Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“Really?” Dimitri gasped.
“That’s what we expected, right?” Gregori demanded.
“Sort of. I said ‘based on Sousa technology’ but it’s not theirs alone. It’s too new to be theirs. Which means someone else put these here. That’s why I want to stop and think about this. I thought we might get relics of their architecture, signs that they’d lived in the area, but…not this. I’m not entirely sure what it means.”
“Clearly something bad,” Dimitri groused.
“Not necessarily.” Sam broke free of Dimitri and turned toward the booby trap. Dimitri reached out and hooked one finger through an empty belt loop on the back of Sam’s pants, holding him close. The mage sighed and glanced at his finger before turning his gaze up at him. “Seriously?”
“I’m trying. You just told me that someone is using Sousa tech. Does that mean the Sousa are still alive? Or that someone has been here ahead of us?”
“Let’s back up away from the trap and grab a snack while we talk,” Vasily suggested.
Dimitri was ready to hug his friend. If it got Sam away from the device, then he was happy. The mage nodded and they moved a few yards away to a shady, flat spot. Food was pulled out and divided up among them.
“What are you thinking, Samuel?” Luka prodded as they started eating. “Did the Sousa set up that trap?”
“No,” Sam replied decisively. “And I don’t think they’re still alive. This is someone else who has managed to find them ahead of us.”
“How are you so sure of that?” Dimitri asked.
Sam stretched out his legs, one booted foot lightly knocking against Dimitri’s boot. “Because of the first trap. It’s mage made, but I didn’t see anything to indicate that it had been influenced by Sousa designs. It’s also at least a decade older. However, the one we encountered today looks like a combination of the original design and some Sousa designs.” Sam paused and took a drink of his water. “It makes me think that either the group who came before us set up the first trap to cover their backs as they searched for the Sousa, or they put it up almost directly after they found the site. The second trap was added after they’d studied the Sousa for a while. It’s as Gregori pointed out—this second trap isn’t as old as the first.”
“Do you recognize the mage clan that arrived here first?” Vasily asked.
Sam shook his head then glanced over at Gregori. “Do you? You’ve had more experience with traps and security measures than me.”
Gregori was quick to shake his head. “It doesn’t seem familiar to me. Most mage-created traps and devices are more heavily magic based. This uses mostly mechanics, which makes me think it’s non-mage made. But that hint of magic…” His voice drifted off and he shook his head. “It’s sort of like the Jaeggi devices Dimitri told me about when he was in Europe, but this is too different from those designs.” He ended with a snort. “Plus, no Jaeggi has ever been spotted in South America.”
Dimitri grunted. “This doesn’t feel like Jaeggi magic.”
Luka took a bite out of his apple and then held it out to Vasily to take a bite. “Do you think we’re likely to run into this other mage group?”
Sam’s nose wrinkled with thought and Dimitri was sorely tempted to lean forward and kiss it. His archeologist mage was so adorable and brilliant. As long as he wasn’t tossing himself in harm’s way, Dimitri was happy to sit back and bask in the man’s smarts.
“I doubt it. The last trap looks like it’s been sitting untouched for forty years. If they were still around, you’d think they’d at least check on it and maybe clear away some of the growth so they could be sure it would work properly.” Sam picked up a leaf and tossed it aside. “It’s more likely that they set them up and then forgot to remove them after they finished their work. The important thing is that two booby traps mean we are getting close.”
Dimitri took a swig of water from his canteen and screwed the cap on. “Closer, great. Close also means that the danger to you is increasing as well, and I’m not okay with that. It’s still not a bad idea to write down our current GPS location and return to the rest of the clan for more help. We can’t be more than an hour or two by air from Praia do Secreto. We could be back on the ground with reinforcements within a day. Two max.”
One dark look from Sam showed that the mage wasn’t going for his bargaining. At least he didn’t seem pissed or about to lose his temper. That was a step in the right direction, but he didn’t expect Sam to give in either.