Chapter 22: Guilty Wizard

I find him easily, though it takes a bit of searching and by the time I stand next to him outside the tunnel of the black devouring whatever it is that tried to eat us, I'm tired again. He doesn't acknowledge I'm there for a long time, hands clasped behind his back, beard jutting forward as he simply stares into the undulating darkness on the other side of whatever barrier keeps it from consuming us.

Probably a good thing we didn't manage to destroy the protections that hold it to that tunnel. The only sort of good thing we've stumbled over in the last little while.

He startles me when he finally speaks. I'm about ready to turn and leave him, to let him have his contemplation in silence. But just as I've gathered enough energy to walk away, the wizard's deep voice reaches me with low, sad words.

"The rune stone is dead." He shows it to me, held in the palm of his hand like a broken toy he's asking me to fix. "I drained the last of its magic shielding us."