The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) by Jonathan Brooks (e ink epub reader .txt) 📕

paths consisted of gigantic branches; the branches that comprised the roof of her cell (and were now keeping her confined) paled in comparison. Despite being hundreds of feet above the ground, the Elder and the rest of her captors ran down the branch, as though it weren’t on the steep incline it was.  If he drops me, I doubt I would survive.  I wonder if I can create some sort of cushion with my Air elemental energy?  It would simply be the opposite of what I do to thin the air when I run quickly, so it might just be possible.

Luckily, no one had taken away the Air and Holy Energy Orbs when she was placed inside her “cell” for safekeeping, meaning that she had already regenerated all of her expended elemental energy from moments ago.  Not that she had spent a lot, of course, but now she had plenty to work with…if only she could figure out some way to get out of her current predicament.

Though unable to lift her head to see exactly where it was coming from, Echo heard some yelling that seemed to originate from where they’d just left. It was fairly unintelligible, but she understood it well enough to know that someone had found the unconscious bodies of the guards near her former prison.  It was obvious enough that her new captors had heard it too, from the way they sped up even more down the worn yet still-sturdy branch that led to the ground.

The increase in speed bounced her around a bit, and though she was confined into immobility, it still shook her up.  As a result, any thought of trying to escape went right out of her head as she struggled to keep from vomiting the undigested remains of her last meal.  Echo wasn’t concerned about dirtying the blurry back of the one carrying her, of course; the branch keeping her from screaming for help was still in her mouth, and throwing up and choking on it would be a sad end to her captivity.

With so much foliage above, there were plenty of shadowy parts of the Royal Tree on the way down.  The Elder and her team seemed particularly adept at keeping to these dark spots and avoiding the large beams of the sun shining down on their beautiful capital of Lyringlade; in a matter of a minute, they had progressed further down than Echo had expected, where there were even more shadowy recesses in which they could hide from their pursuers – and pursuers there were.  The captive Ranger could hear more shouts from above, even more urgent this time, and they seemed to be getting closer.  Despite that (and if she remembered the layout and distances of the Royal Tree correctly), Elder Herrlot appeared to be getting away with her hastily stolen package without any major problem.

A sudden light flared behind her, brighter than the daylight streaming through the trees, which illuminated everything around her in startling clarity – or as much as she could see from her face-down position, at least.  Out of the corners of her eyes, she could see that many of the dark spaces along the main branch of the Royal Tree were gone, and shadows almost appeared to have shrunk back into seclusion at the appearance of such a light.  Even the dark, blurry aura that her captors possessed seemed to have disappeared for the most part; from the few wisps of darkness flitting here and there, she could see that whoever was keeping it active was trying to bring back their cloak of concealment – but having no luck.

“There they are!”  A sudden shout made the one carrying her nearly trip from its close proximity, but fortunately for her, he kept his footing.  If she was correct about how far they had traveled, there was still a distance of at least 100 feet down to the forest floor, and falling from that height – with nothing prepared to stop her descent – would probably kill her.  “Stop!”

If she could have spoken, she would’ve remarked that shouting, “Stop!” to fleeing criminals was probably the stupidest thing she’d ever heard.  Like they are going to stop with a sternly spoken word or something.  If anything, her impromptu porter and his cohort ran faster.

A streak of frigid cold passed by her back, narrowly missing her by less than a hand’s-width.  Echo heard the frozen projectile smack into the Royal Tree nearby, shattering on impact with the tinkle of delicate glass.  The whistle of an earthen projectile as it shot between the legs of the one carrying her was all the warning she got as he leapt with amazing agility, avoiding having his legs broken by an extremely narrow margin.  The rock crashed against the tree as well, breaking apart with the crunch and cracking of stone being split in two.

This isn’t good; they’re likely to kill me before they can even catch or stop the Elder and her team.  That thought was only punctuated as a vine came out of nowhere and wrapped around her throat; fortunately (she supposed), there was already a thick branch wound loosely around her precious neck, so it prevented her from being strangled.  What it did do, however, was grab onto her tightly enough that it made her captor practically slam down backwards on the branch walkway at a full run.

While he was surprised, he reacted quickly enough that he saved himself from breaking anything, though when her bound body collapsed on him she heard an *oof* of exhaled breath as she impacted his chest.  Both of them ended up being fortunate, though, because a split-second after they hit the branch, another spike of coldness passed over her, breaking apart on the nearly impervious Royal Tree.  It’s unfortunate that they don’t have to hold off on their attacks over fear of harming the Tree; only intense fire and certain acids created by