‘Argh, it’s no use!’ wailed Egea. ‘We’ll never catch up to Alex and the Braxians with the Sword in time if we have to fight our way through an entire country crawling with monsters! He’s by himself, so it’s easier for him to slip past the monsters.’
Despite himself, Horatio was inclined to agree. ‘You’re right…’ he said. ‘But what else can we do? We don’t have a faster way of travelling. Unless we split up. But alone, I’m not sure any of us is strong enough to survive for long in this place...’
‘Hang on a moment,’ spoke up Ursula all of a sudden, ‘I’ve just remembered–there’s a secret tunnel that goes from somewhere near here to much nearer the tower.’
‘Oh yesh!’ said Walter unexpectedly, raising a finger. ‘I’ve heard of that too, now you menshion it!’
‘Then why didn’t you tell us about it before, “Champion”?’ Helen asked him.
Walter gave a lopsided shrug. ‘I’m not shure. I’d jusht forgotten about it for a moment. I probably would have remembered too evenshually.’ He grinned.
‘The entrance is around here somewhere,’ said Ursula, ‘near to the spot where people teleport in from elsewhere in Gard. It’s used to transport goods and people quickly from one end of Braxia to the other, without detection.’
‘Without detection?’ said Olivia. ‘What’s the point of that?’
‘You don’t understand,’ said Ursula. ‘The Braxians are habitual liars. Their whole system of power and government is founded on deception, betrayal and back-stabbing. They collectively seek the favour of Brax, but they do so while almost entirely looking out for their own interests, in competition. They are well used to concealing their actions from one another. Because of how high I rose in the Braxian ranks as a shaman, I was given knowledge of this secret tunnel.’
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
‘Then how do we know that you yourself are not lying,’ said Ross, ‘since you yourself were a Braxian for so long, until you betrayed them? A back-stabber of back-stabbers!’
‘We know Ursula’s on our side,’ said Ceres in the shaman’s defence, ever keen to believe the best about people, ‘because she attacked that Braxian general in order to protect Alex, and sustained a grievous wound in the process. I know it was a serious wound because I healed it. And she teleported us all here.’
‘But,’ said Ross, ‘this could all be a ruse to lure us to our deaths at the hand of Brax. A double betrayal!’
Horatio regarded the purple-haired shaman along with the others, entertaining this possibility for a moment.
Ursula shook her head. ‘This is ridiculous! If I was going to hand you all over to the Braxians I would have done it by now! I endured years of my life remaining in the Cult when I didn’t want to be in it anymore, all for an opportunity to thwart Brax such as this!’ She jabbed a finger at Ross. ‘I’m not going to waste it just because you’re feeling guilty about leading the Braxians to the sword and are looking for someone else to take your feelings out on!’
With that, she promptly walked off, presumably in the direction of where she thought the tunnel was.
Horatio blinked. What had he been thinking?
‘Come on, everyone!’ he beckoned to the others. ‘She’s right! We don’t have time for this. I trust her, and you should too,’ he said to Ross.
They set off after Ursula, who was making her way purposefully across the rocks.
It wasn’t long before another group of monsters found them.
Battle 3