Page 52 of The Dragon Shifters' Enemy
Someone was camping up here or planned to for a long time,Caden said as he studied all of the sleeping bags, freeze-dried food, cans of beef stew, and other materials one would need to stay out in the wilderness for some time.They were freaking arrogant to do this!Valinor isn’t that far away!
Yes, but I had not noticed them before,Valerius stated.And I would not have come out here for some time other than this spur of the moment decision with the other Dragon Shifters in town.
I guess you’re right,Caden admitted.
They picked their way through the snowmobiles and stopped.Up ahead, the cave opened up into a cavern.They could see the glow from several electric lanterns sitting besides several dozen tents.There were tables pushed together where laptops and tablets were spread out, giving a soft blue glow.There were campfires flickering.
There are no people here,Caden said as he stared at the campsite.Where did they go?
Valerius’ gaze though had swept to the wall.A strangelyflatwall for a cave.It looked more like the wall of an ancient building instead of something one would see in nature.Though it wasn’t completely smooth.It was…
“Valerius?!”Caden called out as Valerius had started striding towards the wall without any attempt at hiding.
But he was sure that they didn’t have to.He knew where all the people had gone.And he now knew why he had never seen the Behemoth flying in his territory or any territory.It didn’t need to fly to go from place to place.
“Oh, no!No!”Caden gasped out as he saw what was causing the wall to not be smooth.
Sticking out of it were hands and wings and people’s screaming faces.They were all reaching back into the cave as if they were being sucked inside the wall.They were all stone.All stone.All caught in a frozen moment that Valerius assumed was their deaths. Caden was about to reach for one of those hands in particular. Valerius caught his wrist and drew him back.
“But, Valerius, that’s--that’s Landry!”Caden gasped.
Valerius held Caden close.“I know.I’m so sorry, Caden.I’m so sorry.”
Stick Together
“Wall.Death.It’s accurate, if nothing else!”Kaila stated as she looked at the wall in the cavern.
Large klieg lights had been brought in.Caden could hear the thrum of the gasoline generators that powered them.The interior of the cavern was now brighter than the daylight outside that was slowly dying and the temperature was dropping.He drew the robe tighter around himself.
All of the Dragon Shifters were there.They’d come on helicopters rather than shifting and drawing attention to the Gray Mountains.But they had all needed to see this.Perhaps the answer to taking down the Behemoth was here.
Tez, Jahara and Anwar were down at the other end of the wall from him and Kaila.All three were crouched down and looking at some of the other people caught in the wall and talking softly to one another.Mei was hunched over one of the laptops left behind with Illarion looking over her shoulder.She kept shooing him away, but Illarion kept coming back. Finally, she rolled her eyes and ignored him.
Esme and Valerius were going through the tents to see if there was anything of any value left behind.Chione was working with the Claw, including Simi and Ngoye to catalogue everything to be sent to the crime lab. Fingerprints and DNA might help them identify the people whose faces could not be seen or recognized.
Caden and Kaila were standing by Landry.Caden found he couldn’t leave her.Or her statue.Or whatever this was of hers. Iolaire rustled its wings.Caden saw that it and Raziel were tucked together at the far end of their “lair” as if they wanted to be as far away from the wall as possible. Caden did not blame them.Even if there weren’t the grasping hands, the broken wings, the faces with mouths gaping with terror, the wall had an unnerving quality all of its own.
Kaila reached up to touch Landry’s extended hand.Caden caught her wrist.
“Don’t,” Caden warned
“Why?”Kaila asked.
“You could… uhm, break something off.And if Landry can be turned back then she’d bleed to death and have lost fingers!”Caden found himself babbling.
“Oh, you think she can be turned back from stone?”Kaila asked, looking genuinely curious. Unlike everyone else who was dodging asking--let alone answering this question--Kaila, of course, just went there.
Caden was glad of it. Becausenottalking about it just let his fears simmer inside of him. He forced himself to look at the wall where Landry’s final scream was memorialized in stone.
“She--she was turned to stone so why couldn’t she come back?”Caden asked.
“I suppose that’s logical.”Kaila frowned.“If anything about this is.”
“Yeah, yeah, I mean Valerius thinks that these walls--like the one in Anwar’s territory--are entries into the Spirit Realm,” Caden said.“And that the Behemoth comes through them or… something like that.”
“Why would the Spirit Realm need a physical entry though?”Kaila’s forehead was really scrunched now.
“Because this is the material realm?Maybe in the Spirit Realm, this wall is represented by a different energy or something.I don’t know.Maybe the Spirits have always come through these--these doors.Maybe these are some kind of…” Caden pressed the flat of his right hand against the wall.It was perfectly smooth.It felt faintly warm under his palm.“Some kind of bridge that connects both realms.”
