“Did you really think I wouldn’t?” Stone held the torch to the wall with the runes and old Ravkian text. A shudder ran down his spine, that snake in his stomach coiling tighter, those teeth growing sharper and sharper, scraping against his insides. “Let’s make this quick.”
“This way?” She pointed to one of the long, endlessly dark chambers.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Their steps echoed through the chamber, the weak flame of the torch doing little to light their way. Birdie was silent next to Stone’s side, other than her occasional curse when she tripped over a rock or bumped into the chamber wall.
“I thought you said there was a beast down here,” she asked after they’d been walking for a while.
“There was. Is. Forgive me for not knowing its schedule.” This earned him a dramatic sigh and it was almost enough to make him smile and forget they were walking toward their certain death. “Bird, I know this is important–”
“Did you hear that?” She gripped his arm.
Stone held his breath.
A deep scratching sound came from the back of the chamber. Like nails on rock. “We need to go.”
“Not yet.” Her grip was firm on Stone’s arm but he could feel her tremble. “When you and Aesira came, it was nightfall,” she saidas they took a tentative step. “Maybe they sleep during the day and it was simply waking up when you were here.”
“Even if that’s true, what are you going to do if we get to the end of this chamber and there’s a dragon there?”
“I don’t know.” The words came out fast, all running together. “We came all this way, it feels wasteful not to at least look for the most powerful creature in the world.”
“We came to find the king, Birdie.”
“He’s not our king.”
Stone stopped, forcing her to stop too. “We have a job to do.”
“Oh please.” She shook her head. “You don’t give two shits about the king of Vargah. What, because he gave you a job after years in that underground prison? You care about the pay. The adventure. It’s not like you to be so…” She shook her head again.
“To be so what?” He wanted her to finish the sentence. Say what she–and likely Bee–were thinking as well.
Her dark eyes glowered in the light of the torch. “It’s not like you to be so obedient.”
Stone reared back. “I’m not obedient. I accepted a job that would change our lives, and I’m trying to do just that.”
She sighed again then took the torch. “The old Stone would be exploring every chamber here without question.He’d be figuring out a way to capitalize on whatever we find.”
They continued down the tunnel, it grew wider the farther they walked. Their voices felt too loud, their boots too loud. He tried to hold his breath, slow his breathing, steady his heart, but the further they walked, the more Birdie talked, the more that serpent in his stomach tightened and hissed.
“The old Stone would have ditched the king and the commander and taken the Aquila as far as it could fly.”
The old Stone,he thought. The one that broke the law. The one that was miserable and desperate for a way out. Was that who they wished he was, still? A runner with no future in sight?
He took a chance before, getting them out of Vic’s empire and succeeded in keeping them safe for a long time. If it wasn’t for Vargah and their flying ships, they wouldn’t have been caught on their last run. Wouldn’t have ended up in Vargah’s prison.
He owed it to them to try again and this trip gave a real chance to get him and the cadre out of Vargah. He was trying, for once in his life, to do the right thing. Then there was the matter of Aesira. They’d found her to be an unexpected obstacle but she wasn’t an obstacle at all.
She was trying to find herself, just as he was. Just as they all were.
Another deep scratch came from the end of the chamber, stirring and rousing the monster in his chest, but Birdie pressed on, taking the torch with her. Stone followed behind, keeping his distance, thoughts of who he was and who he wanted to be muddying his mind.
“Shit,” Birdie gasped. “Stone…”
Stone took one, two, three, dreadful steps until he was caught up with her. The tunnel had come to an abrupt end with nothing but a steep drop off. They were hundreds of feet above the bottom of a cliff and there, nestled at the bottom, was what Stone could only believe to be one of the beasts that were erased from history.
Black scales and expansive wings. Talons that stretched out in its sleep, scraping against the walls, leaving thick lines in the stone, massive horns jutting from its forehead.
