Secrets of the Sword 2 (Death Before Dragons Book 8) Read online

  “Uh.” I stopped and held up a finger. We’d reached a valley of the same squat evergreens I’d seen when visiting this world with Zav. “The lich’s new lair is the place you want to take me?”

  “Yes.”

  “How about you just show me the photos and then we go back to Earth?”

  Li turned to regard me. She hadn’t cleaned her wounds or even wiped the dried blood from her face. If I’d had my own pack, I would have offered her the contents of my first-aid kit. Maybe she had her own first-aid kit and simply couldn’t be bothered to stop and tend to her wounds. Her eyes had the hard determination of a zealot on a mission.

  “You would accept photographs as proof that I am the rightful owner of that sword?” Li touched a lump in her pocket that was probably a smartphone.

  “No. You could easily have doctored photos.”

  “I assumed that would be your response. That is why I will take you and show you in person.”

  “While the lich is there?”

  “It leaves sometimes.”

  “No pizza delivery to underground tombs?”

  “I believe not.” Li turned, as if we’d made our decision and were going.

  “Look, I’m open to checking this place out—” hell, my entire reason for coming to this world originally had been to check it out, “—but not with only you for backup. No offense.”

  “Summon your tiger again then.” Her voice had turned bitter, and she touched the claw marks on her face. “Only keep him off me.”

  “If you hadn’t been trying to steal my sword, he wouldn’t have jumped on you.”

  I touched Sindari’s charm, tempted to do exactly what she suggested, but I didn’t need him for a hike through the woods. If we came face-to-face with undead minions—or a dragon lich—I would need him then.

  “I was thinking more of Zav,” I called, though Li was speed walking away from me again, heading resolutely toward the dark, distant peak. “He knows there’s a problem here, and he’s in a meeting right now with his dragon kin about this very world. How about we go back to Earth, grab a hot apple cider, and wait to storm the tomb until after the dragons have handled the lich?”

  That sounded like a reasonable request.

  “We can’t,” Li said.

  “Why?”

  “Your trap and your tiger separated me from the belongings I brought. When I freed myself from his claws, there was no time to grab the rest of my gear. I saw you near the Zhapahai and had to act quickly.”

  Quickly or impulsively? I worried where she was going with this.

  “I am without the portal generator that would have allowed us to return, and the Zhapahai was also left behind.”

  I stopped walking. “Meaning we’re trapped here?”

  “Yes.”

  I trusted Zav would realize I was missing and come to find me, but how long would that take? From what I’d seen, dragons didn’t make decisions quickly. His meeting could involve days of deliberation. And until he returned to Earth to check on me, he wouldn’t know I was missing. And even when he realized I was, would he know to check here? He hadn’t known where that box would lead. He might first spend days scouring that haunted world in search of me.

  Li had not stopped walking. I was tempted to fold my arms over my chest and refuse to continue with her, but I didn’t have any supplies or gear for surviving on an alien world. She might not have her portal generator, but she had a pack that probably held food and water. I hoped. So far, I hadn’t seen any water out here, and who knew if streams on dwarven worlds were safe for humans to drink from?

  She must have realized I’d stopped, for she turned to look at me. “You will not come?”

  “It’s a bad idea. We should wait for the dragons.”

  To my surprise, she tilted her head and seemed to consider it. “When will they come?”

  “I don’t know. It might be a few days.” Or weeks. I grimaced at the idea of trying to survive off the land here for that long.

  She also grimaced. “That is too long.”

  “You got a hot date you need to get back for?”

  “My people need me.”

  “They can’t need you that badly, or you wouldn’t have quested all the way to the US—and to here—to steal my sword.”

  Li hesitated. “It was at their request—at my mother’s request—that I came. I have only recently become aware of you and that you have my father’s sword. Recently, it was emitting a beacon that allowed me to sense it.”

  Her and everyone else. I sighed.

  “I told my mother I knew where the sword was, and she insisted that I retrieve it. I must honor her request.” Again, Li hesitated, as if reluctant to share any of this with a stranger. “I wish for my mother to see that I am successful before… She is dying.”

  “Sorry,” I said automatically, though I didn’t know yet if I cared. I was stuck here because of Li.

  I also didn’t trust that this wasn’t an elaborate spiel that she was making up on the fly to win my sympathy. Admittedly, I wanted that to be the case, because if she proved to me that Chopper belonged to her… what then?

  21

  The soreness of my feet suggested we’d walked at least ten miles before we came out of the rugged forest and onto a road built of pavers. Wide and gray and flawless, the uniformly shaped and fitted stones stretched through the trees, heading toward the black mountain that grew larger and larger as we traveled closer.

  I hadn’t decided yet if I would go inside with Li once we reached it. It seemed like a very bad idea. I’d spent the last five miles eyeing her backpack and contemplating beating her up to take it, then running off to camp in the woods until Zav came looking for me. But I hadn’t seen Li fight yet. It was possible she could kick my ass, or at least injure me badly, and then what? I would not only be stuck here, but I’d be wounded.

  It crossed my mind to shoot her in the back, but she’d stopped and shared her water and given me a granola bar. Bullets would be a poor way to pay her back. Besides, with all the magical items she carried, she might have armor that could deflect Fezzik’s rounds. That simple black helmet surely wasn’t there for decoration.

  Earlier, I’d asked Li about her magical artifacts, and what kind of training she’d had, but she hadn’t answered. I probably should have been more subtle, pretending I just wanted to chat and wasn’t trying to get intel on her. But subtle wasn’t one of my talents.

  I touched Sindari’s charm on its thong and considered summoning him for company. I’d called him forth earlier to make sure I still could. He’d been startled to find himself on the dwarven world, saying he’d been trying to catch Li, after she’d escaped from him back on Earth, when our bond had snapped. That had thrown him back to his realm without warning. Unfortunately, he’d seen no more than I about what happened with my mother.

  Not sure how soon we would run into danger, I resisted the urge to summon him. I was positive I would need Sindari later.

  I would also need to sneak off into the woods to use my inhaler again soon. The sulfur-tainted air of this place was bothering my lungs more than usual. I would pay a lot of money if some magical being could wave a hand over me and cure my overreactive body. In the meantime, I tried to think calm, meditative thoughts as we walked. It didn’t help. Despite Mary’s regular admonitions that I should practice more often, my meditation skills hadn’t improved. If I could ever see results from my practice, I might be more inclined, but it always seemed futile.

  “I have been considering your reluctance to enter the tomb,” Li said over her shoulder, speaking for the first time in an hour.

  “The tomb isn’t the problem; this lich you’ve promised me is.”

  Furry animals that peeped like marmots commented on our passage as they skittered among the trees. Numerous birds chattered in the branches, though their markings were all alien to me. Once, I saw something parrot-sized with butterfly-like wings fly past.

  “As I told you,” Li said, “I was in the
re before. There are a great many artifacts inside. I am not certain if the dwarves placed them there to protect their dead or if the lich stole them to hoard.”

  “Did the lich not discuss his dreams and goals with you while he was chasing you out of his lair?”

  “It did not.” Li insisted on not giving the lich a sex. Maybe once you were undead, such things didn’t matter. “It must have ambitions, or why would an already-powerful dragon consider giving up its breathing body in exchange for a little more power, but it’s hard to imagine that hoarding artifacts is one of them. I believe it more likely that the dwarves put them there. My reason for telling you this is that it’s possible we could find another portal generator. Will that motivate you to go inside?”

  “I don’t know. What are the odds that it would lead to Earth? Does yours go to more than one place?”

  “Not that I was able to determine, but it returned me to Earth after I used it to come here. I originally found it in my homeland, near the camp my father and the other dwarves lived in before they were slain by the government. I believe my father made it to allow my mother to visit him once his people left.” Her voice turned hard. “Unfortunately, they were not permitted to leave. They were deemed freaks and eradicated.”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled, feeling like I was saying that a lot to her tales. “How old were you then?”

  “Five. I remember my father and my uncles—they were not blood uncles, but my father called them thus—and how excited I was whenever they came to visit the village. They always knew it was dangerous to mingle with humans, but my father and my mother had a secret relationship and loved each other, I believe.” She glanced back. “Your story is similar?”

  “Yeah.” Similar but without the eradication. “I didn’t get to meet my father until recently though.”

  Li blinked. “He still lives?”

  “In Veleshna Var, yes.”

  “His people escaped your government then.” Her mouth twisted with bitterness, but she didn’t say anything else, merely faced forward again and continued to walk.

  But we’d only taken a few more steps when numerous creatures with familiar magical auras pinged my radar. At first, I thought they were more of those rocs, coming back to try again to turn us into lunch, but I groaned when I realized what they were. More of the winged skeletal creatures that had attacked me and Zav.

  “Take cover.” Li must have sensed them, too, for she darted into the trees, waving for me to follow her.

  I ran into the trees on the other side of the road. If the creatures attacked, it would be better to be split up so we could divide their attention.

  The wildlife that had been peeping in the woods fell silent. Even though they were mundane animals, maybe they could sense the magical flying skeletons approaching. There was a whole pack—or flock—of them again.

  Last time, it had taken Zav battling seven of them while Sindari and I fought one. And he’d been gravely injured. There was no way Li and I could deal with all of them.

  “It sure would be nice to have a portal generator right now,” I muttered, though if Sindari had been the one to keep her from grabbing hers, it probably wasn’t fair to gripe that she didn’t have it. It was, however, completely fair to gripe that she’d dragged me here.

  The foliage-dense branches kept me from seeing the undead creatures approaching, but I sensed the power of their magic and tapped my cloaking charm, hoping it would hide me. Li crouched behind a tree, brush partially camouflaging her from view, but since she’d lost her own such charm, I continued to sense her presence.

  I drew Chopper and willed its magic to make her disappear, though I’d never used the sword to do such a thing and doubted it could. I added my own neophyte power to the mix, mentally envisioning fern fronds wrapping around her and hiding her from sight.

  Maybe it was my imagination, but she seemed to fade into the foliage, blending in further.

  The skeletal creatures reached us and circled above the trees. I should have used the camouflage charm earlier. At least they seemed to have trouble pinpointing us. They didn’t shriek or screech or emit any other noises as they hunted for us, but as they flapped their bone-colored wings, their big avian shapes visible now and then through the leaves, the sound of the wingbeats drifted down to us.

  One flew close enough that it scraped its rib cage on the top of my tree, making branches shake and sending leaves flitting down. My fist tightened around Chopper’s hilt, though I dreaded the idea of fighting. If they got close enough to see through the magic of my charm… or if they sensed Li… we would be dead.

  Mom would have no idea where I’d gone, have no idea what to tell Amber. Would my daughter miss me? Had we spent enough time together this year for her to develop feelings and care one way or another what happened to me?

  I shook away the depressing thoughts. I had to focus on what seemed an inevitable battle, be ready to fight or run.

  Across the road, one of the creatures landed in the tree that Li was hiding under. I stifled a groan and held my breath. From my spot, I could clearly see its hollow eye sockets scanning the road, as if it were a living bird.

  It jerked its skull of a head up, and I was sure it had spotted me. But its head swiveled to the side, and it sprang out of the tree.

  I sensed a dragon—a living dragon—at the edge of my range, though I was more confused than relieved. It was Xilneth. I hadn’t seen him since he’d admitted to being forced to work for the Silverclaw dragon that had hired an assassin to come after me. What was he doing here?

  Ruin Bringer! he blurted into my mind. Are you in that forest? I sensed you before, but then you disappeared. And all these dreadful flying bone bags are coming toward me. What are these foul things?

  He wasn’t speaking into my mind, I realized, but broadcasting telepathically to the whole forest. I hoped the undead creatures couldn’t understand him.

  I’m here, I risked replying, though I worried the undead creatures would hear my telepathic thoughts. I tried to pinpoint Xilneth with them.

  What are you doing here? he asked at the same time that I sent the same question to him.

  A half-dwarf thief who is trying to get my sword from me whooshed me to this world.

  That is not the answer I expected. The stuffy and haughty Lord Zavryd’nokquetal said you were on your own planet. I did not think to find you—ah, they give chase!

  I dropped my forehead into my hand. Get out of here, Xilneth. Zav and I fought those guys the other day, and they’re tough.

  I was sent here to scout. I did not know I would immediately be set upon.

  Who sent you?

  The Stormforge Clan queen. My role in obeying Mythrarion Silverclaw is now known to all, and even my own clan is ashamed of me. I heard about the big meeting and that there is a problem on the dwarven home world, and I volunteered to help. To redeem myself!

  Xilneth had to be fleeing the creatures, for I no longer sensed him, but his words came through loud and clear. Hopefully, he could still hear mine. My telepathy was much weaker than a dragon’s.

  Zav already knew about the undead creatures. Why would the queen send you to scout?

  We must know who is responsible for summoning them!

  Do you know about the lich? As I asked the question, it occurred to me that I had only Li’s word as to what we were dealing with, but it did make sense that someone—something—powerful and with a link to the undead was behind making the skeletal creatures.

  The what? Xilneth asked.

  I’m told there’s a dragon lich.

  A dragon would never allow himself to be made into such a creature!

  Maybe you can take it up with the things chasing you.

  Ah, they are driven. Why do they attack me? Ow!

  Get out of here, Xilneth. You can’t fight that many.

  He didn’t reply, and I frowned down at the moss under my feet. He wouldn’t truly let them catch him when he could make a portal and leave any time, would he?
>
  I wished he’d made it all the way to us, so he could make a portal so I could leave. Maybe it wasn’t too late for that.

  Xilneth? Are you still here?

  Again, he didn’t answer. Across the road, Li stepped warily out of the brush. I could no longer sense the creatures. They’d all flown after Xilneth.

  They have wounded me! Xilneth told me just as I’d assumed he had already left. His voice didn’t resonate as strongly in my mind, so he must have flown farther away. I will be forced to make a portal and flee.

  I suppose there’s no chance you can come open it near me so I can jump through too?

  I am far from you now. They are trying to cut me out of the sky. I knocked one into a cliff and destroyed it, but there are so many more. I do not wish to fail again, Ruin Bringer!

  If you were just sent to scout, and you found something, I don’t think you’ve failed.

  After a long moment, Xilneth quietly admitted, The queen did not send me. She did not even acknowledge me when I came to the court.

  Then why are you here?

  I thought I was crafty enough to figure out what’s going on and to find Lord Braytokinor and solve the problem myself. This would show the others that I am not an embarrassment to our kind.

  The way he said that made me think he was quoting someone. Not Zav, I hoped.

  Just tell your people that there’s a lich and that they need to get here pronto and en masse to deal with it, please. Oh, and let Zav know I’m here and that I wouldn’t mind a ride back to Earth.

  I could give you a ride if I weren’t being harried like some weakling prey! Let me attempt to get to you.

  No, just give my message to your people. Someone needs to know about the lich and do something about it. And Zav needed to know I was here, so I didn’t get stuck going into some lich lair with a crazy half-dwarf on a mission.