by Lisa Shearin
The elf raised an eyebrow. “Without an ankle wrap?”
“If I’m right, you won’t need it.”
“If you’re wrong, I’ll be back on the floor.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
Phaelan shrugged. “You’re the doc.” He stood unaided, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “I don’t know what you did, but it’s as good as new. Better even. My feet had been aching from all that walking. Not anymore. They feel great. I feel great.” The elf picked up the staff Jash had made for him and tossed it from hand to hand, then gave it a couple of expert spins. “I won’t need this for walking, but I never turn down a backup weapon.”
“Phaelan wasn’t glowing,” Jash noted. “Do you think it only affects goblins?” he asked me.
“Either that, or it only affects magic users. Phaelan’s a null.”
“Hey, if it keeps me from glowing like you guys,” the elf said, “I’m grateful for whichever one it was.”
“Mal? Das? Did you get a power boost?” I asked them.
“I feel like I just had my best day’s sleep in years,” Malik said. “And I’m an insomniac. However, my skills are more understated than others. But based on rest alone, I’m ready to take on whatever jumps out at us.”
Dasant nodded. “I’m ready and raring to go, too.”
“Talon?”
“Like Das said, ready and raring.”
Jash glanced uneasily at the Heartstones encasing us all. “Uh, Tam, add me to the list. I know there are more of these giant geodes across that monster nursery from us. One in particular is worrisome.”
Agata started. “You can sense the geodes?”
“No, I can sense the Khrynsani and lizard men taking shelter inside that geode.”
“Khrynsani mages whose powers have just gotten a big boost,” I said. “And perhaps the Sythsaurians as well.”
Agata’s eyes widened. “If we can sense them …”
I reached for my pack and weapons. “They know we’re here.”
No one had asked me what the Heartstones had done to me, which was good because I wasn’t about to tell them—especially Agata.
Generally, it’s not good to have your team be afraid of being anywhere near you, especially when you were about to make a run for it across the floor of a monster nursery.
I’d cornered the market on self-fear all by myself.
At one point, I’d been in an umi’atsu bond with Raine Benares—and the Saghred.
And I was pretty sure that I was in one again.
This time with Agata Azul.
An umi’atsu was a bond forged between two powerful mages—usually goblin mages—binding them first through their magic, then joining their hearing, sight, and finally their minds and souls. After that, an umi’atsu bond could be broken only by death. It was a magical marriage of sorts, until death do you part and all that. In fact, we goblins considered it even more legally binding than a regular marriage.
An umi’atsu bond could be begun by the two mages involved in the bond. Stopping it once it progressed past the first two stages was only possible by death, or the intervention of a mage who specialized in umi’atsu bonds.
My mentor A’Zahra Nuru was one of only two such specialists still living. She was presently in Regor, covering for me as chief mage until my return. The other was in Mermeia.
So, if this was an umi’atsu bond, Agata and I had a very big problem.
The umi’atsu bond between me and Raine had been initiated by the Saghred. Our bond was severed by my temporary death. Had it lasted much longer, I would have been able to use the Saghred just as easily as Raine. I was—and still am—a dark mage, a practitioner of black magic. Like a recovering addict, I experience a daily struggle to keep from surrendering to the dark side of my magical nature. So when you think about it that way, by killing me, Raine had saved all of us.
It’d been a hell of a painful way to get a divorce.
In the instant I put my hands on Agata Azul’s arms, I had somehow triggered a bond between us.
I didn’t know for certain that it was an umi’atsu, but it felt suspiciously like what I had experienced with Raine. I had known her for years before it had happened. I’d only known Agata for a little more than a month. Perhaps it was our magic that called out to each other. Perhaps it was something more. Whatever had happened, Agata hadn’t realized it yet. Locking in on the Heart’s position had taken precedence over any uneasiness she may have been feeling. Or if she was aware of what had happened between us, she was pushing it aside and doing her job, like the disciplined and dedicated professional she was.
We had both been under the influence of the Heartstones in the geode. And when I’d touched her, Agata had still been connected with the Heart of Nidaar itself.
I didn’t know what the Heart was up to, if anything. The Saghred had turned out to be sentient. We didn’t know much at all about the Heart. I did know that I had no intention nor desire to cause earthquakes and giant waves, but given enough time, the dark side of my nature could twist me into thinking that was a good or even great idea. It could come in handy on a battlefield or at a Khrynsani headquarters. I could level the playing field. Literally. Destroy our enemies in an instant by having the ground open and swallow them.
See what I mean? Destructive, yet simple, and oh so successful. All the makings of a great idea.
I felt a laugh bubbling up that might have been a little on the hysterical side. With two umi’atsu bonds within months of each other, at least no one could say I had commitment issues.
I really needed to stop seeing women who were in relationships with stones of power.
Jash and Malik led the way out of the geode, stopping just short of the entrance into the monster nursery.
Malik was using his enhanced cloaking ability to hide both himself and Jash from detection while Jash got a fix on the geode being used by our enemies and determined the fastest route to a narrow tunnel in the north corner of the cavern that Agata said led into the center of the mountain, where the city of Nidaar and the Heart waited.
“What kind of goblins would build a city surrounded by giant goblin-eating dragon things?” Phaelan whispered to Elsu.
“The kind who like their privacy,” she shot back.
The elf snorted. “And going through life as a potential main course.”
We had one goal with a two-fold problem. Cross the cavern/monster nursery without being eaten by the beasts or slaughtered by the Khrynsani and Sythsaurians who were somewhere in the general vicinity. In a perfect world, we would be able tiptoe quietly from the geode which was Point A to the tunnel Point B and not be noticed by anyone or anything.
Our world was not perfect now, nor did I expect it to become so in our foreseeable—and possibly very brief—future.
We also had the additional problem of blood. Phaelan was wearing some of his, and there was no covering up the scent. I didn’t know if there was any difference in smelling prey that still had its blood on the inside as opposed to prey that had been perforated by claws, but I was willing to bet that with Phaelan in our midst, we’d just gone from merely appetizing to downright irresistible. Yet, in our midst was exactly where Phaelan was going to stay. The elf had said he could run, but until I saw it for myself, I wouldn’t believe it, and there was no way I was taking the risk of losing Phaelan Benares because I outran him, leaving him for the monsters to eat.
As if in response to my pessimistic thoughts, five small reptilian heads popped up above the expanse of eggs and began calling for their mother. Loudly.
A roar answered them from a side tunnel, and the owner of that roar was closing fast.
Chapter Twenty
There are times when, as a leader, you must stick to a carefully considered and predetermined plan without wavering.
And then there was now.
“Run!”
My team didn’t need to be told twice.
True to his word, Phaelan nea
rly outpaced all of us. It was even more impressive considering that I had never run so fast in my life. Any worry at being somehow contaminated by the geode’s Heartstones vanished in the sheer exhilaration of running.
There were now multiple roars behind us, and the rhythmic shaking of the cavern floor said loud and clear that we were being pursued, and that what was pursuing us was horrifyingly large.
I wasn’t about to turn around to find out. The rest of my team was in front of me, so the only person I had to be concerned about was me. My primitive instincts yelled for me to zigzag, and as I did, a pair of massive jaws snapped the air in the space I’d just occupied, motivating me to an even greater burst of speed.
The tunnel wasn’t large enough for all of us to enter at the same time. That was fine, since we didn’t all arrive at the same time. I was the last one through, and again, jaws slammed shut just as I’d cleared the threshold. The floor shook and I was knocked from my feet as the beast slammed into the cavern wall outside at top speed.
The wall held.
The beast screamed in frustration and rage.
We were all alive and in one piece.
Sometimes the flawless execution of a brilliant plan wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Once again, improvisation saved the day—and kept me from becoming baby food.
I whooped. I couldn’t help it.
“Tamnais Nathrach, you are a difficult man to find.”
The sibilant voice came from behind me, from behind us all.
It should have been dark behind us where the tunnel opened into a cave. But now there was light, plenty of it. Enough for me to see what we had run into.
Enough to know that lizard men preferred light.
And enough to learn the reason Jash hadn’t sounded the alarm: a curved blade held tight against his throat.
There were ten Khrynsani and four Sythsaurians. Yet it appeared that the Sythsaurians were in charge.
This was not good.
Even worse was that I sensed next to nothing from three of the lizard men—and nothing at all from the one who had addressed me in flawless Goblin.
This was definitely not good.
The Sythsaurian was easily a head taller than me. His eyes gleamed a dark gold in the light cast by the flickering Heartstones covering the cave’s walls and ceiling. He wore leather armor that fit like a second skin, leaving only his head exposed. It was hairless, with mottled green skin and a pebbled texture. He slowly smiled, revealing teeth the size of my own, but each ending in a triangular point.
His perusal of my team came to rest on Phaelan.
“And what is this pale creature called?” he asked.
“An elf,” a Khrynsani spat in derision.
“Should I be insulted?” Phaelan asked no one in particular.
“You might want to wait until the odds are better,” Malik told him.
“That will not be happening,” the Sythsaurian said mildly.
“You underestimate what we consider better odds,” I said.
While the Syth had been studying Phaelan, I’d caught Jash’s eye and had seen the barest upward tilt of his lips in response to my unspoken question.
He was ready when I was.
I wasn’t ready until I had more information.
Jash was the only one of my team being restrained—either physically or magically. While everyone—us and them—had lethal magic ready to let fly, we had a bit of a standoff. Neither the Syth leader nor I had given the signal to unleash hell on the other, and judging from the Syth’s demeanor and questions, he was just as curious about us as we were about them.
When confronted with a new enemy who isn’t actively trying to kill you, it’s best to gather as much information on them as possible.
Then you destroy them.
That was how we did things in the goblin court, though I suspected in this instance I might want to alter my approach.
“Tamnais Nathrach, you are a difficult man to find,” the Sythsaurian repeated. “Yet here we are, together at last.” He half turned to address someone behind him. “You were correct in your assessment. He has presented me with as close to a challenge as I have yet experienced on this world.”
Sandrina Ghalfari stepped out from behind the big Sythsaurian.
I smiled, showing as many teeth as the Sythsaurian had, though only two of mine were fangs.
Sandrina had a cold, dark beauty that shone to its full advantage against the Heartstones’ gleaming translucence. My team and I were covered in sand and dust, but Sandrina, her Khrynsani, and the Sythsaurians were clean and perfectly groomed, as if they had spent their time somewhere other than these caves.
Sandrina also appeared suspiciously rested and confident. “Are you imagining that you will finish what you started that night in the Khrynsani temple, Tamnais?”
“My imagination has nothing to do with it. I’m merely pre-enjoying a coming event.”
“Your confidence is premature, and misplaced.”
“As always, Sandrina, we disagree.”
She saw Talon and smiled. “I see you brought your mongrel. Were you afraid he wouldn’t live one day at court without your protection?”
I was prepared to restrain Talon if necessary. It wasn’t necessary. He stood straight and still by my side, temper not only held in check, but a hint of a smile curling his lips and a glint in his eyes.
A dangerous glint, but perfectly controlled.
I felt a surge of reassurance—and pride.
Indigo took his cue from Talon. The little firedrake bristled, raising the armored ridge down his back, and gave a long, sulfur-scented hiss.
“I fear nothing concerning my son,” I said.
Talon’s smile broadened into a wicked grin.
My wicked grin.
Pride came again, and hot on its heels was concern. I knew what that grin meant when I was wearing it.
Talon was up to something. More accurately, he was up to no good.
His power wasn’t building.
It was already there. Ready to release, but held in perfect check.
I knew it, but Sandrina didn’t appear to have a clue. Or if she did, she dismissed his skills as beneath her own. She would realize her mistake when Talon unleashed on her.
“Have you spoken to your son recently?” I asked her.
“Of course not.”
“Naturally, going to Hell would be beneath you.”
“My son is dead. You killed him.”
“Now Sandrina, you know that’s not true. If you believed that, why did you steal his corpse from the Guardians?”
That got the attention of the Khrynsani with her, at least half of whom were members of Sarad’s inner circle, judging from the ornateness of their black robes.
“You must not have shared that bit of information with your son’s closest friends.”
“It’s a lie.”
“Are you accusing me, or reassuring them?”
“Yes.”
“I have witnesses—and an empty glass coffin in the Guardian’s citadel to prove it.”
“They stole his body. They would think nothing of desecrating my son’s remains.”
I shook my head. “Sarad and I have spoken on several occasions, very recently. Not in person, but spoken nonetheless. Considering his location and circumstances, he’s quite happy and well adjusted. He even has a new lady friend. Have you met Bricarda? She’s working with your Sythsaurian allies, and according to Sarad, her visitations have made his imprisonment infinitely more pleasurable.” I paused, enjoying this more than I thought I would. “He was most curious as to why you stole his body. We initially believed the trails left in the dust on his coffin’s lid were your tears. Sarad laughed and asked me, was I sure it wasn’t spit?”
The Khrynsani mage closest to Sandrina grinned in a flash of fangs.
Looked like Sarad had shared his feelings about his dear mother with at least one of his friends.
“Lady Ghalfari,” the Khrynsani said,
“You assured me that—”
“My son is dead, or as good as,” she snapped back.
“Someone sounds defensive,” I noted. “And disappointed. I got every impression that Sarad was biding his time and close to negotiating his release.”
Sandrina’s lips tightened.
“In fact, he seemed to be increasingly eager to do so once he learned of your grave robbing. He was most concerned about it—and you. Perhaps he is merely a good son who wishes to reassure his beloved mother that he is alive and well.”
Sandrina raised her chin. “If he is alive, then I will welcome him with open arms.”
I gave her a sly smile. “With a poisoned blade hidden in each hand. Sarad would be wise to avoid such an embrace. Then again, I suspect that is why he has survived for so long.”
“Yes, I am very proud of him. Sarad is my son. All he inherited from his father was his name. If I could have created him alone, I would have. Your son, on the other hand, is the sum of both of his parents.”
Damn.
“You never knew your elven mother, did you?” she quickly asked Talon.
Talon didn’t respond.
And I waited a beat too long.
Her words came in a rush. “I didn’t know her, but I knew of her. A splendid family, such power, such willingness to use it. Silvanus is a respected and revered name among elven magi. Though now it is reviled, thanks to the ineptitude and fatal flaws of Carnades Silvanus. Or as you should know him, Uncle Carnades.”
I sensed Talon stiffen beside me, but other than that, he made no move.
“That information was not difficult to obtain,” Sandrina continued, slowing now, enjoying herself. “Your father knows. He has always known who your mother’s family was.”
“And I promised I would tell you after this mission, that it was time for you to know.” I kept my voice calm. “I have never lied to you.” If I didn’t allow Sandrina’s words to affect me, perhaps I could will Talon to do the same. I wasn’t going to hold my breath, but I could hope with every fiber of my being.
“Are you not concerned you may possess the same flaws?” she sweetly asked Talon.
I drew breath to respond, as Talon did the same.