What to do!? shouted Veyzh, pulling at his hair.
"Grandfather, calm down, let me think, your screams bother me," Asia, unable to restrain herself, raised her voice, biting her nails with excitement.
"Explain to me again what happened in the temple," the old woman asked worriedly.
- What the hell is not clear to you, these two, as soon as they take up the tablet, as if they evaporated in the air, teleported, disappeared, choose what you like more. But the essence of this does not change, this damn tablet moved them somewhere. And where, how, why, we know - we do not know. Do you understand what will happen to us when their allies show up here?! They'll kill us all without blinking an eye! And even if those two are alive and everything is in order with them, they can still consider that we set it all up and kill us just on a whim, for ruining their mood.
- Grandpa, stop screaming like that, you're scaring grandma.
"Yes, I didn't give a damn about who was scared there, the life of our family and the entire settlement is at stake!" Veizh carefully looked at his granddaughter, "It's decided, Asia, you need to run while there is time, save yourself!" Run as far as possible, you are young and beautiful, and besides, you can use magic, you will definitely not be lost.
— What are you talking about?
"This is no time to be stubborn, quickly pack your things and go!"
"I don't think it's the best solution," the woman intervened.
- What? Have you gone crazy in your old age? You want our granddaughter to be killed along with us.
- I'm not talking about that, remember, we were strictly forbidden to even approach the borders of the desert, threatening death. Is it impossible to go to the mainland without crossing the sands, or do you think that Asia can get through unnoticed? And if not? Do you even understand how powerful the very empire that the ancestors spoke about can be, because they, not even its kings, are only part of this great power. In addition, if we try to run away, or lie, then in fact we will miss our only saving ticket that we can count on, namely that we are innocent of this incident.
- Grandma is right, if I run away it will be considered as evidence of guilt, and as for lying, this is completely nonsense. I am sure that the subjects of the ancestors, and even more so their allies, knew perfectly well where, to whom and why they went. Therefore, the best solution is to wait for someone from the other side, tell them everything honestly and wait for a decision. This is our only chance, however very, very small. Besides, I won't be able to live knowing that maybe because of me all my people died.
Veyzh, under the pressure of two ladies, wanted to say something, and even took a breath in his chest, but, exhaling, sat down on a chair.
"You are right, forgive my temper.
Asia approached the old man and hugged him:
"Don't worry, grandfather, I know that you were just very worried about us, especially about me. But don't worry, everything will be fine.
- Hope.
***
"That is, you know about what happened only from the conversation overheard by the shadows," Inmir, still relaxed, asked a leading question.
- Yes, sir. The fact is that the temple was surrounded by a barrier and shadows could not penetrate inside, by the way, an hour delay in the report was connected with this, because we could not immediately find out what exactly happened without having direct observers.
- As soon as you turn away and these tomboys are already in trouble, we will assume that they did not pass the test. But we cannot leave them, they are part of our great empire.
"So it is my Lord!" - Kaisar, still fearful of how the sovereign will react, bowed again - what should we do, O wise one!
"Order Kyo to come to the throne room," the Sovereign said, getting up from the source.
***
Rising from the floor, Sen looked around.
He, as well as Leiko brushing off her dress, found themselves in a spacious room, clearly carved into the rock. Under their feet was a seal engraved on the stone floor, around the circumference of which stood monuments to the right and left, above which energy spheres of unknown origin hovered.
In the center of the room, literally sunk into the thickness of the rock, stood a huge rune stone, which, apparently, served as the main teleporting force, and apparently combined with the seal and spheres, forming a powerful energy formation.
On the opposite side from the stone, there was a massive door, made of an unknown metal, and decorated with bizarre hieroglyphs.
"A trap," the elf whispered under his breath.
Brother, where are we?
There was no answer.
- Brother?
- Shut up! Let me think!
Taken aback by such rude treatment, Leiko would obviously have been offended in any other situation, but knowing full well that now is not the time for this, she stepped back a couple of steps and began to explore the room.
"There can be no mistake, it's all a tablet… How could I make such a mistake, when I saw that the inscriptions were made in ancient Elvish, I immediately read them out and… This is what happened… It's a shame if we don't get out of here quickly, the Lord will find out about everything and that will be the end. I don't even want to imagine how he will punish us."
Suddenly, the characters on the massive metal door lit up, and it slowly boiled away. To the surprise of the two crowned heads, a bowing elf, clearly not a half-breed, entered their room.
Raising his bowed head to the floor, he looked at the guests, and was stunned. The fellow standing in front of them clearly did not expect to see them here, and apparently bowed to them, apparently not at all.
- Who are you!? How did you get here!? yelled the elf, at the same time trying to close the door with bizarre swings of some sign.
"[To me.]" Sen commanded, holding out his hand.
And at the same moment, like a magnet, the hand, lit up, pulled the dumbfounded stranger right to him.
Grabbing him by the neck, he lifted him over his head.
- Where are we!? Who are you, a worm!?
"Easy, Sen, he is our brother.
"What a hell of a brother he is, look at him, there is not a drop of mana in his body. Even those forest nonentities had more strength.
Kicking with all his strength, the elf, whose neck was squeezed as if by a vise, and not by a bare hand, desperately wanted to free himself, but it was all in vain. An immeasurable advantage in pure strength was on the side of the enemies.
But then, a huge rune stone that stood in the middle of the room shone again, opening a teleportation portal.
— Who else are you? Sen muttered with surprise on his face.