Revelations

  Up ahead, Dreyak stopped. He lifted a hand, waving the group forward.

  Rysha detected the outline of something large and dark through the falling snow. A cave? Was it made from ice? Or were they now atop one of the islands down here?

  Kaika’s walk turned into a fast jog, and Rysha hurried to catch up. The outline of a huge cave mouth came more clearly into view. Interestingly, there wasn’t a mountain or slope of any kind behind it. The curving roof seemed to be made from snow and ice, forming a concave opening about twenty feet high and at least fifty wide. One could have driven that steam vehicle at the outpost into it, which made Rysha wonder why the scientists hadn’t taken it. No time? Dogs could be harnessed faster than a fire built in the box and the water in the boiler heated.

  “The tracks have been hidden by the snow, haven’t they?” Blazer asked as Rysha caught up with them.

  Trip and Leftie jogged up from behind.

  “Yes, but they were heading this way.” Dreyak looked at Trip. “I just want to make sure there’s nothing inimical inside before we charge in. Looks like that cave stretches back a long way.”

  “It does,” Trip said. “It descends so that it’s under the surface, and inside, someone has hollowed out side chambers, as if they were turning this into a possible outpost or base of operations. The whole thing appears to be manmade. As far as dragons and the inimical go, I—Jaxi—did sense one at the edge of her range a while ago, about forty miles away, but it’s gone now. It wasn’t the same one we fought. She has no idea where that one went.”

  Rysha noticed his slip. She wasn’t surprised that he could sense dragons, too, as she had read numerous reports about how they had incredible magical auras that sorcerers could feel from great distances. She was a little surprised that his range might be as great as Jaxi’s.

  Even though the soulblade wasn’t specifically listed in any books that Rysha had read, Sardelle had mentioned during their meeting in the library that Jaxi had been a sorceress over six hundred years ago. Reference material frequently stated that the more recent one’s dragon ancestor was, the more powerful one was likely to be. Because of the thousand-year gap during which dragons had supposedly vanished from the world, nobody born recently should have abilities comparable to the sorcerers of old. Soulblades supposedly retained a great deal of the power they’d possessed as humans. So in theory, Jaxi should be stronger than Sardelle, and Sardelle should be stronger than Trip or Dreyak or any other humans in this time with a smidgen of dragon blood in their veins.

  Admittedly, despite her studies about dragons, Rysha wasn’t an expert on mages or soulblades. She did know that some sorcerers’ gifts led them into different fields. One might specialize in mental manipulation and illusions, while another might be inclined toward healing, and another toward hurling fireballs. Maybe Trip was inclined toward sensing things over great distances?

  “There are people inside the cave,” Trip said. “And dogs too.”

  “Can you tell if they’re injured?” Dreyak skewered him with his intense gaze.

  He seemed genuinely worried about that.

  “I don’t think anyone is grievously wounded, but there may be some injuries.” Trip shrugged, not sounding positive. “They’re a ways back in there.”

  Blazer turned and walked toward the cave.

  “Wait.” Dreyak ran past her, taking the lead. “Let me go in first and talk to them. They may shoot if they see Iskandians.”

  “We’re not at war with each other right now,” Blazer pointed out.

  The look Dreyak sent over his shoulder did not seem to be one of agreement.

  “Stick close to me,” Trip said, waving to include Rysha, Duck, Leftie, Blazer, and Kaika. “Jaxi will throw up a barrier around us if any of them attack.”

  “We don’t think Dreyak will stop that?” Duck asked.

  “Just a precaution.” Trip took a step, but stopped again. “Oh, I forgot. Jaxi can’t protect those with the anti-dragon swords. You three better walk behind me. You won’t be within the bubble, but as long as they’re firing from in front of us, the effect will be largely the same.”

  He was doing a lot of thinking for someone who thought this was “just a precaution,” Rysha decided, waiting for him, Duck, and Leftie to pass before following with Kaika and Blazer. Did Trip’s senses tell him something he hadn’t shared yet?

  Dreyak stopped at the mouth of the cave and looked at the ground. Dogs barked a little deeper in, but he pointed at gouges in the snow, gouges that hadn’t been filled in by the fresh flakes yet.

  “A dragon was here too,” he said.

  “Chasing the people into the cave?” Blazer asked.

  “It could be so.” Dreyak pointed at a couple of other places, including a spot smudged with soot, as if some explosive had gone off there. “They may have made a stand here.”

  “One that worked?”

  “There are ten people still alive back there,” Trip said.

  “One that worked, then.” Dreyak jogged into the cave, taking the lead again.

  The group followed more slowly. Dogs with heavy coats barked and growled at them, but they were tied to stakes driven into the ice, so it was easy to avoid them. Blood spattered the ground in front of them, remnants of frozen steaks or the like, Rysha assumed. Nearby, five dog sleds were parked against the wall.

  “That’s the alarm going off,” Kaika said dryly, as they passed the dogs. “If the Cofah didn’t know we were here, they do now.”

  The light coming in through the mouth of the cave faded as they strode deeper inside, but Rysha spotted some of the alcoves Trip had mentioned. One had a desk and chair in it. Another a gun vault. The yellow light of lanterns appeared in the darkness ahead. Several lanterns.

  Dreyak strode toward them, his hands in the air.

  “Stop right there,” a man’s voice rang out, his Cofah accent unmistakable.

  “I’m Dreyak. I’m from the capital.”

  “Yeah, we’ve heard that before. Stay right there.”

  Two men jogged toward him, wearing red military uniforms, their faces and heads recently shaven, despite this remote outpost.

  “Those don’t look like scientists,” Rysha murmured, though after snooping through the labs, she believed scientists were here somewhere. Could they be military scientists? Or maybe these were guards for a civilian team.

  Trip stopped and spread his arms, warning the others to do so too.

  The two Cofah men had reached Dreyak and were walking around him, their rifles pointed at him while they scrutinized him and asked him questions too quietly for Rysha to hear.

  “I’d like to know what they’re saying,” Blazer said, looking like she didn’t want to wait behind Trip.

  “There are people in the back with a variety of gas grenades,” Trip said. “They seem very on edge, and someone is saying they should gas us without even talking to us.”

  Kaika grunted. “Must be old colleagues of Tolemek’s.”

  “I can see why they would be on edge if they were just attacked by dragons,” Rysha said, “but we’re not dragons.”

  “We are Iskandians,” Duck said.

  “And thus almost as bad?”

  “Some Cofah might think so.”

  “I wasn’t planning on eating any of them,” Rysha said.

  “I reckon they’ll be heartened to learn that.”

  Trip gazed deep into the cave, toward those lanterns, as the interrogation of Dreyak continued. Rysha was surprised so much talking was going on. He’d never given a surname or identified himself as anything but a soldier, but she had assumed he came from one of their noble families or was at least an officer in their army. It would have been odd if the Cofah, who deemed rank and heritage important, sent a nobody for a mission in another country.

  “We can come back,” Dreyak finally called to the rest of the group.

  “Do we have to?” Blazer looked over her shoulder, toward the semicircle of light that marked the cave entrance, sn
ow continuing to fall beyond it.

  “I’d like to see what that torn page says,” Rysha said.

  “And what if the Cofah aren’t interested in sharing it with you?”

  “Then I would have to practice my pickpocket skills.”

  “Do you have pickpocket skills?” Blazer asked.

  “Not yet.”

  “Helpful.”

  “Jaxi says she once read all the books in a prison library from under thousands of tons of solid rock,” Trip said, walking toward Dreyak, who was waiting for them.

  “Does that mean she’ll read a note in someone’s pocket for me?”

  “If it’s in a language she knows, she says yes.”

  “That’s lovely,” Rysha said. “Give her a kiss for me, please.”

  Trip blinked and looked over at her. “We don’t have a relationship that involves lips.”

  “Trip struggles with getting ladies to accept kisses from him,” Leftie said.

  Rysha frowned at him as they walked. “That seems unlikely.”

  “You’re welcome to prove me wrong if you wish.” Leftie smirked at Trip and gave him a nod, as if he were a mastermind setting up a smooching session, with her too dense to notice it.

  Rysha was glad that Trip gave him a dour look and nothing more.

  “We’re invited back?” Blazer asked, walking ahead to join Dreyak. He hadn’t moved, but the two military men had strode back into the darkness broken only by the distant lanterns.

  “Most of them would prefer it if we left.” Dreyak sounded puzzled, as if he couldn’t imagine his own people not welcoming him with open arms. “But a couple of the scientists want to know what we’re doing here.”

  “So, it’s all right for us to go back if we agree to being interrogated?” Blazer asked.

  “They just want to talk to you.”

  “And find out why we’re here.”

  “Likely.”

  “Maybe they want to compare notes,” Rysha said, happy to do the same.

  Blazer shook her head, grumbling, “Lieutenants are like puppies.”

  “I don’t suppose Jaxi can read pocket notes from here, Trip?” Rysha asked, worried Blazer would order them to leave.

  Trip wasn’t looking deeper into the cave any longer. His gaze had turned back toward the way they had come.

  “If they don’t need our help with injured people, then let’s leave,” Blazer said.

  “There’s a dragon coming,” Trip said.

  “Or we could stay,” Blazer amended.

  “It would be hard to fly in all that snow,” Duck said.

  “Is there anything that’s going to deter the dragon from coming into the cave?” Rysha asked as they strode deeper.

  The cave was wide enough for one to fly right in. Even if it narrowed farther down, a dragon could simply shape shift into a smaller form and keep coming. From what Rysha had read, they retained their mental powers when in other forms, even if they couldn’t breathe fire or crush people in their massive maws.

  “No,” Trip said. “But it wouldn’t be able to attack us from all sides.”

  “We can stand three abreast with our swords,” Kaika said.

  “Are we sure we want the Cofah to know all about those swords?” Duck asked.

  “No,” Trip said again.

  5

  Trip hung back as the uniformed Cofah pointed their team into an alcove with lanterns perched around it. He sensed that dragon about five miles away, soaring over the outpost. It wouldn’t take it more than a minute to fly over to their cave. It could also destroy the fliers, if it wished. There’d been talk of leaving someone there to guard them, but what could one person do against a dragon if it attacked? They’d decided—hoped—the dragons would be less interested in the fliers if there weren’t any people nearby to draw attention to them.

  You’d better pay attention to these Cofah, at least for the moment, Jaxi advised him.

  I know.

  One of them is a sorcerer.

  I know that too. Trip also knew that woman hadn’t yet made an appearance.

  She was farther back in one of the other alcoves, talking to a man. Six people sat down in the alcove they’d been led to, in addition to the two soldiers, who stood guard by the entrance. The other six, four men and two women, wore civilian clothes, and several were in need of haircuts. They were some of the original outpost researchers. The soldiers, Trip sensed, were newer additions. The sorceress might be too.

  You’re getting much better at sensing things, Jaxi said.

  Yes, but I have no idea how to hide our auras, or camouflage them. Like you do. Is it too late to consider that? Trip hadn’t realized until the men had been questioning Dreyak that a Cofah sorceress was among them.

  You don’t want her to know that you have dragon blood? Jaxi asked.

  Ideally not. I sense… These people are very suspicious of us. They were even suspicious of Dreyak, and he looks like one of them and speaks with their accent.

  I noticed that. I could camouflage you and dampen down my aura, Jaxi said, as it’s possible she hasn’t noticed us yet, due to the proximity of a dragon—their auras drown out those of less powerful beings—but as soon as the woman walks in, she’ll likely recognize my scabbard. And I can’t camouflage Azarwrath there unless he wants me to. Be careful with him. If he’s been waiting for his chance to jump ship, this would be it. The Cofah sorceress doesn’t have a soulblade.

  So, she might be shopping for one?

  Jaxi snorted. As if you can select a soulblade from a market aisle along with cereal and cheese.

  If Azarwrath wants to stay with these people, that’s not a problem for me. Maybe I should offer to give him to the sorceress.

  “Please sit down,” one of the women said, gesturing Trip’s team not to chairs but to crates stacked around the alcove. She wore spectacles, appeared to be about forty, and had a notebook and pen sticking out of a cargo pocket. “I’m Jylea.” She went around introducing her comrades, but didn’t give the names of the soldiers.

  I can’t sense her thoughts very well, Jaxi said. I don’t sense that she has any dragon blood, but she has a very schooled mind. The others are being careful, too, not to think about anything other than the battle they had with those dragons.

  Is it possible that isn’t due to duplicity? That it’s just paramount on their minds right now? Understandably so, Trip thought.

  Possible, I suppose. I tend to assume humans are being duplicitous until proven otherwise.

  I had no idea you were such a suspicious soul.

  Once you spend more time surfing around in the minds of men, you’ll see why.

  That’s not encouraged, is it? Trip could see how it would be useful to know what enemies were plotting, but he wouldn’t wish to invade the privacy of others on a regular basis.

  No, there were rules against it in our era.

  That you’re breaking?

  Untrained people often ooze their thoughts like water from a squeezed sponge. It’s hard not to sense what they’re thinking.

  That doesn’t really answer my question, Trip observed.

  Doesn’t it? Huh.

  “You’re here to destroy the dragon portal?” Jylea asked after the introductions. Her voice was neutral. Carefully neutral?

  Blazer shot a dark look at Dreyak, one that Trip understood perfectly. He shouldn’t have shared the details of their mission with strangers.

  “The same as you presumably are, yes,” Rysha said, smiling.

  Jylea’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not used to the lieutenants doing the talking when I deal with Iskandians.”

  “She’s our dragon expert.” Blazer folded her arms over her chest. She’d leaned against her crate rather than sitting on it. “We let her do the talking when it comes to dragonly things.”

  “Dragonly? That’s not a word in Cofahre.”

  “It is in Iskandia,” Blazer said. “You have to put a couple of those little dots over the O.”

  Jyle
a’s face crinkled up as she seemingly tried to figure out if Blazer was being serious.

  “That’s a diaeresis,” Rysha told Blazer, then added to Jylea, “and a joke.” Perhaps thinking she might form a rapport with Jylea if she emphasized their commonalities, Rysha leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “She’s a pilot.”

  “Ah,” Jylea said, as if that explained everything. She smiled.

  “Don’t get too relaxed with them, Jylea,” the man on her right said. “Remember that Toph was charming too, and look where that got us.”

  “I haven’t forgotten,” Jylea said, her voice cooling, and she exchanged a long look with the man.

  Toph? Trip couldn’t imagine that being the sorceress’s name. It neither sounded Cofah, nor like a woman’s name.

  No, despite their preoccupation, I’m learning a few things from these people’s surface thoughts, Jaxi told him. It was a—

  Something seemed to tickle his mind, and Jaxi broke off. Did she feel it too? He had the sensation of fingers scraping through sand at the beach, searching for a lost coin.

  She’s probing us, Jaxi said. Do you want to block her from reading your thoughts?

  Is that an option?

  Naturally. There’s a mental exercise to learn how.

  Trip grimaced. It doesn’t involve unfurling flowers, does it?

  That hadn’t worked that well for him.

  You barely tried it. Many do prefer to imagine their minds like rose buds, the petals still wrapped up inside the bud, inaccessible to outside elements. You, preferring manly images, would perhaps like to imagine laying a brick wall around your mind.

  It takes days to lay a brick wall. I helped my grandfather build his current house. I know.

  Lay yours more quickly. She’s digging into your thoughts now.

  Alarmed, Trip gave up on thoughts of troweling mortar and imagined a brick wall instantly forming around his head. No, bricks weren’t sturdy enough. He would use steel. No, iron. Wasn’t iron supposed to have some element in it that blocked sorcerers from penetrating it with their magic? Or was that an old myth? In case it wasn’t, he imagined some iron. The first thing that popped into his mind was his grandmother’s cast iron pots, but that wouldn’t work. He thought of a big, hulking bank vault with foot-thick walls. He stood inside it as the door clanged shut, and the circular handle spun into the locked position. Unfortunately, he also imagined the darkness and claustrophobia of being trapped inside a vault. He mentally added a light and a workbench. Some tools and a project to work on while he was stuck inside. Blazer’s gun rack perhaps. And if he finished that, there was a cushy chair and some metalworking magazines to flip through. Perhaps an article on experimenting with the ore content of various new alloys.