“In coin? I don’t think unicorns have pockets.”
“Are we paying her in some other manner?”
Zenia opened her palm skyward. “She didn’t ask for anything.”
“I would be more comfortable if she had.”
“She said she wanted to help the dragon.”
“Forgive me if I’m less than trustful of strangers. Even strangers with silky fur and a pretty horn.”
“I know,” Zenia said. “I understand, and I have reservations too, but what better options do we have? Our map isn’t very precise. If we bumble around in the jungle ourselves, we might only get lost. Or eaten.”
Some large creature screeched out in the wilds, making her point and reminding her that this outpost wasn’t exactly a bastion of civilization. Here and there, the remains of a wall of vertical, pointed logs tied together with vines were visible, but there were so many gaps in it that an elephant could have ambled up to the general mercantile.
“If you change your mind or decide she’s suspicious,” Jev said, offering his arm, “I’m not too good to bumble. As you know.”
“I’ve definitely seen you bumble.” Zenia leaned against him, glad she had people around her she could rely upon and trust. She was glad she had him.
As Jev walked down the puddle-filled dirt road with brambles, branches, and vines encroaching from the sides, he kept one hand on his pistol. Nothing had attacked them yet, but he was certain some large predator would jump out sooner or later.
The unicorn walking calmly up ahead, her purple tail swaying with her steps, didn’t give any indication that trouble lurked nearby, but the myriad animal noises coming from the foliage set Jev on edge. There were far more growls, yips, and snaps than he was accustomed to when walking through the woods on his property back home. Even the tall dense trees of Taziira hadn’t seemed so loaded with wildlife. Hungry wildlife.
“We sure that white horse knows the way?” Borti asked from Jev’s side.
His brother, who walked on his other side, looked over curiously.
This road, which they had been traveling down all morning, was far wider and oft-used than anything Jev had expected to find out here; the ogress back in that small harbor town hadn’t included roads on her map. Nor had he anticipated anything so trafficked after seeing the size of that last river outpost. Jev wondered if the unicorn was creating the road with her magic and letting it seal back up after their group passed. But he’d seen moccasin and boot prints in the mud, along with occasional ruts from wagon wheels, which lent evidence to it being an actual thoroughfare. From where and to where, he did not know.
“She offered to be Zenia’s guide,” Jev said neutrally.
The unicorn could probably hear them, mentally if not audibly, so he was careful to keep his suspicions to himself. It was hard to imagine one of the staunchly neutral unicorns of the world leading them astray for some nefarious reason, but it was also hard to imagine one going out of its way—her way—to lead a group of humans through the jungle for days.
Was it for the dragon’s sake? Maybe Zenia’s dragon had an ally. But if so, why wouldn’t the unicorn have used her magic to free the dragon on her own? Could the orcs truly have so much power that a unicorn would be daunted? Jev had heard of orc shamans capable of making high-quality magical tools, but they were generally regarded as weaker than elves when it came to the arcane gifts. Certainly weaker than a dragon or a unicorn.
And yet… they held a dragon prisoner.
“That didn’t quite answer my question, Zyndar,” Borti said.
“I know.” Jev shrugged.
“It just seems like there are a lot of people you don’t even know who would show up just to object,” came Rhi’s voice from behind them.
Horti looked over his shoulder. Zenia and Rhi walked along a few feet back with Cutter and Hydal bringing up the rear. Zenia held an open book in her hands as she picked a route around the puddles and mud. Rhi bounced her bo on her shoulder and scrutinized the wilds around them.
Jev hadn’t been paying much attention to the women’s intermittent conversation, being lost in his own thoughts and worried about what was going on back home, but he’d caught a few comments from Rhi about weddings between commoners and zyndar being unlikely. At first, Jev had assumed they were discussing his relationship with Zenia, but since Rhi had been voicing most of the thoughts, he’d realized she might be thinking of herself and Hydal.
Horti kept looking back at Rhi with sad eyes, and Jev remembered that he’d met her before all this started, presumably when they had both been monks, and had seemed interested in her. Jev had caught Rhi and Hydal trading shy secret smiles a couple of times since their evening in the captain’s cabin, so he suspected Horti’s chances were slim.
“Did you find someone to leave your rats with, Horti?” Jev asked, thinking that might draw his attention away from that which he could not have.
Horti nodded, and Borti said, “The only orc in that outpost to say rats are disgusting.”
“Which most qualified him for the job?” Jev asked in confusion.
Horti nodded again, vigorously.
“Her, yes,” Borti said. “We figured she wouldn’t eat anything she found disgusting. The other trolls and orcs we spoke to licked their lips when they saw how large our rats were. Even Cutter was speaking fondly of rat stew last week. Can you imagine wanting to slice up such fine racing rats?”
“You’re already certain they’ll be good racers?”
“We’ve been doing this for years. We can tell.” Borti nodded firmly, but then his expression turned a little wary as he looked at Jev. “Zyndar Dharrow,” he said with more formality than he’d used for a while. “Are we… I know we get wrapped up in our passions, and until I got enticed by that albino on the king’s steamer, I told my brother there was no way we were going to seek out any new brood stock while we were out here, but sometimes, it’s hard to fully set aside your dreams, especially when you’re on a mission that’s taking weeks. That might take months. Not that we’re not appreciative of this opportunity.” His wariness only seemed to increase as he looked at Jev again.
“Understandable,” Jev said, having no idea why he was on edge.
“This job is important to us. This chance. I—we—don’t want you to think we’re not with you one-hundred percent. As I admitted, the Temple didn’t want us any longer, and even though we’re good fighters who would have been an asset to the watch, they were nervous that our ties to the rat races might cause a conflict of interests—there are, admittedly, quite a few gang members who run rats in between their other less legal endeavors. It was a friend of a friend who got us an audience with the king so we could apply to work for him. This is our last chance unless we want to be bodyguards or mercenaries, and that’s work that would take us out of the city, if not out of the kingdom altogether. It would be hard to keep up our breeding program and a regular presence in the races.”
“I imagine.”
“I won’t ask you to promise to speak well of us to the king before our assignment is complete,” Borti said, “but I hope… Did we perform well enough when we raided that boat? We did our best to provide a diversion and help you, and that boat was destroyed, but are we serving you adequately, Zyndar?”
Borti looked at Jev with such earnestness—and his mute brother mirrored the expression—that Jev felt guilty. He was the one who had run around to the back, leaving them to battle however many trolls had been in that main cabin. And other than getting that bomb planted, he had done little else. He was the one who should be asking someone if he was adequate.
“Your fighting and assistance were perfect,” Jev said. “I might be dead if Horti hadn’t rammed that shaman in the back.”
The brothers exchanged relieved looks.
“We weren’t certain since the shaman and most of the trolls got away,” Borti confessed.
“We stopped them from following us,” Jev said. “That was the only goal. I definitely c
ouldn’t have done it without you. I…”
The unicorn stopped, so he let his words trail off. Her tail swished more than it had before. A sign of agitation? Or concern?
“Trouble?” Zenia murmured, stopping at Jev’s side.
The air smells of sulfur, the unicorn spoke into Jev’s mind. Into all of their minds, judging by the uneasy way the rest of the party stirred.
“Are we getting close to one of the volcanos?” Zenia held up her book. “I’ve been trying to learn how much these volcanos play into the orcs’ beliefs.”
She’d mentioned wondering about that before. Was she hatching some plan already? They would need one to get past a large tribe of orcs. Unless the unicorn intended to use her magic to help them in battle.
The volcanos in this area are not usually active, she informed them.
Hoofbeats came from behind them. Jev spun, expecting a rider.
A marsh deer thundered toward them, its antlers as wide as the road, its dark eyes huge with terror. It saw their party and sprang to the side, almost leaping over Cutter. Jev glimpsed an arrow sticking out of the creature’s neck before it disappeared into the foliage.
A black panther sprang into the road, chasing after the deer. Jev and several others raised their firearms, but the great cat followed the same route as its prey, leaping into the brush and disappearing from sight. Soon, the sounds of the chase faded. Until a scream of pain echoed through the trees. The triumphant roar of the panther followed.
Jev grimaced but lowered his pistol. He caught a distressed look in Zenia’s eyes and was glad the panther hadn’t made its kill right in front of them.
“The way of the forest,” Borti said. “Or the jungle, I suppose.”
“Arrows aren’t the way of the forest.” Jev looked toward the unicorn, guessing she had spotted the arrow too, with magic if not with her eyes.
Orc hunters are nearby, she told them.
“Not good ones if the panther got their prey,” Cutter said.
If they see us, they will report it to their people, and they will anticipate our arrival in their valleys and prepare traps. That would not be good. I am seeking to use magic to make us invisible to them, but there are many of their kind about. We must be wary.
“Is this their road?” Jev asked.
We have entered their territory.
“You’ve been here before?”
I have. The unicorn resumed her journey, leading the way up the road.
Even though she was polite, Jev had the sense that she didn’t want to be asked further questions.
“Can you sense orcs out there?” he asked Zenia quietly, letting her draw even with him before continuing after their guide.
“I’ve checked a couple of times—” Zenia touched her dragon tear, “—but there’s so much life of all kinds that it’s overwhelming.”
“Can you get a read on her at all?” Jev nodded toward the unicorn. “I’ve been wondering why she’s helping us. If she cares about freeing the dragon, why not do it herself?”
“Maybe she doesn’t have the power.”
Zenia didn’t sound that convinced, and he suspected she had been considering the same logic flaws in that argument that he had.
“Anything promising in the book?” He waved to her tome, amused that it lay open in her hands and she was reading as they walked. If he tried that, he would end up nose-first in a puddle.
“I’m reading Zyndar Reekal Tramish’s chapters on the orcs of Izstara. He explored large parts of the continent a hundred years ago, and many of his observations still apply. He was reputedly here on safari, but he had an academic bent, and I’m enjoying the reading. Hydal actually recommended it when I mentioned needing to bring some useful books along on this trip.”
“Hydal recommended a book someone is enjoying? I didn’t know that was possible.”
Zenia elbowed him and pointed at a page. “Many of the orcs believe in deities that live in the volcanos and long ago used the power of magma and the earth to create Izstara for their people. Archaeologists believe orcs were the first intelligent race here in the jungle—and so do the orcs. The tribes have been irritated for many generations as outsiders have encroached on their continent and their territory.”
“Does that explain why they captured a dragon?”
“I don’t think it explains anything, except perhaps why they might want a dragon on their side. But from my dreams…” Zenia touched her gem again, frowning darkly. “From my dreams, it doesn’t seem like they’re working together with the dragon or doing anything but causing her pain.”
Zenia blinked, looking away to hide the moisture in her eyes.
Jev wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hoping she knew she didn’t need to hide her feelings from him.
Zenia took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “If they could control the dragon, she would give them more power to use against their enemies—the book mentions that the tribes once warred frequently among themselves but were, at the time this was written, in the process of banding together so they could push away outsiders, including trolls, ogres, and human and elven explorers. But torturing her wouldn’t win her help.” Zenia clenched her jaw.
“Would they be able to control her if they had your dragon tear?”
She halted so abruptly that Jev’s arm fell from her shoulders. The rest of the group stopped too, peering curiously at her.
“Sorry,” Zenia mumbled and started walking again, but her eyes had that glazed lost-in-thought look.
Jev waited for her to mull it over. He’d been worried that freeing the dragon from her physical prison would break the link with the gem and that Zenia wouldn’t have access to her magic anymore, but what if the link, however it had come about, was permanent? And what if whoever held the dragon tear had sway over the dragon?
“I don’t know if it works that way, but it could explain why that shaman wants this so badly.” Zenia held up the gem. “I’d assumed it was purely for the value—do you know how much even basic dragon tears cost back home if you try to buy one in a shop?”
Jev shook his head, having never needed to purchase one, but he knew they were valuable and didn’t question that a lot of krons would be involved. But to have the kind of power Zenia held in her hand was invaluable. Especially for a human with no innate power. If an elf or a troll trained since birth to use their inner magic were to wield that dragon tear, would that amplify its potential? Or would it be amplified if the dragon were free? Or in close proximity to the gem?
“I know you have a very valuable dragon tear, yes,” Jev said. “Can you tell if it’s more powerful now that we’re closer to her corporeal body?”
“I’m not sure how I would gauge that. The wave she conjured to take the king’s ship out of the hydra’s range was large and impressive. More large and impressive than I’d intended.” Her lips twisted wryly.
Jev patted her shoulder. He shouldn’t admit that he liked it when she made mistakes, so long as they weren’t deadly ones, since it would be upsetting if he was the only one who ever bumbled.
Zenia gripped her dragon tear and whirled, stopping in the middle of the road.
“What is it?” Jev asked.
She was looking in the direction the deer and the panther had come from. “My dragon tear just went cold. I think she senses orcs coming.”
A hunting party approaches, the unicorn spoke into their minds. I believe they are the ones carrying sulphur.
“Should we get off the road?” Jev didn’t know why orcs would carry sulphur, but he wasn’t so curious that he wanted to run into them to find out.
“We can handle a few orcs.” Cutter patted the hammer hanging in a special sheath on his belt.
“Absolutely.” Borti waved his mace.
If you fight them, you must slay all of them to keep them from taking word back to their people, the unicorn told them. Even if you successfully keep any of them from escaping, the tribes will find it suspicious if one of their hunting part
ies does not return.
“You said you can hide us?” Zenia asked.
Yes, step into the brush so that it will be easier for me to camouflage the group.
“Do it,” Jev said, in case Cutter and Borti, both of whom were still waving their weapons, had notions to the contrary.
He led the way, drawing Zenia off the road and into the brush under a short, stout tree with long fronds that drooped outward like an umbrella. He spotted bunches of yellow-green bananas hanging above them. Hopefully, the fruit wasn’t a treat to orcs. He imagined the unicorn having a hard time maintaining her magical camouflage if ten orcs stopped in front of the tree to pick bananas.
The jangling of metal banging against metal reached their ears before Jev saw anyone. Soon after, the first two orcs came out onto the road.
They were some of the largest orcs he’d seen, with bare, muscled arms the size of his thighs. They wore leather vests with metal rings sticking out like tags all over, some with knives or tools tied to them, some painted and decorative. One orc had small metal cylinders with air holes tied to his rings, and smoke wafted from burning embers inside. The scent of sulphur was stronger now, emanating from those cylinders. Were they fancy fire starters or something with religious significance? Jev didn’t know.
The pair of orcs crouched in the road, poking at a dark spot in the mud.
Jev tried to breathe quietly. He would fight if he had to but agreed with the unicorn that it would be best for their party not to leave evidence of their passing. Besides, Kor had no quarrel with these orcs, as far as he knew. It would be murder if his group attacked and killed theirs without provocation. Even if the orcs saw them and attacked first, Jev, Zenia, and the others were here in their territory without permission.
More orcs walked out of the brush and onto the road, speaking in the grunts and guttural words of their language. It wasn’t a dialect Jev knew, and he didn’t understand any of their conversation. He suspected these orcs had been relatively isolated for a long time and weren’t closely related to the world-traveling orcs Jev had encountered on other continents.
Dragon Tear (Agents of the Crown Book 5) Page 17