I didn’t know about Piaras, but I felt like I was just along for the ride. If all spell broke loose, at least he had something to contribute. I felt about as worthless as tits on a bull, and I didn’t even have any navinem to fool me into thinking otherwise.
I needed to be worthwhile. I needed to know I was going to do something to help.
Tam, Imala, and Kesyn were climbing up to the cave entrance. Piaras would go next, followed by me and Mychael. I hadn’t moved in front of Mychael yet to get ready to climb. He was looking up at Kesyn, marking his progress, waiting until the old goblin was at least halfway up before having Piaras start his climb.
I laid my hand on Mychael’s shoulder, and stood on tiptoe, my lips next to his ear. “Mychael, I want to carry the Scythe of Nen into the temple. I need to be the one to use it.”
He half turned. “We decided that I—”
“No, you decided that you’d stab the Saghred; I never agreed. For all we know, I might have to be the one to stab it. We can’t afford to take any chances.” I didn’t think Piaras could hear me, but I still lowered my voice, my words coming fast. “I’m the one the rock latched onto. I’m the one who’s had that thing sharing my head, giving me nightmares while I try to sleep, and taking me over to kill people during the day.”
“Raine, for the last time, if you hadn’t killed those firemages, none of us would be standing here right now. You saved us and hundreds of others. Killing on a battlefield isn’t murder; and make no mistake, that street was a battlefield that day.”
“Soldiers don’t enjoy the killing. I did.”
“Raine, that wasn’t—”
I cut him off. “We can argue later. What it boils down to is that the Saghred chose me as its bond slave. Let’s call it what it is. I’m not a servant; I’m a slave. It’s used me, and because of me, people I love have been in mortal danger.” My next words came through clenched teeth. “I’ve earned the right to destroy that rock.”
“Raine, you don’t have any magic, no shields, no—”
“I could have Justinius Valerian’s shields against that rock and it wouldn’t do me any good, and you know it. I’ll be there with you in a Khrynsani cloak when you’re glamoured as Sarad Nukpana.” I took a breath and blew it out. “Mychael, please. I need to do this. I need to cut my own chains and free myself.”
Mychael’s eyes were on mine, searching, appraising. Without looking away from me, he reached into a pouch he carried on his belt and took out the Scythe of Nen. He expertly flipped the curved, silver dagger in his hand so that the pommel extended toward me.
I realized that I’d been holding my breath. I reached out and closed my hand around the grip. “Thank you,” I said simply.
He closed his big hand over mine. “Remember, we do this together,” he whispered. “If you need to be the one to use the Scythe…” He paused and squeezed my hand. “I need to be the one to be with you. That’s a deal I won’t let you talk me out of.”
I gave him a little smile, and stood on tiptoe again, kissing him gently. “I wasn’t going to try.”
We got into the tunnel without incident, and without finding ourselves face-to-face with a sea dragon welcoming committee.
We moved fast and kept quiet. Kesyn was in the lead and Tam brought up the rear. Once we got closer to the dungeons, Tam and Imala would move to the front. Piaras had conjured a lightglobe, but kept it as dim as he could. Sea dragons hunted mainly by sight, but just because hearing wasn’t top on their list didn’t mean we wanted to trip over something and announce our arrival.
Kesyn stopped, and because of the narrow tunnel, the rest of us had to do the same. Air was moving somewhere up ahead. Piaras directed the lightglobe’s glow toward the ceiling. About ten paces ahead was a hole that apparently led to another chamber or tunnel. The source of the air coming down through that hole wasn’t fresh: stagnant water and the unmistakable sickly sweetness of decaying flesh. We had to be near the lake Kesyn had told us about. Air wasn’t the only thing that was moving. Now that we’d stopped walking, I clearly heard water. Not the endless dripping we’d heard since we came into the tunnel, but waves slamming into rock. Only one thing could push water around with that much violence.
Something that felt like an explosion shook the floor, walls, and ceiling, pelting us with falling rock and dust. Something pounded the wall to our right, and a stench like nothing I’d ever smelled before came through the opening above us.
The stench roared, an enraged roar.
The dragon.
It sounded big. Not just big. Huge.
A voice rang out in challenge, so loud it sounded like it was in the tunnel with us. I shot a look back at Piaras. His eyes were wide and his mouth was shut. Then who was—
The voice called out again. The words were Goblin, the tone imperious, like it expected that dragon to obey.
Oh, freaking hell.
Prince Chigaru Mal’Salin.
I stood there for a few dumbfounded seconds trying to figure out what Chigaru was doing in a cave with a sea dragon. Did he annoy the Khrynsani so much that they chucked him down here?
“You know these caves,” Imala snapped at Kesyn. “How do we get out there?”
“Out there?” I thought the old goblin’s eyes were going to bug out of his head.
“Prince Chigaru’s safety is my responsibility,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’ve fought for years to keep him alive, and I’m not losing him to an overgrown lizard. I’m saving him.”
From himself.
Imala’s words came in a cool rush. “Kesyn, if Chigaru dies, we have no one to replace Nukpana. The old-blood families will slaughter each other to get to the throne. It’ll be a civil war bloodbath.”
Tam jerked his head at the ceiling. “Mychael, boost me up there.”
I was incredulous. “You’re going to stick your head through a hole into a dragon’s lair?”
Mychael made a stirrup with his armored hands and boosted Tam the extra foot he needed to see into the lair. Tam took a look and immediately popped back down.
“Sea dragons,” he said. “Adults.”
“Plural?” Piaras asked.
“You got it,” Tam confirmed. “Two, possibly more. We need to move. From what I saw, Chigaru only has a sword; he isn’t going to last long.”
“Follow me,” Kesyn growled. “One way to die isn’t enough for you. No, you have to have more.”
The roars became louder and even more pissed, if that was possible. Apparently Prince Chigaru didn’t limit his high-bred obnoxiousness to people; he was an equal opportunity offender. I completely understood why the dragons would want to bite his head off.
The tunnels distorted the roar’s echo and I had no clue which direction it was coming from. Kesyn seemed to know exactly where he was going, even though he was going there under extreme—and continuous verbal—protest.
“I don’t want a king who’s too stupid not to pick fights with sea dragons,” he snapped.
“If he gets eaten, we’ll have a worse problem,” Imala shot back.
The roaring stopped. Chigaru’s yelling stopped, and so did Kesyn and Imala’s bickering.
“Shit!” Imala hissed softly.
The beast obligingly roared again. Now it was Kesyn’s turn to swear. His string of good old Goblin profanity was a lot more colorful and descriptive.
“Sounds like The Pools, the deepest part of the tunnels,” he said.
We ran toward the roars. If the sea dragons didn’t kill Chigaru first, the noise would bring every Khrynsani that the dragons’ roar and Chigaru’s yelling hadn’t already alerted. Mychael stopped and I plowed into him from behind. Only his size kept us both from ending up in a heap on the floor.
I saw what had stopped him. We were at an intersection. Five tunnels radiated out from where we were. Piaras increased the globe’s glow. Two of the tunnels went down; the other three sloped upward. That meant nothing. The tunnels were natural, not man-made. Just because they went downhill now didn’t mean down was their ultimate direction.
“Which one?” Imala asked urgently.
Kesyn pointed. “It’s either that one or that one.” He was pointing in opposite directions. “The others go up. Eventually.”
Tam went over to the entrance to one of the tunnels Kesyn said led down to The Pools. He took a deep breath, and repeated the same in the opposite tunnel.
He drew an evil-looking wavy blade. “This way.”
I got a blade in my own hands. “You’re sure?”
“Positive. Old carrion and fresh blood. A goblin nose knows.”
The brightened lightglobe danced in front of Tam. He squinted and hissed in pain, his fangs bared. His pupils were enormous. “Dim that thing!”
Piaras looked at Tam like he’d lost his mind. I wasn’t sure I disagreed with him.
“All due respect, sir, but I’d like to see the dragons before they take my legs off,” Piaras told him.
“The boy’s right, Tam,” Kesyn said. “Chances are that second one you saw was its mate, and chances are even better that those two big ones have little ones—a lot of little ones. We’re down here a couple months on the wrong side of mating season. The little ones grow and eat a lot in the first few weeks.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Why didn’t you tell us this before?”
“I can follow the blood,” Tam said. “But if I’m going to lead, I need it almost dark, not that thing blinding me.” Apparently the light bothered Tam more than the idea of hungry baby sea dragons.
Piaras complied.
The walls were glowing with a pale green luminescence.
“Dragon breath green,” Kesyn whispered. “Douse the globe,” he told Piaras. “We won’t need it.”
He did and we didn’t. The entire tunnel was speckled with the green light. Farther down the tunnel the glow increased, as did the stench. We were definitely going in the right direction.