Aleena snorted. "Alto told me once that one of the reasons he trusted you was because you weren't like that. You were a thinking man and you valued that most in others."
Tristam chuckled and said, "So think, damn you. What could a lone woman possibly want living in mountains as harsh and unfriendly as the Northern Divide?"
Aleena and Celos looked at each other. This time, Celos spoke first. "She claims she wants to create a realm where a person is judged by their merit, not their race or gender."
"So she picks a place filled with creatures that are known for violence against humans," Tristam stated.
"Yes, but they are also a tolerant people," Aleena argued. Both men stared at her with a look on their faces that suggested she'd just hit them with an iron skillet. "Ogres, goblins, giants, trolls, and other races living together. They are violent, yes, but that was how they were taught to live. With a different teacher, perhaps they can change."
"You buy her story?" Tristam asked, staring at Aleena.
She bit her lip again before she nodded.
"And you?" the baron turned to Celos.
Celos shrugged. "I can find no fault with it, but it doesn't sit right with me."
Tristam sighed. "How do I know I'm not being lured into a trap designed to leave Highpeak leaderless?"
Aleena smiled. "She needs help. Even Rosalyn admits she's fearful of the results of her people building her capital city. You have miners who are out of work. They work with stone and the mountains are full of it. Take them with you, as well as some soldiers. Show up at her doorstep with a force of men eager to help her build and to teach her people how to do so. For a price. If it's a trap, you have a small army with you."
Tristam's eyes narrowed and he nodded. "Who knew under that pretty smile and mop of unruly hair lay such a sharp mind?"
Aleena smiled. "I will go with you. She invited me back and it offers me an opportunity to keep an eye on her. One more sword at your side and eyes from the church of Leander to ensure her motives are pure."
Celos frowned. "We should return to Portland to report."
"You should return," Aleena said. "Update them on things and then come back north. I will share what I've learned."
"It's not safe."
"I'm one of Leander's chosen!" she reminded him. "Safe is not in our job descriptions. Place your trust in me, Celos. And if I'm wrong, you can have the satisfaction of avenging me."
"I don't want you to be wrong!" He stopped and scowled as he realized what he'd just said. He glared at her and then nodded. "I don't like it, but your reasoning is sound."
"Now you're learning," Aleena said.
"Learning what?" Tristam asked from where he watched them bicker.
"To treat me the right way."
Tristam laughed. "Just give up now, my friend. She's snared you and she'll always win."
Celos stiffened and Aleena's eyes widened. She glanced at the laughing baron and then back at Celos. She'd snared him? Did that mean he thought that she and Celos…
"Well, I'd best make plans to go on a journey. Aleena, do whatever it is you need to do. I'll make sure we're ready to leave in the morning two days hence. Speak to my aide about a room."
"I'll stay at the temple," Aleena said.
Tristam waved his hand. "Whatever you like," he said. He turned to Celos. "No tearful goodbyes in my office. Be off, you two!"
Chapter 17
"How does this stupid thing open?" Garrick growled as he and Mordrim both worked on trying to open the crate.
"Are you sure that's the door?" Alto asked.
"Aye," Mordrim confirmed. "I looked at them all. I'd stake my beard on it."
"Were we played for fools?" Patrina wondered aloud.
Alto clenched his teeth. He'd been wondering the same thing.
"Step back," Mordrim warned Garrick. The barbarian punched the crate in frustration and did as the dwarf asked. Mordrim grabbed his hammer and swung it hard and fast, cracking into the wood and breaking through. He yanked it out, pulling some of the wood with it, and then reached in and broke more of it away. The dwarf turned and looked at Garrick. "You can help."
Garrick stepped in and started prying away the boards. He paused only to take out his hatchet and hack at hard wood making up the wall of the crate. Patrina cleared her throat from behind the warriors.
"Excuse me, boys," she said as she held her axe in her hands. They looked at her and then each other, and then shrugged as one and stepped out of her way. Patrina brandished the axe and let it fall, and then she repeated the motion twice more. She stepped back with a smile on her face.
The wall of the tall crate was broken in enough to allow for them to easily break away the rest of the wood. In a few moments, Mordrim stuck his head in and peered around, and then cried out and retreated, only to reach in and fumble around until his hand found what he was after. A click sounded and the wall swung out, revealing a hole in the floor and an iron ladder leading down.
"That's why I keep her around," Alto said while he stepped up to Patrina and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "She always axes the right questions."
Karthor was the first to shake his head, followed by a groan from Patrina. Carson and Garrick blinked, not understanding the joke. "Leave the bad jokes to Namitus," Patrina told him.
Alto smiled and waited for Mordrim to climb down the ladder before he followed. The others followed after until they found themselves in a tunnel that was tall enough for Alto to stand but Garrick had to bend over. It was four feet wide, barely enough for two of them to walk side by side. Wooden beams supported boards that lined the walls and ceiling of the tunnel, though they could feel sand occasionally fall from between the boards of the ceiling.
"Let me lead," Patrina called out softly.
"It's dark!" Garrick growled.
"I can make some light," Karthor offered.
"No, Trina's right," Alto said. "She can see in the dark."
"She can do what?" Mordrim repeated.
"I can see shades," Patrina explained. "The walls and floor are darker than the open passage ahead of us. All of you are glowing—you're so bright."
"Heat vision," Mordrim grunted. "Heard of it before. Some dwarves got it, but you aren't a dwarf."
"I noticed it after Thork gave me this armor," she said.
The dwarf grunted and shuffled up against the wall of the passage.
"Go ahead," Alto offered.
She squeezed past him but stopped in the dark to return his earlier kiss, save that hers was on his lips. Her hand brushed across his thigh beneath his chain shirt and then she was gone. Alto squinted in the darkness but so little light filtered down from above that he could barely make out her silhouette.
"Come on," Patrina said over her shoulder. She started out and the others followed, bumbling about in the darkness and often running into one another. She stopped, forcing them all to run into the person in front of them. "The passage ends in a hall; it goes left and right."
"Go right," Alto said.
Patrina turned and led the way down the right-hand hall. She stopped again after a couple of minutes. "Ladder on my right."
"Keep going," Alto said. "It's too soon."
"What if they wanted us close by, so it would be easier to get us together?" Karthor suggested.
Alto shook his head, unseen in the dark, and said, "No, not yet."
Patrina walked on and stopped again when another passage joined on the left. They turned down it and after two more ladders, Alto decided they should go up.
"What makes this one better?" Karthor asked in the darkness.
"Nothing," Alto admitted. "I'm lost in the dark and I want to know where we are."
Garrick laughed while Mordrim cursed. "I can get us back," the dwarf said.
"I don't want to go back."
"Then why—"
"This is as good as any," Alto reasoned. "We're far enough from the shipping house to start looking."
Patrina climbed up the ladd
er and triggered the release on the inside. She climbed out and looked around, and then whispered down the hole, "Looks like a pantry or a stockroom of an inn!"
She moved out of the way so Mordrim and Alto could climb up, and then the others. They squeezed out from between two massive barrels and moved towards a door in the wall. Alto cracked it open and peered through, and then swore.
"I'm going to kill him," the warrior vowed as he started to pull the door open.
Patrina stopped him with a hand on the door. She pushed her way in and looked through the crack, and then gasped. She shook her head but wouldn't move so Alto could open the door and make good on his promise. She looked up at him. "No, we don't dare sound an alarm!"
"Who is it?" Carson asked the question on all their minds.
"The innkeeper from the Seventh Djinni," Patrina answered.
"So that's how they got in," Mordrim muttered.
"Bastard lied to me!" Alto hissed.
"He's not the first or the last," Patrina pressed.
"Because of him you were hurt, almost killed. I can't let that go unpunished," Alto said.
Patrina laid her hand on his arm and stared into his eyes. "You can't always be there, Alto. You can't protect me from everything. Will you hold yourself to blame when I get a cold next time too?"
"But—"
Patrina placed her fingers to his lips. "You are my champion, but I recall saving you, too."
Alto closed his eyes and let out the tension in his shoulders. "He'll pay for this," Alto promised.
"Another time, yes, but not now."
"Back to the Shadows," Mordrim said, turning and motioning for everyone to go back. Amid grumbling, they descended back into the dark passage and resumed their marching order with Patrina at the front.
She'd walked less than a minute when she announced another ladder. Alto was about to send her up when he noticed a light flickering down the hallway ahead of them. It grew brighter as it approached, and then it rounded a corner and blinded them all with the distant spark of the lantern.
"Quick! Up the ladder!" Alto hissed. "Before he gets close enough to see us."
"We won't make it in time," she whispered back.
"Excuse me, Karthor, could you crouch down a bit?" Carson asked from the rear of the group.
The priest turned and gasped as he found himself staring at the business end of an arrow. He ducked down and leaned over, pushing Garrick out of the way in the process. Carson aimed down the left wall of the passage, using the lantern's light to silhouette his arrow and bow. He let go of his string and the arrow leapt out, arcing up near the ceiling of the low tunnel before it dropped and slammed into the chest of the man carrying the light.
The man fell, dropping his lantern in the process. The glass cracked and flame burst up as the oil poured across the sandy floor and onto the wooden supports.
"Uh oh," Carson muttered.
"Not again," Alto growled, suddenly reminded of a fire that had started when he'd come to retrieve Namitus from a late-night rendezvous with a merchant's daughter. It had burned the home to the ground and nearly cost the merchant his family. "Up the ladder," he ordered.
"Alto, this will burn the city to the ground!" Patrina warned.
Alto stared at the puddle of flame. He frowned. "Good distraction," he offered.
She shook her head. "People will die. Decent people, not just Shadows and Stalkers. Maybe Caitlyn or Namitus. Maybe us."
Alto nodded. "Get up that ladder," he said. "I'll come as soon as I can."
"You can't—"
Alto kissed her, silencing her and then he grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up through the hole until she was forced to grab on and pull herself up. Mordrim followed behind her, blocking the ladder. Garrick and Karthor went next, leaving Carson and Alto in the tunnel.
"Go," Alto said as he turned away.
"I made the fire," Carson said. "I'll help you."
Alto grunted and jogged down the tunnel. The fire was starting to spread beyond the oil and onto the slightly damp wood. The dry air contrasted with the moisture of being underground to leave the wood dry on the surface but damp underneath. It slowed the burning and helped as Alto tried to stomp out the flames.
Alto sputtered as sand was flung at him. He stepped back and turned to see Carson digging up damp sand and flinging it without looking towards the fire. Alto dropped to his own knees and started doing the same thing in hopes of putting the fire out.
Several minutes passed and both men were sweating and hacking from the smoke. The last of the flame was squashed beneath a clump of sand, plunging the tunnel back into darkness. Carson chuckled and coughed.
"How far back?" he asked after he'd gotten control of his breathing.
Alto grunted and rose to his feet. He crouched after taking a breath and realizing how smoky the air was near the roof of the passage. "Come on," he rasped. Alto passed the ranger and tapped him on the arm to signal him.
They moved slowly, each step a question. Alto trailed his hand along the wall in search of the ladder. He found it after a couple of minutes and then climbed up to a small room. Alto felt around in the dark and wished for his shield to light his way.
"Where are we?" Carson hissed.
"Up here!" Patrina's voice called down.
"Up where?" Alto asked.
A moment later, he felt her hand on his arm. She grabbed his hand, squeezed it, and then pulled him after her. He tripped when his feet encountered stairs, crashing with a thud onto them. Patrina hissed at him to be careful. He clenched his jaw and fought the urge to tell her how much easier it would have been if she'd warned him about the stairs. A few moments later, he was at the top and began to make out shapes in the darkness.
"We're in a root cellar," Karthor whispered.
Alto grunted and waited until he heard Carson stumble up the stairs and join them. "Can we get out?" Alto asked.
"Door's over here," Garrick said. "Shorty's ready when you are."
A muffled grunt followed Garrick's words, indicating a reprisal from the dwarf.
Alto drew his sword and bathed the room in a faint green light. Alto smirked as he looked at the surprised expressions on the faces of his friends.
"Why does it do that?" Patrina asked.
"Fear," Alto said. "Thork and Jarook's influence, I think. I've noticed it glows when someone nearby is afraid."
They all looked at one another as if it would be obvious who was responsible for the glow. "I'm afraid," Patrina admitted. "Afraid for us and afraid for Namitus."
"I'm not afraid to say I'm a bit, er, afraid," Carson said. "I'm used to jungle and ocean. This city stuff is awkward."
"I'm worried about all of us," Karthor said, though his eyes focused mainly on Alto.
"Bunch of pansies," Mordrim muttered.
Garrick chuckled. "Can't tell if you peed yourself. There's not enough leg for it to run down!"
Mordrim turned to Alto. "Sheathe that thing so nobody sees what I'm going to do to him."
"Enough," Alto snapped. "The door—let's find out where we are."
Mordrim turned back to the door and opened the latch, and then opened it enough to peer through. He pushed further and stepped out, motioning for the others to follow. "Kitchen," he whispered.
They moved into the large kitchen and looked around. The faint light from Alto's blade played over the room, showing a basket filled with fruit, two wood-burning stoves, and several barrels propped on a rack.
"Another inn?" Alto whispered.
"No," Karthor said. "Just a large kitchen. Perhaps for a wealthy merchant or lord?"
"Should we go or stay?" Patrina asked.
Alto frowned and looked at his sword again. Was the glow stronger? "Let's check it out," he said. Carson moved to a door and was about to open it when he noticed the window next to it. He frowned and turned away. "This leads outside."
Garrick turned to the door closest to him and moved to the handle. He twisted it and opened i
t, and then peered down a hallway lit only by the starlight coming in through the windows on the right side of the hall. "Empty hall," he grumbled.
Patrina opened a third door and nodded. "Small dining room. Too small for a kitchen like this."
"Servants," Karthor whispered.
"The hallway," Alto decided. He started towards it but Garrick entered first and moved quickly to the far door. Alto nodded when the others had come up behind him.
Garrick pulled the door open and reached for his sword. Alto placed his hand on his shoulder, stopping him with the blade half drawn. The figures in the darkness were suits of armor, nothing more. They were attached to stands and spaced evenly along the walls that surrounded a table.
"Merchant," Karthor guessed.
"Let's go," Alto said as he turned away.
"Wait," Patrina hissed. "Why would a merchant's house have an entrance from the Shadows?"
Alto opened and closed his mouth. His eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying there's more to this place," she suggested. To add weight to her words, they heard a thud of something above them.
"All right, let's keep going. The door over there." Alto looked from the ceiling to the door on the other side of the dining room.
Garrick shrugged and went towards it. He stepped through and looked around, and then drew his sword slowly. Alto followed his eyes and saw a staircase leading up, complete with a dim light lighting the hall at the top of the staircase.
They heard another thump, this one loud enough to sound like something hit the floor. Alto pushed ahead up the stairs with the large man close on his heels. At the top of the stairs, he looked down a hallway that was lit by light spilling out of two open doorways. A door at the end of the hallway opened up and revealed a man pulling a dark cloak over his armor. He stopped and stared at Alto and Garrick, and then his eyes flicked to Patrina, Mordrim, Karthor, and Carson as they climbed the stairs behind them.
"Intruders!" the man shouted before he jumped back through the doorway and slammed the door shut. Other cries rose up, including those from men in the two open doorways. The glow from Alto's blade intensified.
They stood there, at a loss, and then heard the muffled voice of the man who had seen them through the door. "It's them! The northlanders!"
Chasing the Dragon Page 13
