“I need to get down there,” she called back.
Vorik nodded, not questioning her. Syla was more worried about Jhiton killing everyone in the tunnels than anything about the laboratory specifically, but having the storm god access one of the places where he’d once created wyverns, dragons, and other fearsome creatures might have bad repercussions. And Jhiton had visited the shielder chamber before. Heknewwhere it was.
After making sure the weapons platform had either killed or scared away the remaining enemy dragons that had invaded the harbor, Syla touched Wreylith’s back.Take me to the castle, please.
“Your Majesty!” Fel called from the deck of theFanged Whaleas Wreylith flew toward the bluff.
Syla lifted a hand toward him, knowing he wanted to come along, but after watching Jhiton slither into the cliff to do whoknew what, she didn’t want to take the time to pick up Fel. She urged Wreylith to fly faster, glad Vorik was at her side, and hoped they wouldn’t be too late. Her dragon ally wouldn’t be able to help her in the tunnels.
23
The soldiers manningthe cannons on the castle wall didn’t fire as Agrevlari glided in behind Wreylith, but Vorik urged his dragon ally to stay close to her. Syla slid off as soon as Wreylith landed in the courtyard and ran toward the keep without waiting to see if Vorik followed. He did. Since Jhiton had slipped through the entrance in the cliff that led to the laboratory—and ultimately the tunnels and shielder chamber—Vorik was disappointed in himself for not stopping him. Syla had said that her people had walled off access to the tunnels, but with the mad god guiding Jhiton and all that power crackling in the air and possibly available to use, he might be able to blow his way through any obstacles.
A few startled guards shouted as Vorik ran after Syla, but he waved to them and called, “The queen has commanded me to help her!” Nobody fired crossbow quarrels at him, but several did wave their weapons in his direction while glancing at Syla. “I’m still her prisoner!” Vorik added when she didn’t pause to back up his assertion.
Given the potential for disaster below, Vorik didn’t blame her. By the time she neared a doorway that led to a theater withan entrance to the tunnels—he’d followed her that way before—he caught up.
“Thanks for helping,” she said as they ran inside.
“Always.”
When they passed guards at the theater entrance, Syla lifted a hand. Intending to call for them to follow her down?
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Vorik asked.
She glanced at him, a question in her eyes.
“Jhiton is down there, and he’s…”
“Dreadful and supposed to be dead?”
“Not entirely himself,” Vorik said.
“His eyes were glowing.”
“Yeah, that’s one of the clues that he’s not himself.”
Without calling to the guards, Syla ran toward the secret door under the stage. Some men, seeing their unarmed queen rushing through the castle with a stormer, were following her anyway. Vorik didn’t try to stop them. It might be useful to havesomesoldiers down there in case more enemies than Jhiton waited.
Jhiton and thestorm god, Vorik reminded himself. The man he’d battled on dragon back over the harbor had possessed all of his brother’s skills and fought just as he would, but there hadn’t been any recognition in his eyes, nor had the expression on his face ever changed.
After Syla used her moon-mark to open the trapdoor—it had been repaired since Vorik had forced his way in weeks earlier—they charged down the stairs and into the stone tunnels. Surprisingly, they were well lit with wall-mounted lanterns burning all along the way.
“Who else is down here?” Vorik asked when Syla didn’t appear surprised by the illumination.
Breathing hard now from running, Syla said, “At the least… Captain Vonla and… some soldiers that she rounded up.”
Vorik grimaced, wondering if they were already dead. And what of the shielder artifact? Was that what the storm god had sent Jhiton to destroy? Or was there something in the centuries-abandoned laboratory that interested him?
Since the storm god had pierced the shield with his lightning, it didn’t seem he needed to worry about the shielders. Of course, if Jhiton was still aware,hewould want to destroy the artifact. There had to be some of him still in his own mind, right?
The hair on the back of Vorik’s neck rose as they traveled deeper into the tunnels. A hint of magic lurked in the air, and that soon turned into fog, an eerie fog that made him think of the dark clouds spreading outside.
Wreylith and I are waiting atop one of the castle towers in case you need assistance,Agrevlari informed him.Also, Igliana has retrieved the bodyguard, Fel, and he said he would follow the queen into the tunnels.
Thanks,Vorik said.Unless you can lose a lot of weight quickly, I don’t think you can get in these tunnels to help us.
I am fit and well-proportioned with no desire to lose mass.
