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

by D. K. Holmberg

  Ty shook his head. “If it’s just him, maybe, but we don’t know if it is. We can’t risk it.”

  “What if I want to?”

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” Ty said, his voice harsh until he caught himself. “I know you want to get vengeance for what happened to you. I want that for you as well. But we have to do this smart. Get down the mountainside, and then…”

  “And then what?” Eastley asked. “Do you intend to go back for him? Hunt him?”

  When Ty didn’t answer, Eastley just shook his head.

  “There are other ways of getting revenge,” Ty said.

  “This is our chance,” Eastley said.

  The shriek overhead caught their attention, and Ty looked up to see a velum swinging. It shrieked at them and stopped closely enough that he had to pause to see why it was streaking, but then it moved on.

  Ty frowned. He started forward and hadn’t gone very far before he raised a hand to keep Eastley from plunging ahead. He pointed through the trees. “Velum trap,” he said.

  It was a rope that stretched from the ground up into the trees, where it would snare one of the velum that might come through here. It would hold them, dangling upside down, where they would thrash until they either wore themselves out or the blood pooled in their head and they died. It was a terrible way to trap them.

  Ty cut through the trap, leaving the rope dangling.

  “How did you see that?” Eastley whispered.

  “There are traps like that all throughout the jungle.” Ty paused at the base of the tree. “See that marking? The trappers make these on the trees so mark their traps. You learn to watch for them when you travel the jungle. If they snare you rather than one of the velum, you end up dangling. If you have a knife, you can get out, but if you don’t…”

  “What happens if you don’t?” Eastley asked.

  “If you don’t, then you stay until you’re either cut down or you die.”

  He breathed in deeply, sniffing the air, and didn’t detect anything.

  A soft rumbling echoed.

  It came from high up on the mountain, the sound of Ishantil angry with them. “Don’t tell me the damn volcano plans to erupt again,” Eastley muttered.

  Ty frowned. Ishantil had been calm when they had been up on the peak of it, so he didn’t think that was the case, but the rumbling indicated something. Maybe displeasure with the fact that they had gone up there. Or perhaps that Roson James had gone to the peak of Ishantil again.

  He paused long enough to look behind, noticing the steadily swaying branches that seemed to indicate that something was there. Not velum. Ty didn’t think there were any velum in the trees facing them. He whistled at one point, but there was no response. It was almost as if the velum, if they were there, ignored him.

  “We have to get moving even faster,” Ty said. “Can you hear them?”

  He kept his voice low, but it was out of nerves, nothing else. He started to worry that the Dragon Touched were only steps away from them. In the jungle, somebody could sneak up on them easily and they wouldn’t even notice.

  Ty thought he could, but that was if he was traveling alone.

  Then again, he didn’t have to stay on any path.

  He forced Eastley to follow him, weaving into the trees.

  Eastley’s eyes widened slightly. “We’re going to be lost in here,” he whispered.

  At least he had the sense to stay quiet.

  “I know the way through the jungle.”

  Eastley licked his lips nervously. “You said you lived here a while ago, not that you still do. How sure are you that you can get us out of here?”

  “Sure enough,” Ty said.

  “If you are wrong…”

  “If I’m wrong, then we end up captured by the Dragon Touched, which might happen if I’m not. So just follow me. Stay close behind me, and if I stop, you stop.”

  “Why?”

  “Because of the trap that we saw,” Ty said.

  Eastley nodded hurriedly. “That’s right. Let’s get moving.”

  Ty focused on Eastley for a long moment. He could tell that Eastley was nervous, but there was nothing to do but to keep moving. He had to get them out of here. He had no idea if there was a Dragon Touched chasing him, but he doubted Roson James would come into the jungle alone, not after what happened to him last time. Having been attacked by the velum, he would probably want others with him to ensure his safety. If it were tied, he would have wanted the same thing.

  They weaved through the trees. Ty trying to stay as quiet as he could, but the problem with coming through the jungle like this meant that they had to rush past branches, dig their way around the underbrush, and they had to pick through the dense part of the jungle. He didn’t have any way of cutting through here other than his dragon-bone dagger, and that wasn’t going to be efficient or effective enough against something like this.

  Which meant that he just had to move as carefully as he could.

  He continued working his way around, picking steadily until he found a narrow opening that he could follow. Somehow when he had been younger, his mother had always known ways of navigating through the jungle off of the paths. He didn’t think that she had cut through them herself, but she had always found her way through here.

  “How do the hunters manage to get through here so well?”

  “Because they aren’t afraid of the jungle,” Ty said. “And to be honest, there isn’t really anything to be afraid of in here. The trees make it difficult to maneuver, and there are the velum, along with a few other critters that might attack, but…”

  Eastley’s gaze went to the trees, looking up and staring at the branches. “What else might be here?”

  “Just keep your head covered and you will be fine.”

  “What else?”

  Ty didn’t want to tell him anything more and certainly didn’t want to alarm him, so he said nothing. He motioned for them to keep moving, steadily moving, making their way down the mountainside. As they went, he noticed the sound of branches swinging and the steady chopping of someone carving their way through the jungle.

  There was definitely somebody behind them. Maybe more than one somebody.

  “We’re going to have to move as quickly as we can,” Ty said. “I don’t know how many of the Dragon Touched we have behind us, but we want to stay ahead of them.”

  “Are you sure that we can?”

  Ty let out a soft breath and then shook his head. “Not this way. I don’t know if we can stay ahead of them easily. I think… well, I think that we can, but I’m not exactly sure.”

  He picked his way around one of the trees, brushing up against it. Several beetles tried dropping on him, and he shook them off his arm, making sure they didn’t get a chance to latch on and bite. Eastley jumped, darting off to one side, and Ty grabbed for him.

  He wasn’t fast enough.

  He stepped into a velum trap.

  As soon as he did, the trap sprang.

  Eastley went shooting up into the tree, one leg pulling him, and he thrashed, shouting.

  “Get me down!”

  Ty shook his head. “You can’t be quiet,” he hissed.

  Eastley continued to thrash, trying to get himself free, but everything that he was doing would only draw attention to him.

  “You have to settle down,” Ty said again.

  He glanced behind him.

  There was the steady thumping sound.

  Dragon Touched.

  He looked up at Eastley. “I want you to reach for your leg.” He stood directly beneath Eastley. “Can you do that?”

  “Are you going to get up here and cut me down?”

  “Grab your leg. Do you have a knife on you?”

  Eastley grabbed for his waist, and then he pointed at the jungle floor. The blade rested on the ground. It was a simple steel blade, without much decoration, though there was a piece of black stone set into the hilt. And obsidian forgery.

  “Can you throw tha
t up to me?”

  The sound of the Dragon Touched cutting through the jungle came closer.

  “I’m going to lead them away, and I will be right back for you.”

  “Don’t you dare leave me, Ty!”

  “I’m not leaving you,” Ty hissed. “I’m just—”

  The sound of the Dragon Touched cutting through the jungle came to him even more loudly.

  Ty darted away, making noise as he went. He had to draw them away from here. It was all too easy to believe that the Dragon Touched would get lost in the jungle the same way that most people would.

  He made a loud racket as he pulled his way through the underbrush, carving at it with his blade. When he had gone for several hundred feet, he stopped and then picked his way carefully back the way that he’d come. He ducked off to the side of the path he had made, looking through it, and let out a relieved sigh when he saw the Dragon Touched tramping their way through, following him. There were three of them, though there was no sign of Roson James. They stayed quiet, though it caused a strange burning in Ty’s belly when they passed, along with a sense of heat. They were calling upon their magic, he was sure of it. Thankfully, they didn’t attempt to burn through the jungle, though Ty didn’t know if such a thing or even possible. Could they?

  They were quieter now that they were following his path.

  He waited until they were gone, and then he looped back around.

  As he neared the tree where he had left Eastley, he noticed another figure.

  Roson James.

  Ty froze.

  Eastley dangled nearby but thankfully had remained quiet.

  James made his way through, following Ty’s path, but then paused.

  Ty’s heart hammered. Would he come this way?

  He seemed to have noticed that Ty had tried to draw them off.

  He turned and headed down slope, veering away.

  Ty waited, his heart pounding. When he was convinced that Roson James was gone, he hurriedly scaled the tree and shimmied out onto the branch where the velum trap had been suspended in order to start cutting through the rope.

  He leaned forward, looking at Eastley. “You are going to need to catch yourself,” he whispered. “Try to be as quiet as you can. There are three Dragon Touched, along with Roson.”

  “Let me go after them,” Eastley said.

  “Not here,” Ty said.

  Though maybe it would be better. If he went after Roson James in the jungle, wouldn’t they have the advantage? Ty might.

  But the idea of chasing down one of the Dragon Touched, especially with the kind of power they possessed, was a mistake. He knew that it was.

  And with Eastley already on edge, he wasn’t about to let his friend make a mistake and go chasing after the Dragon Touched.

  He finished cutting through the snare, and Eastley dropped.

  He was more graceful than Ty had expected. He twisted, landing in a crouch, and Ty swung down, dropping next to him.

  “I didn’t like that,” Eastley said.

  “I warned you about the traps.”

  “You did, but I’m not a velum.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  There came a shriek further down the mountainside. It was followed by another, then another.

  “The Dragon Touched,” Ty whispered.

  Eastley breathed out heavily. “What are they after?”

  Ty didn’t know. He needed to figure it out, and the only way to do so was finding his brother and getting the answers he needed. From there, he needed to return and keep Roson James and the other Dragon Touched from whatever they wanted. Which meant they had to leave the jungle behind.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ty found Bingham standing in the burned remains of his shop. Bingham picked through it slowly. His face was covered with soot, and his normally neatly groomed jacket and pants were stained as well. The street was quiet though. Others who lived along the street had departed, abandoning the fire.

  Bingham glanced from Ty to Eastley. “Where have you been?”

  “We were getting chased by Roson James.” Ty rubbed his stomach. Ever since going up to Ishantil, he had felt a strange burning deep within him. It was almost as if he had swallowed some part of the lava, and he couldn’t shake that sensation. It bothered him. It was a painful sort of gnawing as if he had eaten food that was too spicy. “He is after something.”

  “You already know they’re after what your brother came to the city for.”

  Ty nodded. “That has to be it, but I’m not sure what Albion left.”

  “You intend to go find out.”

  Ty shrugged. Leave it to Bingham to get to the bottom of it. “I think I have to. He left this note for me, so whatever is here is something that I need to find. And until I do…”

  He wasn’t exactly sure what would happen until he did. Only that he had to get answers before Roson or the priests chased him down and harmed him in some way. Albion had been after something more. Ty believed that. He just had to figure out what it was, and until he did he wasn’t sure that it was going to be safe for him to wait in Zarinth.

  “We probably shouldn’t stay here, anyway,” Bingham muttered, shaking his head. “If these false priests were responsible for the fire, I don’t think that we should be here. It’s just so strange.”

  Ty shrugged. “Well, to be honest, I think everything that happened within Zarinth lately has been strange. That wouldn’t be the strangest.” He looked along the street. Most of the buildings had fallen, though there were still an occasional wall that stood, as if it had managed to withstand the power of the fire. An entire block had fallen. Even more than that, though, with the way the flames had continued to spread down the street.

  Maybe he was right. Maybe there had been something more here, some other explanation for the devastation that had occurred in this section of the city.

  But if that were the case, then why here?

  “If it were Dragon Touched,” Eastley said, scratching her hand along his jaw, “what do you think they were trying to accomplish?”

  “I don’t know,” Bingham said. “But if Roson is here…”

  He didn’t need him to expand on that. Roson was ruthless. He had known that even before encountering him, but having dealt with him he knew the truth of it.

  Eastley gritted his teeth. “I am going to get revenge.”

  “We have to do it smart,” Bingham said.

  “You don’t have to tell me,” Eastley said.

  Bingham frowned at him.

  Ty would have to step in. He’d started to recognize the rage within Eastley. It had settled somewhat as they had made their way through the jungle, and when they had dealt with the velum snares, but now that they were back out, it had returned.

  “We should make preparations,” Ty said. “The journey is several days by horse, and I intend to travel by horse, not by foot.” He looked over to Bingham. “Can you get us mounts?”

  Bingham shrugged. He watched Eastley, as if he wanted to say something to him, but he kept it to himself. “Had you asked me a month ago, I probably would’ve said it would be difficult, but now it is easier. We have so many people returning to the city, many of them on horseback, that I should be able to secure us horses, but it’s going to cost you.”

  “I can pay you back,” he said.

  “Did I tell you that you needed to?”

  Ty shrugged. “I know you, Bingham. I know that you aren’t going to do anything out of the goodness of your heart, so just get the horses, and I will make sure that you are compensated for them.”

  Bingham snorted. “It’s not an easy journey. We have to make our way through the valley, and we don’t know how many others are going to be coming through there.”

  “It’s not going to be that difficult of a journey,” Ty said. He looked over to Eastley. “You don’t have to come along.”

  “You aren’t getting rid of me on this,” Eastley said. “If you’re somehow going to find him, I�
��m going to have my chance.”

  Ty knew that he wasn’t going to be able to argue with him, and he didn’t want to, either. Having Eastley, somebody with his size in a strange city, was a benefit. They weren’t going to be pulling jobs, at least not that Ty intended, but Eastley had other advantages. “Thank you.”

  Eastley clapped him on the shoulder. “Besides, I still owe you, don’t I? I’m sure you’re keeping track.”

  “I don’t know that you can ever really pay me back,” Ty said. “How can you repay me for saving your life?”

  Eastley laughed. Ty’s belly still burned, almost uncomfortably. There was a faint trace of smoke that swirled around the street. Could there still be a fire smoldering somewhere?

  He didn’t want to stay here to find out.

  “Just don’t get me killed. I haven’t been out of the city before.”

  “You made that clear in the jungle,” Ty said.

  “Well, don’t get me killed,” he said again.

  Ty laughed, though he found Bingham watching him, something unreadable in his eyes.

  “I’ll get the horses. You gather the supplies that we are going to need on the road,” Bingham said. “Can you do that? Several days’ worth of supplies. If we have to restock within Carn, we can do that, but I’d rather have what we need for the entire journey. Especially if we have to make a quick getaway.”

  “Will there be a quick getaway from there?” Eastley asked.

  “Possibly,” Bingham said.

  He looked at the remains of his shop once again before shaking his head. He sighed, then started off, heading down the street, before he stopped and turned back to them. “If you decide you want Olivia to join us, let me know. I can get another horse.”

  He found Eastley watching him.

  “I don’t think that’s the best idea,” Ty said.

  Bingham shrugged. “It is your choice. This is your mission.”

  He turned away, and when he was gone, Eastley leaned close. “You sure you don’t want Olivia to come? Somebody like that could be helpful. We don’t really know what we’re going to get into there.”

  “We don’t, but I can’t trust her.”

  “Can you trust me?”

  “A little,” Ty said, shrugging.