“Maybe they didn’t know it was over there,” Drakis replied. “They might have been fighting in the corridors as we have. . perhaps they didn’t know how close they were to the prize. We can only see it now because we’re over here.”
“If that’s true, then they might have abandoned some gate symbols there,” KriChan said quickly. “We could fold there and make for the throne ourselves!”
“Captain!”
ChuKang turned abruptly toward the sound. “Here!”
“They’re coming!” Jerakh said. “We can see them moving toward the rotunda.”
“How long?”
“Not long.”
“Braun!” ChuKang called.
The Proxi was still kneeling next to the gate symbol glowing faintly from the stone next to him. Braun moved his Standard over the symbol, and a spark arced upward and over the heads of the arrayed warriors until it landed nearly five hundred feet farther down the landing. There it burned briefly into the stones, carving out a duplicate of the gate symbol. “That’s ten, Captain!”
ChuKang reached down and picked up the Proxi with his massive hand, lifting him bodily from the ground and pulling him to stand next to him. “Do you see that city to the left?”
Braun squinted slightly. “Yes. . the one built into the face of the cavern.”
“They’re coming, Captain!” Jerakh called.
The sound of the slow march of dwarven boots became a growing thunder in their direction.
“That’s the way to the throne,” ChuKang said. “There’s a causeway next to it-a road that leads straight to the gate. Do you see it?”
Braun smiled. “Yes. . and so does the Tribune.”
Braun turned at once and knelt again next to the gate symbol in the floor. He planted the Standard, and its great crystal flared into brilliant light at once.
The fold opened.
Drakis shuddered. He could see nothing at all through the ink-black fold.
“Timuran Centurai!” ChuKang called out. “Fall back! Into the fold by the numbers! Octian Nine!”
The group leaped from their positions on the landing, dashing at once through the crackling oval into the darkness on the other side.
“Octian Eight!”
Warriors from the other side of the landing jumped up, scrambling toward the fold and vanishing into the blackness.