The Forbidden Ground + Bonus Scenes from the Series Page 3

  I plucked the identical footprint charm out of Zav’s hand. As with the other, it tried to direct me to the northwest.

  “Think its trying to get me to visit the monsters’ lair?” I eyed the charms and the dead creature Sindari was sniffing and pawing at like a feline forensics investigator examining a body. “Or walk into a trap? Do you think there are more of them?”

  “Are you addressing me or your sidekicks?” Zav asked.

  “Uh, anyone who has answers.”

  “Sidekicks? I’m at least the chauffeur.” Despite the joke, Dimitri looked disgruntled enough to punch someone. But not a dragon. He eyed Zav warily, not standing too close.

  Sidekick? Sindari also protested. Does he not know that I am an unofficial but highly respected ambassador for my people?

  He once said your kind were not unwise.

  Hm. Sindari appeared faintly mollified. Praise from dragons was rare.

  “Since they are not magical, I cannot tell if there are more nearby,” Zav said, “unless they get close enough for me to smell them. They have a peculiar odor.”

  It’s true, Sindari agreed. They smell like numerous other animals on this world.

  “They look like numerous other animals.” I waved at the corpse. “Half ape, half giant bat, half wolf.”

  “That’s a lot of halves,” Dimitri said.

  “You disagree?”

  He considered the creature with his artistic eye. “No. It’s more hideous than most creatures found in nature.”

  “Sindari and I did maim it thoroughly,” I said.

  “Yes, but I doubt it had aesthetically pleasing lines before that.”

  “I couldn’t believe it could fly with that kind of body.” I took out my phone and dialed my boss. As far as I knew, my job was to kill the creatures that had killed the tourists. If there weren’t any more of these around, I had accomplished my mission and could go home. Following a charm into a lair shouldn’t be required… unless there was a whole nest of these monsters back there to deal with.

  Willard didn’t answer, so I left a message. And then texted her pictures of the dead creature. Hopefully, she wasn’t enjoying a dinner date with a hunky guy. It was Saturday evening.

  “I will see if more are in the area.” Zav shifted into his dragon form again and sprang into the air, finding a gap between the trees to fly out through.

  Thank you for your help with this, I thought after him, touched that he’d flown all this way to assist me. Technically, he’d flown all this way to nag at me for not being at his beck and call, but still. For a dragon, he was considerate. I’d now met enough other dragons to know he was special.

  It is not entirely altruistic, Zav replied. I expect you to provide the barbecued meat you promised.

  Of course. I never thought otherwise.

  This time, you will send a message ahead to ensure there is enough prepared for me.

  Silly me not to think six racks of ribs would be enough last time.

  I am a dragon. I have eaten mammoths and arakshunoth.

  I don’t know what that latter thing is, but I’ll assume it’s large.

  And succulent, correct. Perhaps your restaurant can stock their ribs. They will have to widen their doorways to get them inside.

  For some reason, the closing to The Flintstones popped into my mind. I’m sure they’ll be agreeable to that.

  “Val?” Dimitri asked.

  “Yes?”

  “I asked if there was anything I could do to help. I ran up just in time to be useless.”

  “Sorry, I was taking instructions for Zav’s BBQ order. And you’re not useless. You’re my ride back.”

  “Your chauffeur, not your sidekick.”

  “Precisely so.”

  Look at this. Sindari had used his sharp claws to tear away clumps of the creature’s fur.

  A patchwork of grayish skin lay beneath, strange seams making it look like someone had sewn it together from spare parts. But we would have sensed magic in play if that had been the case. This had to be a weird but natural skin formation. Or maybe those were scars, not seams, and someone had tortured the creature at some point and left marks all over its body.

  “A mystery.” I sighed.

  You sound distressed, Sindari said.

  “I don’t get paid to solve mysteries. Just to kill things.”

  “You did accomplish that,” Dimitri said. “And then some.” He pointed to the creature with the missing arms and wings. “What did you do to that one?”

  “Zav threw it against a tree.”

  “And its limbs flew off?”

  “It was a very hard throw.”

  “I knew I was right to avoid nudging his tail with my van.”

  “You’re pretty smart for a sidekick.”

  Dimitri glowered at me, but my phone buzzed before he could retort.

  “Yeah?”

  “Haven’t we discussed that it would appropriate for you to answer, ‘Hello, Colonel Willard,’ when talking to me?”

  “We have discussed it. Are you disappointed I haven’t implemented this new phone policy?”

  “Every time I speak with you.” Clanks sounded in the background.

  “Are you at the gym again, Willard?”

  “Yes. So?”

  “It’s Saturday evening, and you’re single.”

  “There are men here.”

  “Good. Grab a sweaty well-defined one and take him for BBQ.”

  “BBQ?”

  “Guys are into it. Did you get my pictures?”

  “Yes. They didn’t put me in the mood for food.”

  “Weird.” I described the fight and the charms to her. “What do you want me to do with the bodies? They’re not magical, so there’s no need to bring them back, right?”

  I didn’t like the long pause that came after my question. Dimitri frowned over at me in mild concern. That would turn into extreme concern if we had to wrap the bodies in tarps and carry them six hours back to Seattle on the top of his van.

  Occasionally, Willard did want strange dead creatures brought back for the paranormal morgue that didn’t officially exist. She had a doctor in the office who did autopsies and studies on weird phenomena.

  “You’re sure they’re not magical?” Willard asked.

  “I can’t sense anything from them. Neither can Sindari.”

  “And there’s no chance they’ll regenerate themselves and come after people again?”

  I grimaced because we’d encountered magical beings that could do that. “I wouldn’t think so, but I can incinerate them before we leave.”

  Dimitri nodded firmly, even though he could only hear my half of the conversation.

  “Your Jeep is in the shop, right?” Willard asked.

  “Yeah, Dimitri gave me a ride in Bessy.”

  “Is that the dented orange camper van that smells like a rolling pot factory?”

  “Yes.”

  Dimitri might have caught a couple of her words, for he raised his brows for clarification.

  “She likes your van,” I told him.

  Willard snorted. “Incineration is fine. Also, look around and make sure there aren’t any more manslayers.”

  “These two wanted to be woman-slayers.”

  They’d definitely been targeting me instead of Sindari. Because I’d looked like an easier mark? Or because half-elves were tastier than tigers?

  “Make sure there aren’t any more of those either,” Willard said. “And don’t walk into any traps.”

  “Advice like that is why you get paid the big officer money.”

  “No, it’s because I have to deal with subordinates like you.” She hung up before I could advise her further on dating.

  I looked at Dimitri. “For the record, I’m an independent contractor, not a subordinate.”

  “Better than being a sidekick.”

  “I suppose.” Though I was wary, I let the charm guide me off the trail and into the woods. I hoped I could avoid traps, but this seemed like the quickest way to get the bottom of this. It would be dark in a couple of hours, and I didn’t want to spend the night here.

  “Are you following that charm?” Dimitri trailed after me, and when I looked back, Sindari appeared lopsided. We were still within the sphere of weirdness that was this place.

  “Yes.”

  “Is that wise?”

  “Probably not.”

  Part IV

  The pull of the charm led me away from the trails that meandered through the tourist area, no broken twigs or tracks hinting that others ever came this way. But the creatures would fly, not walk. Perhaps thinking the same thing, Sindari paused often to sniff at the air.

  Dimitri stopped to collect another dirt sample. I didn’t know if he’d found anything more significant to take back to Zoltan yet. Aside from the crooked trees and the slightly off feeling in my gut, I hadn’t experienced anything tremendously otherworldly about this place.

  I’d no sooner had the thought than the ground crumbled under my feet.

  Swearing, I lunged to the side, landing on my stomach. The ground crumbled there too. I snatched for a bush, fingers wrapping around the thin branches. But its roots pulled free, and it sank right along with me. I tumbled into dark nothingness.

  Praying there was a bottom, I twisted in the air so I wouldn’t land on my head or my back and snap my neck. Brushes and clumps of dirt tumbled down beside me. I fell twenty, maybe thirty feet and glimpsed rock below with just enough time to prepare.

  I landed on my feet, turning it into a practiced roll to keep from breaking my ankles. That move was always smoother without a sword strapped to my back, but I survived it and came up with the blade drawn. I peered around, expecting an attack from any quarter.

  Darkness stood a
ll around me, the daylight streaming into the hole making it impossible to pick out details until my eyes adjusted. I didn’t see or hear anything, but the musky smell of those creatures lingered in the air. And for the first time, my senses twanged, alerting me to nearby magic. A lot of it.

  Not magical beings but artifacts of some kind. What had I fallen into?

  And where was Sindari?

  He’d been right beside me. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’d been able to leap away in time to avoid this fate, but I no longer sensed him in this world at all.

  When I touched the cat figurine on my thong, it was as cold as ice.

  “Sindari?” I whispered, trying to summon him in the usual manner.

  Nothing happened.

  “Val!” Dimitri called from above—almost forty feet above.

  I grimaced, amazed I’d survived the fall without breaking any bones. Roots dangled down from the jagged edges of earth and grass around the hole I’d fallen through. The sinkhole. I’d been walking on solid ground, or so I’d thought.

  Climbing out wouldn’t usually be that challenging for me, but the hole wasn’t anywhere near a wall. As my eyes adjusted, I could make out the dim details of a large underground chamber around me, with a dirt and rock floor and chiseled stone walls rising to a ceiling high above. A wide crack ran across the ceiling, my hole right in the center of it, and I realized this might not have been a trap but an accident. I’d stumbled onto—into—some ancient… what?

  An enchanter’s workshop? A mad scientist’s lab? My nose crinkled as I caught the animal scent of those creatures again.

  A lair?

  I pulled out the footprint-shaped charm. It was no longer trying to direct me anywhere. I had arrived.

  A trickle of water came from a stone fountain built into the wall closest to me. Surprisingly, ivy and other vining plants grew up the side of it. How had they gotten enough sunlight—or any sunlight?—to grow down here?

  Dimitri’s head came into view, followed by clumps of dirt raining down on me.

  “Careful,” I called up.

  He’d scooted close to the edge on his belly. “I think that’s my line for you. A little late.”

  “Willard did warn me to avoid traps.”

  “You don’t seem to be that good at listening.”

  “I’m a rebel.” And I wasn’t sure this was a trap so much as a careless mistake.

  Dimitri squinted down into the gloom and swore. “How are we going to get you out?”

  “If you get the rope in your van and tie the end to a tree up there—a tree on solid ground—that would do it.”

  “Okay. I’ll be right back.”

  Right back in a half hour maybe. We weren’t that close to the parking lot anymore.

  I tried summoning Sindari again, but the charm remained cold and nothing happened. The idea that it might be permanently broken sent a wave of horror through me.

  “No.” I refused to believe that.

  This place might be nullifying the magic, but falling through a hole wouldn’t have destroyed the charm. It couldn’t have. Besides, if there was some kind of shield that blocked magic, that would explain why I hadn’t sensed this place when I’d been right above it. Magical artifacts were all around me now.

  Curiosity drove me to explore them—I also wanted to see if there was a more legitimate door in and out of this place. If the creatures had been coming here, there had to be.

  As I stepped away from the cone of light trickling down from above, a sticky cobweb invisible in the dim lighting blanketed my face. Lovely.

  “Eravekt,” I whispered, drawing Chopper. I wasn’t sure if the command would work, when Sindari’s charm did not, but blue light flared from the blade, illuminating my surroundings.

  Thousands more cobwebs draped bookcases, tables, curio cabinets, workbenches, and quirky glass displays. Everything appeared to be centuries old, but that didn’t make a lot of sense. Oregon hadn’t been settled until the 1800s, and Native Americans hadn’t been known for installing glass curio cabinets in their dwellings.

  A chill went through me as my gaze fell upon what looked like an antique operating table. It was bolted to a hard slab in the dirt floor, and flywheels on the sides allowed the metal surface to be raised and lowered or adjusted at what might have been the neck and knees.

  It was empty, save for a book with yellowed pages open on one end, but bloodstains and bits of old gore spattered the surface. I tried to scrape a tiny chunk away, but it had been there so long it had dehydrated and glued itself to the table. My first thought was that it was strange that rats or other scavengers hadn’t found the place and consumed any forgotten pieces of protein, but a magical warmth flowed up my arm from the surface. It might have been warning, or it might have been a ward; I withdrew without contemplating it deeply.

  The ink on the pages of the book was faded, but I could make out handwriting in tidy rows of symbols. It was nothing I could read.

  Behind the surgical table stood several double-door cabinets that reminded me of walk-in refrigerators. I assumed this place had never had electricity, but I checked for lightbulbs anyway. At the four corners of the roughly square ceiling, dusty orbs were mounted, making me think of magical illumination spheres I’d seen. They appeared dormant but still radiated more magic than anything else in the chamber.

  I opened one of the double-door cabinets and jumped when a fog of cold air rushed out. It was a refrigerator. A magical one, still cold after however long it had been since this place had been built.

  As the fog evaporated, Chopper’s glow illuminated racks of vials of blood, and another chill ran through me. This reminded me of the laboratory of the dark-elf alchemist where I’d been trapped and almost died.

  Several strange blue and silver diamond-shaped disks were stacked on a shelf below the vials. They reminded me of…

  “Dragon scales?” I touched one before it crossed my mind that I shouldn’t be poking anything down here. Nothing had happened yet, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t chance across a deadly trap.

  I pulled my hand back, but not before brushing my fingers over one of the scales and feeling a faint tingle. It reminded me of a muted version of Zav’s aura.

  If those were dragon scales, did that imply those vials held dragon blood? Where had the scientists who’d created this place gotten all of that? Had they somehow killed a dragon? And would they come back one day, or were the contents of this place up for grabs?

  I didn’t need scales or blood, but I had no doubt Zoltan would pay a pretty price for them. Supplying alchemists with materials wasn’t a typical part of my job, but I’d bought so many potions and services from him this year that it would be nice if I could get a credit against future purchases.

  An owl hooted in the forest above, and I jumped. The bird was probably only announcing night’s approach, but the sound reminded me that I wasn’t alone out here.

  With a twinge of guilt, I closed the door, hoping Zav didn’t find me in here scoping out dragon bits. He would be enraged by the contents of the refrigerator, that someone had collected blood and scales from one of his kind and maybe even experimented with them. And I didn’t want him to think that I approved of such notions.

  We worked together, traded jokes, and were even friends, inasmuch as a mongrel half-elf and a dragon could be friends, but he’d made it clear before that he didn’t fully trust me. For whatever reason, he couldn’t read my thoughts, so he never truly knew my mind, and that bothered him. He’d been betrayed before by an elf who’d pretended to be his friend—no, his lover—and then tried to assassinate him. As powerful as he was, a thousand times more powerful than I, he never forgot that someone like me had almost killed him before.

  Moving on, I opened other refrigerators, revealing less damning evidence—one was full of squirrel tails, bat wings, and pieces of fur—and made my way to a couple of large cabinets where the doors had been dented open and, in one case, ripped off. From the inside out. They smelled strongly of those creatures. The cabinets were under the crack in the ceiling, a crack that also ran down the stone wall behind them. Maybe it had also damaged the cabinets and allowed the creatures to escape.

  “Earthquake?” I wondered.

  They were rare in the Pacific Northwest, but they did happen from time to time. I remembered one from 2001, when I’d been coming home for leave and my plane had been guided into SeaTac by the temporary air-traffic-control trailer.