I kept moving, but my mind was in shock. Was Matt alive? Surely, I’d know if he was dead? My heart felt like it was tearing in two.
Was he right that the Dragons wanted him alive? I wasn’t so sure about Jacques and me. They certainly hadn’t been worried about putting a sword through the Satyr. His warm blood dripped over my arm and down my hand.
Haki had told us that the overflow led back to the river where it exited from beneath the fortress. If I could get Jacques out and somehow ditch our pursuers, I could come back for Matt.
Jacques stumbled, and I gritted my teeth as I half dragged him along the tunnel. How could things have gone so awry?
“It was a trap.” Jacques’s voice was barely audible.
A trap?
“Not for us,” Jacques continued. “For Sebastian.”
“No,” I said. “The trap for Sebastian was supposed to be in the halls above us, not in the tunnels.”
“They knew we were coming,” the Satyr pointed out.
Yes. Yes, they had. Pointless, now, to wonder how that happened. “Don’t talk,” I said. “Save your strength.”
Fresh air gusted from somewhere ahead—I thought I saw a circle of paler darkness. The end of the tunnel.
Then a silhouette rose against it. Metallic eyes gleaming green. Another effing Dragon shifter, between us and the exit.
“Well, what do we have here?” he hissed. “There are always vermin in our tunnels.”
I froze, Jacques hanging heavily off me, his strength fading with every second. I raised Talakai’s sword, pointing it toward the shifter. He was posturing, his tailspike sword held before him as he advanced.
He peeled his lips back from his teeth. “Nice to see the boss’s little trap caught something. Not what she wanted, but at least you’ll give me a bit of fun.”
“I’m not giving you anything,” I snarled at him.
He shrugged. “No matter. I’ll just take it.” He dropped a hand to his crotch and rubbed fingers over the large bulge forming beneath his scales.
I swallowed and backed away, brandishing the sword.
The Dragon snorted at it. “Your little stick won’t hurt me, baby. But it might add a hint of spice to our interaction.”
This guy liked to talk. If we got by him, were there others outside? I reached with my new talents and tried to sense what was there. The Dragon’s energy, enhanced by crystal, blazed like the sun. But I didn’t feel another behind him.
He was alone at this end of the tunnel.
Only—not.
I became aware of other motes of life energy all around me. Most were tiny—insects, perhaps. Others, not so small. None were huge, but there were a lot.
They were following me.
Scrapes echoed as more shifters came after us from the main tunnel. We were pinned between those in behind, and the one in front.
I slid Jacques’s arm off me and let him slump to the ground. The thing coiled within me was wide awake and pushing at me. I raised my free hand to my mouth and pulled the glove off with my teeth.
The Dragon’s eyes lit right up. “You’ll have to take off more than that, babe. But I can help.”
I ignored him and opened myself to the life that surrounded us. Hooked my own essence into it, and focused. Envisioned it descending upon those that followed us... And the one that faced us.
Instant mayhem from down the tunnel. Snarls and shouts, the sound of arms slapping at things, and cursing.
The Dragon at the entrance went stiff before he, too, began slapping at his skin. I sensed the hordes of tiny lives running over it, and some had jaws—they couldn’t penetrate his protective scales, but they crawled into his hair, ears, and eyes—and by the way he twitched, some eventually managed to squeeze between the scales, too.
