The Dragon's Rogue

Chapter 25

My feet touched a patch of packed dirt first, and I settled my weight on the tunnel floor. The sharp edged beam of light from the entrance flickered and bounced, Illaise began her descent. Shadows jumped around on the tunnel walls as a result.

I cringed, though Quatori were completely blind, it was hard to imagine such an obvious announcement that we were there would go unnoticed. Yet nothing on my level moved. The tunnel floor was uneven and littered with stones and lumps of cloth that I didn't study too closely.

The shifter that had fallen was already stripped clean. A bulge of shadow with the white gleam of bones protruding. The sight should have likely induced some sympathy within me. It was my fault he had fallen after all. But I felt little except the weight of our task. I assumed that Illaise and I shared the same goal, finding and freeing any of those shifters that were captive and still alive. But her methods were rash and risky.

She reached the bottom without sound and stood there for a moment, frowning upward at the entrance. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking, but I hoped she wasn't plotting revenge for the failure of my invention. Dark forms flashed across the opening followed by a piercing roar.

Funny that the Quatori from the tunnel weren't swarming toward the sound. If my scenting was accurate they had actually retreated, a bitter note to their scent suggesting...fear? Did Quatori feel fear? It was a revelation to me that the Quatori might be more than a vicious moving hunger.

More shadows passed the entrance, wings and claws glimmering.

I shuddered. They couldn't reach me, but the sight of the dragons still sparked the urge to run recklessly toward the fleeing Quatori. Licking my lips I averted my gaze, studying the darkness that lead deeper underground.

After a moment Illaise joined me, placing a firm hand on my shoulder. I couldn't see her expression, but I got the feeling that it was one of disapproval. She shifted, lifting her face, scenting. Then a tug propelled me away from the entrance and toward total darkness.

The Quatori scent grew stronger. Was she following them? I could sense the drafts from various openings and intersecting tunnels, shouldn't we be moving along one of them, avoiding Quatori?

But as we crept farther it became obvious that we were indeed nearing the beasts that fled. I tensed when Illaise pulled me past one of the drafts, they were most certainly other tunnels, a complex of them beneath the surface. This particular tunnel also smelled strongly of a Quatori's recent passage. Which meant that we were surrounded.

How in the Six Realms would we ever find our way back? My mind was sharp, but even I would lose track of the passages I memorized if we had to wind around different tunnels to avoid our enemy. When we managed to free Adda I wasn't sure she would be in any better of a position.

This seemed to matter naught to Illaise, who pressed forward with determination. She was nervous though, she had maintained her grip throughout our travels. Less now to encourage me along, and more to keep us together, but the skin beneath her palm was damp and her fingers clenched tighter than necessary.

She stopped suddenly, I had expected a continued momentum and nearly slammed into her back before the pressure of her fingers stopped me. We stood in dark silence. I could sense the walls around me, a tight uncomfortable feeling. How much earth lay between me and the open sky? Some of the passages had angled downward. Should they collapse would I have a chance at digging my way out? Or would I suffocate long before I reached the surface?

Three tugs brought my focus away from such doomed thinking. Illaise released my arm and placed a hand on either side of my head instead. Gently she turned my face to the left and then tapped my nose. Obediently I sniffed. Quatori, just as we had been scenting since we ventured into the darkness. There was less fear now, but having spent the last half-hour trailing them I had a sense that they were the same ones from the entrance. Illaise stepped behind me and turned my head right, this time she tapped my eyes.