling about this, but kept it to myself.
We started walking the path. The energy from the line seemed to call to me, pulling at me, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Elias and Woltan must have felt it too, because they kept looking up at the line every few seconds. Nothing grew on the path itself, just smooth stone, and none of the plants to either side encroached upon it either. On both sides there was thick forest; we could only see a few feet both directions. Strange noises came from far off in the distance, and was glad it was still morning; I wouldn’t have liked to imagine what this would be like at night.
We walked quickly and in silence for around half an hour. I figured that the line must be at least two miles long.
A gate appea
red up in the distance and I hurried towards it. I came to the trail end and shook my head. Kara was right behind me, and she looked at me, and then at the gate, and then at me again.
“It’s not the same gate, is it?” said Kara.
