--Morif, soldier * * * The mighty wheel mocked Martik. He'd been so certain only days ago the shafts were the keys, and he was starting to realize they were perhaps one of the keys. The presence of a vacuum, that inrushing breeze, made him envision moving water. A river ran through this mountain, and it could be the suction's source. Those thoughts would have continued if not for heavy debris being cleared from atop the wheel. This irregularly shaped rock had not been created by the keep's crumbling. All the stone around it was smooth once the debris was cleared. This debris had been placed there to intentionally jam the mechanism, Martik knew. Someone had worked hard to make certain this wheel would stay as it was. "Clear below!" Bradley shouted from above. Martik moved to a safer place. The debris had to be thrown, or in this case pushed, from high above, and there was no guarantee it would fall where they intended. The wrong bounce on the way down could send it toward those gathered at the mighty wheel's base.
