The two guards stood at the checkpoint while the portal turned over its blue distortions in the late afternoon sun, their spears propped against the perimeter post as a canteen went back and forth between them.
"You think they're dead yet?" the second guard asked, tipping the canteen to see what was left.
"Probably, that thing has killed better parties than two kids," the first guard said, taking it back without hurrying.
"You should have warned them before they walked in," the second guard said, wiping his mouth with his wrist.
"The order came from the guild this morning," the first guard said, letting out a slow breath, "restricted gate, nobody crosses until a proper Ranker clears the anomaly."
"Then you turn them around at the line," the second guard said.
"That boy handed me a letter with the King's seal pressed into the wax," the first guard said, drawing the shape of it in the air.
His partner had nothing ready for that, though the jaw kept working from side to side.
