Within the Dragon's Jaw (The Dragon Thief Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “We’ve been back,” Ty said. “If you would sober up a little bit, you would notice.”

  “Notice what?”

  Ty shook his head. Irritation filled him.

  “Did you find anything about Albion?”

  “I found something, all right.” Ty looked around, making sure that nobody was watching. He didn’t want any of the king’s men to suddenly get it in their head that they needed to be watching him. He didn’t think there were any of the king’s men inside the tavern, but he didn’t necessarily know. “I came across the Tecal.”

  “What Tecal?” Bingham blinked, his eyes clearing for a moment, but then they faded again.

  “The Tecal we had in Zarinth.”

  His mouth twisted as he frowned. “We had a Tecal?”

  Ty wanted to shake him. What was he doing getting this drunk? Didn’t he know that he needed him sober for this? “You know we had a Tecal in Zarinth. You were there.”

  He grinned at him. “Esme keeps giving me booze. Took pity on me when I told her how I lost everything. My shop…”

  Ty needed to find some empathy for Bingham. He had lost his shop. What did he really have in Zarinth now? “You keep taking what she’s giving you. I don’t know which is worse.”

  “She’s worse. She’s the one who’s trying to get me in trouble.”

  “You do that well enough on your own,” he said. “I think we need to get going.”

  “We barely got here.”

  They had been here for only a few days. Ty had been spending most of that time trying to figure out which prison he would break into to find his brother, and now that he had found Albion and knew that he needed to find more answers about what his brother was up to, he felt as if he needed to get back to Zarinth.

  The answers were going to be found within the Flame.

  If Bingham were sober, Ty could ask him what he thought of it, but in this state he wasn’t going to be of much use to him.

  Bingham watched him, a wide grin on his face, and then his head sank toward the table until it rested on it. Ty wanted to shake him, but it would do any good.

  Esme popped out of the kitchen, taking one look at Ty before frowning.

  “Don’t blame me for what he’s been doing.”

  “I think you have some blame,” Ty said.

  She stared at him. “If he would’ve come back like he said he would, I wouldn’t need to get him like this so I can get answers.”

  “Wait. You were trying to get him drunk so that he would talk?”

  “I said don’t blame me.”

  “Did he tell you anything?”

  “Not about why he left.”

  “How long ago did he leave?”

  “He used to come through here fairly regular until about five years ago. Then he just stopped. I thought…” She shook her head. “I suppose it doesn’t matter what I thought.”

  Five years would’ve been about the time when Ty’s parents had disappeared.

  He looked over to Bingham. That didn’t make any sense, did it?

  Could Bingham have had something to do with Ty’s parents’ disappearance?

  It seemed impossible to think that they were connected, but the timing…

  “What did you know about him?”

  “He was an antiquities dealer,” she said. “Pretty well known around the city. At least, I thought that’s what he was.” She looked up at Ty, holding her gaze on him. “Don’t think that I haven’t paid any attention to what you and that other boy have been talking about.”

  Ty almost smirked at the idea of her calling Eastley a boy. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that I pay attention.” She glanced over to Bingham, still resting his head on the table. “And I know what the two of you have been going on about. I’ve heard what you have said about him.”

  “I’m sorry,” Ty said.

  She opened her mouth as if she were going to say something before clamping it closed. Instead, she looked over to where Bingham rested his head on the table, shaking her own slowly. “Maybe I just didn’t know him as well as I thought.”

  “Maybe neither of us did,” Ty said. He looked around the inside of the tavern. “Have you seen my friend?”

  “He’s not been back. That one pops in from time to time, I think looking for you, but then he disappears. He said you were gone too long this time.”

  Ty nodded. “I probably was. I’m going back out into the city, but if you see him, let him know that I came looking for him.” He looked to Bingham, tempted to leave a message for him, but Bingham was out.

  And as he thought about it, maybe it made sense for Bingham to remain here. Ty could find Eastley, head back to Zarinth, and figure out what Albion had been after.

  That was what he needed to do.

  “If he ever wakes up and wants to know where I’ve gone, tell him I returned home.”

  Esme frowned but nodded.

  He started out into the street when he collided with Eastley.

  He was sweating, his brow covered with a little dust, his eyes narrowed slightly until he saw Ty.

  “There you are. I’ve been looking for you all day.”

  “I’m sorry,” Ty said.

  “Don’t. It’s just…” He looked down the street. “Well, we might be in a little bit of trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “After I got away from the Dragon Touched, I made my way back toward the fortress. I was scoping it out, thinking that I might have a way of getting the uniforms we need. But I think they were following me. I think they caught sight of me.”

  It wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but it was certainly not ideal.

  Ty grunted. “We need to leave the city anyway.”

  “What did you do?”

  Ty told him about finding Albion, and what he had said, which elicited only a wrinkled frown out of Eastley. He didn’t know what Albion might have meant about the Flame. “Regardless, I need to get back to Zarinth. And I think that Roson will be there until he finds whatever it is that they are looking for. That’s where you will get your opportunity to get back at him.”

  Eastley’s eyes hardened. “Good. What about Bingham?” He glanced to the door leading into the tavern.

  “He is incapacitated. Might be that way for a while.”

  “Esme?” Eastley asked.

  Ty nodded. “I’m not sure what happened between the two of them, but it seems that he is still struggling.”

  “Do you want me to grab him?”

  Ty poked his head back into the tavern, and noticed the way that Esme leaned in front of Bingham, whispering something in his ear that left Ty wondering just what they were talking about. He closed the door, shaking his head. “I think we should leave him. I already told him that we were heading back.”

  They made their way along the street until they caught up to the stable boy.

  “We need our horses,” he told the boy.

  The stable boy found them. “Did I help you?”

  Eastley stepped forward. He towered over the boy. “You helped the man with us. Just get the damn horses.”

  The boy looked in either direction along the street, and Ty recognized some tension within him. He was preparing to run.

  “Don’t let him go,” he whispered to Eastley.

  Eastley stepped forward, positioning himself in front of the boy, blocking him from bolting. “Get the horses,” Eastley said.

  “I need to get paid.”

  “You will get paid when you get the damn horses,” he said. He shoved the boy, and he hurried off, leaving Ty and Eastley to move after him.

  “What’s going on here?” Eastley whispered.

  “I suspect this is your Dragon Touched.”

  “You can’t blame this on me. What if it is you sneaking up to find your brother?”

  It could be, Ty knew, which was just as dangerous.

  They reached the stable, and Eastley shoved him forward.

 
; It was dark, and it smelled of dung and hay and the sweat of horses. He could feel something here, though it was a strange thing to be aware of. He wondered what he was actually feeling. Maybe it was just a matter of feeling the strange energy in the air, or maybe there was something actually here.

  “I just need the horses. Our partner can get his later.”

  “You don’t want all of them?”

  “I don’t really care to take all of them. You can work that out with our partner. He’s sitting back in the tavern, completely drunk, and when he sobers up and comes looking for his horse, you can charge him for both of them. Either that, or you keep his horse.”

  Eastley forced him through the stable until he found where he had left their horses, but there was no sign of the saddles. “Really?” Eastley positioned himself in front of him, blocking him from bolting. “Where did you put the saddle?”

  “I just did what I’m supposed to do. I take the saddles off. I feed and water the horses. If you pay me, I’ll even brush them down for you, but—”

  “Just get me the damn saddle.”

  He bobbed his head in a quick nod and hurried off.

  Eastley looked over to Ty. “I didn’t expect him to be the holdup here.”

  “Me neither, but it tells me that it is time for us to get going. Maybe we’ve been sniffing around here a little too openly.”

  And with that being the case, it put them into a tough spot. They had to get out of the city, back to Zarinth, but it was several days riding to the city. Several days where they had to worry about the Dragon Touched chasing them.

  When the stable boy returned carrying saddles, Ty realized that they weren’t the right ones. He started to say something, when he felt a slight burning in his stomach.

  It was the same sensation that he had when he had been in the Hatchery.

  Maybe he was attuned to the dragons.

  And if he was, and felt that sense now, he worried what it meant.

  Who—and better yet, what—was coming for them?

  Eastley forced the stable boy to saddle the horses, and they hurried out into the street.

  Once they did, Ty looked and noticed a glowing at the far end of the street. He motioned toward it, and Eastley nodded.

  “Damn Dragon Touched,” he muttered. The stable boy stood near the door, and he gasped, turning and scurrying back into the stable. “And he was with them.”

  “You can’t blame him for that,” Ty said. “He’s probably just doing what he thinks he has to.”

  “Which is trying to get us caught?”

  “You’re the one who was sniffing around the fortress.”

  “And you are the one who found the secret prison. I think they are here because of you.”

  “Then we should get moving.”

  They kicked the horses into motion, and reached one of the main streets. There was a crowd. The heat in his belly continued to burn, leaving him almost nauseated. He had felt it in the Hatchery but not before then. It was strange that he would be so aware of it now.

  He found himself looking all around, searching for Dragon Touched, or maybe even Gayal or another Tecal, but saw nothing. Just the crowd.

  Finally the city opened up, and they followed the main street through it.

  When they passed through the Dragon’s Jaw, he felt another wave of warmth work through him.

  It was unsettling. Eastley looked over at him. Ty nodded, and they kicked the horses to a faster trot, wanting to put distance between themselves in the city.

  “What about Bingham?”

  “Either he stays or he comes back,” Ty said. “From what I learned, he’s made the journey a few times. We don’t have to worry about him.”

  The burning in his belly had started to fade, but it hadn’t faded completely. Worse, there was a hazy smoke drifting along the road. It reminded him of what he had seen in Zarinth before, and he looked back to see several people trailing after them. The burning in his belly flared again.

  “What do we have to worry about?”

  Ty pointed behind him. “Them.”

  “I told you they were after you.”

  “After me. After you. Either way, we need to ride before the Dragon Touched catch us. If you want to get your revenge on Roson James, we need to move quickly.”

  Eastley looked back for a while before swiveling and turning his attention back on the road in front of him. Ty suspected that he was trying to work through a plan but not coming up with any real answer. It was probably the same way that Ty was. They had to get back to Zarinth, but they had to stay ahead of the Dragon Touched. If they didn’t, Ty would lose the opportunity to uncover just what the Dragon Touched were after in Zarinth.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  They had been riding for the better part of the afternoon, heading into the early evening. Eastley was quiet, but every so often he would twist around, looking back toward the city. Neither of them had seen the Dragon Touched, but Ty remained convinced there had to be somebody out there. Somewhere.

  “We need to camp,” Ty said, looking over to Eastley. “We can’t ride the entire night.”

  “Are you sure that makes sense?”

  The burning that had stayed with him persisted, not easing up. Ty began to wonder if it would continue to burn in the pit of him stomach, lingering there with each passing moment. He had to ignore it, but it grew increasingly difficult to do. That burning was unsettling.

  More than that, the smoke that filtered over the horizon became hard to look past. He wanted to find a different route, though he didn’t know if there would be any other way to head back to Zarinth. The only way he knew was the way he had come in.

  He could tell that the riders behind them were getting closer. It wasn’t going to take long before they caught up to him. It might mean riding through the night. He wasn’t sure about that, and certainly worried about the safety of traveling with tired horses, but what other choice did they have?

  “It doesn’t make sense, but I don’t know what else we can do,” he said, looking over Eastley. “We could head into the jungle.”

  Eastley snorted and shook his head. “I’m not going back into the jungle. The last time I nearly died.”

  “You didn’t nearly die. You ended up hanging in a velum trap. Nothing more than that.”

  “We have horses. We have the road. If we can keep going this way…”

  Even with all of that, Ty wasn’t convinced it was going to be enough for them. Horses and the open road might still not be fast enough, not against the Dragon Touched who might have some magical way of traveling.

  They kept riding, though. At one point, they crested a small rise, and Ty could no longer see as clearly into the distance as before. It might’ve just been the darkness, but it seemed like there was a hazy smoke swirling as well.

  He didn’t say anything to Eastley, but he worried about that smoke. If it meant that the Dragon Touched were getting close, they would either have to force the horses forward, or they might have to fight.

  He had the crossbow and the dragon-bone dagger, but Ty didn’t know if they would be enough to make any difference. And in the distance, he could not even see Ishantil. It was almost as if the haze and the darkness swallowed the glowing lights that should have been up there.

  “What do you think Bingham is doing?” Eastley asked.

  His voice was hushed, and Ty recognized the nerves in it. He felt the same.

  “Probably what he was doing when we were there before.”

  Eastley laughed, and he looked behind before clenching his jaw and turning his focus back to the darkened road in front of them.

  The damn fool had allowed himself to get drunk in Esme’s tavern, though Ty knew he couldn’t be too angry with him. Whatever relationship the two of them had, it obviously was difficult for him. Seeing him had been difficult, though Bingham had been perfectly willing to head straight to the tavern. Likely that was the entire reason he had been willing to come to the city in th
e first place. He must have intended to see Esme all along.

  It would’ve been helpful to Ty had he acknowledged it. At least then Ty would’ve known what to expect. Unfortunately, now he found himself out here and racing away.

  When the smoke cleared a moment, he caught sight of the dark figures behind him.

  “I don’t think we are going to be able to outrun them,” Ty said.

  “We have to try.”

  “Eastley—”

  Eastley didn’t give him a chance to finish. He slapped his horse on the flank, and it lunged forward at a gallop.

  Ty kicked his horse and chased after him, racing as quickly as he could.

  Eastley moved fast, heading into the darkness, and Ty resisted the urge to call after him. That would only alert the Dragon Touched that they were they here.

  The road curved, and when it rounded a bend, the horse must have caught its hooves on something, it dropped, tossing Ty.

  He was thrown free of the horse, and he rolled, popping up, getting to his feet, and spinning. The horse bolted.

  Ty raced forward, trying to catch the horse, but the animal disappeared into the darkness.

  He stood there motionless. His heart hammered.

  Eastley was gone. The horse was gone.

  And his pursuers were still there.

  The smoke still swirled around him, and the burning that knotted his stomach persisted, leaving him feeling uncomfortable, but it wouldn’t be for much longer. If the riders moved past, Ty had to think he could find his way to Zarinth. Going by foot would be slower, and he didn’t have any supplies, but it wasn’t like he had never traveled by foot before. He had hiked through the jungles around Ishantil. He could handle this.

  As he backed away from the road, something causing a thundering sound started toward him. Ty could feel it, almost as if the energy of that thundering were working up through his legs, through his body, and then the horses streamed past. He didn’t bother to get close enough to see anything else. He could hear them, but he could also feel the strange pulling sensation of their dragon magic as it burned within his belly.

  When they were gone, that burning didn’t ease.