Breath of Dragons (A Pandoran Novel) (34 page)

"Know anything about the tide?" I asked Vera.

Vera looked very much like she wanted to say something that had nothing to do with the tide, but instead she pursed her lips and followed my gaze. "We'll keep an eye on it. Here, I'll help you carry him."

She and I each took an arm and propped Alex up between us, all of us sopping wet. I swayed a little on my feet, dizzy from extracting the poison from Alex, but it passed quickly and we moved forward. Even with the two of us carrying him, Alex was heavy. He tried lifting a foot when he could, but for the most part his head slumped forward and his feet dragged in the sand. By the time we crossed the dozen or so yards to the rock wall, Vera and I were both sweating.

"Here, I'll check it out." I scrambled up a few natural rock steps and into the hollow. It went back about ten feet into the rock—even better than I'd expected. I just hoped the ocean would stay out of it.

"It's perfect," I said to Vera and climbed back down. Now if only we could get Alex inside of it. I put my hands on either side of his face. His skin was still so cold. "Alex," I said, "we're going to need your help for a moment. Vera and I will guide you every step of the way, but we need you to climb. It's not very far. Do you think you can help?"

His nod was fractional.

I exchanged a worried glance with Vera, and then I crouched and wrapped my hands around his boot. Alex helped me lift it while I guided, and the hem of his cloak dripped water in my face. "Just a little higher…" I said, and we had his foot on the first natural step. Vera guided his hands, and the two of us worked with him like that until his arms were over the lip of the hollow. Vera and I each crouched beneath his feet and pushed up, shoving him safely onto the ledge. I stood, wiped my forehead with the back of my hand, and climbed up after him.

From the looks of it, he hadn't moved since we'd pushed him. Very carefully, I rolled him onto his back, pulled him a little farther into the hollow, and then adjusted his head and arms. His eyes were still closed and his dark eyelashes clumped together, and his lips were parted slightly, breathing in and out. His dark hair was matted and salty, and I pushed it back off his forehead. He was still pale, but his skin had lost its translucency. I sighed. He would be all right, but he needed rest.

Vera had climbed up after me and started a fire in silence. I'd wondered where she found the wood, but then noticed the flames burned from a smooth rock. I'd never seen one before, but I'd read about them. They were mage rocks and could burn in any kind of weather. They could even burn underwater if you wanted them to. I didn't realize Vera had packed one, but it wasn't like we'd needed one yet. So far, everywhere we'd camped had had wood.

"Would you help me take off his cloak?" I asked Vera.

She came to my side and the two of us set to work, helping him sit so that we could peel off his sleeves. I'd just removed one when a slight gust of ocean air entered the hollow and I paused, glancing back over my shoulder. The breeze had been strange. It had carried a hint of something foul, something that stood out against the salty sea air. I waited a moment, but then it was gone.

I started to turn back and help Vera with the second sleeve when I sensed it again—a foul stench on the air. It was slight, just like before, but it was closer. I pinched my lips and slowly got up, feeling Vera's eyes on me.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I'm not sure…" I kept to the wall of our hollow, not wanting to be immediately visible in case someone really was out there. There had been no one around when we'd landed on shore, unless someone had seen us fall.

Or some
thing
.

I paused right at the lip, holding my breath as I looked out at the sea. The full moon made the black ocean glitter, and waves crashed against the rocks, frothing upon the small beach, but it was otherwise empty. There were no signs of life at all, save the warmth pulsing from Alex and Vera behind me. For a moment I just stood there, aware of Vera's curiosity as I studied the shadows upon the beach.

Once I was satisfied that my mind had been playing tricks on me, I started to turn back. A grip like iron fastened around my ankle and jerked me forward. I yelped, flailing as I fell over the ledge, and then I landed so hard on the sand that the breath was knocked from my lungs.

I heaved, trying to get up but finding the task impossible from the massive weight pinning my chest. There was a flash of white light followed by a vicious snarl, and the pressure was gone. I looked up just in time to see my assailant, which Vera had magically blasted from my body.

It was shaped like a human, but that was the only thing human about it. The creature belonged in a crypt. Bone and striated gray muscle were exposed through decayed skin, and strands of course white hair still clung to its rotting skull—a corpse that had been left to decompose and had suddenly come to life. It bared rotten teeth and its eyes glowed an eerie blue, and then its jaw opened unnaturally wide to let out a bone-chilling alien scream. It leapt with incredible speed, higher than should have been physically possible, directly toward me. Another blast of light hit it from the side—from Vera—knocking it off course.

It landed on all fours, snarling like a rabid predator, glaring between Vera and me. It waited, its body rocking side to side. This time, it pounced at Vera. Vera conjured a small shield of light; the creature crashed into it and fell to the ground. It lashed out and was thwarted again by magic, but that same magic was quickly draining Vera.

I grabbed my dagger. "Over here!" I screamed at it.

It faced me, and then leapt into the air with that same horrible scream. At the last moment I ducked aside and twisted, sinking my dagger deep into its abdomen. It shrieked a shrill and horrible sound, and then wrapped rotten fingers around the wrist of my hand that was still gripping the hilt of my dagger. I struggled to twist free, black blood oozing out of the creature's gash and all over my hand, but it would not let go. It pulled my dagger out of its abdomen, my blade coated in black blood, while still squeezing my wrist so tightly I thought it might snap.

Vera loosed another bolt of light, though this one was much weaker than the others. The creature snarled in fury and flung me aside. I landed against a rock and dropped to the ground, my fingers pulsing as blood flowed back into my hand. My entire body ached, and I looked up to see the creature and Vera circling one another. At least I knew it was vulnerable to my dagger, assuming I could catch it again.

Vera was exhausted. She didn't have much strength left for magic, so she tried with her blades as I had done. Except her blades didn't seem to have any effect on the creature, and it kept moving as though it hadn't just been stabbed through the heart. Fear flashed across her face as the creature made a soft gurgling sound in its throat, readying itself to spring at her again. I struggle on all fours while the thing snarled and hissed at Vera; Vera was trapped against the cliff.

The wind howled and heat bubbled inside of me, hotter and hotter until the sweat beaded upon my forehead, and with the next gust of wind, the heat exploded through my fingertips, just like it had before. Blue flame suddenly engulfed the creature, a flame that was bright and oozed like plasma. The creature screamed that horrible alien sound, whirling aimlessly as it tried extinguishing the flame, but even as it ran into the ocean, the fire would not go out.

It thrashed and yelled a high keening sound as it burned—even the surface of the water caught fire, like flames on oil—and then the screaming faded into the night and was gone, taking the blue flames with it.

I collapsed in the sand, holding my hand over my chest to catch my breath. The night was quiet but for the sound of crashing waves. Vera was at my side, her eyes worried. Without a word, she helped me back to my feet.

"What"—
wince
—"was that thing?" I arched my back to try to pop my spine back into place.

"I have no idea," she said. "Let's just hope there aren't more of them. Maybe we took its cave." She motioned at the hollow.

Maybe, but I didn't think so. I thought it more likely it had seen us fall from the sky, but I didn't say this aloud. The two of us climbed back into the cave. Alex hadn't moved an inch, his cloak still clinging to one arm. I couldn't believe he'd slept right through all of that. I finished peeling off Alex's cloak, while Vera put up a few wards at the entrance to our hollow.

Already, the little hollow was warming up, and now that my anxiety had faded away, I suddenly realized how cold I was. And sopping wet. Vera and I grabbed rope from one of the packs and strung it across the hollow, using the natural sharp edges of rock for hooks. Then we peeled out of our wet clothing and hung them to dry, reducing us both to our undergarments.

Alex needed to get out of his clothes, too, but I didn't think I could do it alone. "Vera…would you help me a minute?"

After a few minutes of fumbling, we'd unstrapped his swords and his pack—which were still there, to my relief—and taken off his shoes and his shirt. He murmured something incomprehensible when we were slipping his shirt over his head, though he never opened his eyes. When it came time to take off his pants, I hesitated. This earned me a very interesting look from Vera.

In the end, survival won out, and together, Vera and I wriggled off his pants while I tried very hard not to look at him. I did, however, notice the smirk on Vera's face, though she said nothing. We hung his pants over the rope, dumped the contents of our packs beside the fire, too, so that our things could dry, and then we propped the packs beside Alex to give him some form of privacy.

I slung Alex's cloak and the rest of his clothing over the rope beside Vera's and mine. It was freezing, but it was much better than being wet. I just hoped our things would dry. Oceanic air wasn't exactly the best natural dryer.

The fire burned silently while the ocean roared beyond our small haven. I took a seat near Alex but kept my back to him, and Vera took a seat on the opposite side of the fire, her features set with thought.

"We've landed on the shores of Pendel, haven't we?" I asked. I wasn't entirely sure how I knew this, but I did.

She squinted at the fire. "Yes. I believe so. At least that was Mercedes' plan."

Mercedes. I'd left them all there with Eris and his guard. "Vera, I'm…" I sighed. "I didn't know it would be a trap, but now looking back, I feel foolish. I should have seen it coming. I thought…after what happened at dinner, I realized my being here was putting everyone in danger, and I'd hoped that by leaving they would be safe. If anything happens to them—"

"Mercedes will be all right," Vera interrupted me. "So will Hawk. You mustn't worry for them, especially not after that little trick with fire you pulled back there." She paused. "When did your magic, you know…?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted, hugging my knees. "It just sort of…happened. Like before, during the games."

She was quiet, her dark eyes fixed on the flames. "And it didn't hurt you this time?"

I shook my head. "Not at all. It's like a barrier fell and some part of me knows what to do. I can't explain it any other way." What I didn't say was that this
barrier
had been put in place by Headmaster Ambrose, because I was still sifting through Eris's words. If they were true, then I had somehow broken through the headmaster's barriers again.

Vera's brows knit together. "We are very fortunate."

"And I'm fortunate you saw my note," I said.

Her gaze flickered briefly to me before looking back at the fire. "I came to your room to relieve Alexander, but your guard said you'd just left. I checked your room and found the note," Vera continued, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I thought it was strange for the high priest to do something like that without consulting Mercedes first, so I followed, and that's when I found one of the
venita
dead in his chambers."

I exhaled slowly. "I'd wondered what had happened to the third
venita
. Ven Orelius had said that Alex could take his place in disguise and that he would stay behind. But then once we went through the portal, Ven Orelius was there, too. I thought maybe the other
venita
had been in on it. I didn't think Ven Orelius had actually murdered one of his own and taken his place."

Vera tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I know. I'm surprised, too. When I saw him dead in his chambers, I immediately ran to Mercedes, hoping we could catch you. Luckily, she was in a meeting with Hawk and some others. Otherwise, I'm not sure I could've helped you in time."

"I'm so sorry, Vera. I didn't mean to put you all in this position—"

"Don't apologize," she said. "Thanks to you, the traitor is exposed. Who knows what the high priest might have done in the future if you and Alexander hadn't answered his summons."

I sighed, wringing my hands together. It was so hard knowing who I could trust. "Eris killed Ven Orelius before you arrived. He was angry that the high priest had failed in his objective to kill Mercedes."

Vera scowled. "But why would he target Mercedes? I thought he was after
you
."

"My guess is that Eris is worried Gesh might actually help Valdon," I said. "If they do, his battle won't be so easily won."

Vera thought this over, then her eyes lifted to mine. "You were pretty convincing. Are you sure you aren't part charmer?"

This got a smile out of me. "No, I'm not," I said. "And it's too bad, because I would like some real answers, for a change. Like why the wind has decided to follow me, and why Mercedes thinks I have dragon's blood. It seems like everywhere I turn there is something new—something unexplainable—and I just don't know who to ask because anyone who might know is…gone." I thought over Eris's words, and it made me uneasy. Those were not the kind of answers I had wanted. I thought about bringing it up to Vera to see what she thought, but then I decided not to. I didn't feel like talking about it. Not yet.

"How did you find us, though?" I asked. "How did you know where Ven Orelius had taken us?"