MARSAI EDGED OUT on to the first of the thin ledges that ran between the barrels of oil around the circumference of the walls of the mine pit. An ingenious collection of stone troughs supplied a steady stream of oil from the base of the barrels to the lower levels of the pit. They terminated in flat bowls that burned with an eternal flame. The bowls pushed back the darkness and supplied a steady light to the interior, necessitating the use of torches only for the tunnels and transition points.
The barrels also afforded her an opportunity to not only create a distraction, but also to take out one of the main necessities of the mine—light to work by. The constant supply of oil meant that the excavating could continue day and night.
The ledge was narrow, barely as wide as her boot, and slick with accumulated oil. She clung to the ledge, refusing to acknowledge the seven-story drop below her. One slip and she would be dead. She didn’t need to see to know the truth of it, so she kept her focus on the task at hand. The barrels were tucked under stone outcroppings and filled through a stone chimney through the rock above each node. They were also made of stone. The only weakness was that the top of the barrel was open to allow airflow. It was the narrowest of gaps to try to hit, no more than a hand’s breadth in width across the top. From above, the barrels could not be breached. To exploit the weakness, Marsai needed to get a good shot away, and to do that she needed the access afforded by the ledges. That alone would cut down the angle.
Marsai clung to the rock face, moving her feet a few inches at a time. Her toes dug into the slab through the soft leather of her soles, searching for any purchase they could find. With a relieved sigh, she moved over to stand beside the first barrel. Her legs quivered with the effort.
I am too old for this, she thought as she pulled out Shikoba’s staff. Raising her right hand, she passed it over the rod, murmuring an enchantment. The staff expanded, the metal tip glowing with promise.
Marsai took it in two hands and aimed it at the barrel directly across from her. Lightning shot out the point, zipping across the space to strike the rock above the barrel. Chips of rock exploded from the impact point. She dragged the staff lower until the lightning slipped into the crack. With a sonorous boom, the oil ignited and the rocky basin split in two, spilling more oil, which ignited in a fiery flow of burning pitch. It fell onto support beams, coating them in flame.
Marsai took aim at the second barrel and then the third, both of which exploded with glorious abandon. She smiled with satisfaction. To hit the fourth, she needed move over to the next barrel along a second ledge. She shrank the staff and pocketed it, then began the careful slide along the ledge to the adjoining barrel.
Marsai had traversed half of the length when the rock exploded beside her face. Shards of stone spiraled away in all directions, slicing into her cheek and arm as they shot past. Marsai gasped, swaying on the ledge. Blood ran down her arm, slicking her fingers. She was exposed and vulnerable. She inspected her back trail, her eyes raking the cliff. Two guards stood on the first platform heaving large rocks in her direction, trying to dislodge her from her slender perch. She forced herself to move faster, her hands frantically searching for solid holds. Another rock sailed past her, so close it brushed against the back of her legs.
Marsai reached the second barrel’s platform and crouched beside it, shielding herself from the attacking guards. She withdrew Shikoba’s rod, and it lengthened again in her hand. She turned it on the two guards. Lightning enveloped their bodies, and they screamed as they tumbled into the pit below. As they fell, a third figure was revealed. Tall and broad-shouldered, she stared into the eyes of her son, Casper. Her eyes widened and she froze, unsure of his intentions. She could see his grimace from across the way.
“Stay where you are,” yelled Casper. She could see the lick of blue lighting curling around his massive fists, crackling with energy. “You will serve the emperor as he has foreseen. You will not escape again…Mother. All will serve the emperor, or they will die.”
Marsai turned the rod on the remaining three barrels across the pit, blasting them with the lighting coursing through the tip of the staff. The flame struck the barrels, and with a whoosh, they exploded. Burning stone, wood and oil spilled into the cavern below.
Casper conjured a fireball of his own. Marsai whirled around to face her son, pointing Shikoba’s rod in his direction. “Casper, don’t do this. You are better than the emperor. I beg you, son.” Her voice carried over the crackling flames.
The hesitation was all the opening Casper needed. He grimaced, his face dark with hatred. “You should have stayed dead, Mother. I thought I had killed you once before. This time you will stay dead. Now ends the Shamankas for all time, as my master commands.” He drew back his hand and threw a tumbling, flaming ball of death. The rod in Marsai’s hand swung to the right and sent a bolt of lightning into the barrel she had just left behind. The barrel erupted sending flaming ribbons in all directions, including hers. The flames spilled inside the barrel behind which she was crouched. Casper’s comet arrived at that same time, and the rock exploded in twin eruptions. With a whoosh, the flames enveloped Marsai and she vanished.
Shikoba’s rod tumbled away into the yawning expanse below and vanished from sight. Casper watched it fall. Without a backward glance or an ounce of remorse, he left the platform.