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

by D. K. Holmberg

  At least with the haze and the smoke, they wouldn’t be able to trail after him quite as easily as they had otherwise. Ty continued moving, keeping as much of a sense of direction as he could, but without the road it would be difficult to know whether he was traveling the right way. He thought he knew where it was, and thought that all he had to do was keep the road to his left, and he would be able to use that to guide him, but he also didn’t know for sure if that would work.

  Hopefully Eastley would realize that he wasn’t there and maybe even find Ty’s horse, leading it back. But he couldn’t stay in one place.

  He moved stealthily, watching the darkness, wanting to hide from the pursuers.

  Ty hurried to the trees, staying in the darkness and the shadows, and moved forward. Every so often, he detected something moving around him, but wasn’t sure what it was. At first, he thought that maybe it was just the smoke swirling, but the more he noticed it, the more that he started to question whether that was it at all.

  Maybe it was one of his pursuers. Ty had no idea who followed him, only that he had seen—and heard—something. The burning in his stomach persisted.

  He reached a small rise in the ground. The smoke swirled, as if a window was open, causing it to billow around, creating a clearing. When it did, he saw two figures in front of him. They were dressed in the black cloaks of the Order of the Flame.

  One of them grabbed for something at his waist, pulling it up and aiming at him. The crossbow.

  In Zarinth, he had other buildings that he could use as barricades, and he had places that he could run to and hide in, but out here in the open there was nothing. Ty was trapped.

  The burning began to roll through him, flaring up his arms and his legs, the pain intense. The Order of the Flame came toward him. The smoke collapsed around him, making it difficult to see.

  He had no idea what kind of magic they were using, but the power that they had to be calling upon was unlike anything that he had experienced outside of Zarinth until now. Dragon magic, at least of the sort.

  Gayal had warned him that the Order was dangerous. He hadn’t believed her.

  Dealing with the Dragon Touched was one thing, because at least he understood they had power beyond what he could use, but this was something else.

  Ty had to get moving. He could use the smoke to hide, but he had to do so quickly. If he didn’t, then they could be upon him before he had any chance to react.

  He scrambled to his feet and started running. The wind gusted again, swirling and carrying the smoke away. When it did, the heat flared within him, rolling up from his belly and out through his arms and legs.

  Ty cried out.

  He spun as he turned around, looking back. He kept hoping that Eastley would return. The burning within him persisted. It never changed.

  His heart hammered. His mouth was dry. He heard nothing other than the pounding of his heart, the steadiness of his breathing, but nothing else. It was almost as if the smoke muted the sound of everything around him.

  Ty raced forward.

  Could it be that they were using the smoke against him?

  That would be a use of the dragon magic that he had never experienced before, but the way that it moved and swirled left him thinking that perhaps that was what they did. He couldn’t outrun smoke. He couldn’t outrun the Order.

  He had to get out into the open so that if Eastley had come back for him, they could see each other. Maybe Eastley would even have found his horse.

  He heard a shout. It was muffled, muted by the smoke, and as he lingered behind it, he tried to find the source of the shouting but could not.

  Ty paused for a moment. The jungle rose up on either side of the road that snaked through the dense jungle, working its way through the valley. He could climb, but hiding in the trees would be slow work, and it would make it difficult for him to navigate through here effectively.

  Where are my pursuers?

  He wanted to find some strategy of getting around them. The burning persisted, lingering in his belly, and as Ty continued to feel for that power, he focused on just what it was and where it came from, though he could not tell the full source of it.

  A wind began to kick up.

  When it did, he noticed the shouting behind him again, and he focused on it, feeling for the energy of the shout. The power was out there, and he could hear something, though he had no idea what the energy he detected might be.

  He had to stay away from that shout, though.

  Ty noticed the smoke continuing to clear, and he moved away from it but then changed his mind. He didn’t need to be heading away from the smoke. He needed to be heading into it. It was either heading into the smoke or heading into the jungle.

  There was movement across from him from a shadowy form. One of the Order raised a crossbow, angling it at him.

  Ty jumped, landing on a grassy plain, and rolled off to his side. He sprang to his feet and started running straight at the Order of the Flame. As he attempted to reload, Ty crashed into him.

  Heat burst within his belly, swirling around him. The smoke collapsed, crushing him. Ty kicked, driving his foot into the man’s belly.

  Something struck Ty in the side. A foot? A crossbow bolt?

  The man sucked in a sharp breath. And drew in the smoke.

  The man coughed, his eyes going wide.

  Ty scrambled away, trying to get free of him.

  As he backed away, he watched as the man from the Order dropped to the ground.

  Ty started to run, when another thought came to him.

  He needed a weapon against the Order.

  He raced forward, kicking the crossbow away from the man, grabbing the dragon-bone bolts he had, and then darted back, leaving the man lying and gasping on the ground.

  The heat that had bloomed within him started to ease off again, fading.

  The smoke hadn’t cleared.

  Wind picked up, but it wasn’t enough to clear the smoke that persisted all around him. His mouth was dry, his heart was hammering, and he had to find some way to get through here. He had used an opening in the smoke once before and had overpowered one of the Order, but how many more were here?

  Ty gripped the crossbow, swinging it around as he turned, looking for any other pursuers. He didn’t see anyone.

  The crossbow was warm, much like the dragon-bone bolts had been.

  He glanced down at it for a moment and realized that it was made out of dragon bone, just like the bolts.

  Who are these men? What kind of people have crossbows made out of dragon bone?

  The Order.

  Dangerous people.

  That was what Gayal had said.

  Ty believed it.

  He hurried forward.

  Increasingly, he started to worry about what Eastley might have encountered.

  Could he have been caught by the Order?

  The smoke made it difficult for him to see anything, and he climbed up the side of the valley, looking for an opening. Wind swirled slightly but still not enough to clear the smoke. He picked his way through the dense jungle. There was a burning within his belly, and every so often that burning flared, and then the smoke began to solidify.

  It had to be the Order.

  Ty continued to point with the crossbow, but he didn’t see any sign of any attacker.

  As he picked his way to the jungle, he did so carefully, watching for anything. It was dark, making it difficult for him to see any pursuit.

  Then he heard a shout.

  Ty progressed through the jungle, trying to move away from the shout.

  How many of the Order are still out there?

  The jungle was the chance for him to make his way through here, and he was forced down toward the valley floor, back the way that he came.

  He was on the road before he knew it.

  Smoke around him made it difficult for him to see anything.

  Ty lost track of which way he needed to go. He thought he knew, but having gone
up into the jungle and back down to the road, he felt as if he had lost his path somewhat.

  He gripped the crossbow, staring into the darkness.

  The burning flared within him and Ty spun.

  The smoke cleared for just a moment, and standing behind him was another of the Order of the Flame.

  He grinned at him. “You can lower that crossbow. You won’t be able to—”

  Ty pulled the trigger, firing the crossbow bolt.

  The Priest of the Flame held his hand out and a burst of fire radiated from his fingertips, stretching toward the crossbow bolt flying at him.

  For a moment, Ty thought he would ignite it, but then remembered that it was a dragon-bone bolt. There would be nothing that he could do to burn up dragon bone. It would be immune to fire. But it wasn’t immune to some sort of flaming barricade that he created around himself.

  “Now what will you do?”

  Ty looked down at the crossbow. There were three other bolts strapped to it. How quickly could he reload?

  Ty didn’t know enough about the crossbow, nor did he know enough about how to reload it under duress.

  And when he looked up, he could tell the man from the Order knew it.

  The man grinned at him.

  Flames started to stretch away from him, radiating outward, and he dropped to the ground, rolling off to the side, trying to get out of his way. The flames stretched toward him, crawling across the ground toward him.

  Ty tried to grab for a crossbow bolt, wanting to jam it into place and load it, but he couldn’t move quickly enough. The pain in his belly surged again, throbbing within him, and Ty launched himself up, lunging at him.

  The suddenness of it surprised him.

  Ty jumped, bringing his knee up as he did. Somehow, the fear of being attacked by one of the Priests of the Flame and his dragon magic had given him strength, and he soared farther and faster than he ever had before. He connected his knee into the man’s jaw, slamming it off to the side, and his target went spinning. The heat in Ty’s belly flared again, and the Priest of the Flame sucked in a sharp breath but drew in the smoke…

  Just like the other Priest had done.

  He gagged and coughed.

  Ty scrambled to his feet, shoving a crossbow bolt into place and locking it there. He didn’t know if it was going to be enough to keep him from attacking him, but he didn’t seem to be getting up.

  He continued to gag, coughing, his eyes bulging.

  He rolled toward him, pointing a finger, and flames started to creep out from his finger, but Ty backed away. He wasn’t fast enough, or he wasn’t strong enough, but either way, Ty managed to avoid the trailing finger of flame that he sent streaking across the ground.

  Heat flared in his belly again, and Ty feared it meant there was another of the Priests of the Flame using their magic, but he didn’t see anyone. The smoke persisted all around him, holding to him tightly. He had to keep moving.

  He stumbled away from the Priest of the Flame, getting free of him. He staggered and stumbled over the road he’d run from in the first place.

  The smoke cleared in the distance, and he headed that way. He started slowly, then began jogging before sprinting. He clutched the crossbow, keeping it ready, but no one followed.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Ty lost track of how long he’d been running. It felt as if his entire body was tired and weak. He had been racing for hours, and in all that time he had not seen anyone else chasing him. He mixed up the running with walking and finally settled into a steady trot as he hurried along the road, never encountering any more of the Order of the Flame.

  The smoke had dissipated entirely, leaving him with clear air. There was no more burning in his belly, nothing that stretched out into his arms or legs, nothing that suggested that the Order of the Flame were nearby.

  He hadn’t found any sign of Eastley. Somehow, they had gotten fully separated. They would regroup in Zarinth. He was sure of it. Until then, he had to move on as best he could. It was growing dark, but Ty still didn’t dare rest. How could he when he had no idea what else was out here?

  The moon climbed higher in the sky, bright and nearly full, shining a light on the road in front of him. He was able to follow it and moved as quickly as he could. The sounds of the night swirled around him. There was a steady gusting wind that swept through, and he suspected it was tied to the wind that had moved away the smoke, but he didn’t know for sure. Every so often, a hoot of an owl called in the darkness, and an occasional wolf cried out. Thankfully, there was no sound of the velum, not like there would be if he were trapped within the jungle.

  Ishantil loomed ever closer, and as he headed toward it, it was almost as if he could feel some heat of the jungle coming toward him, some aspect of it that drew him toward the jungle, toward the city itself, and toward something that he needed to find.

  Perhaps it was only his imagination, though.

  Ty breathed out, his breath misting in the air.

  He was going to have to rest. He wouldn’t be able to keep going like this, and despite the fact that he was exhausted, he didn’t know if he would even be able to sleep. Without knowing who was out there, waiting for him in the darkness, Ty feared that he couldn’t sleep. How could he, when there was the constant threat that something else was chasing him still? Without the burning in his belly and the pain leaching out into him arms and legs, Ty wasn’t entirely sure that there was anything out there.

  Eastley had to be out there, as well. He didn’t want to sleep while his friend wandered in the darkness alone.

  But Eastley wouldn’t just be wandering the darkness. Ty knew better than that. He would have rested as well.

  He found a grove of trees far enough off the road that any travelers wouldn’t spring up on them. Ty sat down in the midst of the trees, sitting and looking toward the road, and closed his eyes. He didn’t sleep.

  He kept thinking about what his brother had said to him. Answers were within the Flame.

  Had Albion told him that even two months ago, Ty would have suspected that it was tied to his devotion to the Flame, but now he questioned whether that was it or not. Maybe he really meant that answers would be found within the Flame.

  Albion wanted his help.

  That stayed with him.

  His brother never asked for his help. Even when Ty could have given it. He had always been independent, always isolated, and always devoted to the Flame.

  Ty remembered when he had first become aware of that. He and his mother had been outside of the home, scouring the mountainside the way that she often did, looking for treasures, as she called it.

  She had crouched in front of a small cave, leaning forward, half disappearing into the darkness. Ty had always enjoyed going with her. He was young, no more than ten, and his mother had claimed that she was more than happy for his help.

  “What do you think you are going to find in there?” Ty had asked.

  She didn’t lean back. Her golden hair had disappeared into the cave, catching a hint of shadows and making it look darker than it normally did.

  “Treasures, Tydornen. They aren’t going to be found where you think. You have to look where others won’t.”

  “Why do you think treasures will be found out here?” Ty had looked around him, thinking it strange the way that he often had. “Why won’t they be found in some ancient settlement?”

  His mother had pulled back from the cave and rested her hands on her lap. On this day, she had been dressed in a deep green gown that seemed to flow along the surface of the jungle floor. She never struggled navigating through the jungle, and she never seemed to struggle seeing anything in the jungle. It was almost as if her natural radiance illuminated everything.

  “Why must they be found within the settlement?”

  “I just figured that the ancients who made the relics you like would have left them there.”

  “Oh, Tydornen, these are different prizes.”

  She hadn’t elabor
ated but hadn’t found anything, either.

  By the time they had returned to their home, he was tired but happy after spending the day searching for caves with his mother, never finding the relics she searched for. Not that she never found them, though. She had a knack for uncovering hidden relics. Usually they were small, nothing like the relics that were found within the temple but still impressive nonetheless.

  They had returned home to find Albion and his father studying the Tome of the Flame. Ty had never seen his brother studying the way that he was, nor had he seen the light in his eyes the way that he had when he had returned, the same light that Ty always had when searching for dragon relics.

  At some point, Ty had drifted, and when he came awake sunlight filtered through the branches of the trees.

  He sat up suddenly, looking around him. His heart hammered. He tried to work through where he was and what had happened, and it took a moment for him to settle down and remember.

  On the road outside Ishantil.

  On foot.

  He got to his feet, stretching.

  The sun was high in the sky, which suggested that he had slept far longer than he had intended. He had needed the rest, but he hadn’t expected to sleep quite so long. That was dangerous to do while out in the open.

  He swept his gaze along the horizon. There was no sign of the smoke that he had seen before, no sign of the burning within his belly, nothing that made him think that he was in any sort of danger.

  Eastley.

  Either he needed to go and search for Eastley, or he needed to head toward Zarinth.

  He didn’t like the idea of abandoning Eastley, but he didn’t think that he could find him easily. The jungle was too dense on either side of the road, making it hard to find anything.

  Ty had to trust that Eastley could make his way back.

  Getting on the road would only repeat the cycle he had gone through before. While the Order of the Flame were out there, racing toward him, he would be safer in the trees.

  Ty didn’t move.

  He watched.

  The haze didn’t increase at all. Whatever had caused it did not return, but he did see a pair of riders racing along the road at a quick gallop.