“Strength…?” I croaked.
“We’ll fly out as soon as we’re done with breakfast,” he replied.
“No.” Dain looked far too pale as he came to stand opposite us. “We can’t. We won’t.”
“What?” Lorien asked, but Dain was focussed entirely on Kael.
“I had a vision last night.” The busy sounds of the table died away then. “If we got to the Tomb, we’ll…” His eyes met mine for just a second, yet I felt branded by his searing gaze. “I saw Fern die.” A clatter from the kitchen let me know that Elsie had dropped her spatula in the pan. “All of us died. The cave collapsed with us in it. We need?—”
“To go to tomb as planned.” Kael seemed to say that from between gritted teeth. “And do everything we can to ensure that vision does not come true. That dream about the bay? It’s made clear your dreams are warnings, Dain, not fate. We’ll heed it well because…” His eyes met mine and while they always burned like blue fire, that took on a different resonance right now. Determination, that’s what I saw, and somehow that helped quell my own concerns. “I’m not losing Fern.” His focus shifted to the table. “Not any of you. We’re strong, capable, and smart. If we don’t rush into things, we can get what we need from the tomb and then be on our way.”
“That will help a man in a fight.” Barry appeared at the end of the table wearing a sober expression. “Not guarantee the result.”
Kael’s rakish smile was back.
“Then I’ll have to do what I can to ensure it goes my way, won’t I?”
“Perhaps Fern should stay here,” Elsie said sometime later as we carried our gear out to the dragons. Well, the men did. Lorien and Lance had almost gotten into a scuffle over who got to carry my bags. Dain had strode over, snatched it from their grip and then walked past without even a sidelong look. “Blackreach is a hellhole, let alone the Tomb of Terror. No place for a lady.”
“Where Auren goes, so do I,” I said, taking her hands. “But thank you for your concern and your hospitality.” Ivy hung back, standing at the very edge of the family group, a sullen expression on her face. “And I’m sorry again for all the trouble we caused.”
“Just come out of that tomb safely.” She squeezed my hands and then turned to the others. “All of you.” Kisses were placed on Kael’s forehead, then Lorien’s, but when she went to Dain, I wondered how she’d reach up that high. Then man almost bent double, letting her press a kiss there, before pulling away. “You might not want an old woman’s kisses,” she told Lance as shepatted his hand. “But if you could try to keep these idiots from killing themselves, you’ll have my undying gratitude.”
“I’ll try,” Lance said, squeezing her hands.
“Now—” Elsie turned back to the rest of us, but Kael cut her off.
“We’re leaving. I’ll send word once we get back to the keep. Everything will be fine, I promise.”
Would it?I climbed onto Auren’s back some hours later, feeling her readying herself to launch.Are you sure this is what we need to do, dear heart?
I need answers, she replied.There has to be a way we can find them without putting you humans in danger.
The answers are in the earth, Viridian said, looking our way from across the grass.
Let’s hope we don’t have to pay too high a price to get them. That thought was for me alone, forcing me to hold on tight as my dragon took to the air.
Chapter 47
Kael
Get what Auren and Fern needed and don’t die. It seemed like a perfectly straightforward plan, right up until we arrived at the tomb. Situated on the windswept plains around the city of Blackreach, I wondered how we’d find it as we flew over.
There,Slate said, angling a wing down, but he needn’t have bothered.
Land had sunk down in a ragged line leading from the city walls to the tomb, making clear smugglers wouldn’t be using the caves as a means to move stolen goods in and out of the city. It also meant that this mission had just gotten a whole lot harder.
“I heard the tunnels collapsed during the war.” We’d all landed and Lorien was going strolling up to the sunken area. “But I found it hard to believe.”
“Collapsed means the area is unstable,” I growled. Disappointment was riding me hard. Whatever hopes I had of getting in and out of the tomb in one piece, as Fern stared up at me adoringly, died right then. “So let’s steer clear of the place until we’ve worked out what to do.”
Of course, that was the moment when all of our dragonsignored my order. Viridian led the charge, walking across the depression, his head waving back and forth, like a hound on the scent.
Brother, we need to keep clear of this area until we’ve worked out a safe way to explore it.My dragon ignored me.Slate?
Since the moment his egg hatched, I was bound tightly to my dragon. His thoughts were mine and mine, his, so this didn’t make sense. When I reached out to touch his mind, it was as if doing so through a thick fog.
“Slate!” I shouted, taking a step forward, then right as the sole of my foot touched the edge of the depression, it felt like the whole earth shook. That disconcerting feeling was one I’d experienced only one time before: when we discovered the three silver eggs by falling through the roof of a cave. “You daft beast?—”
