Yes, the protective barrier remains above the dragon, but there’s a door and the Cofah have been accessing the chamber. Someone found a way in. As we’re about to do. The crimson light wavered and grew less intense. The heat lessened, as well.
Sardelle walked over but stopped a few feet from the tunnel now melted into the wall. “We’ll have to wait a moment before we can walk on this.” She waved at the molten rock hardening in front of her. The wall had been eaten away, and a faint light shone from inside, but the thickness of the stone made it impossible to see through without getting closer.
“What’s our goal when we get in, sir?” Duck asked.
“Stop the Cofah from sending any more blood out of this facility,” Zirkander said.
“Does that mean, uhm?” Duck glanced toward the hole. “Do we have to figure out how to kill a dragon?”
Sardelle frowned at him, and Cas winced. She had deliberately avoided asking that question with her around.
“If this is the last dragon in the world, to kill him would be a great crime,” Sardelle said. “If anything, we should figure out how to help him. If the Cofah are using him—”
“That’s what we need to find out,” Zirkander said. “If the Cofah are using him, or if he’s a willing accomplice.”
“If he’s unconscious, I doubt he’s willing or unwilling,” Sardelle said.
“We should find Tolemek and his sister,” Cas said. “She would know more about what’s been going on.”
“If Tolemek wanted to be found, he shouldn’t have run off,” Zirkander said, his voice stern. He pulled up his rope, coiled it, and walked to the hole the sword had finished burning, his back to her.
Cas didn’t have a response, anyway. Tolemek should have waited for them. It had to be safer to stay in a group, especially if… Damn, she wished she knew who her father’s target was.
“Is that the barrier you warned us of, Sardelle?” Zirkander pointed through the hole and downward. “I just saw a drop of molten rock hit something invisible and burst into flame.”
Sardelle eyed the still-steaming sides of the tunnel, but squeezed in beside him. Even though the sword had eaten some twenty feet into the wall, the hole itself narrowed at the end, and only one of them would be able to go through at a time. If there was anywhere to go through to. Cas was too far back to see much, but she sensed that open space the sword had warned them about.
“Yes,” Sardelle said. “Only the top portion is still turned on. The rest seems to have faltered or was deliberately turned off, more likely. Some Cofah archaeologist may have been here a long time, studying the instruments to figure out how to do that. The language on the panel is the dragon tongue, one of their three written languages. They used to use their minds to etch words in stones. That doesn’t matter now, but what’s interesting is that there are components to the chamber besides the panel, but they’re not visible. Jaxi has seen examples in textbooks. I think—we think—the ziggurat was built around the dragon in his stasis chamber.”
“As some kind of temple?” Zirkander asked. “To worship it maybe?”
“That would be my guess. The ancestors of some of these tribes people must have stumbled upon this spot at some point in the past and constructed this. Or maybe it was another race. The architecture and statues we’ve seen certainly seem more sophisticated than what’s common in the villages. It’s also possible that some of those ancient people had dragon blood and were capable of doing some of this building with magic. Hollowing out this crater and devising that latticework up there.” Sardelle pointed toward the greenery overhead, the greenery that had kept the team from seeing this spot from their fliers. Had those ancient people also intended to camouflage this area from those with the capability of flight? The dragon riders that were mentioned in lore? “It’s too bad your father didn’t come along,” Sardelle said. “He might have found this interesting, as well.”
“I tried to tell him that. He has a singular mind. No time for side projects.”
“Like children?” Sardelle asked softly.
Zirkander grunted but didn’t say anything else.
Cas shifted from foot to foot, wanting a look into the hole, more because she needed to see what security difficulties they might face in sneaking in. Were there any people on guard down there? Admittedly, she wanted to look for Tolemek too.
“So if we climb straight down, we’ll hit that shield?” Zirkander asked.
“Yes,” Sardelle said. “And be burned. Or incinerated, if Jaxi is right.”
“Neither sounds palatable. Those holes in the wall—are those tunnels or just vents?”
Sardelle didn’t answer right away. Maybe she was accessing her magic.
“Can I have a look, sir?” Cas asked.
Zirkander stepped back and waved her forward.
Careful not to touch the melted walls, Cas slipped past Sardelle and inched forward until she could crouch and see through the opening. Her heart lurched at the first thing that came into view. The dragon. A massive, silver, vaguely reptilian figure slumbering on its belly with its thick tail wrapped around its side. Even if it was unconscious and maybe sick, it was an impressive creature. She imagined she could feel the power radiating from its form. Maybe it wasn’t her imagination.
She tore her gaze from the dragon and studied the walls, looking for the holes Zirkander had mentioned. There. In several spots, about twenty feet below their current level, holes opened up, hinting of inward passages. They weren’t wide or tall—no more than three feet by three feet—but if they continued back into the walls, it ought to be possible to crawl through them. She couldn’t see any sign of the barrier Zirkander had mentioned.
Pirate boy tossed a pebble and it burst into flame, came Jaxi’s thoughts in Cas’s mind. He was in one of those passages. The Cofah spotted him, and he turned around and went back inside. I’ve lost track of him. If we can get some distance between us and the dragon, my senses may let me pick him up again.
“He’s not our primary concern,” Zirkander said. “What’s in that room down there? Can you tell?”
Their laboratory. That’s probably where you want to go. There are samples of blood, as well as machinery. There were some men in there earlier, but they’re gone now.
“Looking for Tolemek?” Cas understood that they had a mission and that he couldn’t be their priority, but she worried about him, nonetheless. She had a hard time not thinking of going after him. It made her wonder if earlier in the week she had been mistaken when she had said she didn’t have the capacity for love. Was this what love was? An obsessive need to know if someone was all right?
“Or maybe checking out that pirate activity,” Zirkander said. “I’ll assume they aren’t aware of your father yet.” He sighed and shoved his fingers through his hair. “I do hope that whatever his mission is doesn’t interfere with ours. All right, I really hope none of us are his mission.” He looked squarely at Sardelle.
Cas didn’t say anything. She couldn’t help but feel guilty that it was her father here, possibly about to make their lives difficult. Or worse. Why couldn’t it have been some other assassin?
“Unless one of you two sees another option,” Zirkander said, “we’re going to have to drop down on a rope and try to swing into one of those holes. Without falling on the barrier that apparently incinerates rocks and anything else.”
“Sounds fun, sir,” Duck said, his voice making it clear that it didn’t.
“I’ll go first,” Sardelle said.
“No,” Zirkander said. “This isn’t your mission.”
Cas didn’t point out that nobody had given him this mission, either. She supposed a self-assigned task could drive a person just as much as one handed down from the king.
“Besides,” Zirkander added. “I’m hoping you can save my butt if I fall off the rope. Shield it or something.”
“That will only work if my shield is more powerful than the one projected by the stasis chamber controller. I can’t promise
that.”
“Then I’ll try to hang on, eh? Look, I’m just planning to find that lab and destroy everything at this point. If anyone wants to stay out here, that’s understandable. I won’t order anyone to follow me.” He looked at Duck and Cas. Did that mean his offer didn’t apply to Sardelle? “In case I fail, in case we fail, someone needs to survive, get back to report to the king.”
“I’m going in,” Cas said. Not only was Tolemek in there, possibly getting himself shot at, but she wouldn’t have abandoned Zirkander, either.
“Me too,” Duck said.
“I am not going to miss seeing a dragon close up,” Sardelle said.
“All right, all right, just offering. Ahn, scoot over, will you? I need to find something to fasten this hook to. Jaxi melted this smoother than a sheet of wax.”
Flame burst from the stone floor near the lip of the hole. Cas scampered back from the sudden heat warming her face.
“What the—” Duck started, but he was shuffling back, too, and she didn’t hear the rest of the curse.
Under the flames, more molten rock formed, but instead of simply pooling, it slid sideways, defying gravity as it spread across the level stone floor. It wasn’t until the heat and fire disappeared that Cas realized what had happened.
“Jaxi made a nub for my hook?” Zirkander asked.
“Jaxi made a nub,” Sardelle said.
“She’s being quite handy. I may have to forgive her for mocking me and calling me… that thing.”
“Soul snozzle?” Duck rubbed his head.
“That’s the one.” As soon as the rock hardened again, Zirkander fastened his grappling hook. He leaned out, scanning the chamber below, then let his rope dangle through the hole. “Let me get into the tunnel first and see if it’s a feasible way into the ziggurat. It would be nice if one of our magically gifted party members could break that panel down there and shut off the barrier, but I assume it’s protected.” He looked at Sardelle, his eyebrows raised.
“By far more power than I’ll ever possess.”
A dragon made that, Jaxi added. I cannot stress enough how much more powerful they were than humans are.
“Even humans turned into swords?” Zirkander asked.
Alas, yes.
Zirkander took a deep breath, then turned his back to the chamber and slid through the hole, his hands tight around the rope. Before he disappeared below the edge, Cas glimpsed the sheen of sweat on his forehead, illuminated by the light from below. His eyes seemed glassy, too, but he gave them all a familiar quirky smile before descending out of sight.
Sardelle crept out to the edge to watch him. Cas probably should have been keeping an eye on the route behind them, but she eased forward, too, needing to see if Zirkander made it. Besides, she ought to hear anyone climbing up the levels of the ziggurat behind them, a grappling hook clanking on the stone if nothing else.
Zirkander slid down the rope carefully, glancing down often, not at the dragon, but at that laboratory that lay mostly out of sight behind the same glass wall that held the control panel. Had someone come back into the room? Cas dared not ask. She doubted that barrier blocked sound. She wondered if it would block the dragon itself if it woke up and noticed intruders on a rope above it. It might not like having its long nap interrupted.
When Zirkander made it two thirds of the way down, he stopped, glanced at the laboratory one more time, then shifted his body weight back and forth. He swung himself, like a pendulum. Cas poked her head out, trying to spot his target. There was a hole in the wall, perhaps the very hole Tolemek had been kneeling in earlier.
Rock crumbled under Cas, and one hand slipped away. She was lying on her belly, so she wasn’t in danger of falling, but a jolt of fear charged through her, anyway, as her arm dropped. A pebble and some dust did fall, and she winced as one bounced off Zirkander’s shoulder, then hit the barrier ten feet below him. As promised, it lit up with a blaze, incinerated instantly.
Zirkander glanced up. Cas could only mouth, “Sorry.”
He didn’t stop working his weight on the rope. He had built up some momentum, and was almost reaching the hole with his swings. The hook creaked in the tunnel beside Cas. She hoped Sardelle could make sure it held fast with all of the twisting and swinging going on below. Even with the two of them, it would be difficult, if not impossible to hold up the colonel’s weight if the hook gave way.
Zirkander checked the laboratory again, then seemed to find the swing he liked. He let go of the rope, flying toward the wall. Cas held her breath. If his aim was a foot or two off, he would strike rock and bounce off. But he disappeared into the hole. The empty rope bounced and danced in the air. For the first time, Cas noticed the end was charred. It must have struck the barrier too. Zirkander was lucky the fire hadn’t burned all the way up the rope.
“One down,” Sardelle murmured, then slid out of the hole before Cas could ask who wanted to go next. “There are two men in the lab down there, so be quick and try not to make noise,” she advised before sliding down out of sight.
Or drop rocks on the barrier, Cas added to herself. She hadn’t heard much when that one struck, but it was quiet in the chamber, and it wouldn’t take much for someone to overhear.
Duck came forward to kneel next to Cas. “I took a peek around the corner but didn’t see anyone on the road out front,” he whispered. “It’s quiet out there.”
“Because everyone’s in here,” Cas murmured, watching Sardelle.
She had reached the spot where Zirkander had stopped. Like he had done, she started swinging. Interestingly, she didn’t have to throw as much of her body into it to gain momentum. Some magical assistance? Cas worried a little about her own ability to repeat Zirkander’s feat. Did she weigh enough to cause the rope to sway back and forth effectively? If not, she hoped Sardelle could help.
Sooner than she would have expected, Sardelle let go of the rope. She flew through the air and disappeared into the hole.
“You want to go next or should I?” Duck asked.
“Go ahead,” Cas said. “Catch me if I fall, all right?”
“I’ll do my best.”
Duck slithered over the edge. As he slid down the rope, some movement below caught Cas’s attention. Frowning, she tried to see around him and to the room. Had someone passed near the glass wall? No, it had been closer to the center of the room. When Duck started swinging back and forth, she saw the movement again, movement his body had been blocking. And she gulped. The tip of the dragon’s tail was twitching.
“Please let that mean he’s having a good dream,” Cas breathed. Then she clamped her mouth shut. How good was a dragon’s hearing? She didn’t even see ears on the creature, but that might not mean anything. Snakes didn’t have ears, either, but they could sense things around them through the earth.
Distracted by the tail, Cas almost missed seeing Duck make the leap toward the hole. His aim wasn’t quite as precise as Zirkander’s and Sardelle’s had been, and he smashed into the corner of the opening. Cas bit her tongue to keep from gasping, afraid he wouldn’t be able to find purchase, and that he would fall and disappear in flames the same way the pebble had. But Zirkander caught Duck and pulled him in before he could drop. Cas’s second fear was that the noise would have been all too audible below—she had distinctly heard the thud of him hitting the rock. The rope bounced around, and if anyone walked out and looked up, it would be clear what was happening.
And if the dragon looked up… She could only guess what might be the result of that. Its tail had stopped twitching. Did that mean it had fallen deeper into its stupor? Or did that mean it had woken up and was simply waiting for the appropriate moment to pounce?
For a moment, Cas waited, poised on the edge, debating. She could go back out and try the front entrance, see if she could sneak past—or eliminate—the Cofah guard, but she had no idea what the situation was up there now. Even if she made it in that way, would she know how to find the group? She had no idea as to the layout of t
his place. Tolemek was already missing. Zirkander wouldn’t want to lose anyone else, especially not one of the officers in his command.
Yes, there he was. Leaning out and waving for her. He alternated looking in her direction and glancing at the dragon and that room. He had to be worried about the noise too. Cas doubted waiting would help the situation.
She grabbed the rope and eased off the ledge. As soon as she started descending, she was glad she had left her pack outside. Even the weight of the rifle on her back pulled at her balance. But she skimmed down as quietly as she could, using her feet as brakes. When she drew even with the opening, she nodded at the others, relieved to see Sardelle and Zirkander watching her. She started swinging, but as she had feared, she didn’t have as much weight as the men, and she struggled to make the length of rope sway back and forth.
Then she had a strange sensation of being assisted. Sardelle had backed away from the ledge, but she had to be doing something. Air whispered past Cas’s cheeks as she sailed through the air, each swing longer than the last. She threw her body into it, eager to escape into that hole. She felt so vulnerable out here, visible to anyone below.
The thought made her glance down to check that tail. But it wasn’t the tail that was moving.
The dragon’s large, silver head was rising from the floor. It tilted, and one of its eyes came into view, one of its open eyes. The large yellow orb stared into her heart, filling her body with a fear unlike any she had ever felt, even when her flier had been in the middle of crashing.
“Cas,” came a loud whisper from the wall. Zirkander. “Now,” he urged. “Jump!”
More because she was trained to follow orders than out of any intelligent thought or reason, Cas let go of the rope as she neared the end of the swing. As she flew toward the hole, a powerful cry sounded in her mind, far louder and more intrusive than anything Jaxi had uttered.
Intruders!
Chapter 12
From the shadows of the narrow passage, Tolemek rolled his last knock-out grenade around the corner and down the hallway. In the tomb-like silence of the ziggurat, he could hear it bumping along the uneven stone floor, but the murmur of voices didn’t stop. He pulled out his dagger and waited. He almost withdrew his pistol, too, since the Cofah should be aware that he was in their base by now, but these guards didn’t sound hyper vigilant, or even aware that they had intruders. The massive alarm he had expected had never come, at least not that he had heard. He had, however, chanced across more soldiers with slit throats, and suspected he had the other infiltrator to thank for the anemic pursuit from the guards.
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