Page 103 of Warrior of the Wild
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When Soren and I are less than a hundred feet from the mountain’s base, we have to duck behind the nearest tree.
Peruxolo is outside of his lair.
“Where is he headed?” Soren whispers.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him walk around the mountain’s base. Maybe hunting?”
We are as still as the tree trunk at our backs, waiting for the god to move on.
Soren is the first to move once Peruxolo is out of sight, gauging the distance to the ground. “We’d better take a different route home.”
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Peruxolo is away from his lair.”
“So?”
“I’m going in.” I practically race the last several paces to the ground, before heading for the seam in the mountain.
Soren hits the ground a few seconds after me. “Rasmira! You can’t! What happened to waiting for Iric’s armor?”
“It’s different now. I know it’s not a godly power that’s keeping me out, but a natural one! And weknowPeruxolo isn’t home. We’re already here. This is too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
Soren fidgets with one of the straps on his pack. “What can I do to help?”
“Keep watch. Give me a warning if Peruxolo comes back?”
“You got it. I’ll hide over in the tree line. But, Rasmira—” He grabs the arm I’d been using to remove my armor. “Be careful. No risks. You’re there to look. Don’t touch anything. Just because the god is using a natural substance as a barrier, it doesn’t mean there aren’t magical defenses also in place.”
I hand Soren my ax and armor for safekeeping. “I’ll be careful. Now stop worrying.”
I turn away from Soren and head for that dark gap in the mountain. My pace is a quick walk. The sensation of being flung around by an unknown power is not one I can easily forget. It makes me cautious, even if I now know the source of that power. I try to remember exactly where the barrier would halt me outside the seam in the mountain. Was it here? Or maybe a few steps forward?
But when my feet stop right outside the entrance, a proximity IknowI never managed before, I know the truth for certain.
Peruxolo has been taking advantage of our isolated villages. Noone else has access to this new lodestone, and he has been using it against us for centuries.
I stare down that dark crevice, wondering what I will find in the god’s home.
And I enter.
I cannot see a thing for the first few steps. I stop and blink, willing my eyes to adjust. Eventually, I can make out the walls, made entirely from the new metal that reacts negatively with my armor and ax.
I put one hand to the wall and traverse deeper. The farther I go, the less I can see. Just when I worry the darkness will envelop me completely, my foot bumps against something on the ground.
Bending down, I reach for the item.
A torch, and next to it—
Flint and pyrite.
So the god cannot see in the dark.
I light one of the torches, holding it high in my left hand. If anything or anyone else is in here, I’m doomed, for the torch will give me away immediately.
