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

by D. K. Holmberg

  Ty stayed near the trunk of the tree, pressing his back upon it, and watched through the grove. He didn’t move. Movement was dangerous in his line of work. Especially in daylight. Any sort of abrupt movement would only draw the eye.

  As the riders approached, he frowned.

  Bingham and Eastley?

  He looked back toward the city but didn’t see anybody following them. There was no sign of the haze of the smoke, nothing there, but he still hesitated. It had been there.

  Still, it was Bingham and Eastley.

  Ty hurried forward until he reached the road, waiting for the two of them. As they approached, they slowed.

  Bingham looked down at him, a frown on his face. “There you are. Eastley told me that you had been attacked, but he thought it was further back on the road.”

  “I wandered for a while,” Eastley said. He looked exhausted. Had he not slept? “I kept thinking that I would find you, but… wait. Where is your horse?”

  “After we got attacked, I ended up losing the horse. I don’t know what happened to it, but at least the attackers are gone.”

  “Where did they go?” Bingham asked.

  Ty thought about the violence of the attack and how it had ended. It was almost as if the smoke itself had targeted them, something that seemed impossible to believe, but what other answer did he have?

  “I don’t know.” He looked over to Eastley. “I assume he told you about finding my brother?”

  “He told me what happened. He said that you have to find something in the Flame?”

  “I’m not sure if it’s about finding something within the Flame, or…” He glanced over to the trees, remembering that he’d forgotten the crossbow. “Wait a minute.” He jogged over and retrieved the crossbow before rejoining them on the road.

  “Is that—”

  “I took it from one of the Order.”

  Bingham reached for it, and Ty handed it to reluctantly. “Look at the detail on this. It’s quite impressive.”

  “Impressive?” Ty asked.

  “If it can take down Roson, that’s all that matters,” Eastley said. He rubbed his eyes, and they looked reddened. Ty was thankful to see him upright and alive.

  “I was thinking we might sell it,” Bingham said. “The value is in the crossbow.”

  “And the bolts,” Ty said. “They are dragon bone.”

  He didn’t like the idea of selling it, though. He felt as if he should be attached to it, though he knew better than that.

  Ty ran his finger along one of the dragon-bone bolts, tracing it and feeling the strange heat that radiated from it. He had grown accustomed to it, but had started to think more about what Gayal had told him.

  “What do you feel when you hold a dragon-bone remnant?”

  Bingham looked up at him, frowning. His gaze had lingered on the crossbow, and he realized he hadn’t touched one of the bolts. Just the crossbow itself. While it was made of a smooth wood, engraved with symbols and markers, there wasn’t much else to it that he could determine. There had to be some secret to its origin, and maybe that secret was tied to the symbols along the curved portion of the bow, but the more significant pieces seemed to be the actual bolts themselves.

  “When I hold a remnant? I guess I don’t feel anything,” Bingham said. He glanced over to Ty, frowning. “Why?”

  Eastley leaned forward. He looked as if he might tip out of the saddle and fall onto the ground. “What are you going on about?”

  “I’m just trying to see what you might feel.”

  He didn’t know if he really had any connection to the dragons, but he had felt that burning in his belly. Maybe he should focus on that as much as he focused on what Albion was trying to find.

  Bingham handed him the crossbow. “I don’t feel anything, Ty.”

  “What about you?” Ty asked, looking up to Eastley.

  “I don’t know. They can be warm. Hot from time to time, but I don’t go around carrying them on me. It is dangerous with the Dragon Touched, especially if they can detect what you’re carrying.”

  Eastley wasn’t wrong.

  The only reason that it was anything for Ty was because he had the dragon-bone dagger.

  “Can one of you help me?”

  “I think my horse is enough to carry us,” Eastley said.

  Ty started to smile but saw Eastley leaning precariously off the side of his horse. They needed to get back for him as much as they did for Ty.

  And then he had to figure out how to find the answers within the Flame the way that Albion suggested.

  How, though?

  A steady burning began to build in his stomach.

  Ty looked behind him, but he didn’t see anything.

  But he knew what it might mean.

  If there was a Dragon Touched out there, he needed to be careful.

  He had the stolen crossbow but had no other way of fighting back.

  Bingham reached out an arm. Ty grabbed it and joined him.

  “It’s nice to see you sober again,” Ty said.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Bingham muttered. “I haven’t seen Esme in a while. Too long, really. And I think I let it get to me.”

  Ty smiled, but he didn’t say anything more.

  They rode steadily. It took them the better part of the day then camped off the side of the road where Eastley crashed and immediately slept, leaving Ty and Bingham to sit and talk quietly. He tried getting answers about what Bingham had been doing before he had come to Zarinth, or even in the time that he had been in Zarinth, but Bingham seemed unwilling to share. Ty didn’t want to push, either. More than that, he was exhausted, so he drifted, letting sleep claim him. When he awoke, they made steady time.

  They reached Zarinth late in the day. The soft burning in his belly hadn’t eased, though he hadn’t seen anybody following them.

  “That horse is going to cost me,” Bingham muttered.

  “I can pay for it,” Ty said.

  “I’m sure I can figure something out,” Bingham said. “After we move that relic.”

  Ty looked off into the distance, toward the jungle.

  “Ty?”

  “I just realized that when I went back to my old home, the sculpture wasn’t there.” He looked back to Bingham. “I should’ve thought about it before, but I was so focused on Roson James and the Dragon Touched that I hadn’t even paid any attention to it.” Then again, he was concerned about the dragon pearls as well. Or were they eggs? Ty didn’t know, but what he had seen within the Hatchery were certainly similar.

  “Then Roson must have gotten to it. He is one of the Dragon Touched. He probably realized that you had it.”

  It was unfortunate, but the only reason that he had the sculpture was because he had wanted to try to find a way to get to his brother. If he could uncover the real reason Albion had been in the city, he might be able to make a trade. That was his plan, at least.

  “The damn ghost king,” Eastley muttered. He was standing in place, fidgeting. “Doesn’t have enough?”

  “If he doesn’t buy the sculptures, then you don’t have anything to take.”

  “There are other things to take,” Eastley said. “And besides, I don’t really like them much.” When Ty looked at him, Eastley shrugged. “What? Don’t look at me like that. I’ve always found them a little strange. I know you and Bingham love the things, but they aren’t for me.”

  Ty shook his head, pulling out the note that Albion had left him, folding it and smoothing it out on his lap. “We need to get to the bottom of this now. If the answers are within the Flame, how am I going to figure this out?”

  “I thought you were going to break into the temple again?” Eastley said.

  “I’m not sure that’s exactly what he had meant,” Ty said, but he shrugged. “Maybe he had. He was a priest.” Or perhaps he still was. Ty didn’t know whether Albion had used it as an act and a way to sneak around as the Dragon Thief, or whether he truly had been faithful the entire time. If so, t
hen there was more taking place.

  “Maybe your brother just meant it was something you could pray on,” Bingham said.

  “I didn’t get that feeling.” He held the note out and looked up toward the temple. There was a bright burning light radiating from the top of the temple. A celebration of the Flame. “He was specific about it. He said that answers would be found in the Flame.” He looked over at Bingham before turning his attention back to the note.

  He held it out, using the light glowing off the distant tower to provide some illumination, and could make out the letters on it. Peering through the note this way, something started to shift and shimmer, making it so that some aspect of it changed.

  That was odd.

  “Do you see anything here?”

  Eastley leaned close, but shook his head.

  Bingham glanced over at him. “What should I see?”

  “Look at the glowing here.”

  Bingham frowned, leaning close to him, studying the note. “All I see are the strange symbols on the note. It doesn’t look any different than it did before.”

  Ty wasn’t convinced. It did look different, though he couldn’t quite tell why that would be. He thought about what him brother had said, and remembered him telling him he needed to use the Flame.

  He started to laugh.

  “What now?”

  “I’m just starting to think that maybe Albion was being literal with what he told me.”

  “Literal? He wants you to burn the note?”

  “Maybe, but maybe he just wants me to bring the note close to the Flame.”

  “Like I said,” Eastley said. “We’ve got to break into the temple.”

  “I’m not sure that’s it,” Bingham said softly. “I knew Albion a little bit. Not as well as I got to know you when you were younger, but he doesn’t seem a literal type.”

  “He’s a priest,” Eastley said.

  He was a priest, but he was also the Dragon Thief.

  Ty looked over to Bingham. He didn’t remember Bingham having any interaction with Albion, who had never gone with their mother to the city. He had always stayed with her father, more like him than like their mother, whereas Ty had always been much more like his mother. Albion had never had the same affinity for dragon relics that Ty had.

  “Maybe you are right,” he said, looking over to Eastley. “Maybe what I need to do is get back into the temple, see what is there, and try to figure out what my brother wanted me to find within the Flame.”

  Answers, at least from what he had said. Ty still doubted there were answers to be found there, but perhaps it was time for him to go digging.

  “Then I will meet you back at… by the Flame. I guess I don’t know where to meet.”

  “Why don’t we just meet outside of the temple? It won’t look strange if we gather in the plaza.”

  “Good,” Ty said, “because I’d like to get this over with. I’m tired of getting chased.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  They started through the streets, with Ty holding onto the note that Albion had given him. He traced his finger along it, as he had taken to doing, and couldn’t help but feel as if there was something more to it than just the answers within the Flame. Hopefully they would find those answers soon.

  “What now?” Eastley asked.

  “Now we see if we can’t make a plan. I’m not going into the temple without Bingham, but my brother had something here.”

  Ty still had the note. He held onto it as they made their way through the streets, fighting their way through the growing crowd. There were more people than there had been before, leaving Ty to wonder just how many had returned to the city while they had been away. There were soldiers, as well. More than he preferred seeing. He didn’t detect any Dragon Touched, but that was only a matter of time.

  He held out the note as they made their way through the street, looking up at the Flame atop the temple, all while studying the symbols. There had to be an answer there.

  “Are you sure you want to do that?” Eastley asked, nodding to a pair of soldiers that were scanning the crowd. “What if there are some Dragon Touched around?”

  Ty sighed. “It seems like something is different from the last time I looked at it. Maybe Albion had hidden something within the Flame.”

  They hadn’t gone very far when he recognized the street. He started to slow, and Eastley looked over to him.

  “Aren’t we supposed to get to the temple and meet Bingham?”

  “He has a few things he’s going to do first, so we don’t necessarily need to rush,” Ty said.

  “What is it?” Eastley followed the direction of his gaze, and Ty shook his head.

  “It’s just that this is a place where I used to work.”

  Eastley looked up at the sign. “A healer?” He started to smile. “I never would have pegged you for a healer. Maybe that’s why you went after that boy.”

  “I went after that boy because I worried that we might be responsible for whoever started the fire.” And he had been right. How would he have felt had he left the boy behind once he’d learned that the section of the city had been targeted because of him? “But I had spent some time with this healer.”

  “Does she know what you went off to do?”

  “She does. She didn’t approve.”

  “Shocking,” Eastley said, and he clapped Ty on the shoulder. “You have this healer that you are working with who disapproved of you becoming a thief? By the Flame, Ty. Can you imagine such a thing?”

  Ty started to smile when the door came open.

  He began to move into the shadows, but he wasn’t fast enough. Eastley was.

  Maeve stood framed in the doorway. Light streamed from inside, and she looked out into the street. “I heard the voices in the street,” she said, her voice sounding crackled and drive. “And I recognize your name, Tydornen. Did you get hurt again?”

  He stepped forward. He clutched the note that Albion had left him tightly in his fist, afraid to lose it. “No. I didn’t get hurt again. At least, not yet.”

  She flicked her gaze past him. “You and your friend can come inside.”

  “We don’t have much time,” Ty said.

  She arched a brow. “I’m sure Bingham can tolerate you waiting a little while.”

  Ty glanced back at Eastley, who stepped forward. They shuffled into Maeve’s home, and she poured them both a cup of tea, waving for them to sit.

  “I heard about what happened to Bingham’s shop. I don’t suppose you can tell me anything about it?”

  “It was the same man who shot me,” Ty said. “They are part of some false Order within the priesthood. I don’t know much more than that, but they were trying to smoke me out.”

  “A good thing they didn’t catch you in the fire. But then, I suppose it probably didn’t matter.”

  “Why wouldn’t it have mattered?”

  Maeve shrugged. “You’ve always had an easy enough time around heat, Ty. Your mother saw to that.”

  Ty found Eastley watching him, and he leaned forward. He had known that Maeve had likely known his mother, though she had never really explained how and why. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Only that she brought you to the Flame. Ishantil.” She took a seat across from them. “She was an interesting woman. Always chasing for something more.” She shook her head. “Don’t look at me like that, Tydornen. I didn’t know her well. Certainly not as well as Bingham did. They were thick as thieves. Well, maybe not quite that thick. Your mother was not a thief. More of a scavenger. Always searching for relics. She didn’t care anything for remnants.”

  Ty smiled to himself. He had been on many of those searches with his mother, and he remembered items they had found together. He didn’t know what she was looking for, only that she had never found it. Somehow, his mother believed some answer would be found within the relics.

  “I didn’t realize that you knew that about her.”

  “There are many things abo
ut your mother that I know.”

  “But not where they went.”

  “No,” Maeve said, shaking her head and taking a long sip of her tea. “It bothers Bingham, you know. He thought that she should have shared with him where she was going.”

  “Why would she have shared with him?”

  Maeve regarded him with a hint of a smile. “That is not for me to tell. But just know that he felt a protectiveness towards her. Without knowing where she went, and without having her eye for relics, he felt…” She took another drink of tea. “Now isn’t the time to talk about it, is it?” She glanced toward the door. “You must have uncovered what your brother was looking for. I remember you said that he had something else that he had found, and that when you were here before, this priesthood was chasing you for it. I take it you found it?”

  “Not yet, but I think I have a way of finding it.”

  “Is that where you were going?”

  “That is.”

  “And this Order?”

  “They are dangerous, Maeve. You need to be careful they don’t find you because of me.”

  She waved a hand. “You don’t need to worry about me. I can handle myself just fine.”

  Eastley leaned toward Ty. “We shouldn’t be here so long.”

  Maeve looked at him. “If the two of you need to get going, don’t let me be the holdup. But be careful. Both of you.” Ty set his mug of tea down, having barely touched it. When he stood, Eastley joined him.

  “You can always return here, Tydornen,” she said.

  “Thank you, Maeve.”

  They headed out of the home, leaving Ty wondering if Maeve had been watching for him, or if it had only been chance.

  “What was that about?” Eastley said once they got back in the street.

  “I don’t know. Maeve has always been peculiar.”

  “No. The part about your mother and Bingham. I didn’t realize the two of you had that kind of a connection.”

  “I’m not so sure that we do. It’s more that they knew each other.”

  “That must be why he treats you the way that he does.”

  “And what way is that?”

  “Easier than he treats the rest of us, that’s for sure.”