“Show me,” Declan said, his tone something of a command. Instantly the display switched to reds, oranges, and yellow.

Senka’s head tilted to one side but she was watching the witch, not the display. Nika turned to look at her and the Elder nodded once without taking her eyes off Declan.

“That’s native rock. The heat is indicative of some type of thermal upwelling. They’re going to blow it up and bury you. Pull in your scouts and put full power on your shielding.”

The battle drone dropped to the ground like a stone, eight little silver balls zipping in and somehow disappearing into the bigger sphere. But nothing happened. Long seconds ticked by and everything was silent.

“Looks like a false call, wonder witch,” Lydia said.

“No, dear. Listen to the jungle,” Senka said.

“It’s… silent. Oh.”

“Yes dear.”

The display went white.

Chapter 45

At first, it was so bright there was no sense of movement or motion. But then streaks of dark went flashing past the cameras, followed by a roar so loud that Omega had to turn off the audio feed. Then the whole thing went black.

“Is it gone?” Gina asked. “The drone?”

Omega didn’t answer and there was virtually nothing to see on the screen.

“I think the drone is buried,” Declan said. “If that’s true, he’s gonna have to blast his way out.”

“You are correct, Father. I am running diagnostics, while as adjusting power levels, as well as waiting.”

“Waiting for what?” Gina asked.

“The trappers to come check the trap,” Senka said.

“Exactly, Elder. Currently almost all power has been directed to the shields. I’m redirecting the screens around the circumference to reduced levels while leaving top and bottom shields intact. If I can do this properly, I’ll free up power for the weapons. But it’s very delicate. Too much and I’ll disturb the debris pile. That might alert my quarry. Father, do you think that was all stored arcane energy or was an elemental involved?”

“Hard to tell, Omega. If I were there, I’d be able to feel an elemental but that’s out, so I’ll have to give it my best guess.” He tilted his head and closed his eyes.

Lydia opened her mouth but this time both Tanya and Nika’s hands shot out to cover it. Declan never noticed, as his eyes were both still shut. After a moment, he opened them.

“It may be that she used a fire elemental to build the pressure in that cliff, then popped it with the crystals. Otherwise you’d likely have the elemental down under the rock with you, right now, seeing if it could melt your new alloys.”