Rainbow's Arc

Chapter 2 of 4

Beyond the sealed storm, the ground dropped into a drained storm-passage. Its walls were packed mud and cracked stone. Every footprint had washed away. Rainbow needed the thief’s trail before another storm found her. Her dragon lowered its nose and sniffed the floor. It sneezed black dust. Rainbow studied the walls instead. Thin streaks of blue, green, and red stained the cracks. They looked like brush marks, but rainwater had smeared them in every direction. A sharp knock came from ahead. Rainbow grabbed the dragon’s neck. A boy chipped ice from a wall with a short crystal blade. His coat flashed pale rainbow colors. He looked up, then lifted both hands. “Don’t step on the loose floor,” he said. “It drops into a flood channel.” Rainbow stopped inches from a dark split in the mud. Her chest tightened. “Who are you?” “IceeRainbowPrince.” He pointed to the colored streaks. “I came from the crystal castle. The storm tore pieces from the aurora shards. I’m collecting them before the next rain.” Rainbow showed him the drained wand. “Someone stole the brush that controls storms. I need their trail.” IceeRainbowPrince crouched beside a smear of red. He pressed an aurora shard against it. The shard caught the color. A thin line of light stretched across the passage floor, then bent toward a blocked side tunnel. “That mark is fresh,” he said. “The shard remembers where magic touched it.” Rainbow followed the line to the tunnel. A slab of fallen stone sealed most of the opening. Her dragon shoved its shoulder under the edge. Rainbow pushed beside it. IceeRainbowPrince wedged his blade into a crack. Together they lifted the slab enough to crawl through. On the other side, they found a narrow ledge above a deep channel. The light-line ran along the ledge, then stopped at a broken bridge. Across the gap sat a patch of black paint. A single bristle lay trapped in it. Rainbow’s stomach dropped. “The thief crossed here.” IceeRainbowPrince tossed an aurora shard over the gap. It struck the far wall and burst into a sheet of ice. The ice spread between both ledges. Rainbow tested it with one boot. It held. She crossed, took the bristle, and held it near the colored mark. The bristle pulled toward the passage exit. A clear trail now glowed in short, fading lines. Then thunder rolled above them. Water dripped from the ceiling. The new ice bridge cracked under the first hard drops. Rainbow pocketed the bristle. She had found the thief’s direction. But the rising flood had cut off the only way back.