Within the Dragon's Jaw (The Dragon Thief Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Roson James.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ty and Eastley raced down the path. Every so often, Ty glanced behind, looking for movement, but every time he found himself imagining things. There was no sign of Roson James, no sign of anyone there, nothing other than what he had believed he had seen.

  He knew that he was there, though. He knew what he had seen. That hadn’t been imagined.

  “If he’s up there, we can go back, push him into the lava, and—”

  “I don’t think we can push him into the lava,” Ty said, pulling Eastley down the mountainside. “He is one of the Dragon Touched.” He looked over to Eastley. He wanted revenge, and Ty understood that, even if he also knew there wasn’t going to be much that could be done to get the revenge that Eastley wanted. “I’ve felt his power when he held me. He’s done it more than once.”

  “I’ve felt it too,” Eastley said, his voice soft.

  They slowed for a moment, and Ty looked over. “We will figure out a way to get revenge. Me for my brother, and you for what he did to you.”

  Eastley glowered, looking back.

  Ty didn’t know what it was going to take to get that vengeance, but he wasn’t going to keep it from Eastley. He deserved that.

  He pulled the note out and glanced down at the page. The symbols made no more sense to him now than they ever had before.

  “What are you doing?” Eastley asked, pulling on his arm.

  “Just a minute,” he said.

  “I thought you said we needed to hurry.”

  “We do.”

  As far he knew, if Roson James was behind them, he was still far enough back that he wouldn’t be able to catch them very easily. He probably didn’t even know they was here. At least, Ty hoped that he didn’t.

  And Ty needed to know.

  There wasn’t anything on the page that suggested any answer, nothing other than the fact that his brother had signed it. What if it hadn’t been for him?

  If not, then it begged the question as to who he had left it for.

  Whoever it was would have known how to read it, and whoever it was would have known how to interpret it and would have known what Albion wanted. Maybe he should’ve spent more time trying to figure out who else Albion knew in the city.

  “What is it?” Eastley asked, ducking close to him. Eastley glanced at the page. “It looks like somebody was drawing.”

  “This is the only thing I have that they might be after. It’s what my brother left for me.” He held it out, and Eastley studied it, shaking his head. “It’s probably some priest language,” Ty said. “Or maybe a code. Either way, I can’t read it. I had hoped that going up to Ishantil might give me some kind of answer, but maybe there isn’t one. Maybe I have to get back to my initial plan, which was to rescue Albion.”

  “And make sure the Dragon Touched get what’s coming to them,” Eastley said.

  “I know,” Ty said.

  “If it were my brother, that’s what I would do.”

  “You don’t ever talk about your brother.”

  “Not much to say,” Eastley said, following him as they made their way down the mountainside. “I am the youngest. Sort of fell into this work. It’s fun, entertaining, and…” Eastley glanced over to him. “Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. My oldest brother got me into it. We didn’t have a lot of money when I was younger. He got caught and killed.”

  They reached a point on the path that Ty took, ducking onto a narrower, less well-worn footpath.

  “I’m sorry,” Ty said, keeping his voice low, listening behind them. He didn’t hear anything to make it sound like Roson James was following them, but he still knew they needed to be careful.

  “He made a mistake. And I tried to learn from it, which got me locked in with Bingham and his resources. Figure that if anyone is going to be able to help me have some success in the city, it’s somebody like him. He’s always been known to move relics out of the city.”

  “You said your oldest brother,” Ty said.

  Eastley nodded. A rustling sound caught their attention, and Eastley jerked around, looking upslope. “He has a shop on the northern side of the city. Sells forgeries, somewhat like Bingham.”

  “Bingham doesn’t sell many forgeries,” Ty said, motioning for Eastley to follow him.

  “I know.”

  The rustling sound came again.

  This time, it was definitely close.

  Ty started off and motioned for Eastley to follow. He looked up, half expecting to see a velum swinging in the trees overhead, chasing them, but there was no sign of any. Whatever was coming toward them, whatever made that rustling sound, was not overhead. Which meant it was behind them. Which meant it was Roson James.

  The sound came again, closer this time. It seemed to be getting closer the longer that they went, and he realized that they had made a mistake. He had taken too long.

  “We need to get into the trees,” he said.

  “You know what’s in those trees. There are the velum. There are the dral, and there are the—”

  “None of them are going to do anything to us.”

  At least, none of them that were there.

  The velum might, though if they moved quickly enough, and if they avoided getting caught up by one of the packs, they should be fine. The other creatures…

  They could be scary, but Ty had enough experience navigating through the jungle that he knew he could stay away from them. They generally avoided people, though that was typically because when people came through the jungle, they followed the path. The only creatures that came close to the path were the velum.

  The rustling sound came again, and Ty grabbed Eastley’s arm, pulling him into the trees. He seemed too startled to fight.

  It wasn’t until they were deeper off the path that he looked over at him. “What are you doing?” he whispered.

  At least he had the sense to keep his voice down.

  “We could jump him from the trees,” Eastley whispered.

  “What is if he’s not alone?”

  He could easily imagine Roson James coming back to Ishantil, especially considering how Albion had nearly beat him, but he wouldn’t do it alone. He would bring other Dragon Touched with him. If he did, they wouldn’t be able to manage that.

  “If he is alone…”

  Ty nodded. He could see the hatred in Eastley’s eyes. He even understood. Eastley had been through too much. He had suffered.

  But Ty needed answers. If he could capture Roson James, question him…

  How did he think to question one of the Dragon Touched? Roson could use his magic on him, likely force his way free.

  “If he’s alone, we will grab him. Maybe we can tie him to a tree and threaten him with the velum.”

  Eastley started to smile, and there was a darkness in his eyes. “Or I could just threaten him. I’d be happy to beat him a little.”

  The rustling came through the trees again, getting closer.

  “We need to move downslope,” he said.

  “Are you sure it’s safe to leave the path? I’ve heard the stories of what happens to people who venture too far off the path. They get lost. The jungle is hard to navigate through.”

  “Somebody navigated through it,” he said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have a path.”

  “I have no interest in dying in the jungle. The only person I want to die out here is him.”

  “I know. You’re not going to die in the jungle. My mother taught me how to navigate through here when I was younger.”

  “If you get me stranded here…”

  Ty started forward and Eastley reluctantly followed.

  They headed downslope, but he kept his focus off to the side, every so often pausing and looking to see if there was any noise near him that would suggest anyone followed them.

  Maybe he had overreacted. If it was the velum, then heading into the jungle would only bring them closer and would make it far easier for the creatures to attack. He
thought that he might be able to scare the velum away if they did come, and considering how the velum rarely attacked in large groups, it would be easier to scare them, especially now that Ishantil had settled.

  Ty still didn’t have an answer about why Roson James would come.

  Had he learned something from Albion?

  What if he knew what Albion had truly come to the city for? What if he had uncovered details about the note that Albion had left for Ty?

  It would mean that Ty wasn’t going to be safe. Even coming back down the slope, Ty wouldn’t necessarily be safe in the city. Roson James could track him, find him, and then he could force him to help.

  He had to stay ahead of him.

  He would have to stay ahead of all of the Dragon Touched.

  And there might be a way that he could do it in the jungle.

  Ty ran, Eastley trailing behind him. They moved as quickly as Ty thought safe to do, weaving through the openings in the trees, darting around vines, pulling themselves free where the ground tried to snare them, and he gradually headed toward familiar ground.

  He raced as quickly as he could, but even as he did, he couldn’t help but feel as if there was somebody still following them. Maybe it was nothing but the velum, but the more that he ran, the more uncertain of it he was.

  He glanced back, his heart hammering.

  Eastley stayed silent. Ty could see the anger lingering in Eastley’s eyes. It persisted, anger that seemed to simmer within him, as if he wanted nothing more than to get his vengeance now. And Ty couldn’t blame him. Had he been captured by Roson James and tortured, wouldn’t he want the same?

  He certainly wanted to get vengeance for what Roson did to his brother.

  But first he had to make sure that he had the advantage. Then he saw familiar trees. He darted forward, yanking on Eastley, ducking farther into the jungle.

  “It’s not far now,” he said.

  Eastley didn’t challenge him. He raced toward his familial home. Then he saw it in the distance. Hopefully Roson James wouldn’t be able to find it, and he wouldn’t be able to find him. The trees circled the home, as if the jungle threatened to swallow it. There was only a small clearing outside of the home, much less now than there had been when his family had occupied this place all those years ago. His father had made a point of pushing back the jungle, keeping it from pressing too closely upon the house, though it was not because they had been afraid of the jungle, but mostly so that Ty and Albion had a place to play. Now the jungle pressed nearly to the door of the home, small shrubs cropping up where there had been none before and twisted undergrowth threatening to snag him as he ran. When he reached the home, he darted inside and through the door.

  Eastley looked over at him, watching him with concern written in his eyes. Ty ignored it.

  Ty stared at the closed door, his mind racing. His old home wouldn’t be safe for long.

  He looked over to Eastley. “We can regroup here. Figure out if there is a way to grab him.”

  “The place to do that would have been out in the jungle,” Eastley said, pulling the door open and poking his head out. “Not inside of some home that traps us. It feels like we are just putting herself into a position that will make it harder to escape, not easier. And harder to grab him. By the Flame, Ty, I thought you were smarter than this.”

  He should’ve been. Part of it had to do with the threat of the Dragon Touched, and part of it had to do with his own uncertainty. He didn’t really know what they were going to need to do and had no idea about how to keep them safe. If Roson followed him here, this place wouldn’t ever be safe.

  First his home in the city, now here, and then what?

  But more than that, he knew what he needed to do. He knew where he needed to go. It was just a challenge in doing so.

  Get to Carn. Find where they were holding Albion. Rescue him.

  Keep ahead of Roson James.

  But first, he would need the funds to do that.

  “I need to grab something from my old room.”

  He chuckled. “What do you still keep here?”

  “I keep a whole basket of none of your business.”

  Eastley raised his hands, backing toward the door, and Ty shook his head. He needed to be nicer to him. He was just trying to help. He hurried to the back room and reached into the corner where he had put the bank markers.

  Thankfully, they were still there.

  A part of him had worried that something had happened to them. He headed over to his hidden section, pulling out the stone, and reached for the satchel with the dragon pearls.

  They weren’t there.

  The satchel was there, but it was empty.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ty pulled the satchel out of its hiding place and opened it. There wasn’t anything remaining inside, nothing to even suggest that the dragon pearls had ever been there. Somebody had been here, but how had they found the dragon pearls?

  The room had a strange hazy smoke that lingered over it, something that left Ty feeling as if someone had been here. There was a hint of an odor, something that reminded him of ash, but he saw nothing burned. Could that be the effect of the Dragon Touched that must’ve come through here?

  “Ty?”

  He shoved the stone back into place, obscuring his hiding place, though realizing that it probably made little difference. At this point, the hiding place had obviously been discovered, so there was no purpose in continuing to try to keep it hidden.

  “Just a minute.”

  He stared at the satchel.

  It didn’t look any different than it had before. The brown leather was still smooth, and he didn’t see any damage to the surface of it, nothing more than it had taken on over the years he had used it on his jobs.

  He headed out into the main part of the home and looked at Eastley.

  “We should get going,” he said.

  Eastley didn’t argue, and they headed to the door, which he pulled open just a crack. There was no movement outside in the small clearing around the home, though at this point, Ty wondered if there even needed to be. Roson James had obviously found what he wanted to find. He had gotten the dragon pearls.

  He stepped out into the clearing. A haze of smoke drifted around the clearing, swirling out from the home and layered around the lower aspects of the trees.

  “What are you… Oh,” Eastley started, before looking out into the distance. “There must be a fire somewhere.

  The jungle was generally too damp and humid for any fires to take hold, but with as much smoke as he saw, the way that it swirled around as if by some unseen hand, Ty didn’t know where it was.

  “I’ve had too much experience with fire these days,” Ty said.

  He circled around the house, his gaze sweeping everywhere before finally settling on a section upslope that looked to be clear. Ty hurried forward. Eastley followed him, and together they wound through the forest, away from the smoke.

  “You’re taking us deeper into the jungle,” Eastley said.

  “What choice do we have?” Ty glanced back. The smoke persisted, trailing after them. It seemed almost to be following them. “Do you smell it?”

  Eastley frowned and looked around. “I don’t smell anything,” he said.

  Ty looked around the forest. “Neither do I. That’s strange, isn’t it? Given that there’s that amount of smoke, I think we should smell something.”

  Ty only smelled the forest around him, the fragrance of the trees, the earthy scent beneath his feet, even the scent of decay all around him, but nothing that suggested something was burning. When he’d been in the city and the flames had started to consume everything, the stench had been overwhelming. He’d been forced to cover his mouth and nose in order to survive, but this time…

  The smoke was something similar to what he had seen inside of his room. A faint tracing, little more than a haze. It left him worried that the Dragon Touched that must have come in and found where the dragon pearls had been
.

  Why had he thought that he could hide the dragon pearls here, anyway? A skilled Dragon Touched would be able to detect pearls fairly easily. They had enough stored power within them that they could find them here.

  Then again, Ty hadn’t expected any Dragon Touched to be out in the jungle. It had to be the Dragon Touched. He had felt the effect of their magic, but he had never smelled anything before. It was strange to think of something like that. Stranger still that he could practically feel it, like a nagging in his belly.

  He looked around again. “I need to see where the fire is coming from,” he said.

  “What is it with you and fire?”

  “I wish there was nothing with me and fire,” Ty said. They were going to need to get back to the city. If there were other Dragon Touched beyond Roson James, they weren’t going to be able to grab him the way that Eastley—and Ty, if he were honest—wanted to.

  His home was no longer safe.

  Then again, Ty had left his home long before. Apparently, it hadn’t been safe for a while.

  He motioned for Eastley to follow out the door and keep low as they closed the door, staying shrouded in some of the undergrowth. He navigated through it, though still feeling as if it were trying to grab at his feet. The haze of the smoke still swirled, as if it were drifting around the clearing, or what was left of it, pressing toward them. A new fear came to Ty. What if the Dragon Touched had some way of using their magic to detect them? Ty had his dragon-bone dagger on him, but he didn’t think they could perceive it. There was enough paint covering the surface of the blade that had shielded it from detection before, but if that shielding faded…

  Ty tried not to think about that, and he tried not to think about the possibility that he would lose the protection of it.

  “There is another way down from here,” Ty whispered as they reached the trees again. “And I think we need to move quickly to stay ahead of whatever Dragon Touched might be here.”

  “If it is Roson—”