“Still breathing, Blackblood?” the Pirate King calls over her shoulder.
“I’m fine,” I grouse, picking up my pace to match hers. “So if this compass was so precious, how did you manage to lose it to the Valley Dwellers?”
A dark expression crosses her face.
“A few decades ago, we were sent on an errand. We had no choice but to take this pass. Some things were lost in the crossfire.”
She stops short at the mouth of a dim cavern. I nearly bump into her back. “What I’m looking for is in this cave.”
Without hesitation, she plunges into the darkness.
It’s quiet here. Quiet enough to hear the thin ribbons of water trickling down the walls, the crawling of insects on the uneven floor beneath us. The cave narrows into a jagged tunnel that we have to duck to fit through. The outside world grows smaller and smaller until it is no more than a tiny pinhole of light behind us.
When we come out the other side, my jaw drops.
We’re standing in a cavernous dome of glittering gold. Piles and piles of jewels and trunks brimming with treasure. It looks like King Midas’ palace.
“Don’t touch a thing,” she warns me.
“I’m not.” Although I can’t say that I’m not tempted. “The compass is in here? It will take days to search this place.”
“No, it won’t.”
“Why is that?”
She shushes me. “I know exactly where I left it.”
I lower my voice to match hers. “How do you know it’s still there?”
“I just know.”
I stagger, a strange wave of dizziness hitting me. “Woah. Hang on a second.”
The Pirate King threads her arm through mine and hauls me forward. Every step becomes harder until I’m depending mostly on her to keep us moving. That sickly feeling intensifies, pooling in my stomach and making my head foggy.
“Something’s wrong. I need to sit down.”
“Quiet,” she hisses, glancing around the cave.
She pulls her arm from mine, and I sway on my feet, catching myself against the rocky wall. She stoops beside a humanoid skeleton leaned up against the cave. Disintegrated scraps of clothing hang from its tall frame.
“Hello, Father.”
The Pirate King reaches out a gloved hand, carefully running it down the milky cheekbone. Hollowed-out eye sockets stare back ather like two dark voids as her fingers close around the circular pendant dangling from her father’s neck. With a hard tug, she yanks the chain free. The skull topples off, knocking against her boot. She skitters back, falling on her ass. Then she’s scrambling to her feet, towing me toward the sliver of daylight at the mouth of the cave.
“Let’s go.”
I’m all but delirious at this point.
My boot catches on something. I see a flash of gold, and then I’m on the ground. Pebbles bite into my palms as I try to push myself up. The Pirate King freezes, watching the gleaming chalice that tripped me roll away. It rattles across the floor until it disappears into a dark corner. My ears zero in on the sound.
Then the rattling stops altogether.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that silence is not a good thing.
“Get. The Fuck.Up,” she demands.
Through my delirium, I swing my head in the direction of her gaze.
