>>6170962Sandora, though, gives them an amiable smile and a bow.
“Great is the Throne’s wisdom. May justice be served.”
“May it be.” The man turns his head to regard you. “And may the friendship between our two people ever prevail.”
“We are here to do so,” you reply, without real commitment.
The Asterite is sometimes bearable, but you have no hopes for the rest of her Country. The Holy Land has no need for alliances.
The Crows turn on themselves and disappear, just like they have come.
“They’re gone,” Willow nods, reassuring you.
“Heavy gift, they brought,” Sandora muses, showing you the clasps. They look like the chains you would put on a condemned man. “And a reminder.”
“For whom?”
“For me,” she grins, opening her backpack and putting them inside. “These will help us subdue him when we finally reach it. They work like the Sarcophagus you have seen on the ship.” The metal does look the same, just as heavy and just as cruel. “There may be a day when I am also brought back to heed and <span class="mu-i">made useful</span>,” she sighs, then stands up straight with the backpack secured, and opens her arms to send out the inky web once again. “There may be.”
Wonder what would have happened if Willow did not ask you to stop. Would the Crows have given you what you needed anyway? The Throne’s participation in this was to lend you a guide and little else.
Once again, it strikes you as particular that Carnaval, and thee Sun-Birther in turn, would agree to this — sure, the Temple was threatened, but—
No. No more thinking.
Thinking would get you nowhere.
“If our preparations are complete, I would get in. Her Sun is still high.”
“Indeed,” Sandora agrees.
You five walk on the glass surface until you stand before the entrance, taking off your visors and rubbing your tired eyes. There is no ripple in the air. The Temple looks just like it has been for the past six hundred years, a molten memory to the might of Ansàrra, embalmed by Her touch.
With the comforting weight of the cameo upon your breast, you signal Willow to come closer.
“I want you next to me,” you say, and you don’t miss the glint going on in the eyes of your other two fellow trainees. “Rubida, can you please watch our back? Soralisa, please try to expand your perception. Your knowledge will come in handy to find the correct layout to the inner chambers.”
“Why are you so sure the Asterite hid himself in the depths?” Sandora asks.
[cont.]
