Chapter 9: Proud or Disappointed?
Magic beyond Irene's belief lit up in front of her. Colors she had never seen displayed so brilliantly filled up the space all around and her hands clenched at her sides. She was resisting the urge to run back into the tree line.
With a glance, she knew that Sorrel was fine and hadn't been spooked by the boom. He really was a good horse.
If he wasn't afraid, then she couldn't be either.
The rocks weren't moved from the entrance as Gunnar said. They were enveloped in mana and crushed or exploded. It seemed that the mages had been setting it up on the larger boulders without her realizing.
The dust settled and chaos ensued as the knights once told to stand back rushed forward, hoping that they were fast enough for the knights inside to not have been crushed or suffocated.
Irene was one of the ones who rushed in and she pulled a bit of her cloak over her mouth when the residual dust still floating inside of the cavern made her cough. She got her self-assurance from her father and her mother cursed it every second of every day. Knowing she was running into a dangerous situation and not caring reminded her of that much.
Visibility was bad in the cave but she continued forward.
Rather than a large cave as she was expecting, the light stopped at fingers of caverns that went off in all directions. Seeing the light disappear, her right hand went to her sheath and she unpinned the leather strap holding the dagger in. Who knew what was behind each corner?
With her weapon in front of her, her braveness grew.
The others had taken to different branches of the old mine and she had taken one much less further traveled.
When darkness took over and the light from the entrance no longer was enough to show her the path ahead, the stone in the handle of her sword lit up and a faint blue glow showed her the path ahead.