Haldir watched Inyanga, as she stood there panting and sweating profusely. Her jaw was clenched as she looked at the General's unconscious body that was slumped on the chair. The blood had caked near his mouth and nose but it was still flowing from his eyes and ears. His clothes were covered with crimson blood. He had endured a lot of pain. Inyanga realized that he was willing to brave it because he really wanted to get out of the bond. He wished to become free from the clutches of Ziu. Her mind became numb.
"What bigger things are at stake?" asked Haldir. He waited for her to speak but she looked like a ghost.
"We have to take him to the hospital," she whispered. Her face was pale. The small study had become so stifling that she needed air. "I hope he gains consciousness soon. He has to order his troops to back out from the war," she was almost on the verge of a breakdown. The rough exit from his cell could have been prevented. She bit her lips. Her eyes became glazy.
Haldir watched her feeling her nervousness. "Don't worry I will send him there. You have to help Niiya and Dr. Tanaka too. I am going with him to make sure that he is at the right spot for instant treatment. Until then be patient." He observed that she wasn't saying anything about what she saw in the General's cell, so he goaded her again. "Inyanga, tell me what you saw in there." He spoke a bit sharply this time to bring her back to the senses.
Her eyes shifted from Richard to Haldir. She stared at him with fear remembering it. "The book is the trap."
Haldir's skin tingled with goose bumps. "Put it down in plain words," he said as fear seeped in his body.
"I think there is no booby trap outside the wizard realm. It is inside."
Haldir looked as if someone had poured fuel over his worries, his fear. Inyanga's words were like a knife that cut through his belly. His face turned pallid. He couldn't move feeling rooted to the spot. He stared at her but wasn't seeing her. His mind thought of all the possible things that could happen. Finally when he found his voice, it was shrilly, "How is the book related to all this?"
"I am not sure, but I think that the book might act as the booby trap." Inyanga's lips quivered as she spoke.
"Holy Spirits!" Haldir said. He looked at the General who needed immediate attention but he also had to go to the Wizard Realm. He had given them exactly the opposite information regarding the ploy. He walked to the General and held his hand. "Okay, here's what you have to do. Go to Niiya and Dr. Tanaka to break their bonds. I don't think it would take long. If it does, then leave them. We have to go back to the Wizard Realm." Haldir paused as if struggling to find words. His breathing became ragged. "I- I- I am taking the General to the hospital and will be back in less than ten minutes."
"Okay," Inyanga said.
"Be ready. We will go there together." Haldir shook his head. "I hope everything is okay in the kingdom."
---
There was nothing else on the table. The study was small with only a chair, an uncluttered table and a bookshelf that covered the south wall. Mihr stared at the blue book. It was placed right in the center of the study table. The predominant colors of the study were blue and silver. Thick and hardbound, its outer cover was that of royal blue velvet. A dried blue rose was lying next to it.
Mihr looked at the servant and chuckled, "Your master has something for the blues."
The servant glared at him for ridiculing his master. The wizard servants had a tendency of being extremely loyal to those whom they served. "You may keep the book on the table. I will let the master know when he comes back." They were not very powerful wizards or witches. They couldn't perform magic on their master or wizards of higher level. Their magic was very limited and on top of that their masters branded them on the palms in order to know about their locations all the time. Each master had his or her own unique seal. In Ziu's case the seal was the blue rose.
Mihr cast a spell on him suddenly, "Obtsfacio!" The servant was stunned. He froze in his place now knowing what happened to him. He couldn't even understand what was going around him.
Mihr hurled the notebook he was holding into the air. It vanished in thin air. Giving an evil snare to the servant, he ambled to the table. He lifted the blue rose and stroked its soft petals with his finger. He sniffed it. "Lovely," he said. Its smell was intoxicating. He placed it back on the table and reached for the book. The book wiggled a bit sensing the unknown presence. Mihr pressed his hand on it. It wiggled beneath his hand. It wanted to slide but Mihr pressed it harder. "I need you, so don't show your tricks to me. After today this war is going to end. We are going to kill your master," he addressed the book. "We have had enough of his presence in the Wizard Kingdom." Mihr picked the book. "Adios Ziu!"
Beneath the book, he noticed a red button that clicked and popped out.
Suddenly Ziu's palace was rocked with an enormous explosion with a deafening sound. It was as if the red and orange flames had punched their way out of the ground.
His death was instant. There was no pain.
Adios Mihr.
The book was the booby trap.
Ziu's palace was located on the west side of the Level Three. This level floated majestically in the air with only four palaces. When the explosion occurred, that part of Level Three was ripped in a way as if someone had torn apart limbs of a body. The ground on which it stood along with the parts of the palace, all was shattered. The entire Level shook violently. Flames billowed from everywhere.
A deadly rainfall of thousands of glass pieces, slabs of the building, wood, flesh and soil showered upon the lower levels. However, as they fell to those levels, they were burnt by the numerous spells that the wizards had cast earlier around every house before the war began. Only ashes fell on the ground.
The night sky became a mixture of grey and orange with ear-splitting explosions.
From the first level, few wizards witnessed pillars of smoke and dust of the Level Three. Scared, they went inside their homes and shut the doors.
---
Ziu had brought that booby trap inside his palace. He had at first thought of planting it inside the royal palace but later decided against it. The General had explained the process of assembling it together. It was still under development. The General had said that it was something really dangerous. A day before he had slid out of the Wizard Kingdom, Ziu had assembled it and fixed it in his study hoping that a servant would come to clean and pick the book. Unfortunately, it was Mihr who picked it.
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