Gabrielle nodded. “Much warmer, thank you.” She touched the etching on the bracelet, tracing the strange lettering. “You’re right, Jubal. I have seen these symbols before, in Dad’s study.”
He turned back to examine the wall. “Keep your light running over the wall in three foot sections. See if you can spot any differences.”
The ice at first seemed to be smooth and very solid and thick. Jubal stepped closer. He moved first to his right and then to his left, examining the wall. When he moved left, the bracelet grew very warm and pulsed with energy. Elation made his heart jump. Oh yeah. He’d found it. He moved his hand carefully over ice and the wall sprang to life, glowing beneath the ice layers to reveal thousands of symbols.
“How is that going to help?” Gabrielle asked. “My God, there’s so many.”
Jubal walked back and forth, scanning the wall up and down and from left to right and then right to left. The secret was right there. He was certain he would find it. Patiently, he held his wrist up, adding to the light their lamps gave off. Several times the bracelet pulsed in recognition. He knew in the midst of all those symbols was the key to unlocking the door. He cocked his head to one side, eyeing the symbols from every direction. Abruptly he stopped, a slow smile spreading over his face.
“Of course, Gabrielle. It was there the entire time. Do you see it? Do you remember Draco, the dragon constellation Dad told us stories about? We had to memorize all the constellations, but Draco was his favorite. He would tell us stories about the great dragon in the sky. How the sky was dark, and he was born of fire, a great raging beast with fire in his heart, courage in his soul, and wisdom beyond the ages. Look at this from a right angle. It’s a night sky with all the constellations and here, on the northern hemisphere, you can see his head and the way his tail slithers between the Big and Little Dippers.”
Gabrielle tilted her head. “You’re right. How in the world did you spot that among all the other graffiti on this wall?”
Jubal grinned at her and confidently touched the first point of the Draco constellation. He traced his way along the wedge-shaped great head and down the body to the long tail. The ice began to shimmer with every touch of his hand along the dragon’s back. The ice rippled, appeared to flow, going nearly transparent so they could both see through the wall to the other side, to the open mountain.
Gabrielle, eager to get out of the cave, took a step toward the wall.
Gabby, stop! Don’t move or make a sound, Jubal cautioned. He held his wrist up for her to see the bracelet was no longer etched metal, but the curved blades had opened like the petals of a flower, unfolding to look lethal and ready for battle. Something isn’t right.
Gabrielle took a firm grip on her ice axe and nodded. Jubal was grateful she didn’t panic. Gabrielle might not be as tough as Joie, but she always could be counted on.
I smell that same foul odor those other vampires put off, Gabrielle told him. There’s got to be one close by, that’s why your bracelet turned into a weapon.
It made sense to both of them. If mages had to protect themselves against vampires, even hundreds of years earlier, they would have had to have weapons to aid them.
It would have been better had it come with an instruction manual, Jubal pointed out.
Gabrielle gave him a wan grin and both turned off their headlamps as he laid his hand over the last star in the dragon constellation. The weapon pulsed and gave off a faint glow, so that both could see the waves rolling in front of him, curving back to form an archway, allowing an escape. The ice glistened and sparkled, the seamless rolls a beautiful entrance—or exit. Instinct told him that the door wouldn’t hold long. Jubal stepped in front of his sister. She put her hand on his back and followed him through out into the night.
The curved blades on the weapon around Jubal’s wrist began to spin. Cold air blasted them, a wind coming off the mountains as they emerged from the cave. The bracelet on his wrist blazed red, pulsing with energy, the blades spinning so fast, Jubal lifted his arm