Snake Heart (7 page)

Dak gazed intently down at them. Counting numbers?

Yanko poked him in the shoulder and pointed back the way they had come. He crawled a dozen feet from the edge before standing, not wanting to risk being seen.

Dak did not move to follow him. He pulled out a spyglass and peered at who knew what.

“Dak,” Yanko whispered. “If they have mage lights, they have mages. Mages who might sense us.”

He didn’t know if his soft words carried, but Dak collapsed the spyglass, returned it to his pocket, and scooted away from the edge.

“They have a prisoner,” he said.

“What? Where?”

Lakeo? It had to be. Who else was on the island? Why hadn’t she gone to the pool? Why had she been out where pirates could capture her?

“He or she is tied up in one of the boats, under a tarp. There’s just a hand sticking out. It’s hard to tell, even with a spyglass, but it looks like a woman’s hand.”

Yanko groaned. That lumpy object next to the chest. It must have been Lakeo, tied up and taken prisoner.

“We’ll never get her as long as they’re all on the beach,” Dak said.

Yanko was relieved that Dak
wanted
to get her and wasn’t dismissing her as expendable, but he didn’t know how that helped them. “If we wait until they’re aboard their ship, we’ll never get her.”

“I can go down, wait for them to disperse on their hunt, and retrieve her then,” Dak said. “But that leaves you without a bodyguard.”

Yanko gazed in the direction of the waterfall. “I’ll go with you. I was the one to send Lakeo to this end of the island. I can’t leave her to pirates.”

Dak held up a hand. “Just give me a distraction, if you can. Then go complete your mission.”

He wanted Yanko to find the lodestone? Before him? Or was it just that he considered Nuria having the lodestone less troublesome than some pirates having it? Maybe he believed that if Yanko had it, he could more easily retrieve it for Turgonia later. Either way, Yanko would be foolish not to accept the offer. If anyone could rescue Lakeo alone, it would be Dak.

“All right,” Yanko said. “Go down to the beach and hide. I’ll create a distraction, then check the waterfall.”

“Good.” Dak waved his rifle, then jogged back the way they had come.

Scaling the cliff would have been more direct, but would have left him in view of the beach. Yanko dropped to his belly to scoot close and look over the edge again. The meeting had dispersed, and most of the pirates were walking down the beach, following the man with the map. It wasn’t as direct a route as climbing over the cliff, but they would reach the river leading to the waterfall before long.

At least Dak should have an easier time with most of the men gone, including the two wearing Nurian mage robes. There were still ten pirates on the beach, two standing guard next to the boat with the prisoner. Yanko groped for a distraction that might help him. Had there been great predators on the island, he might have convinced them to attack the pirates, but he hadn’t come across anything more ferocious than a mongoose.

Yanko remembered the monkey that had howled down at him earlier and let his senses drift out as far as they could reach, checking the trees that grew along the beach below his cliff. Many birds roosting in the branches, and yes, the trees also housed some monkeys.

Keeping his touch subtle so the fire mages wouldn’t sense someone using power nearby, Yanko brushed the minds of the monkeys. As he woke them from their sleep, he pointed out that enemies had come to their beach, enemies with dangerous weapons. He felt guilty for bothering them when they were in no danger, but one look at the form slumped under the tarp reminded him that there was a good reason for this deception.

One monkey howled a warning cry. It was soon taken up by others, up and down the beach. The monkeys leaped from branch to branch, knocking coconuts and leaf litter to the ground. The pirates watched the commotion, drawing closer together and pointing.

Yanko hoped it was enough of a distraction for Dak. He couldn’t see the big Turgonian down there, but gave him a mental salute, then backed away from the edge of the cliff. He had a lodestone to find and not much time in which to do it.

Chapter 6

I
t took Yanko longer than he expected to scramble down from the rocky escarpment in the dark. He dared not create a light to guide him, not with so many people on the island now. He couldn’t be sure those pirates would stick to the beach. If they had a good map or knew where they were going, they might cut inland early.

More than once, Yanko knocked rocks loose as he descended. Every time, he winced at the noise. He could see the pool through the trees, the roar of the waterfall growing louder. It lay entirely in darkness, no hint of lanterns or mage lights in sight. He hoped that meant he was alone, but before he stepped out of the trees, he forced himself to close his eyes and study the area with his mind.

Here and there, birds and small animals snoozed in the bushes and treetops, but nothing larger lurked around the pool. The waterfall drowned out the noise of the ocean. It could drown out the sound of approaching voices or footfalls, too, so he stretched his awareness as far down the river as he could, figuring that was the most likely direction the pirates would come from. He did not sense any people approaching, but as he was withdrawing, he stumbled upon the unexpected.

There was something in the water. It wasn’t a person or any form of life, but it wasn’t rock, either. He always struggled to feel non-living things, since they lacked the presence that people and animals had, but he slowly worked out the shape of the object. A metal cylinder. He crept forward, wondering if he could make it out with his eyes. Was it completely below the surface? Or had it—

With a jolt, he realized what it was. A Kyattese underwater boat.

It had to be the same one that had been spying upon the
Falcon’s Flight
. At least, he
thought
it had been spying upon them. Maybe it had simply been coming here, the crew already knowing about the waterfall and not needing to stop to interrogate villagers—or tortoises—along the way.

Yanko groaned to himself as he picked his way along the edge of the pool. He could just glimpse the top of the underwater boat with his eyes, a darker shadow poking above the surface. Only a hatch on a small portion of the top was visible, with the majority of the vessel under the water.

When he drew even with it, Yanko stopped to check it with his mind again. When they had seen it before, he had sensed people inside of it, even though it had been a good hundred meters away. This time, he didn’t sense anyone. Had the crew all climbed out to search behind the waterfall? If so, he was surprised they hadn’t left a guard, but maybe they hadn’t known the pirates were coming.

Yanko tried to sense behind the waterfall. He could feel the shape of a cave back there, or at least the opening of one, but beyond that, it grew fuzzy to him, almost as if some magical camouflage lay over the area, thwarting his probe.

“Wonderful,” he muttered.

He continued toward the waterfall, leaving the underwater boat without disturbing it. A part of him was tempted to swim out, to try to get in and snoop around. Maybe the Kyattese had maps and information that he and Dak lacked. But he hadn’t forgotten the pirates heading this way. He didn’t have much time, and if the Kyattese were already inside, he might be too late. What if they were pulling out the lodestone right now? What would he do if he came face to face with four armed men, one of whom might be a far more experienced mage than he?

Despite the worries jumping around in his head, Yanko kept going. He skirted ferns dangling in the water and found a six-inch-wide rock ledge that led up to the waterfall. Heavy droplets spattered him, soon drenching his silks, but he found his way behind the curtain of water and to the cave mouth.

In the utter darkness, he relied upon his mental senses to guide him. Even with that advantage, his sandals kept slipping on the damp rocks, and he nearly pitched over twice. He was considering whether a light would be visible to someone outside when he stubbed his toe on something. Whatever it was clattered away. Driftwood, he guessed, or the remains of some old campfire. He decided to risk his light, since his senses felt muted in here, as if he were trying to hear but someone had plugged his ears. Besides, entering a cave in the dark was eerie. He remembered warning Lakeo that there might be traps back here.

When he conjured a sphere of illumination, the soft blue light showed the cave, less rugged and natural than he expected. It looked like someone had hewn it from the rock, or even used magic to carve it out. The striated stone walls were relatively smooth.

Yanko looked down to verify that he had kicked a piece of wood, but gasped and stepped back. It wasn’t wood.

A human skull had rolled over to the rock wall, the jawbone missing, the empty eye sockets staring accusingly at him. The bone was yellowed and worn—it must have been there for years, if not decades. That did not make him feel better about stumbling across it here.

“Sorry, fallen one,” he whispered, then mentally added a quick chorus of the chant for the dead, one that encouraged resting souls to continue resting instead of returning to haunt those in the present. It seemed a wise precaution to take after kicking a skull.

“Talking to bones? Is that better or worse than talking to turtles?”

Yanko whirled, his hand dropping to his sword before he realized who it was. “Lakeo!”

He gaped at her. Her wild hair dripped onto her shoulders, and her clothes were ripped and stained. She still carried her weapons, though, a sword and a bow.

“Were you expecting someone else?” Lakeo asked.

“How did you get away from the pirates?” Yanko blurted at the same time as she looked around and asked a question of her own.

“Where’s Dak?”

“He went to rescue you,” Yanko said. “From the pirates.”

“What pirates?”

They stared at each other, their brows creased.

“I haven’t seen any pirates or anyone else since leaving you,” Lakeo said slowly.

“Then who was under the tarp?” Yanko scowled down at the skull as if it might have answers.

Realizing Lakeo had no idea what he was talking about, he waved for her to walk deeper into the cave with him and explained. He hadn’t had much time before, but now he worried that he needed to finish up more quickly so he could go look for Dak, who might be rescuing somebody they didn’t even know. And maybe someone who didn’t need rescuing at all. What if that had been a ruse? A trap designed to lure Yanko and his party in? If so, they had surely fallen for it.

“Slow down, will you?” Lakeo jogged a couple of steps and grabbed his arm.

“There’s not much time.” He looked into the darkness ahead, his light showing them a passage about ten feet high and wide that curved toward the cliff Yanko had been on top of earlier.

“Unless someone was using this as a burial chamber, we might want to
make
time.” Lakeo pointed to bones in the dirt at the edges of the tunnel.

Yanko had assumed they belonged to the same person as the skull and that some animals had been back here and scattered them around, but now that he took a closer look, he spotted duplicates of arm and leg bones. More than one person had died in here.

“I’m guessing the Mausoleum Bandit didn’t want people raiding his treasure chamber,” Lakeo said.

“True, but I think there are some Kyattese back in here. They should trigger any traps first.”

“The Kyattese are
here
? How do you know?”

“They left their underwater boat in the pool.” Yanko wasn’t surprised she hadn’t seen it in the dark. If he hadn’t been searching the area with more than his eyes, he would not have, either.

“That’s
perfect
.” Lakeo clenched a fist. “I was worried about how we’d get off this island if Baldie didn’t come back. We can just make sure we get out of here before the Kyattese and borrow their boat.”

“
Borrow?
Steal, you mean.”

“I always get those two words mixed up. Look, either they go home with the prize or we do.”

“We could barely drive my father’s carriage down to Red Sky. What do we know about piloting an underwater boat?”

Yanko shook his head and continued forward. He did heed Lakeo’s warning and advanced at a slower pace, searching the walls, floor, and ceiling with his mind while watching with his eyes. It was possible the Kyattese knew there were traps and how to avoid them, so he shouldn’t assume the other team would trigger them. He didn’t even know for sure that they were back here. The Kyattese could be elsewhere, exploring the island.

His senses jangled, and Yanko stopped, frowning at the ceiling. The passage ahead did not appear any different from what they had been walking through, but he had the same feeling he had when in the presence of Made objects. Something was either hidden behind the rocks up there, or the rocks themselves had been imbued with the ability to do something.

“Maybe we could kidnap one and force him to pilot,” Lakeo said.

“What? Are you still thinking about the boat?”

“Yes, aren’t you?”

“Not presently.”

Yanko picked up a rock and tossed it into the passage ahead, expecting it to trigger the trap. It clattered along the stone floor loudly enough to make him wince. They had traveled deep enough that the roar of the waterfall had faded, leaving him aware of the silence—and breaking it.

“That looks like a fun game.” Lakeo picked up a rock. “Shall I throw one too?”

“There’s a trap there.” Yanko waved toward the ceiling.

Lakeo threw her rock at it. Nothing happened. “You’re sure?”

“You can’t feel that something Made is there? Close your eyes and concentrate. See if you can sense it.”

She squinted at him, as if suspicious he was making this up, but she did as he suggested. Meanwhile, he wondered if they could get past it without being hurt. If he knew what was coming, he might be able to thwart the attack, but knowing a Made item lay ahead did not tell him what it might do. He thought about digging into his pack and putting on his mother’s warrior mage robe, but he doubted it would make him any more intuitive or clever with his magic. It seemed to help with stamina and with channeling his power more effectively. Maybe he would need that later, but even here, on this remote island, he struggled to get past the idea that wearing that robe was a crime for him. He was no warrior mage, not yet. Maybe not ever unless he succeeded in helping his nation, and the Great Chief deigned to allow him entrance to Stargrind.