He tried, but the sound wasn’t quite right, and he knew it. Even though he wanted to use the same whistle his mother had used, he couldn’t get it to form in his throat. It fell apart.
One of the silver-haired velum thumped its chest at Ty, who held his blade out, not wanting to attack the velum. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do.
Gayal moved past him, reaching for the priests and helping them to their feet.
“We have to get moving,” he said, looking over to Gayal. “If the priests are injured, we need to get them back to the city.”
“No,” the High Priest said. “We need to finish our ceremony.”
As if to answer, the ground started to tremble and Ishantil shook, the entire mountain quaking. He watched the treetops and heard the velum shrieking, though they were not nearly as close as they had been before. Something had scared them away, but how long would they stay away?
“That has to be what’s disrupting them. Ishantil. It is why we must finish our ceremony,” the High Priest said, straightening. The other two joined him. One of them was bleeding heavily from one arm while another had a gash on his stomach. Neither looked like they were going to be able to make the climb to the lava lake, even though it was close. “Ishantil needs us to celebrate the Flame.”
“Where’s Albion?” Ty asked. He had thought Albion was down here, but Ty still didn’t see him, and had no idea where he had gone.
“He returned to the city once the ceremony began.”
Why would his brother have left? “Well, we should all return to the city. Ishantil wants us to get off of it.”
The High Priest looked over at him. “You know nothing about the Flame.”
Ty just shook his head. “I know if it’s restless, then we shouldn’t taunt it.”
“Taunt it? I have no intention of taunting Ishantil. I intend to offer Ishantil a bounty,” the High Priest replied.
The egg. That was what they had intended to bring to Ishantil, but then the Dragon Thief had gotten involved. Maybe Gayal had even gotten too clever for her own good, trying to use the egg, perhaps even to draw the Dragon Thief out, though Ty wasn’t quite sure if that were true.
“It’s not safe,” Ty said.
“And it won’t be until the Asharlath Ceremony is completed.”
Ty breathed out heavily. “I can help you,” he said. The priest frowned at him. “Albion is my brother,” he explained. “And I’m not going to let you get killed climbing through the jungle because you are too stupid to avoid the velum.” He looked up at the trees, and every so often, the velum looked as if they were moving closer.
“We will accept your offer, as impolite as it is.”
The priests shuffled forward.
They followed the Path of the Flame, climbing the stairs, but found a tree had fallen, making it difficult. Ty guided them away, up and around, following a narrow footpath. He brandished his dragon-bone dagger, though he wondered if it might be easier if it wasn’t painted to look like a traditional knife. It was warm in his hand and seemed to be getting slick, making it increasingly difficult to hold.
They rounded the small bend and continued up the path. When they did, Ty heard something behind him and looked back.
“There’s something coming.” He looked over to Gayal, wondering if she might be aware of it, and if she was, what she might do.
“That would be Roson James,” she said. “He is determined to find the Dragon Thief.”
“Does he have the dragon?” Ty asked.
She watched him a moment, then shook her head. “He wouldn’t risk it here.”
Ty wondered if Gayal knew that the Dragon Thief was the High Priest. “What will he risk for the Dragon Thief? Or is it the egg?” Ty asked, keeping his voice low. “What happens if he gets up here?”
“Then the Asharlath Ceremony may fail.”
“Why?”
“Because he is determined, stubborn, and foolish.”
“He doesn’t strike me as foolish—dangerous and deadly, yes, but not foolish.”
“You don’t know him the way I do,” she said.
“I don’t want to know him the way you do,” Ty replied.
He guided the priests around another bend, and they finally reached the Path of the Flame again. They slowly started up it, but they were moving too slowly.
If Roson was trailing after them, they didn’t have much time before he caught up. But if he managed to catch them before they reached the summit, and he prevented the ceremony from being completed, would anything even happen?
Ty wasn’t sure whether he believed the ceremony would be effective. Staying up here might mean his death.
But if it was possible…
It was the kind of thing his mother would’ve done.
Having seen the dragon relics—and the look in Gayal’s eyes—he couldn’t help but feel as if this was what he needed to do. This was where he needed to be.
“When this is over, you need to get Eastley out of prison,” Ty told her.
Gayal looked over to him, but she didn’t answer.
“He doesn’t deserve to be there,” Ty continued.
“You broke into the palace.”
“Out of necessity,” he muttered.
“It was greed,” she said.
Ty decided not to argue as they hurried along the Path of the Flame. He kept waiting for another attack, but it never came. The velum stayed away. The closer they got to the lava lake, the more the velum drifted back into the shadows, almost as if they didn’t mind them approaching the lake and only cared about them making their way along the path.
Ty was probably giving them far more credit than they deserved.
He watched the trees, studying them, but didn’t see anything else.
When they reached the lava lake, he expected the priests to stop and begin whatever ceremony they were going to do, but the High Priest continued his chanting, marching along the perimeter of the lake. At one point, the ground rumbled again and the priest raised the basket, holding the slip of fabric high overhead until a bubble of lava singed it and the priest flinched, nearly dropping the basket.
The High Priest took a deep breath and the chanting continued to build, rising into the surrounding jungle before fading quickly. The High Priest started forward again, making his way along the lava lake, and the two others trailed behind, walking carefully along the rock. The High Priest seemed to have less difficulty than they did making his way forward. Ty looked up at the trees again, expecting to see velum following them, but they were still empty. The trees surrounding the lake were not all that close to it, though some had once grown closer and were now singed away.
He looked back, expecting to hear sound from Roson and whatever soldiers had come with him, but there was no sign of him. “I thought you said he was following us?” Ty asked Gayal.
Gayal paused, looking behind her for a moment before frowning deeply. Her cloak fluttered, making it seem as if there were a breeze, though there was none. “He was behind us.”
She didn’t need to say it, but Ty knew that Roson had an advantage she didn’t have. He could track the egg. He was one of the Dragon Touched. He would be able to find them, stop them, and disrupt all of this.
The priests moved farther ahead, and Ty hurried along the stone to catch up to them. At one point, he had to back away when a fountain of lava suddenly spurted much too close to him. One of the priests got burned on his arm and cried out as he swatted at it with his good hand.
If it kept going like this, it was easy to think the priests would fall into the lava before they managed to complete the ceremony. Not only had the velum attacked them, but it seemed like the lava lake, and Ishantil itself, was attempting to keep them away.
If they died, then what? What would happen to Zarinth?
Still, Ty believed Ishantil would erupt. He wasn’t sure he believed there was anything the priests, or Gayal, or even he, would be able to do to prevent that. All of this was a mistake.
>
Ishantil trembled.
The priests stopped in front of the stone. It seemed to be floating in the middle of the lava, but was a pace off the shore of the lake.
The High Priest raised his hands and continued chanting. The lava there was calmer, though an occasional bubble burbled to the top. When it burst, it did so with a hint of steam and heat and energy that radiated upward.
Ty had no idea what the priest intended.
The Dragon Thief, he corrected himself.
The High Priest stepped to the edge, then he jumped.
Ty held his breath, half expecting he would fall in, but he landed in the center of the stone and raised his hands again, crying out to the Flame. He didn’t understand all of what he said, but did get the gist of the message. He was praying to the Flame, calling out to it.
The ground trembled, and the High Priest staggered on the platform, very nearly falling in.
At the same time, one of the priests standing on the shoreline stumbled—and while the other priest grabbed for him, he wasn’t fast enough. The priest fell into the lava and screamed, the sound of his voice carrying, seeming to stir everything within the lake, then it disappeared as he continued burning.
“They can’t do this,” Ty said.
“The ceremony must come to fruition,” one of the priests said.
Ty hurried over to him, trying to help, but he wasn’t going to be able to do anything here. “Even if you fall in?”
Would Albion do something so foolish?
He knew the answer to that immediately. Albion trusted in the Flame. He believed the Flame would provide, and he believed there was no danger in him being here.
“It would be the will of the Flame.”
Ty looked over to the lava lake. “It’s Ishantil. Not the Flame.”
The priest on the shoreline jumped to the next stone. Now there were two priests out over the lava lake.
He stood watching. If the High Priest had the egg, then would this be some sort of ceremony that would involve leaving the egg?
With a start, he realized that the priests carried the dragon relics he had seen gathered on the shoreline of the lava lake—dragon relics that he suspected Gayal had brought up here.
The ceremony. That was it. That was what this was about.
The High Priest jumped again, and he was only two stones from the massive platform in the middle of the lava lake. Ty tensed, watching, and he could practically imagine him stumbling. Only he didn’t. He jumped again and landed, and now he only had one more jump to make. The other priest followed, his jumps far more comfortable, as if he had done this before. Maybe he had. Maybe this was some training practice for the Priests of the Flame, some way of proving themselves.
Had Albion done it?
Movement off to his right caught his attention and Ty frowned, staring into the distance. He had been paying attention to the priests, watching them jump out of the lava, but now he saw this movement, and couldn’t help but wonder if he had overlooked something.
It had to be Roson.
“What is he after?” Ty muttered.
“You should leave him,” Gayal said.
“You don’t want to keep him from harming the priests, or prevent him from stopping the ceremony, or…” Ty had no idea, but knew he felt a growing urgency to make sure this ceremony finished. If it worked, then they might be safe. If it didn’t, then nothing would really matter.
The High Priest had reached the main platform, and he held his hands up. He chanted, though it was difficult to hear over the hissing of the lava lake. Ty heard Ishantil and Flame, but nothing else. He continued his cry, calling out to the Flame. The other priest hesitated as the ground trembled and he stumbled. Ty wanted to look away, knowing he didn’t want to see another priest fall into the lava, but the priest managed to keep himself upright, then jumped, landing on the main platform, tumbling forward, and getting to his feet.
Ty breathed out a sigh of relief.
Now he had to see what Roson intended.
Ty darted off, heading to his right and looping around the lake. He hurried, thinking he had seen something. He didn’t know what it was, but he wanted to make sure the priests weren’t bothered. Maybe it was nothing more than the velum, but they had steered clear of the lava lake, almost as if they were afraid of it.
He moved carefully and backed closer to the trees, concealing himself. He kept the lake in view, making his way around it, then caught sight of another cloaked figure.
It had to be Roson, but why was he going the opposite way around the lava lake? Ty followed him, curious as to why he would be making his way here, and what he might have found. There had to be something here, didn’t there? Ty carefully trailed after him.
Every so often, the ground would tremble again and Ty would have to catch himself, holding on to one of the trees to keep from stumbling. At one point, the trembling intensified and seemed to last longer than usual. He glanced back at the lava lake, looking to see the High Priest holding his hands up in the air, each one grasping something that glowed with a bright light.
Dragon pearls, he suspected. The size would be right.
Had they found the dragon pearls Ty had taken from the temple? That would mean Roson had gone back to Ty’s home, broken into the floorboards, and taken them.
Unless the High Priest had others.
But what was he doing with them?
He continued following Roson, making his way around the outskirts of the lake. He could still hear the priests chanting, the steady rise and fall of their voices. Thankfully, no other priest had fallen into the lake, but how long would this last? How soon would Ishantil be calmed?
What am I thinking? It wasn’t going to work like that.
But Ty had started to believe. He had allowed himself to start thinking that maybe there would be something significant he could be a part of—something that would save all of Zarinth.
A rustling behind him caught his attention and he paused.
Had Gayal followed him?
He didn’t see her behind him, though he looked along the shoreline. He saw that the High Priest still had his hands raised completely in the air, the dragon relics set on the stone around him. A glow radiated from his hands, building slowly and steadily—a bright light mixed with his chanting. As Ty watched, he felt a stirring within him again. It was strange that he would continue to feel those stirrings while being so close to the priests, as if maybe there really was some connection between them and the Flame.
Albion would love to hear that.
The rustling in the trees came again, and Ty looked up.
A velum had followed him.
It was a small one—maybe even one he had seen before. He was tempted to scare it away, but he didn’t want to draw attention to his presence here, and certainly didn’t want Roson to know he was here. Instead, he tried to wave his hand, thinking he might be able to send it scurrying into the jungle, and again, he wished he could whistle the way his mother had taught him. He didn’t dare try it now. If he did, and if it was the wrong sound, the velum might shriek at him. That would be a mistake.
Instead, he tried to ignore it. He moved carefully, chasing after Roson.
As Ty neared him, he found Roson approach an alcove near the edge of the lava lake. It was on the far end, a place Ty had never visited before, and off the path leading around the lake. The footing was trickier here, and had he not seen Roson making his way through, Ty might not have ventured this far. Was this some way of attacking the priests? Or was this his way of trying to figure out how to capture the Dragon Thief?
He reached the alcove and crouched down near a cluster of rocks.
Ty frowned.
What was Roson doing?
What Ty had thought was a cluster of rocks couldn’t be the dragon relics he’d seen by Gayal earlier, could it? It didn’t look anything like them.
The High Priest cried out again and there came a bursting explosion.
Ty glanced bac
k and saw the fire bubbling from the center of the lava lake. Flames circled around something. The priest’s hands were empty.
The ground trembled softly, stirring for a moment, but then fell still.
Maybe the priests were on to something. Maybe they could calm Ishantil.
Ty turned his attention back to the figure by the alcove. The hood of the cloak slipped back just a little bit and Ty’s breath caught.
It wasn’t Roson James. It was Albion.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ty approached slowly, watching his brother near the rocky outcropping by the end of the lava lake. “Albion? They said you returned to the city.”
He looked over to Ty and frowned deeply. “You need to get out of here, Ty.”
“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you with the High Priest?”
He frowned, something in his eyes flickering. “I’m doing what needs to be done.”
Ty continued forward, moving carefully and coming up to stand behind Albion, who shook his head, trying to warn him off, but Ty wasn’t going to have any of it. “What are you doing?” he whispered.
“Ty…”
Ty looked past him and saw that Albion had something that wasn’t at all a rock.
It was oblong, smooth and round, and far too regular to be a rock, even rocks that were in this part of the world. It was one Ty had held before—then lost.
“You have the dragon egg,” Ty whispered.
Albion pressed his lips together. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“And you shouldn’t have the dragon egg.” Understanding began to dawn on Ty. Here he had thought the High Priest was the Dragon Thief, but that hadn’t been it at all. He had misread the entire situation. “It’s you,” he said. “You’re the Dragon Thief.”
“Ty, you don’t really know what’s going on.”
“I know what’s happening,” Ty said. “I know the egg is some sort of offering. I know the Tecal and the Dragon Touched are trying to use it to draw out the Dragon Thief. And I know there is some strange dynamic taking place within the kingdom that I can’t fully understand.”
“This will calm Ishantil,” Albion said. “It absorbs heat. Incredible heat. And power. It’s the only way to stop this.” He looked over to Ty. “It’s the only way to see if they will return.”
Path of the Flame (The Dragon Thief Book 1) Page 24