Next Up

22

Colson and Zoe kept a lookout while Ivy patted the ground, trying to find the concealed hatch. There was not a soul around; the only thing Zoe saw was a yellow bird that slowly circled in the sky.

"Have you found it yet?" Colson asked, not worried about the volume of his voice over the roar of the nearby waterfall.

Ivy's hand caught the edge of the heavy hatch. "Yea!" she yelled quietly.

Zoe gave one more cautionary scan of the area, still seeing nothing of interest. He gave the 'okay' to open the grassy doorway.

When they reached the bottom of the ladder, they took a minute to look around. Colson suggested that Ivy looks right, Zoe looks left, and he'll look in the center of the temple.

Zoe's eyes fell on a life-size Romanized depiction of an angel. 'It can't be that easy, can it?' Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she walked over to the statue, looking it up and down before her eyes settled on its hands. Several rings were on each hand; studying each item, she concluded they weren't anything special. There was a slightly different one; a faded silver ring with two humanoid designs with snake faces, wrapped around the center. A heavy white gem was placed in the center of the ring.

"Hey, Ivy, I think this is it," she called out.

Ivy took the ring out of her hands; her eyes lit up when she studied it. She slipped the loop onto her ring finger, "fits perfectly," She smiled, her unblinking eyes never leaving the gem.

Colson gave her a disapproving look, "Well, you saw it. Was that all we came down here for?"

"Do you guys think that if someone wore this, it could save them? Like, in the middle of a fight, you think?"

Zoe shrugged, "I guess it would depend on how fast it heals."

Jashin and Idris walked down the side of the river. They had reconvened after splitting up to find and kill some stragglers.

Idris noticed Jashin staring into the distance toward a row of homes. Behind them was the spire on top of the library's roof.

"Within the next day or so, we'll have Cassius cleaned up. Verne, the kids, and non-cowardly villagers, they won't be able-"

Idris was cut off by the sound of flapping wings right above them; a black eagle slowly lowered itself in front of their path. Both noticed a white slip of paper held tightly in its grasp. It picked at ants through a crack in the cobblestone road.

They looked at each other and stared at the eagle, which tilted its head at them, its golden eyes staring at them patiently.

Idris walked forward and cautiously unwrapped the piece of paper from the bird's foot. The eagle flapped its wings, soaring off into the sky.

Unraveling the paper and reading, "Thirty minutes, town square. The bald one will come alone. If he refuses to show up, or if he is not the only one, it will be seen as a declaration of war. We are here to come to a compromise; we will be unarmed."

He handed the slip to Jashin, who read it over several times.

"Interesting," Jashin said.

"It seems like quite the obvious trap, but...."

"But?"

"I'm not sure. I feel like there's a sincerity to the note. I don't think being unarmed means much, but...This is quite tricky."

"A declaration of war? Potentially damned if I do appear, and absolutely damned if I don't."

Jashin stood tall. His breathing was low and controlled. Trying to not make it evident that he was nervous. He casually looked around the town square, leaning against a splintered wooden pole and crossing his arms.