“Are you al right?” Vigholf asked her, brushing her hair out of her eyes. Now that it was no longer in braids, it had become unruly.
“I’m fine. Not happy, but fine.” She nudged him back a bit and urgently asked, “What are we going to do? She’s—” She touched the side of her head with her talon.
“But what if Annwyl’s right? What if this is the way to Gaius Domitus?”
“Then instead of dying in these caves, we can be kil ed by the Rebel King? None of these options make me happy, Vigholf.” He moved in closer. “What would you have us do? Even if you were the type to put down an ailing queen—and we both know you’re not—there’s no way Iseabail or Branwen wil let that happen.”
“But—”
“You of al soldier dragons should understand this, Rhona.”
“Aaargh! I knew you were going to throw that in my face.”
“And Branwen is loyal to Annwyl. You can see that your cousin wil protect the queen with her life. Would you kil your own cousin, too?”
“Of course not.”
“Then we keep moving and hope Annwyl’s right about al this. Pray even. Perhaps the war gods wil shine on us tonight.”
“And why would they start now?”
Austel the Red wasn’t surprised to find that Éibhear wasn’t in the tunnels. Although that was where Éibhear spent most of his time. He was a big, burly dragon, and he was real y good at moving big, unmovable things. And he’d be moving up the ranks a lot faster than he was if he had his head on straight and wasn’t so busy wasting his time on Celyn and past history.
But try to tel him or Celyn that. Two of the most hardheaded dragons Austel knew. Yet they were good friends. Loyal . . . at least to him.
Honestly, such worry and bother over a female. A human one at that! They could buy a woman for al the trouble they’ve been through over some .
. . wel , to be blunt, some stray. In the big scheme of things, she was nothing more than a dog that wandered in from the cold. But that didn’t mean one had to make her a pet.
Austel final y found his friend in a smal alcove, far away from al the activity of the bigger caverns. He sat down next to him.
“You al right?”
“No. They’re not saying it, Austel . . . but they don’t think Briec’s going to make it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know my brothers. The last time Fearghus looked like that, Annwyl . . . and now he looks like that again!”
“So what are you going to do, Éibhear? Sit here, worrying about something you can’t fix? Or get off your ass and help the rest of us lowly privates finish that bloody tunnel? The sooner we get that done, the sooner we can get your brother back to your mum. I bet she can fix him up right.”
“She couldn’t save Annwyl.”
Austel frowned. “But . . . someone saved her, right?”
“It’s a long and complicated story.” When Austel ’s frown grew worse, Éibhear rushed to explain, “She’s not the undead!”
“Al right, al right. No need to yel at me.”
Éibhear let out a breath. “Sorry. That was rude.”
And Austel almost laughed at him. To Éibhear that was rude. To the rest of the dragons in this world? It was nothing. Gods, would Éibhear go through his entire life being such a goody two-talons? How was he supposed to make it in the military when he was always so damn nice and accommodating? Unless, of course, you were Celyn. Then you got nothing from the royal but punched in the face and cal ed al sorts of names Austel didn’t even realize that Éibhear knew.
Austel real y wished that Cadwaladr cousin of Éibhear and Celyn was stil around. The sergeant. She kept the pair of them in line, but now that she’d gone off somewhere, they were getting worse and worse by the hour. Those cute triplets kept trying to stop them, but they didn’t have the same terrifying demeanor as their sister.
Wel . . . what could he do? Except for what he’d already been doing. Trying to keep the pair separated. And when they did have to work together, trying to keep them from fighting every five minutes.
Honestly, he wished they’d both just focus. Austel hated that tunnel. He hated being in such a smal place. True, it wasn’t smal by most beings’
standards, but it was to dragons. It would al ow for them to make it into the Polycarp Mountains two at a time. Hopeful y, once they were in, they would find their way to the Irons and destroy them from within. At least that was the plan, but Austel liked being outside. Or in a much larger cavern.
Tunnels, like bridges, were just things that could col apse in his estimation.
“Come on. You need to get back to work.”
“Yeah, al right.”
Together they stood, but Austel stopped to put his claw on his friend’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m sure everything wil work out with Briec. We get this tunnel done, kil al the Irons, and get him home. Easy and simple. We like easy and simple, right? Right? ” Éibhear rol ed his eyes and recited their creed: “Only where women are concerned.” Austel laughed and slapped the Blue on the back. “That’s the spirit! Now let’s get this done.” Chapter 26
It felt like ages as they traveled through those tunnels, but Annwyl seemed to know where she was going and it had to be safer than cutting straight through—or even around—the Provinces. But stil , Vigholf couldn’t help but be extra vigilant as they al moved along. It wasn’t like the Sovereign humans didn’t have their own dragons who could bring human soldiers down here just as he and Rhona had with Annwyl and the others.