by Lisa Shearin
I knelt and went down the rabbit hole.
Agata was right. The tunnel was rock, but perfectly smooth, almost too smooth to offer purchase. The slight downward slope helped.
I squirmed out and found myself in another world.
I slowly got to my feet and just stood there, awestruck.
We were surrounded by crystals. The walls, ceiling, and even floor were completely covered in glittering crystals. And each one flickered inside with what appeared to be dancing flames.
Crystals made from the same stone as the Heart of Nidaar.
An entire cave covered in them.
I felt rather than saw Agata emerge from the tunnel. I was incapable of taking my eyes from the sight before me.
The room glowed as if lit by thousands of flickering candles.
Agata slowly turned in a circle, cheeks flushed and dark eyes sparkling. “Isn’t it magnificent?”
For a gem mage such as herself, being in the presence of so many stones of power must be intoxicating.
“So much for where the Heart of Nidaar came from,” I whispered.
I felt the need to speak quietly, as if I was standing on sacred soil—or crystals.
The chamber wasn’t large by any means. It was only a little larger than Phaelan’s cabin on the Kraken, with an even lower ceiling. I could just stand up straight.
Agata was right. I couldn’t sense Talon and Malik until I was in the room with them. The crystals’ distortion covered all magic—and the life signs of its practitioners.
“It’s a geode,” Agata said. “The biggest I’ve ever heard of.”
“And it’s filled with Heartstones.” Talon held a crystal that filled both of his hands, the interior flickering like a campfire. The little firedrake on his shoulder was turning his head this way and that, chirping in curiosity at the strange object. “Agata found the way in, and Indy flew in the hole before I could stop him.”
“An intrepid adventurer,” Malik said.
“Could this be what you were following?” I quietly asked Agata.
The gem mage was gazing around, her eyes still wide in wonder. “No.” Then her eyes refocused on me, her expression becoming uncertain. “However, it does bring up a problem. I’m sensing more geodes like this. They’re giving off the same signature as this chamber. There is another signal, one that’s beyond any of these in strength, but with all of these chambers so close, it’s difficult to get a fix on it.”
“Difficult?”
“Difficult as in I haven’t been able to yet.”
At that moment, she looked younger, more vulnerable. I had to remind myself that she was only a few years older than Talon, though infinitely more experienced in magic.
“I imagine this many stones of power would temporarily overwhelm your senses.” I tried to sound reassuring. “You just need to get your bearings is all. I don’t know much about gem magic, but I would think smaller stones, regardless of how many, couldn’t possibly give off the same signature as a specimen the size of the Heart of Nidaar, right?” I sincerely hoped I was right. If I wasn’t, we were beyond screwed.
“No, they shouldn’t.”
“We have some time,” I assured her. “Phaelan needs to rest before he can continue. You need to do the same. Relax and sort through what you’re sensing.”
“I do have a general direction of the stronger signal. And yes, I am certain of it.” Agata pointed to the other side of the glittering chamber where Malik stood. “That way.”
“Uh, through the wall?”
Malik gestured me over. “The wall just looks flat from over there. There’s a niche that widens into a short tunnel—a very narrow, short tunnel. It’s a way out of here, but it doesn’t lead to a place we want to be.”
I had a feeling those beasts had been protecting something. Now we knew what.
A nest.
Worse than a nest. A pack nest, as in guarded by the entire pack.
They weren’t all here right now, but the number of nests and eggs in each one said loud and clear that the contents of that cave wasn’t the work of one female.
It also answered the question of where all those Khrynsani and Sythsaurian bodies had been taken, and probably the ones from the attack on the surface as well. I watched as one of the beasts took a gray-skinned leg from a pile of bloody parts and chewed it up before leaning its long neck over the nest and regurgitating the contents into the mouths of an eagerly mewling clutch of newborns—newborns the size of large dogs. Next, the parent selected a green arm from the pile of remains, and went through the same action of chewing and feeding. The beasts’ young devoured the Sythsaurian limb just as quickly as they had the goblin leg.
“The little ones don’t seem to be picky eaters,” Malik noted dryly. “Perhaps their palates become more sophisticated as they grow.”
Bile rose in the back of my throat. “Perhaps.”
We drew back from the fissure that led into the monster nursery, its charnel-house stench effectively masking our scents from the occupants. Or so we hoped.
I gestured them back into the chamber of gems. “This could be a problem. Is there any way out of here other than this and the way we came in?”
Malik shook his head.
“Great. So, full-grown monsters waiting for us on one end, baby monsters and overprotective parents on the other. And the direction of the strongest signal is through the nursery, meaning that’s the way we have to go.”
“As far as I know now, that’s correct,” Agata said.
“And once we set foot in there, where do we go, how far is it, and is the way out large enough to accommodate all of us at a full run?”
“Except for Phaelan,” Talon reminded me. “He won’t be running.”
“We’ll overcome that challenge when we get to it,” I said. “I’ve been in a sea dragon nest before and I survived. A clear escape route then is why I’m alive now.” I turned to Agata. “I hate to pressure you, but do you think you can get that information within an hour?”
Chapter Eighteen
We’d climbed out of the geode chamber and rejoined the others. I’d just finished describing our route and its dangers.
“We can pull Phaelan through,” I told Elsu.
The elf had been dozing, but I think “pull Phaelan” woke him up.
He sat up groggily. “Pull Phaelan through where?”
“The next chamber over has our exit, and is the way to the Heart.” I didn’t repeat that it would also put us in the middle of a monster nursery and in the most danger we’d been in so far. Like I’d told Talon, we’d overcome that challenge when we came to it—though it was increasingly looking like me tossing Phaelan over my shoulder again. Dasant was physically the strongest among us, but if we had a herd of irate monster parents on our heels, I wanted the floor cleared in one blast, and Dasant was the best qualified to do that. “We can just put you on your bedroll and slide you right through the chute into the geode,” Jash chimed in. “You don’t have a problem with closed-in places, do you?”
Phaelan was instantly and completely awake. “As a matter of fact, I do. A big problem.”
Jash winced. “Oh.”
“How big a problem?” I asked.
“I’d rather face the things we just ran from.”
Elsu was incredulous. “Wait, let me get this straight. You enjoy booby-trapped rooms, and gutting things that want to eat you is fun, but you’ll lose it if you have to get cozy with a rock chute.”
“That’s right.”
Dasant shrugged. “Speaking of rocks, we can hit him over the head with one.”
“The way forward is the only way out,” I told Phaelan.
The elf pirate took out his flask and shook it. It was almost empty. He sighed, looking far too pale. “I didn’t bring nearly enough liquor on this trip.”
We put Phaelan on his bedroll and with Jash carrying one end and me the other, we carried the elf over to the tunnel. Phaelan’s eyes were squeezed shut as tightly as
physically possible. His color hadn’t improved, but at least he wasn’t screaming. The elf was determined to see this through. I didn’t tell him that he wouldn’t like the geode chamber much more than the chute he had to pass through to get there. I’d deal with that panic attack when Phaelan had it.
I hadn’t entirely eliminated Dasant’s rock-induced concussion solution.
I attached a rope to Phaelan’s armor harness and Jash took it through the tunnel with him. We pulled Phaelan from the cave to the geode, his breath hissing through clenched teeth.
Just because we didn’t need to worry about the beasts getting to us in here didn’t mean the same would be true for any Khrynsani and Sythsaurians in the vicinity. That being said, they’d have to squirm through from the outer cave where we’d first sought refuge. If a head suddenly popped through the tunnel, Dasant was standing by to lop it off. The more likely possibility was any Khrynsani who found themselves trapped in the monster nursery seeking refuge in the fissure that led to our geode. Their screams would probably give us plenty of warning, and Malik was there ready to give them a warm welcome in their own blood.
Elsu had wrapped Phaelan’s foot for the trip through the tunnel, but once we were all in the geode, she’d unwrapped it and had her hands around his ankle, channeling cold into it in an attempt to keep the swelling down. She wanted to wait until we were ready to make a break for it before wrapping it and putting his boot back on.
I was relieved to see that Phaelan took being inside of a geode better than I’d thought. Small rooms were fine, rock chutes were not.
Agata went to the niche that led to the exit from the geode into the monster nursery to give her a clear sensory path to the Heart. Malik left the geode, stationing himself near the nursery entrance. He couldn’t sense Agata’s efforts, so she was safe from external detection.
I could barely keep my eyes open. I’d lost track of how much time had passed since we’d descended from the surface, but during that time, I’d only had one hour’s sleep. The worst danger was still ahead of us. The geode was keeping our magics silent and our presence hidden. There wasn’t going to be a better time to sleep than now. It’d probably be the last chance I’d get. Agata didn’t need me figuratively looking over her shoulder. If I was asleep, she could relax further, making her work easier. Malik and Dasant were keeping watch and would wake me if I was needed.
My breathing deepened, and I felt myself drifting off.
As I did, the Heartstones in the geode seemed to glow a little brighter.
I was in the throne room again.
But instead of an open space with doors at one end and the throne carved from a solid Heartstone at the other, there was a forest of columns, each covered in the same Heartstone crystals we’d found in the gigantic geode.
I knew the throne was somewhere ahead of me, but I couldn’t find it. The crystals’ glow was too bright for my goblin eyes. I reached for the goggles around my neck, but like my weapons, they weren’t with me here in my dream. I put my hand above my eyes to shield them. It helped, but not enough to help me find my way. A buzzing noise further disoriented me. It was rising to a deafening roar, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. A wave of dizziness swept over me and I fell to my knees, hands over my ears in a desperate attempt to block the sound.
I started losing consciousness.
“You must not fall asleep.”
The voice cut through the noise, familiar, soothing.
Queen Baeseria.
Warm hands slipped over my own and the roaring ceased. My head cleared and I was able to open my eyes and look up.
I was on my knees before the queen of the Cha’Nidaar.
Her hands moved from my ears to the sides of my face, holding me there, her pale eyes intent on my own.
The columns still glowed, and the roar had faded into the background, but its disorienting influence was still there, waiting for the queen to take her hands away. I knew I would be overwhelmed again the instant she did, and this time there would be no hope for me. I would be destroyed.
“And all of your friends along with you,” she said. “You ignored my warning.”
“Not ignored, Your Majesty.” My voice sounded distant, coming from another place. “We have no choice but to continue.”
“You always have a choice.”
“There are others. Goblins, but not like us.”
Her gaze was solemn. “Khrynsani.”
“Of course, you’ve dealt with them before. Last time when my ancestor—”
“And many times before that—and since.” The queen’s voice was filled with regret. “The Khrynsani are why we are here now.”
The booby-trapped tiles. The Khrynsani serpent.
“Yes,” she said, reading my thoughts. “But that is an old story, a story that does not need to be retold here and now.”
“The Sythsaurians. They are here to take the Heart, to destroy the Seven Kingdoms.”
My words did not affect her. “As the Khrynsani would have done so many centuries ago. It is why we are here, why we guard, why we remain.” She paused, her eyes sad. “It is why we will always remain.”
“But you don’t need to,” I insisted. “You can—”
“Destroy the Heart? Yes, I am aware of your intentions. It was a solution we have tried ourselves. Tried and failed. The Heart cannot be destroyed, nor can it be taken.” She leaned down, her faces inches from my own. “It is safe. You and your friends are not. You must go.” She gazed into my eyes, then released my face, straightening to loom over me, her features cold and impassive. “But you will not go. You will fulfill your mission, regardless of the danger, to yourselves, to us all. If you insist upon continuing—”
“I do, Your Majesty.”
“You are stubborn and quite trying.”
“Yes, ma’am. I have been told that before.”
“I hope that against all odds you will live to be told that many more times.”
Queen Baeseria faded, and the void was filled by the buzzing that crescendoed to the roar of a million hornets, filling my ears, my head, all of my senses, merciless… .
I awoke with a gasp that turned into a whimper as I rolled over, hands cradling my head.
“Me, too,” Jash rasped from nearby. “Worst damned hangover I’ve ever had, and I didn’t even get to have the fun of tying it on.”
I managed to open my eyes.
The crystals surrounding us were glowing, just as in my dream.
Or was it not a dream, but instead a dire warning?
Then the crystals winked out, their glow gone …
… into us.
I gazed at my hands, now gleaming with a pearlescent sheen, in wonder. “Jash…”
“Tam, your face.”
I looked up. My friend’s normally gray face was luminous, as if glowing from within.
“Uh, boss…” Dasant said from the tunnel entrance.
I scrambled to my feet, going around a corner to where he stood guard.
The big mage was staring at his glowing hands. “Is this a problem, boss?”
Talon was still asleep, his pale gray face gleaming softly.
“You ignored my warning…regardless of the danger to yourselves—to us all.”
“I think we have a problem.” I whispered, as much to myself as Dasant.
Chapter Nineteen
The elf pirate slept, but he wasn’t glowing.
Only the goblins had been affected—or infected—by the Heartstones around us.
Agata sat perfectly still, eyes closed, expression serene, concentration complete. She was nearly as oblivious as Phaelan to everything happening around her.
I knelt before her, not touching her. When a mage of her power was in a trance of that depth, any kind of contact was dangerous to both parties. But if there was any possibility that what had happened had been triggered by Agata reaching out to the Heart …
“Agata.” I kept my voice calm. The last thing I wanted to do was to star
tle her. That could also be very bad.
No reaction.
“Agata, wake up.” Louder, more forceful.
Nothing.
Screw caution. I wrapped my hands around her upper arms and gave her a shake. “Agata, wake up, now.”
She did, with a gasp and full-body shudder, her eyes focused on something far away.
I started to shake her again when her eyes focused on me and she smiled, a beautiful, unspeakably happy and relieved smile.
“Tam, I’ve found the Heart of Nidaar.”
Our skin had stopped glowing within a few minutes. It had stopped because it was absorbed into us.
I felt it. We all did.
I’d felt something more when I’d touched Agata.
A sensation I’d hoped I’d never experience again.
Agata’s smile had vanished once she’d seen all of us—and herself. “What happened?”
I told her about my dream, and Baeseria’s warning.
“I know exactly where the Heart is,” Agata said. “The noise from this geode and the ones nearby have been interfering. While I was trying to tell the difference between the geodes and the Heart, the geode noise faded into the background, and I heard the Heart loud and clear. It was as if my mind completely opened and I sensed every stone of power in this mountain—and beyond.”
“Do you think the power coming from the Heart overrode—”
“No. I did it. The power to push the geode’s distortion aside came from me, not the Heart.”
“I take it you haven’t been able to do anything like this before.”
“Never. It’s one of the most difficult abilities for gem mages to master. Very few ever do.”
I began to understand. “And within half an hour, you were able to not only find the Heart’s exact location, but also communicate with it.”
Agata was nodding. “It’s spooky. Scary even. I mean, I’m grateful to have the information; I’m just not comfortable with how quickly I got it.”
Elsu stood from where she had been working on Phaelan’s ankle. “I think I was affected, too. I felt my power go out and into Phaelan—power at a level I shouldn’t have. Phaelan, stand up.”