Chapter Ten
"This is your last chance, men," Pyra said, his voice rumbling through the silence that had formed around them, "Once we go over this wall, we are out of the compound and facing things that none of us know or understand. There will be no turning back. If you aren't ready to do this, tell us now and you can go back. Think very hard about your decision, because it is one of the most important that you will ever make."
Pyra's glowing orange eyes burned into each of the men, giving them time to think about the implications of moving beyond that boundary and walking out onto the rest of the planet. Though they were feared throughout the galaxy, each of them was very aware that the compound had protected them, had guarded them. When they went beyond that wall, there was nothing left to surround them and keep them safe. Of course, that wall had also failed them when it came to keeping the Klimnu from attacking and tormenting them. It hadn't been enough to prevent the betrayal of the traitor Ullie, and it hadn't guarded them from the work of the flight attendant who had cooperated with him and the slimy, disgusting Klimnu to nearly spell the end of the Denynso.
Lynx could feel that the rest of the warriors around him felt the same way. They could no longer put their total blind trust and confidence in that wall. It was time that they took responsibility for themselves.
When none of the men told him that they wanted to turn back, Pyra nodded at them, his face not smiling but carrying an expression that offered a hint of strength and pride. He tilted his head back to evaluate the wall and then reached onto the side of his bag to untie a grappling hook. The other men followed suit, taking their hooks from their bags and preparing the ropes. A few moments later the Denynso stood in a long line in front of the wall.
At Pyra's command, they swung their hooks over the top of the wall and waited until they felt them catch in the stones on the other side. Moving in the perfect, nearly choreographed rhythm they had trained into their ranks, the men used the pressure of the hooks and the strength of the ropes to steady them as they climbed up the wall.
Lynx stopped when he reached the top of the wall and gazed out over the land that lay on the other side. It looked much like the far areas of the compound where there were no buildings or roads, but somehow despite its similarities, it still seemed sparser and unwelcoming.
Not wanting to be the last to be off the wall, Lynx dropped down on the other side of the wall and went through the same procedure as all of the other men, recoiling their hooks and attaching them back to their bags for use the next time that they may need them. Pyra didn't say another word, but waited until all of the men had come over the wall, and then started further along the open field. Lynx could see his gaze focused intensely on the stands of trees that dotted the field and the tall, coarse grass to either side of them. It was as though their leader were on edge with every footstep, just waiting for something to come out at them.
Pyra consulted the map in the book in his hand every few minutes, occasionally calling back to the rest of the men about which direction they needed to go, or about how far he thought it would be. Lynx followed silently, preferring to keep himself vigilant about what may be lurking at any corner rather than responding when any of the men spoke.
They had been walking for what felt like hours when Pyra suddenly slowed and all of the men followed his gaze to a towering, ivy-covered stone archway a few yards ahead of them. A worn, crumbling stone wall very similar to the one that they had crossed to leave the compound but older and of darker-colored rocks stretched out to either side of the archway and Lynx could see that it, too, had been taken over by the plants of the area that seemed to be trying to reclaim that space.
"This is it," Pyra said almost under his breath, "I can't believe it's actually here."
The men stood in stunned silence for several long seconds, not entirely sure of what they should do from there. They had come this far looking for the kingdom to see if it actually existed, and now that they had found that it did, and that it was still there, they didn't know what to do next.
"Are we going inside?" Ero asked.
Lynx watched Pyra nod.
"The only way to find out if all of this about the Covra and the Light Ones is real is to go in there and see if we find a kingdom that has been locked in time."
"How do we know that if it is all real, that we will be able to go in there at all, or that if we can, that we won't get locked too?" Ty asked.
"We don't," Pyra responded simply, "We don't know any of that. We can't just walk away from it, though. The whole point of us leaving the compound was to find out what else existed on this planet. Well, this is what else exists here. We can't stop now. We have to keep going and find out exactly what happened in there, and what is still happening, whether that means that all of the stuff in these books was just a bunch of made-up stories and that is an abandoned archway to an empty kingdom that no one has lived in for centuries, or that it is all absolutely true and waiting right inside there is an entire species that hasn't changed in longer than any of us have been alive."
"What if something does happen to us, though?" asked one of the warriors from the back of the group, "What about Eden and the baby?"
Pyra's eyes flashed at the mention of his mate and their unborn child and Lynx saw his back straighten and his shoulders square forcefully.
"My mate trusts me. She put her faith in me to find out more about Uoria so that I will be able to protect her and our baby well into the future. As for the baby, my child will know that I didn't stop at anything to make sure that my family was safe, and that I never cowered away from a challenge or a risk. I never want to look my baby in the eye and know that I didn't do absolutely everything that I could to complete my goal out here."
"And if we do find the so-called Light Ones in there," Ciyrs interjected, "there is a possibility that we could help them. They might not have to be locked forever."
As if this conversation propelled him, Pyra suddenly took off running, closing the space between himself and the archway in a matter of seconds. Ero, Ty, Gyyx, and Ciyrs followed closely after. That is when Lynx started running. Closing his eyes briefly against the fear that had settled into his stomach, he pushed himself to run as fast and as hard as he could, crossing through the archway mere seconds after Pyra had disappeared beneath the stone.
As soon as he passed through the archway, Lynx slowed and stopped. He looked up and for a moment he was afraid that Ero had been right and that they had all been locked right along with the kingdom and the Light Ones within it. Soon, though, he realized that he could think and move and he took a few more steps into the kingdom, gazing around with a sense of absolute awe. It was as if he had stepped into a painting.