Mars looked at the Scavenger, his eyes blinking. “What was happening? I don’t understand. The dark figure seemed to control my mind.”
But the Scavenger wasn’t listening. With blazing eyes, he rushed towards Matt. “What did you do?!”
“WHOA,” Matt exclaimed, backing away. “Don’t worry. I fooled him! I gave him the wrong piece of paper!” Grinning, he pulled out another scroll.
The Scavenger immediately calmed down and grinned. “Smart thinking!”
Mars intervened, “I am sorry I said those things about you. That deceiver had control over me.”
The Scavenger bowed his head in response. “I understand. Forget about it. We have more important things to discuss.”
“Hey! Where’s Blaze of Glory?” Matt asked, looking around. “He just disappeared!”
“His destiny is fulfilled,” Mars said. “He was meant to stay till the first piece was not in the hands of anyone. At the point when Matt took out the piece, he obtained salvation.”
“I understand everything!” James exclaimed, slapping his forehead. “It’s all so simple!”
Everyone looked at him.
James said to the Scavenger, “Remember that we gave the Elite Warrior the location of the first piece? Well, he must have informed the Death Lord, as expected. The Death Lord arrived before us. When you sensed evil, you were right. The Death Lord arrived at the right moment, took the first piece and disappeared.”
James shook his head. “The Death Lord proved clever. I thought that we had done the right thing when we had told the Elite Warrior the location of the first piece.”
“Don’t worry about it,” the Scavenger said firmly. “What has happened cannot be reversed. Look at the bright side. If we didn’t have the Lightning Sword, we would have been captured easily by now.”
It seemed Daniel was still trying to comprehend what had happened. “Hey, Daniel! Are you okay?” asked James.
Daniel said, his voice cracking with fear, “Yup, I am okay. You mean to say… that dark figure… he was…”
The Scavenger’s face was grim. “Of course, Daniel, my boy, that was the Death Lord.”
12
James along with his friends, the Scavenger and Mars were all in Mars’s room at the tomb, trying to solve the second riddle. They had racked their brains, but they couldn’t figure out anything. The riddle went like this:
The Trail of Fire shows the way,
And no one will ever prevail.
Unless the lost soul is found,
And it closes the Golden Wound.
You must find the Shrine of Youth,
And get the nectar from the womb.
So that the soul will not be mute,
Come on, start the way, from the Tomb.
James could only figure out the last line.
Mars said, “I will share some information I have about the Trail of Fire. The Trail of Fire shows the way. The Trail of Fire starts from the origin of a rainbow. It comes for exactly two minutes and thirty-five seconds, and then disappears. The beauty of the trail of fire is that if anyone manages to catch it, he can go to any place of his choice in the Dark World, even the place where the second piece is hidden!”
“But what about the other stuff in the riddle,” James asked.
Mars sighed. “What if the other lines are just distractions? The best we can do is to find the Trail of Fire.”
But James knew better. He had solved hundreds of puzzles and usually everything mentioned mattered. Nothing could be brushed away as a distraction.
“So where do we find the origin of a rainbow?” he asked.
Mars beamed. “I know a place.”
Mars led them out of the tomb, into the green meadows. It was a beautiful sight. The birds were chirping happily, and rabbits were hopping merrily.
“I can’t see anything except the grassland,” Archer said. “Where is the rainbow?”
Mars ignored him and pointed to a spot in the grass. Then he looked at the Scavenger. “I think you know what to do, Wasp.”
Nodding, the Scavenger knelt on the grass. He closed his eyes and muttered a spell.
The ground shook. Bolts of fire erupted from the spot in the grass. The bolts merged together to create a portal that glowed with dazzling light.
The Scavenger looked at Mars. “Thank you, Mars. I won’t forget your help.”
Mars bowed his head. “You have helped me in so many ways. This is just a small repayment.”
“Are you not coming with us?” James asked.
Mars shook his head. “Sadly, no. I never venture out of my place.”
The Scavenger bowed his head and leapt into the portal.
The children followed.
James found himself in the middle of a bubble of red-like substance, which looked like fire. But it wasn’t fire, because it didn’t hurt him. He floated like a weightless ball. His friends were nowhere in sight.
Blasts erupted all around. James gasped in horror when a massive orb of fire hurtled towards him.
As James ducked, a voice whispered into his ear, “Find it in the grave, only the Wasp knows.”
Then everything turned dark.
James flicked his eyes open. He was lying on the floor of Mars’s room in the tomb. Mars looked at him with relief on his face.
“What happened?” James asked, getting up with a gasp.
Mars answered, “I don’t know. The portal closed after you jumped. I turned to leave when the portal opened again, and all of you toppled out.”
“How long was I unconscious?” James asked.
“Just about ten minutes. I brought all of you in here.” James saw the others for the first time; they were all unconscious.
The Scavenger opened his eyes, groaning. James shouted in relief, “Oh, thank God; you all are alive.”
Mars queried in an urgent tone, “What happened?” As the others began to wake up too, James helped them to sit up.
The Scavenger’s face took on a grave expression. “I am not sure. When I entered, I saw fire surrounding me all around. I was just floating senseless. Someone flung a ball of fire at me, and then I was unconscious.”
“The same thing happened to me,” everyone chorused.
“Something malfunctioned,” James said, “And I have a sneaky feeling that it’s to do with a certain half-cracked riddle.”
He quickly went back to reading
