Columba slowed to a stop on the approach to the gates at the Vault of Stones, Ari beside him and Minette just behind him.
The throng around them was deafening, their cheering so loud that Columba could hardly think.
They cheer for someone who can"t be here, he thought, recalling again those last few moments, which he"d watched in disbelief.
The fiery lava column had swallowed the pair, and Columba had gotten only a brief glimpse of a darker knot as the erupting lava had launched the incinerated remains skyward through the vent. And as the volcano subsided, the only sound had been that of the weeping boy, Pavo.
Afterward, their company, minus its most famous member, had traveled the length of the continent, going first to the Hall of Swords, where the High Sage Lord Arcturyx Longblade h
