by Lee Hayton
“Stay at the entrance,” Baile told the two men. “You’ve done a great job today so it’s time to step back and let someone else walk ahead for a while. If this tunnel leads us where we want, then I’m sure Wella has a permanent seat at her table for the both of you.”
The men grinned uneasily at each other and Shandra had to duck her head down to hide a smile. What would once have been an honor indeed, looked like it had turned into a punishment—at least for these two men.
“Are you actually going to travel inside the whole length?” Shandra whispered, then winced as the tunnel took her words and sent them rolling back toward the entrance, amplifying them the entire way.
“We need to see how far this extends into the mountain, so we know how much damage its discovery will cause.” Baile stopped for a moment, hands on his hips, blowing out a breath in a huff. “I can’t believe this thing actually exists. Hopefully, another few yards will see it come to an end.”
“I doubt people would have worked to extend its walls if it didn’t lead somewhere.”
“They could have built it up as a hiding place. Goodness knows, I think I could’ve traveled by the entrance a hundred times before I saw it was a way in.”
“Yeah. Those men were really lucky to spy the gap.”
Baile’s eyebrows lifted at her tone and they exchanged a rueful glance. “Well, let's see the damage,” he said, turning back to the task at hand. He walked ahead of her into the deepening darkness of the tunnel. Even with torches, the loss of sunlight made the small opening oppressive.
After another few turns, with absolutely no daylight following along their trail, Shandra could have sworn the rocks above them had increased in weight. She could feel them hanging in the air, losing purchase, ready to fall and crush them into nothing.
“Look here.” Baile lifted up his torch and shone it near a shadow on the wall. As Shandra came nearer, she saw it was another tunnel, of a smaller circumference, leading off the main.
She peered inside, holding her own torch at arm’s length to illuminate the rough stone walls. A few seconds later, she shuddered and turned away, her breath starting to come in rough pants. If it wasn’t for the steady flame of her torch, Shandra would have thought the air was thinning out so much she couldn’t breathe.
While Baile continued to stare into the small space in wonder, Shandra pushed past him to continue along the larger tunnel. She hoped it would come to an end soon, then she’d have the perfect excuse to turn and run out of there.
If she still had the breath to run.
After another two turns, meeting more rock each time, Shandra felt the air lighten around her. The oppressive weight of the mountain lessened, and her flame flickered with a small breath of circulating air.
One more turn and the tunnel opened up into an enormous cavern. With wide eyes, Shandra stared up at the roof, unable to see where the space ended in the light from her weak flame. As she took a few steps inside the gargantuan hollow, her torch twinkled in reflection off a pile of jewels in front of her. “Oh, shit.”
Baile walked up behind her, letting air out through his teeth. “At least it’s empty.”
Shandra nodded but dread still crept up her spine, twanging every nerve stored there on its way. The only explanation for a pile of treasure inside a cavern was a dragon. Not a shifter, but a true dragon. Through and through. The meanest and most ferocious creature the world had ever produced.
Even worse than Wella with a hangover.
Just as Shandra was about to suggest they retreat, her torch flickered again. This time, it wasn’t the small movement of air able to circulate in a larger space. The flame pressed back against her, almost burning her chest, pushed back there by the movement of something large through the opposite tunnel.
A dragon on its way home.
Chapter Nine
Shandra clapped her hand over her mouth to stop a scream. She backed up, moving as silently as she could manage. Still, every step sounded like a giant’s fist pounding into the hillside.
When she bumped into Baile, he steadied her, then reached over to snuff her flame out with a cupped hand. Of course. It was no use being silent when she was carrying a light to show the dragon exactly where she stood.
In the dark, the space around her shrank down to a pinhole. It felt as though the walls were pressed tightly against each inch of her body, crushing against the walls of her chest until the breath stopped still in her lungs.
Then, Baile was dragging her along behind him. How he could see in the awful darkness, Shandra didn’t know or care. She submitted entirely to his sure step, letting him pull her along until he stopped short, then pushed her to the side.
The small tunnel. Bad enough when she could see it by flickering torchlight. A thousand times worse in the dark. The rough stone scraped and cut into her knees as she scrambled along the side tunnel. The walls shrank down, smaller with each crawled step, brushing against her shoulders and hips, then pressing, then so small she had to drop onto her stomach and pull herself into the space ahead with her hands.
When Baile tapped on her feet—stop—Shandra had never felt so grateful. She came to a halt, her eyes flashing the last remnants of what she’d seen in bright colors on the dark screen of her surrounds.
A thought shoved its way into her mind. I can smell you. It’s no use running. I’ll be able to find you in the darkness and I’ll strip the flesh from your bones.
Shandra shoved her forearm against her mouth to stop a startled cry from emerging. The dragon had wormed its own thoughts directly into her head!
I’m coming for you. Just like you came for my treasure.
She struggled, pulling herself along the tunnel again, knowing all the while she might soon end up like a cork inside the neck of a bottle. Baile’s touch on her foot had gone. Had he left her alone in the dark?
You’re always alone, little girl. Come out, come out, wherever you are!
The idea the creature was sucking out her thoughts and replacing them with its own drove a nail of fear into Shandra’s heart. For a second, blind panic filled her, lighting up her mind with a burst of static so intense, no thoughts could exist.
Not even the dragon’s.
With a flood of new energy, Shandra pulled herself forward again, filling her mind with the same emptiness she tried to find before a battle. When she’d gone up against men a foot taller and half her weight again in a fight, clearing her mind of all thoughts was the only way her body could find the space to plan out the moves to save her life.
If the creature was tracking her thoughts, then she needed to not have any.
Pull, scrape. Pull. Scrape.
That was all that existed in the world and all that ever had existed. Darkness and blankness and nothingness.
Pull. Scrape.
Then emptiness wasn’t just in her mind, it was around her. Shandra reached out a hand for the next hold and found nothing but air. She clutched at the darkness until her hand found the side of the tunnel. A new tunnel. She wriggled and struggled and fell into a new gap in the rock. One large enough for her to stand.
I found you. I can see you.
Shandra turned and shoved her arms into the small space she’d just emerged from. She slapped against the side of the walls, finding nothing, and despair rose in a cloud, infiltrating her lungs and being pulled deep into her body.
With a small cry, she wormed back into the tiny space, then felt the outstretched fingertips of Baile. When she grabbed his hand and tugged, she understood. His body was wider, his shoulders broader.
He was stuck fast.
Shandra pressed her body hard against the walls and braced herself to pull as hard as she could. When a soft whimper came out of the darkness, tears slipped down her face. She was hurting him. She knew it.
Despite the knowledge, Shandra pulled at Baile’s arms again.
With each tiny advance forward, she was able to find better purchase for the next pull until he popped out of th
e tunnel and fell on top of her. She slid her hands up and down his body, checking for damage. Baile grasped her hands, kissed them, then together they struggled to their feet.
A soft light spilled into the new tunnel. Shandra headed toward it, hoping the light wasn’t the glow from another fantastic beast. As soon as she had the thought, another one was thrust into her head—I’m coming. You won’t be quick enough to get away.
Baile must have caught a similar thought and they broke into a run at the same time, soon sprinting as hard as they could in order to get away. The light grew stronger, the air became fresher.
Another turn and the light grew so strong Shandra shielded her eyes.
Another and they spilled out of the tunnel into the full morning sun. Shandra tripped on the rough ground and fell to her knees, scrabbling back to her feet a second later.
I’m there. I’ve caught you. You can’t run fast enough to lose me.
The heat of flames at her back and Shandra found another burst of energy lying deep inside her. She sprinted, her arm flicking against Baile’s side as she did so, the thought of capture and torture filling up her mind until there was nothing else left.
Hoofbeats. Shandra glanced up to see Wella approaching on horseback. Behind her, the entire motley army they’d traveled with rode in formation.
I’ll be waiting for you. If you come for my treasure again, you’re dead.
Shandra tripped and fell again, this time sprawling full-length, so far beyond exhausted that she could barely flip herself over to look back.
Another entrance was carved into the hillside. They’d missed it, even though she, Baile, and the two men who’d found the first tunnel had traveled past the same rockface to reach the cave they’d entered.
She saw it now because its outline stood in stark contrast to the dragon hunkered down just inside.
Red scales, glowing green eyes, flame shooting from its nostrils with every breath.
The creature was lithe, sinewy. Nothing like the awesome creatures her harem could shift into. A thing to disgust rather than excite.
With the last of her strength, Shandra pushed herself back a few inches, trying to get away. She needn’t have bothered. With the straggling might of Wella’s hastily assembled army at her back, the dragon didn’t feel inclined to put up a fight. With a flick of its bright tail, it turned and scurried back into its lair.
As soon as its body was out of sight, the entrance faded into the shadows and curves of the rock.
“I think you owe me a debt of gratitude,” Wella said, jumping down from her horse to prod a toe into Shandra’s side. “And I guess that means we’ve found a way into the mountain.”
Shandra laughed weakly, closed her eyes, and breathed in deeply. She never wanted to venture inside that mountain, ever again.
Chapter Ten
“You know the way.” Wella stared at Shandra across the back of her horse. “We’ll need you and your friend to go back inside and get the dragon to chase you again. Once it’s out in the open, I’ll be able to take care of it.”
Shandra leaned against the horse more than she stood beside it. Even though she fancied herself a strong woman, dealing with the tunnels, then the dragon, had worn all her energy down to a nub. Still, she would have acceded to the demand—a short rest in the sun would restore her—except for the hungry look in Wella’s eye.
The naked yearning told her something here was very wrong.
“I can’t go back inside,” she said with a shake of her head. “At least not today. I have to rest and get my strength back.”
Wella’s smirk told Shandra exactly what she thought of that.
“If you’d like to run through the tunnels in the dark, pushing yourself into crawl spaces barely big enough for dwarves, let alone humans, then be my guest.” Shandra moved away, hunching her body over to appear more tired than she was. “I can still hold and aim a sword or an arrow. Better I do that and succeed than try to go back through those tunnels and fail.”
“Elgerry. Wilma.” Wella clicked her fingers, and the two rushed to her side. “We need volunteers to go inside the tunnels since these two are scared to go back inside. If you can’t find at least four to do it, you’re volunteering yourselves.”
The pair rushed off to find someone else to do the job while Shandra bit her lip. She should have known her refusal wouldn’t stop the woman and didn’t want others to be sacrificed in her stead.
When a situation called for redirection, prompting anger had never gone astray. Shandra folder her arms across her chest and pursed her lips. “If you’re not prepared to go into those tunnels, I don’t see why you think your men will volunteer.”
“You’re not going in there, either.” Wella glared at her. “Don’t forget that. You can try to come across all high and mighty when you’re not weaseling out of your orders.”
Shandra shook her head again and backed away. Her thoughts were already scrambled from the dragon shoving its own musings in there. The strange sensation had sapped some of her mental will. It took more effort than it should to change tack.
“You’d do better trying to find a way to hide the army in case that dragon decides it wants to challenge us.” Shandra waved her arm across the collection of men, standing around and waiting for someone else to do something. “The soldiers might have looked impressive when they rode up this time, as an unexpected opponent. Once the dragon has time to think on the matter, it might see how feeble the actual crew is.”
“You’re calling my men and women feeble?” Wella raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the people milling behind her. “Did you hear what she said?”
One man stepped forward, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. “We’re not much of a force, to be honest. If I were a dragon and saw us coming, I think I’d rate my chances.”
“If I want your bloody insipid opinion, I’ll ask for it!”
The man stepped back, his expression caught halfway between confused and entertained.
“You did ask for it,” Shandra pointed out, this time sporting her own smirk. “Just because you didn’t hear what you wanted, doesn’t change facts.”
“I can go back into the tunnels.” Baile stepped forward between the pair, dismantling Shandra’s strategy in one move. “With my eyesight, I’m better equipped than the other men to see my way through the tunnels without the need of a torch.”
“Really?” Wella scanned him slowly, from head to toe. “It’s not your kin in there, is it?”
The look of disgust on Baile’s face would have told her the truth better than any denial.
“How many men will you need to take in with you?”
“None.” Baile jerked his head toward Shandra. “On that point, she’s right. The rest of the army needs to hide out of sight of the dragon. It already knows we’re out here, so we’ve lost that surprise. At least, if it doesn’t see you all waiting out here, it might still be fooled.”
“I can’t hide the entire army away for a surprise attack.” Wella thrust her jaw forward, squinting down her nose.
Baile laughed. “Between me and Shandra, we can take care of the dragon just fine. I’ll instruct her on how to attack and if we’re lost, at least you’re only down two men. You can rally and try again.”
Wella’s eyes narrowed as she glanced from one to the other, as though sensing a trick. If there was one to be had, Shandra wished Baile would let her in on it. She kept her face neutral, her hand automatically moving to the hilt of her sword.
“Okay. Plan out your attack and I’ll get my guards to move the rest of the army under cover and out of the way.” Wella gave a short nod and signaled to her men. “Let me know if you get too tired.”
“What’s the real plan?” Shandra whispered, moving close to Baile and sheltering their conversation from Wella with her shoulder. “You can’t really expect me to fight a dragon alone, can you?”
“You won’t be alone. I’ll be here.” Baile’s voice was already low but it d
ropped into a softer register as he added, “There’s something about her urgency to get the dragon that I don’t trust.”
“I never trust anything about the woman.” Shandra risked a quick glance back at Wella, then shrugged. “But, she certainly does seem keen. How are you going to get the dragon out in the open? If it’s expecting the whole army to be lying in wait, it’s not going to come blundering out here.”
“It will, so long as I steal something from it. Once that’s done, it’ll chase me to the ends of the earth to get it back.”
“Will you be okay?” She searched his face, not sure what she was looking for, but Baile didn’t appear worried.
“I’ll shift if I need to. At the most, it’ll be one dragon against another. With you on board, that ups my chances considerably.”
“I hope so. I’m not sure I can help much if the battle strays far from here. I might have been overplaying my physical exhaustion to Wella, but I don’t have endless reserves of strength.”
“You won’t need them. Trust me.”
Baile walked closer to the tunnels, closing his eyes and placing his hand flat on the rockface. Shandra stared at his back for a long moment, enjoying the ripple of his muscles under his shirt, then turned as Wella shouted at the soldiers.
The overlord pointed them to the undergrowth where Zen had hidden earlier. Shandra supposed he’d already had the sense to move on, but if he hadn’t, then he and Wella would soon both be getting a surprise.
At least with the distraction of the dragon’s attack, it kept them from advancing up the mountain to chase the needed mineral. With the way things were going, the army would face another camp-out overnight before they reached the frontline of the dwarf guards.
