One moment, they were talking about the history of N'garu while the arrows still hung motionless above the canyon, hundreds of steel points suspended in the night, while the Archive pressed against the stone walls hard enough to make them groan. Then a low metallic sound rolled out from somewhere behind the gates of Thazir.
Sagiri was the only one to hear it first because of his sharp hearing. Sagiri felt it before he understood it, but he knew it was something deadly, heavy, and hot. The archive could feel the heat before he could even see it. His eyes shifted toward the gate as a thin red line appeared between the massive stone doors. For a fraction of a second, nothing happened. Then the canyon turned white.
A sphere of fire erupted from inside the gate or within it in a place where he had not seen open. It all just happened too quickly.
It crossed the distance instantly.
It was so fast that he did not have the time to see the big yellow mass clearly.
