Free The Fifth Magic (Book 1) by Brian Rathbone Page B

things from another perspective. "Bradley," he said, "when we decided to pile all the debris over there, why did we do that?"
    The younger man thought for a second, and his eyes went wide. "Because there was already debris piled there!"
    Martik didn't have to say anything more. Bradley organized his team and began the process of moving all the debris they had carelessly tossed down from above. Martik worried anything under all the shattered rock had also been destroyed. Part of him wanted to get in there and move the rock with the crew, but that was no longer his role. He had to trust his crew and Bradley to do what he asked of them. His role was to figure out this machine, and he was just guessing. If there was nothing under the debris, he'd be back in familiar territory.
    Trinda had come twice to see his progress. She hadn't said a word to him since his attempted escape. He didn't care. He wasn't doing it for her; he was doing it for himself. Trinda's guards watched everything he did, and there was no need for him to report to her. His only job was to figure out this mechanism, and it was the one thing he was incapable of doing.
    Even as those thoughts crossed his mind, Bradley shouted, "We found something!"
    Martik didn't even remember standing up, but his legs were under him and he was moving at a reckless pace. Workers converged on the place where Bradley stood, and things went more quickly now that they were clearing a much smaller area.
    "Bring water, rags, and an empty bucket," Bradley said, and he had water and rags by the time Martik arrived. Some debris remained, and he had to climb over jagged stone to see what Bradley had found.
    There waited a new puzzle. Istra's likeness was set into the floor, only with holes carved into the stone where her eyes, ears, and mouth would be. Bradley wiped the area down and cleared what he could. Small bits disappeared into the holes, making not a sound; even when they used a stone on a string to check the depth of the mouth hole, which was the largest, they could find no bottom.
    "And it gets even stranger," Martik said.
    The crew continued to work at moving the debris while Bradley and Martik stared. The area was soon clean and swept. He walked the entire carving, looking for any other clues or hints as to its true purpose, or at the very least how to unlock it.
    All the while, the giant cylindrical wheel turned just a little faster.
     
    * * *
     
    Strom walked with his shoulders hunched, and Osbourne followed, feeling about the same. Leaving Martik behind went against their values, but they really had little choice. If Trinda did not want them back in the hold, then there was little chance of getting back in. Instead, they were forced to carry on without him . . . and their supplies. It was bad enough that Trinda had intercepted Martik, but she could at least have left their supplies. Now they were being forced to forage in the same woods they'd had to forage all those years ago. It was reminiscent and altogether humiliating and demoralizing. "Maybe we'll find some black walnuts," Osbourne said, aiming low.
    The truth was that these woods were no longer what they had once been. Now they supported the mouths of Dragonhold, and they had been picked nearly bare. Once there had been black walnuts by the hundreds arranged in circles beneath the trees, but now one or two might remain high among the branches, the grounds clear.
    "The farther away we get the better and worse it will get," Strom said, and he knew the truth of those words. The lands were less forgiving to the east, but they shouldn't have been picked clean. The snakes alone were usually enough to keep people away. "Try not to step on any rotting logs."
    "That's not even a little funny," Osbourne said, but both had a brief laugh. "While we're talking of memories, I seem to remember a hill with a big tree and some apple trees not far away. You think we could find that place again?"
    "We can do that," Strom said, and