“What’s in them bags?”
Orenda and I both looked inside, then back to Jackal. “How small is your ale? Those bags are smaller than the faeries and only meant to hold twigs and small rocks.”
Orenda gave him her extremely well practiced ‘you are an idiot’ stare. She wouldn’t know what those bags could do, but on the surface it did look like Jackal’s accusation was a bit crazy.
I was watching him so I saw a quick flash of something, I wasn’t sure what, and for a moment thought he would demand they empty those bags. Then he turned and silently stomped away. As far as I knew, Alric, Covey, Harlan, and I were the only people outside of faery-kind who knew about those bags. Yet Jackal knew there was something odd about them.
I looked at Alric. He was still looking bad, but with Carlon’s appearance, it was hard to tell. Covey had gone over to help him. Why would he have told someone like Jackal about the faeries’ bags?
Orenda had gone back to setting up her area, so I went back into the wagon and shut the door.
The girls were all under my cot and were enjoying the five bottles of ale they’d stolen from Jackal. They might have taken more, but they only had five out now. “That wasn’t smart, girls. To steal it right in front of him?”
Garbage had been working on a bottle all to herself, her right as leader. At least in her head. “Needed. You no bring.” Again the look of accusation of my failing along with a tinge of disappointment. I killed their toys, I misplaced Alric, I didn’t think to bring ale for my faeries on a dangerous expedition. I was a failure.
“Need for fight!” That was Crusty’s contribution before she slid into the bottle she’d been sharing with a few other faeries.
I wasn’t sure if she knew who she was talking about fighting. However, I was all right without knowing. I had enough issues going on without adding faery shenanigans to the mix.
I called Bunky to come inside, and then shut all of them up in the wagon. We normally didn’t lock the doors except at night, but I did this time. I needed those crazed maniacs to stay in one place where they couldn’t get into more trouble. I also needed Jackal to stay out.
“Taryn? You need to see this.” Harlan’s voice came from out of sight, but fairly close. I went around the wagons, and the others who were setting up camp, and found him, Covey, and Orenda all standing in front of a pit.
Crap. When the mayor had said there had been damage to the dig site, I didn’t think he meant a hole bigger than one of the wagons. I walked over, but I could already see some of the damage. The ground was harder up here, and that, combined with less aggressive trees, meant more of the ruins were above ground. That also meant they’d been more exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of years of weather. However, judging by the wide radius of shattered stones and bricks, I had to think whatever caused the huge pit also took out the building before me. Or what had once been a building and was now nothing more than a pile of rocks.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.” Harlan stepped back from the edge to let me see.
Whatever had done this had been precise and focused. The hole was deep, but almost perfectly round in shape. I’d seen this before. Swearing under my breath, I dropped to the ground and started wiping off the band of dark dust that was almost out of arm’s reach.
I could barely clear off enough dust to see, but it looked like the same odd band of tile that I’d seen in the wild ruins outside of Beccia. What were those tiles made of, that an explosion, magic, natural, blasting powder, whatever was behind it, could move huge chunks of earth and rock, decimate a large building, and yet leave them mostly intact?
“Covey? Can you see if you can pry one of these up?” I rolled back to my feet and brushed myself off. She looked at me oddly until I pointed out the tile I’d cleared off below us. Once you knew what it was, you couldn’t miss the dark band that circled the inside of the hole.
“What are those?” She quickly dropped to her feet and leaned over the edge.
“Be careful now.” The voice behind us made me jump about a foot. It was the human guard; he had silently come up behind us. His name was Markin and he didn’t seem quite as bad as the syclarions.
He didn’t move any closer, but clearly wanted to make us take note he was there. I wondered what kind of person joined a group of syclarions. I couldn’t come up with any good reasons for it.
“It’s a band of some sort in the rock of the pit. Not a relic though,” Covey said from her position on the ground. “I need to study it closer to make sure the area is safe for Taryn and Harlan to descend. Orenda and I are their academic advisors.” She put just enough snotty professor into her voice to get the point across.
Markin sighed and folded his arms. “I should have known. Academics.” He gave it the same twist most people gave to assassins and from the look on his face that was exactly how he viewed them. “Carry on.” He stalked back to camp. At least that was good. We might be stuck with these watchers, but hopefully they meant a general watching, not hover-over-everything-we-do watching.
Covey waited until he was gone, then flopped back to the ground and scooted closer to the edge. “Harlan, sit on my legs. I need to lower myself down to pry some of these up.”
Harlan sat on her legs while Orenda and I watched. Well, I kept watching for Markin or any of the other guards to come back.
A few very Covey-invented swear words later, and we were all peering down at a pair of tiles. She’d only been able to pry off two before it started getting too dark to see into the pit. All four of us looked at them, but none of us had the slightest idea what the odd script or images meant.
I was pretty sure that Alric still had the one he took from me, but I couldn’t figure out how to get it from him without anyone noticing. I settled for telling the others about the ring of them in Beccia, and adding it to our collection of potentially dangerous mysteries.
***
The next two days were uneventful. The city guards would change out, we’d get up and start working on the pit—an endeavor that took help from most of our people. Lowering me down wasn’t that hard, but Harlan was another situation completely. Then he and I would slowly work our way through the explosion debris to get to the actual ruins. The pit looked to be created by the same actions that had caused the one in our ruins, a fact that really didn’t make the others or me happy.
The morning of the third day started just like the other two, until I found the dragon.
Chapter Forty-One
We’d finally worked through most of the debris caused by the explosion. I tried not to think about how many relics had been destroyed when whoever or whatever set the explosion off.
There was an area that looked a little lighter than the rest. Still packed solid, so I didn’t think the explosion had gotten down that far, but light enough to indicate a magical find. One thing I’d found in my years of digging. Relics with magic seemed to lighten the dirt. Not all magical finds did it, but when I saw dirt like this it was always a magical find. I’d tried showing other diggers, but they never saw it. And telling Covey just brought a few very concerned looks. But I knew it was true for me at least.
Harlan was showing Covey and Orenda some shards of pottery he’d found. Most likely elven, possibly just refuse from the city.
I worked my way around the find, carefully using a small trowel, then my duster. The item was large and smooth. Odd for a relic, but there was definitely something there. After about a half hour I freed it. It wasn’t completely round but a large green oval about the size of Bunky. It wasn’t a dragon, but it was definitely the largest emerald I’d ever heard of.
I was about to turn and call the others over when I looked at it again. The image of a dragon appeared within the shape of the stone. Glorious and magically, it was as if it was alive. A wave of paranoia and greed flooded over me. This was mine. I could be unimaginably rich and escape from all the madness that had invaded my life. However, if I let anyone know about it, they would take it. The d
ragon nodded as if it heard my thoughts. I must hide it, keep it safe.
I glanced over my shoulder at my friends, but they no longer seemed like the faces I knew. They would take it from me, and stop me from getting the nice quiet life I wanted. They’d always been against me. Without another thought, I used the rope to climb up. My prize was wrapped up in my jacket and tucked into my clothing in such a way those people behind me shouldn’t be able to see it.
After making sure no one above the pit was looking, I ran deeper into the ruins and buried my prize. I could come back for it tonight and leave all these people behind.
I turned and walked back toward camp, and almost immediately felt completely foolish about what I’d just done. That was what we were looking for, it was why we were here. I needed to tell Covey and Harlan. I almost walked back to the pit when the tiny voice in my head told me to wait.
It was right. I could wait until tomorrow to tell them.
***
Two days later and I still hadn’t told them. I just wasn’t ready to tell anyone about it yet. I wasn’t sleeping well and was staying away from the others more and more. My dreams were filled with a giant green dragon, one that would appear and take me away from all of this once I gave him the emerald. But it also terrified me. I woke up ten or more times a night sweating and clutching my blankets so tightly my hands cramped up.
That day I was digging in the same area, hoping to find something I could show my friends, when Jackal stuck his head over the edge and bellowed at me.
“We have someone from the mayor who says he needs to talk to you. And only you.”
I waved him off, but he made as if ready to climb down the rope.
“Look, can’t you just deal with it?” I really thought today might be when I told the others about the emerald dragon. The urge not to speak of it was almost gone. As long as I ignored the dreams and didn’t get near where I’d hidden the damn thing.
“Not my call. He wants you. Come up so we can get this over with.” Jackal waited until I was out of the pit. He then motioned for me to walk back to camp ahead of him.
“I really don’t see why you needed to call me in for this, Jackal.” I waved my small spade over my head at him as he walked behind me. “I don’t need to talk to anyone who comes from town. You can handle it.” He knew I was leader in name only. We’d only been here a few days, but the mayor of Kenithworth had sent down visitors each day. Jackal had been fine dealing with all of the others. I had no idea why he had to pull me away from the site this time just to speak to someone.
Covey and Orenda were back at the site still getting their crash course from Harlan on the basics of digging. They both had thought they could observe and kibitz. But their “we’re the advisors” stance only worked for the guards from the city—not us. Harlan and I put an end to that. Even with them gone, Tag and the others still should have been in camp though.
The emptiness was surprising.
I was about to turn and ask Jackal what was going on, when Bunky came flying over our wagon and slammed right into the man. Jackal had been a lot closer to me than I’d thought, and must have been watching me instead of Bunky so the flying attack took him by surprise.
He fell back then reached for Bunky. Bunky made a furious noise, almost more roar than buzz and flew higher. I could tell he was going to dive at Jackal again. I was going to yell for both to stop it, when a bit of netting in Jackal’s right hand caught my eye. He was trying to capture Bunky.
“Bunky! Fly away! Leave!” I waved my hands at him and backed away from Jackal.
Bunky lowered his voice to his normal buzz, then, still staying far too high for Jackal’s net, he flew past me and over the table we all used. He buzzed louder until I came closer.
A pile of what I thought was swamp muck in a cage lying in the middle of the table turned out to be a mass of chocolate-covered, and completely passed out, faeries. My faeries. Even in the muck of the chocolate, it was clear they all had war sticks and bits of war feathers were sticking out of the mess. They were in a large cage most likely used for trapping fur animals.
There was no way that they would have had chocolate if they were mad enough to feather up. I hadn’t even known that the newer group of faeries had war feathers yet. Not to mention there had been no chocolate with anyone in camp and no one other than Harlan, Covey, Alric, and myself knew what it did to faeries.
“What did you do to them?” I kept my voice calm, but I reached for my dagger. I also waved Bunky to leave and this time he obeyed.
“What we had to do to keep them out of things. Jackal realized that they figured out what was really going on out here, and made us move up our timeline.” Alric came out from behind his wagon looking fully Carlon all the way down to his sneer. He also looked far healthier than he’d been prior to getting here.
I pulled back in shock and tried to step back so that I could keep an eye on both of them. Alric had betrayed the faeries? And me? Again? Clearly, he’d been the one who set up a chocolate trap for the girls. He and Jackal were counting on Bunky coming out of hiding when he saw me.
“What the hell is going on? Is Locksead sabotaging his own heist?” I kept slowly walking backwards, but I didn’t want to get too far from the faeries’ cage. Alric knew everything about them. If anyone might know how to seriously hurt, or possibly kill, them it would be him.
“Locksead is an idiot,” Jackal said as he tossed the net he was holding on the table. “He only thinks about what he can sell. Not what he can rule.”
I debated grabbing the cage and seeing how far I could get, but I had a feeling it wasn’t very far. Even so, I shifted my weight just enough for Alric to shake his head. “Grab her.”
I felt the hands grab my arms before I even knew anyone was behind me. I twisted back to see Markin give me a shrug. He didn’t look thrilled about grabbing me, but he also didn’t look like he would let go.
“You see, Taryn.” Alric came forward slowly and I saw the bastard had been drinking. A green bottle sloshed in his hand. “Some of us are tired of being the lackeys of the movers of the world. Some of us want to be in charge of our own kingdoms under a new and glorious destiny. And you are going to help with that by supplying the weapons we need. Not to mention the other benefits of joining us.” He leaned in very close to my face as if to kiss me and the smell of what he’d been drinking hit me. Dragon bane.
He looked me clearly in the eye and his eyes changed briefly from Carlon to Alric. “You were right, Jackal, I think she may need some convincing. Capturing her little flying rats isn’t enough.”
He made as if to pour some of the dragon bane down my throat, but strategically spilled it on me instead. I was grateful for that. Last two times I’d drank the stuff I started attacking any man around me, starting by ripping off their clothes. I was even more grateful that it appeared Alric hadn’t joined the bad guys, but was trying to throw off Jackal’s plan. Whatever that plan was I was sure I didn’t want to be part of it.
I yelled as he spilled the stuff on me. Squirming a bit to try and break Markin’s hold.
“Damn it, Carlon!” Markin swore and removed one hand from my arm as the sticky liquid got on him as well.
The dragon bane was starting to tingle when I pushed back at Markin and swung out with my dagger.
He dropped back faster than I’d expected so I only got a slice in his upper arm instead of a stab to the chest. But it was his dominant arm and thanks to my dagger training with Orenda I’d gotten in a fancy twist as I hit so it did more damage than it would have normally.
Alric stumbled away, supposedly going for the sword he used as Carlon. However, his fake drunk routine brought him right in Markin’s path and they both stumbled to the ground. Alric was still playing his role, still keeping the Carlon persona alive, but he was doing his best to interfere with Jackal’s plan.
The smell of dragon bane and the familiar burning hit the skin of my face and I leaned over to throw up. Not great in a fight, bu
t I couldn’t hold it long enough to throw up on one of my attackers.
I spun around and charged Jackal. He was bigger than me, but stupidly unarmed, aside from a log he’d pulled out of the pile for the fire. He laughed at first, easily blocking my dagger. His laugh died as the dragon bane hit my system and my speed increased. I got in two serious stabs, sadly neither of them fatal, before a blow to my head took me out.
Chapter Forty-Two
I woke up with dirt in my mouth and no memory of what had happened. I kept my eyes closed as soon as I realized that my hands were tied behind me and I was lying on the ground. The dirt in my mouth was from a rag someone had shoved in there. As the buzzing in my head started to fade, I heard voices and everything came back to me.
“I don’t know why you say we need her.” Markin sounded far surlier than he had previously. “She’s not going along willingly, and she’s useless to us if she won’t cooperate.”
Jackal’s grunt was followed by a long swallow of liquid. “I can find a use for her, but she won’t like it.”
“Knock it off, both of you.” That was Alric. Or right now, very much Carlon. “You’re not going to rape our chance at having this work. If you break her, we will never get what we need. She can find the artifact and she will lead us to the rest of the weapon.” I heard his boots crunching gravel and fought to not flinch as he came closer. “She will cooperate. We have her friends and her faeries. I don’t have a problem killing any of them to make this work.”
He had to have seen me cringe; I felt the tip of his boot against my side. Nevertheless, he said nothing and walked away. I had to force myself to believe Alric hadn’t really betrayed us. However, he made it difficult. There were so many aspects to him that he never told me about. Too many to figure what the truth was.
“Fine. What the hell is taking the others so long? And where’s the rest of the team?” Jackal clearly hadn’t been too inconvenienced by my stabs. Unfortunately, whoever hit me from behind broke the spell of the dragon bane, and I doubted I could move that fast now.
The Emerald Dragon (The Lost Ancients Book 3) Page 26