Dagger's Point (Shadow series) (23 page)

Jael touched the clasp, but carefully did not turn it. Tanis gave her a warning glance and took the box, tucking it into one of the bags.

“How large a piece of eggshell do you need?” Tanis asked.

Rhadaman indicated a small space between his hands.

“The size isn’t as important as the age,” he said. “I need a fresh piece, not one of last year’s hatching. Dragon eggshell loses its potency quickly.” He handed Jael a smaller sack. “Your translation spells are inside. Now hurry, please. I must close the Gate before it begins to warp.”

Jael and Tanis exchanged glances again, Jael nodding slightly. They were distracted by the uneasy whuffling of the ponies.

“I’ll blindfold them before we go through,” Tanis said quickly, pulling out squares of cloth to tie over the animals’ eyes. “They’re not accustomed to magic.”

Rhadaman extended his hand, and after a moment’s hesitation, Jael took it.

“Farewell, Lady Jaellyn,” Rhadaman said gently. “I wish you well.”

“The next time you speak with the mage in Allanmere,” Jael said hesitantly, “would you ask him to give a message to the High Lord and Lady that you heard somewhere, somehow, that their daughter is safe and well?”

Rhadaman smiled.

“Of course, Lady Jaellyn,” he said.

Jael took the reins of her pony and the lead rope of one of the pack ponies from Tanis, then walked boldly to the Gate. She could feel a fierce tingling sweep through her, but she did not hesitate, stepping quickly through the shimmering curtain of light.

There was no sense of transition; Jael stepped from the smooth-polished wood of Rhadaman’s floor onto rough, rocky ground, stumbling a little. The pungent smells of the workroom were instantly replaced by other, unfamiliar aromas—fresh wind free of city odors, dust, the faint disagreeable scent of something dead and decaying. Overlaying these, however, the wind brought another odor—the musky, metallic, unmistakable scent of dragon.

Jael glanced behind her, glad to see Tanis and his ponies step from the flickering light that marked this side of the Gate. Even as Tanis stepped away from the Gate, the curtain of light shimmered and disappeared. Reassured, Jael swept her gaze across the land around her.

They stood at the edge of a forest, but this was not the well-defined break from luxuriant foliage to rich pastureland that marked the edge of the Heartwood. This was sickly, scrawny growth, a few twisted saplings and yellowed bushes straggling out into dry and brittle grass in scanty patches over parched, dusty earth, the dust itself leached pale and lifeless.

Before them, far too close for Jael’s peace of mind, stretched low, jagged hills of mottled stone, clumps of tumbled boulders, and dry gullies. Even from here, Jael could see shadowed crannies that appeared to be the entrances to caves, some of them smoking darkly. The hills must be honeycombed with caves.

By the smoke and the smell alone Jael would have immediately guessed these hills to be the residence of dragons, although she’d never seen a live dragon and certainly never one of their nesting grounds. There was, however, ample evidence indicating the tenants of these rocky caverns. Cracked and gnawed bones were scattered over the barren earth, sometimes in piles near the cave entrances. Some of the bones were old and dry; others had shreds of decaying flesh or fur still clinging to them. Also scattered over the dry rock were old, shed dragon scales, claws and teeth, and malodorous pyramids of droppings, some as high as Jael was tall.

“Phew, what a stench,” Tanis muttered, holding his nose.

Jael shook her head.

“It’s a good thing we’re downwind, or they’d smell us,” she said. “We’d better get back into the trees.”

Because of the sickly foliage, they had to retreat a good distance into the forest, but Jael did not stop until they were far enough away that she was certain the dragons would neither see nor hear them. Donya had spoken time and time again of the creatures’ piercing eyesight and keen hearing.

“That mage shouldn’t have Gated us so close,” Tanis grumbled, peering through the leaves. “We could’ve been eaten before we even knew where we were.”

Jael shook her head.

“He had no real maps to work by,” she said. “And we’ve already heard that magic doesn’t work reliably in these parts.” She pulled out the pot of liniment she’d bought in the market. “Here, rub some of this on your skin. It’ll disguise your scent.”

“So
that’s
what it’s for!” Tanis exclaimed. He scooped out a handful of the ointment and sniffed at it, blinking rapidly as his eyes watered. “Phew. Well, at least it smells better than the dragons and their droppings. Hadn’t we better leave the horses here?”

“Uh-uh.” Jael squinted out at the stone hills. To the north she could barely make out the ominous heights of the mountains Rhadaman had spoken of, and to the south she could see a richer-looking growth of forest. That was the Singing Forest, then, that they’d been warned about. “I can’t see past the hills, but we’re going to have to go west, exactly opposite of where we are now. We’d better work our way around to the south.”

“I thought we were supposed to avoid that forest,” Tanis protested.

“I know, but we can’t take the ponies right up to the nests, or the dragons will smell them, liniment or not,” Jael said thoughtfully, “and we need somewhere to tie them or they’ll run off. If the wind changes and the dragons somehow smell us or the ponies, we may have to get away quickly, and I don’t want to risk us being chased all the way back east.”

Tanis squinted at the Singing Forest to the south.

“I don’t like it,” he said slowly, “but I don’t suppose there’s any harm if we stay on the fringes, don’t actually go into the woods too deeply.”

“That’s what I thought,” Jael said, nodding. “And if we have to, we can stay in the edge of the growth all the way around the hills to the west, if there’s no other cover.”

“But shouldn’t we approach the hills from this side?” Tanis asked. “Since we’re downwind, I mean.”

“Can’t.” Jael pointed to the hills. “Too many of the caves face this way. We need to approach from a blind side, and we’ll need to retreat the same way.”

Tanis reluctantly agreed, and they began working their way around to the south under cover of the trees. The ponies were skittish, frightened by the scent of the dragons, but they were, as Tanis had observed, good-tempered beasts and did not attempt to bolt.

It was amazingly apparent where the Singing Forest began. The straggly, sickly appearance of the trees was immediately replaced by thick, luxuriant green growth, the soil becoming rich and dark and fairly bursting with life.

“It’s beautiful,” Tanis murmured. “But why do they call it the Singing Forest? And what makes it so dangerous?”

“I don’t know.” Strain her ears as she might, Jael could hear nothing but the normal forest sounds—wind whispering, limbs creaking, the occasional rustle of undergrowth as some animal passed—and the only song she heard was that of the birds. Still, there was something that warned Jael away. Perhaps it was the very richness of the soil or the too-green verdure, but something told Jael that this was the lair, perhaps, of some very formidable predator, one that would be more than happy to make Tanis and Jael its prey. Tanis shivered and drew a little closer to Jael, and Jael knew he felt it too, that sense of warning.

Fortunately they did not have to go upwind of the hills. Most of the cave openings appeared to face north or west, and there was a good approach from the south. Jael would have much preferred to find a hill with no smoking entrances and be certain that no nests they found would be inhabited, but that would be taking the risk that there were no fresh nests, so they reluctantly chose a southern hill with only one smoking opening, but several other openings with piles of fresh-looking bones outside. Jael and Tanis tied the ponies with some grain to keep them quiet and then belted on their swords, Jael taking another small sip of the Bluebright before slipping it back into the sack.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Tanis said, giving Jael a steadying arm. “You’re getting a little wobbly on your feet.”

“I’ll be all right.” Truthfully, Jael felt wonderful, strong and whole, and she was utterly enjoying the sensation of Tanis’s arm around her. She was not too wobbly, however, to appreciate the danger they were in, and she checked once more to be certain the liniment was covering their scent before they crept quietly to the south side of the hill Jael had chosen.

Jael laid her hand on warm, rough rock, then almost pulled her hand away again. The rock was only a thin skin over fire—was that because of a dragon inside the hill? No, this was like Allanmere, where hot springs bubbled up out of the earth. She could feel the hollowness of the hill, the caves winding through it. No wonder the dragons chose to nest there; the protected caves, the heat from the springs to warm the eggs, a continual supply of fresh water, and yet so near the mountains where the adult dragons preferred to live—it was a perfect location.

“Not here,” Jael murmured, feeling the skin of the rock thinnest a few feet away. Yes, there’d be tunnels under that thin layer of rock. She pointed to the spot. “There.”

Tanis grimaced but followed her, his hand lingering on his sword hilt. He glanced nervously around.

“Hurry,” he said. “It’s getting dark. There might be dragons coming back from feeding, and there’s still enough light for them to see us here.”

Jael ran her hands caressingly over the stone. It seemed to give way fluidly under her touch, and she parted it as easily as a curtain. The stone flowed out from under her hands, rippling aside to form an opening large enough for them to pass through, although Tanis had to stoop a little to step in. Through the opening was the cave Jael had tunnelled in to meet. Hot, moist air billowed out of the opening, steaming in the night air, carrying the metallic scent of dragon.

Jael hesitated, but Tanis, more frightened of remaining visible, pushed her impatiently inside, not lighting the lantern until they were away from the opening. The light flickered off puddles on the stone floor of the cave. It was silent except for the incessant dripping of water and the faint, distant bubbling of a spring somewhere not too far away. Passages wandered away in every direction.

“How will we find our way back?” Tanis murmured.

“It’s simple, so simple,” Jael muttered, her eyes widening in surprise. She could feel her way through the maze of passageways as easily as if she held a map in her hand. She pointed down one of the passages. “There’s an abandoned nest that way. I can feel it. I think it’s fresh.”

“Wait!” Tanis protested helplessly as Jael dragged him down the passageway. “What if the Bluebright wears off? We could be lost in here!”

“Then I’ll take more,” Jael said recklessly, her feet for once sure and quick as she pulled Tanis through the passage. Oh, this was power, this was wholeness. It seemed she could feel every crease of the stone, that her vision could stretch over the world, flowing like blood through veins of stone, making her one with the mountains, with the very molten heart of the world. Oh, gods, she wanted this to be forever, to never end.

They panted in the hot, moist air, and Jael felt her chest begin to rasp, but who could think about that when the very stone under her feet pulsed with life, welcomed her as warmly as a lover?

Something rolled under Jael’s foot and she fell, slamming painfully to her knees. Stone might welcome her, but it still bruised and cut her flesh, and Jael grimaced, annoyed by the distraction. She glanced around to see what had tripped her, then bit back a gasp as her fingers found a bare white skull, apparently human. There were other bones nearby, some gnawed and split, some blackened as if they had been charred by dragon fire.

“Look!” Tanis said in a hushed voice.

They’d found an old nest. Dragons did not weave a nest of foliage as birds did, but mounded sand and gravel into piles and buried their eggs there until the hatchlings crawled out. The bowl-shaped “nest” was apparently merely a convenient depression to hold the hatchlings’ food and keep the clumsy young dragons from wandering away. When the hatchlings were old enough to scatter the lip of sand and gravel and crawl away, they trampled down the rim of the nest; this much was obvious from the condition of this nest.

There were eggshells scattered about, but they were old and yellowed. Jael touched one curiously and it crumbled into sand.

“Jaellyn, look!” Tanis was holding the lantern up. Tanis moved to stand beside him and gasped, gazing down into the nest. Bones were tumbled there, and skulls. Scattered among the bones were armor, whole and broken swords, axes, daggers, and here and there the glint of gold.

Jael was as stunned as Tanis. They glanced at each other wide-eyes; then they were on their knees, sifting wonderingly through the debris. Tanis picked up gold coins, some of them ancient, and stuffed them quickly into his sleeves. Jael picked up a broken sword, wondering at its antiquity. Then another glint of metal caught her eye, and she snatched up a grime-crusted dagger. She quickly wiped off the grime, then gasped in amazement, for the near-white metal of the blade was exactly like that of the dagger and sword she wore.

“Tanis, look!” she said, handing him the dagger.

Tanis examined the dagger, nodding.

“They did pass by here, then,” he said quietly. “Only some of them never made it past.” He held up the dagger. “I’ll keep this, if you don’t mind.” He picked up a molten lump of metal. “But what’s this? It looks almost the same color.”

“I don’t know.” Some kind of a pendant, obviously, as there was a length of chain still attached. Sifting through the pile of bones, she found another; then she uncovered a suit of what must have been some kind of chain mail, although it was now rent and partially charred. The tiny links of silver metal were so fine that they slipped through Jaeí’s fingers as smoothly as silk.

Jael reached for another piece of the fine chain mail, and her fingertips brushed something hard—and a shock of some strange energy surged through her. Jael gasped and seized whatever it was that she’d touched, and Tanis turned quickly toward her.