The Serpent in the Stone - By Nicki Greenwood Page 0,63
trance. Sara counted on.
Just past seven minutes, Faith shuddered, and her hand went slack in Sara’s. Sara shot off the wall and yanked on her sister’s hand. Slick with rain, Faith’s hand slipped out of her own. “No. No!” She threw her arms around Faith’s waist and pulled her bodily off the wall. They tumbled to the sodden ground. Sara snatched up Faith’s hand and squeezed. When that didn’t work, she slapped Faith’s cheek. “Wake up. Faith! Wake up!” Still nothing. Sara shook her by the shoulders. Rain hissed around them.
Faith’s features contorted into a scowl. Her eyes fluttered open to blink against the downpour.
“Oh, thank God!” Sara gasped out. She fell back with a moan of relief.
Shielding her face from the rain, Faith heaved herself into a sitting position. “Thanks for the pull.”
“I lost my grip,” said Sara. “I thought I wouldn’t get you back.”
“You let go? I still felt a buzzing. I thought it was you.”
“Where’s the sword?”
Faith shook herself out of her post-vision haze. She swept a hand across her face in a futile effort to clear it of rainwater, and they got to their feet. “There, under the opposite corner. Help me clear away the wall stones.” She brought her shovel to the area she’d indicated, then dropped it to grasp the top stone. She gave it a heave. It dropped with a thud to the earth beside the wall. “We have to hurry. I’m almost out of energy.”
Sara nudged her sister. “I’ll do it. Watch the tents for me.”
Faith stepped aside and shielded her eyes against the rain, looking in the direction of the tents. Lightning speared the heavens, followed by another angry roar of thunder. The storm was almost on top of them. “Not that I can see much in this,” she said. “Make it quick. If a tent blows down, they’ll come out to fix it.”
Sara concentrated on the stones at the corner of the wall, shivering as her power flowed in. She held out a hand and took a few steps back. The top layers of stone trembled and shifted. She focused harder. Her breath quickened, and even in the chilly rain, she began to sweat with exertion. Her heartbeat thudded against her ribs. The weight of the stones resisted her. She pushed again, gritting her teeth. The stones gave way at last, and toppled off the wall.
Just four more layers. Sara stepped back to make more room. Mud sucked at her feet. She shook her head, flinging locks of dripping hair off her forehead, and started again.
This was going to be a long night.
Ten full minutes passed before the next three layers of stone gave way, tumbling on top of the others. Sara exhaled, and her shoulders slumped. “I’m just about tapped. That’s all I can manage.”
Faith knelt in the mud. “You got the worst of it. We’ll do the rest by hand.” She seized one of the stones and hurled it aside.
Dropping beside her, Sara bent to the task. The storm whipped the rain, stinging, into their faces while they worked. Lightning and thunder continued their fierce argument overhead.
When they pulled the last of the stones away, Faith took up her shovel and began digging while Sara kept watch. The way the wind howled, she worried that someone’s tent would fall victim to its fury.
A little more than a meter down, the shovel thunked against something solid. “I hope that’s a sword, and not bedrock,” Faith said. “Have you got enough left to help me lift this thing out?”
“I can try. Let’s see what we’re working with.”
They scraped out handfuls of mud and tossed it away, fighting against a slide of earth and rainwater that filled the hole almost as fast as they emptied it. Sara’s fingers brushed the pitted surface of weathered wood. “I’ve got it. Quick, help me find the edges and lift.”
Together, they managed to heft one end of a long wooden box from the hole. Sara struggled to levitate it while Faith hauled on the other end. The wet earth dragged at the box, sapping the last of Sara’s power. She pulled harder. “I didn’t get this far to quit now,” she snarled.
The box gave way at last with a squelch of mud. She and Faith fell back, and the box landed on top of them. Panting, they clambered to their feet and raised the box up onto their shoulders.
“Your tent, quick. It’s closest,” said Faith, taking the lead while Sara stumbled along behind her.