Lynx slammed his foot angrily. “No games! Who told you?”
“I am telling you, I forgot.”
Lynx punched Cad in the face. “That’s it!” He swung Cad over the fifth step and lowered him.
“I am not lying!” Cad yelled. Even though Lynx didn’t believe him, something in Cad’s eyes told him otherwise.
“I am not lying,” Cad shouted.
Cad was just an inch above the fifth step. Lynx had to decide fast.
“Here’s a gift for you, Grim,” Lynx said. He dropped Cad on the fifth step. With a whoosh, Cad got sucked into the wormhole.
Grim stomped down the narrow passage.
“This better be important,” Grim said. “I hope what you are about to show me is interesting, or you know what will happen to you.”
The two men flanking him nodded their heads a little too eagerly. “Not to worry, sire!” One of them said, “You will not be disappointed.”
Grim rolled his eyes and tried to control his anger. After five days of shooting practice, he was finally getting a grip on the Oculus. He had managed to score two bull’s eyes on the target. He wanted to score another bull’s eye. And then what happened? As he was about to fire, these two prison wardens had come and disturbed him.
And what could be worse? His aim misfired and it struck his trainer in the face. The trainer was bandaged up now, and he couldn’t teach Grim any longer. That was one big misfortune.
Grim walked past the prison cells and his pride reduced his irritation somewhat. They had a well-planned system of imprisonment here, and it was all because of his planning. There were prison cells on both sides of the walkway. Each cell had only one occupant. The size and quality of the cells decreased further down. Prisoners were classified into the cells based on the crimes they had committed. If the crime was minor, they were put into the first few cells and were released early. The worse the crime, the worse the cell and the more the time they spent in the cell until release.
As Grim walked further, one of the men began speaking. “Sire, we were watching the cells when all of a sudden there was a large alarm and -”
“Alarm?” Grim asked. That could only mean one thing.
“Yes, sire!” The man said eagerly. “An alarm.”
Grim’s spirits soared. The alarm was fit only in the last cell, where he and his men had created a wormhole that linked to all the master chariots. The master chariots were chariots with experienced warriors and had a vast basement inside the chariot. There were twelve master chariots, and if anyone on the master chariot caught any fugitives, they had the order to put them in the wormhole immediately. The wormhole would then teleport the captured fugitive to the prison cell and trigger an alarm.
And the alarm had been sounded.
He stopped in front of the last cell and ordered the men to switch on the lights. Grim saw a single sword lying on the floor. Just a sword. Nothing else.
“Open the cell,” Grim ordered.
One of the men pressed a button and the cell bars opened.
Grim walked inside and knelt in front of the sword. He turned towards the two men. “Is this what you wanted me to see?”
The men nodded nervously.
Grim turned back and examined the sword thoroughly. The pattern inscribed on it suggested that it belonged to a high-ranking official.
Grim went closer and looked up, straight into the wormhole.
“We told you it was interesting, didn’t we, sire?” the two men said in unison. “What do you think?”
Grim couldn’t reply.
Because...
Two armoured guards fell from the wormhole and landed on top of Grim.
Grim’s face cracked against the floor and stars appeared in front of his eyes. Grim rolled to the side and tried to move his jaw. To his horror, he couldn’t. It was broken. His nose was squashed too and many of his teeth had broken.
The prison wardens at once pulled the guards off Grim. One of them asked, “Are you okay, sire?”
Grim yelled in frustration and anger. “Do I look okay?!
He raised his head and looked towards the wormhole again, and a stream of curses for the Scavenger escaped from his mouth.
A second later, Cad fell from the wormhole. Grim’s eyes widened, but he was too late to move away from Cad’s line of fall.
Grim’s roar shook the entire cell.
13
No One, Scavenger, James and Archer surrounded the coffin.
The Scavenger said in an emotional tone, “I am so relieved. It is like a massive weight has lifted from my mind.”
He looked back into the coffin. The bones of Arcane lay in the coffin.
“Let’s move,” No One said to the Scavenger. “I understand that it was important for you to clear your doubt, but this mission has taken too much time. Our friends must be in Opal City looking for Insanity in the quest for the Trident. We all need to be together. Let’s hurry.”
The Scavenger nodded. All of them got up and started walking towards the forest.
After putting Cad onto the fifth step, Lynx took over control of the chariot. Everyone was deep in thought. Lynx seemed to be thinking very deeply.
“I wish Cad had cooperated,” Matt said, in an attempt to break the awkward silence.
“He wouldn’t have,” Daniel said. “There was too much at stake for him. If he had revealed the information, and somehow Grim had come to know about it, Cad would have been executed.”
“Speaking of that,” Daniel continued. “What were you and Lynx talking about? About the Sorcerers? You know, before we were attacked by Cad.”
“Exactly,” Lynx said, approaching Matt and Daniel. “Before being attacked by Cad. Don’t you see? If we had overpowered the Sorcerers, there was Cad who was the second ring of attack. It all appears planned.”
Daniel said impatiently, “First tell me what you were talking about.”
“Oh, I will,” Lynx said. “But first, and most importantly…” Suddenly Lynx turned towards Urrax, who was standing to the
