Page 21 of Dragon Sword

What it couldn’t keep me comfortable from was the heights, particularly as we sailed over the Rohkea Vali. My breath caught in my throat as I beheld the deep gap with its sheer walls. The torrential waters below offered only cold comfort to anyone unfortunate enough to fall into those depths.

Will flew us down but made sure to keep a wide berth between the bridge and us. I gripped tightly to him as we descended into the gap. The weakening sun meant we were quickly hidden in the shadows of the high walls but I managed to see a large shape far below the entrance bridge. This, too, was a crossing but the entrance came out of the stone walls and returned to them on the other side.

Will landed us on the rough stone that made up the bridge and I slid off his back. The rocks flecked beneath my feet and I felt a strange unease inside my stomach.

“Don’t make heavy movements,” Will whispered to me as he grasped my hand. “The bridge has threatened to collapse for a century.”

My mouth dropped open. “Then why are-” I snapped my mouth shut as my words rang out along the canyon walls.

Will pressed a finger to his lips before he used the same hand to illuminate the area around us. I could see more of the bridge and the dilapidated state it was in. There used to be low stone walls on either side but time and weather had worn them down to nothing but smoothed edges. Moss covered much of the surface, fed by the rushing water beneath us. I eased to one side and craned my neck to peer over the edge. The water crashed through rocks just below us, creating a cacophony of noise that was almost deafening and filling the air with its light spray.

Wide and tall doors stood at both ends of the bridge and their huge metal hinges were covered in rust. Will strode over to the entrance inserted into the wall opposite from the city. I scurried up beside him and watched as he trailed his hand down the gap between the two doors.

“Is something wrong?” I told him.

“We must go through this door to follow them,” he told me as he studied the entrance. “Otherwise we won’t know where they’ve come out.”

I blinked at him. “Shouldn’t they come out in the same place?”

He shook his head. “These are enchanted doors. The elves crafted them to confuse their enemies were they to be invaded.” He half-turned and nodded at the opposite door. “That leads to tunnels beneath the city. In case of invasion, the citizens would travel to this bridge and through this door where they would come out at a random location in the woods.”

“Then do the elf troops even know where they were going when they went through here?” I asked him.

He returned his attention to the scrambled doors and nodded. “Anyone with the blessing of the king can control where they come out. Unfortunately for us, we don’t have that blessing.”

My face fell. “So how do we follow them?”

“We force the doors to use the same magic as those who previously passed through their mouth,” he told me.

I lifted an eyebrow. “How do we do that?”

He stepped back and stretched out one hand toward the doors. A bright flame erupted from his palm. “Through threats. These doors have been magicked long enough that they have a slight semblance of sentience, or at least enough to know when they are in danger.”

My mouth fell open. “You’re going to threaten them with burning if they don’t let us through?”

He tilted his head to one side and smiled at me. “Do you have a better plan?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe asking nicely?”

He chuckled as the fire in his palm exploded, casting a bright light over our dark surroundings. “I prefer this method.”

A rattling caught my attention and I looked at the doors. The flame in Will’s hand flickered and danced, but the shifting light didn’t explain the quaking that came from the wood doors. I stepped closer and reached out a trembling hand. My palm touched one of the doors and I jerked it back.

“They’re shaking!” I yelped.

Will held his flame closer to them. “Will you let us through to follow the king’s blessing?” The doors rattled harder and he frowned. “We are friends to your master, whether he knows it or not. Will you let us pass?” Again, the doors shuddered on their hinges.

I stepped up to Will and set my hand on his outstretched arm. “Why don’t we just go through and see where we end up?” I suggested. “What’s the worst that could happen? Wouldn’t we just end up somewhere in the forest?”

He caught my eyes and pointed down at our feet with his empty hand. “Not just there.”

I blinked at him before a horrible realization struck me. “You mean. . .we might end up in the water?”

Will nodded. “Or inside the king’s dungeons, if he has commanded them to do so.” He returned his attention to the doors and his flame danced more lively than before. “That’s why we must convince them to send us through, otherwise-” He raised his fire to the doors and they shivered on their hinges.

“Wait a second!” I shouted as I leapt between Will and the quaking doors. I stretched out my arms and glared at him. “You can’t do that to them! They didn’t do anything wrong! They’re just doing their job!”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “This must be a serious matter if the elves used the old bridge. A serious matter requires serious actions.”

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