to handle was gunpowder. At least enough to load a rifle.
‘Once we find Liam’s team, we’ll have to leave it to the scouts to check the passage.’
‘That doesn’t exactly reassure me.’
‘You’re not the only one.’
It took them a while to make their way through the pine forest. At first, everyone kept a close watch on the whole copse, but quite soon the tense atmosphere eased a little and they began to glance more calmly between the tall trees. For their group, passing through here was not much different from the previous forest, thanks to Noah’s ability, but for others it must have been a real relief after struggling through the thorny undergrowth.
After less than a quarter of an hour, the forest suddenly gave way to a rocky scree slope full of fragments of all sizes, ranging from boulders taller than Draco to fine gravel. The rocky debris covered a vast area straight ahead and stretching far to the right, towards the centre of the Crater. On the other side, more spreading tree canopies were visible.
It was difficult to tell whether anything was lurking amongst the rocks, but this also meant they could continue moving along the cliff in relative safety, remaining at least partially concealed. Nevertheless, they had to watch their step, as the rock fragments were by no means as stable as they might appear. Apart from the risk of falling, this also meant they made a lot of noise, which they preferred to avoid.
‘You’d expect them to have changed quite a bit, but this wasn’t here at all before,’ muttered Cedric under his breath, holding the map in one hand whilst trying to mark out the area of rubble with a graphite stylus in the other.
As there was no longer any need to clear away the vegetation, the young Retfield led the way. Noah was able to catch his breath a little and balanced on the rocks near the dragon. Zane tried to cover their flanks, whilst Sheth looked around nervously every now and then, glancing towards the forest they’d
