Her eyes bulged. He was lying; he had to be, trying to scare her or confuse her. She felt his words slide over her like a slimy tentacle, probing at her mind and evoking images. She shoved the tentacle out, and Heinrich stumbled back for a moment. Again, a smile grew on his face as if he’d proven something to himself.
“You’ve never been susceptible to my influence, not like the rest of your family. It’s why I wanted to give you one last chance, before handing you over. You could be an asset to my new kingdom, much better than your sister.”
“I’ll kill you for what you’ve done.”
Heinrich laughed again, hollow and without humor. “Oh, Liane. When I’m done with you, you’ll wish you were dead.”
She was opening her mouth to challenge him when she felt something like a thousand knives being stabbed into her body all at once, and all she could do was scream.
31
Vines and moss covered the cave’s entrance, just like most of the ruins, but unlike the rest of the rune-carved columns and cobble, this spot pulsed faintly with magic, weak enough had it not been the day before a full moon, he might not have sensed it. The dragon felt it, and arched its long sinewy neck, twisting and reaching for it in hopes it could latch onto the power stored there. Erich pulled its bindings tighter, but they were starting to fray as the sun sank lower in the sky.
“This is your way back into the city?” Erich asked.
They’d spent most of the day on the return trip, and all the while, Fritz had assured him he had a way in. Erich wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but an ominous tunnel on the outskirts of the city wasn’t it.
“It’s a hollowed-out vein. In ancient times it would have flowed throughout the city, but now it acts as a sort of underground tunnels system.”
He’d read about the veins of magic and thought they were nothing but stories. On closer inspection, however, there were no tool marks in the stone or any indication of how it’d gotten there. Whether it was magic or other natural causes that created it, it didn’t change the fact that it made him uneasy. Erich didn’t like being underground, the suffocating darkness of no sky, no light. Not exactly a friendly atmosphere, but at least it wasn’t a sewer.
“If you knew these tunnels existed, why not use these to get in and out of the palace?” Erich asked.
“You don’t think I tried? They wouldn’t let me. They’re hollow now, but they’re still imbued with power. Most of it’s dormant, but what remains sentient is feral and scared. It won’t obey just anyone… I thought… well, anyway. I am certain they will listen to you.”
Could rock have feelings, or was it the magic that was alive and aware? Either way, he looked at the mouth of the cave, at the yawning jaws of a monstrous beast, and a shiver of uncertainty snaked its way up his spine.
“What makes you so certain?” Erich asked.
Fritz had magic, not twisted corruption eating away at him bit by bit, like Erich. What would make it obey him over the elf?
“Because it has to,” Fritz replied cryptically and motioned for Erich to step inside.
It was either try the tunnels, or risk sneaking over the city walls. The latter was a known danger, while the former… Erich shook his head. There was no use turning back, and so he stepped into the darkness, and as he did, he felt the magic flutter around him, like thousands of butterfly wings. He stood very still, letting it scent him as a nervous dog might. After a few seconds of standing still, the air settled, and he felt a sensation he might have called a sigh. Had it come from a human mouth? It released a warm burst of air that fanned across his face pleasantly.
“I guess they like me?” Erich asked Fritz.
Fritz nodded and lit their makeshift torch. Guided by its flickering light, they made their way deeper. They hadn’t gone very far when the pathway branched in two directions.
“Which way do we go?” Erich asked him.
“It’s your choice; it chose you.” Was that a hint of bitterness Erich detected in his tone? Fritz continued, “Last time I tried, the tunnel ended at a sheer drop into darkness, and when I tried backtracking, I ended up in the dark for hours before stumbling out where I’d started from.”
It still made no sense to him why the tunnel would choose him—insane as it was to think a tunnel would have feelings—but he didn’t have time to question it. Erich picked the tunnel to the left, which led them to what seemed like a never-ending labyrinth of twisting corridors and endless splitting pathways. Without the sun overhead, it was impossible to say what time of day it was, but Erich felt daylight diminishing as the dragon slithered out of his grip, pushing closer and closer to the surface. It was always eager, but more so today than ever before. It had fixated faster on Liane than anyone else he’d seen, they had to find her before sunset, and he became a threat to her.
Then their feeble torch started to sputter, and worse yet, he thought he recognized that boulder with veins of golden minerals; they’d passed it several turns back. Had they been going around in circles? Perhaps Fritz was wrong, and he wasn’t meant to do this. Maybe the tunnel lured him down here to wander in the dark until he died. Well, before that, he would transform, and he hated to imagine the dragon in this tiny space; his neck hurt just imaging it.
Their torch faded, flickered, and then extinguished.
“You said I was the one to lead us through here,” Erich said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone. Words echoed around them; without the ability to see the wall around them, it felt as if he were standing in an empty void of complete darkness.
“Maybe it’s not you but the dragon that needs to lead,” Fritz seemed to surround him, his voice echoing off the walls came from all directions at once.
“And kill you when I lose control?” Erich snapped.
“You have more control than you realize,” Fritz remarked.
Sighing, Erich dragged his hand through his hair. This was madness, complete and utter insanity. He couldn’t control the dragon, apart from keeping it contained. Erich breathed in and out, steadying his breath in the way Lord Endland had taught him. It had been years since he’d intentionally harnessed the dragon’s power at his father’s behest. It’d been building for years, small incidents, like tiny cuts, to prove his loyalty and his worthiness as an heir, despite the curse his mother gave him. Then Father had demanded he unleash the dragon to punish a traitor. Father wanted to let him live as an example. But once wasn’t enough for the dragon, one taste of his blood, and he became the dragon’s obsession. And when the full moon rose, the dragon killed him and his family.
