“Are you the same guy we had before?” I asked it, because how else would it remember my supposed name?
Its face turned to Darius. “Hello, Walrus.”
Darius nodded in greeting.
“Where do you go?” the creature asked.
I looked at Darius for an answer. Strategy was his department.
“The way we came in,” he said.
Without hesitation, the creature untied the rope and the boat calmly drifted away from the side.
I blinked at Darius, wanting to ask a few questions. Like, why did he seem so confident it would know? And did it, in fact, know? And was this the same one as before?
Plunk.
I flinched and ducked away before groaning. “Not the drops again.”
Silence filled the empty expanse as we made our way across the river. Darius, still nude and seemingly not disturbed that his bare butt was resting on an often used and probably rarely cleaned seat, stared off to the side patiently. The creature stared between us, also patiently.
I fidgeted and tried to keep from jumping overboard. I really hated this ride.
“Question.” I pointed at the creature. It didn’t look at me. “Are you a tattletale?”
Silence.
“Do you keep a captain’s log of passengers?” I tried again.
Silence.
“If I throw you into the water, and no one is there to hear it, will the splash actually make a sound?” No one answered, so I had plenty of opportunity to think about what I’d just said. “Actually, will you even make a splash?”
I was tempted to see, just for kicks, but there were no oars. If this thing went over, we’d probably be stuck on this accursed river forever.
Another couple drops from the ceiling later, we drifted toward a dock. The creature tied up the boat. No fog greeted us from this side.
Huh.
The creature’s head turned to me. “Safe travels, Egg man.” Then to Darius, “Safe travels, Walrus.”
I hopped off the boat, shaking my head. I couldn’t even summon the enthusiasm to sing the last lines of the song. Despite Darius’s assertions, I had not gotten used to the crazy that was the river. It just wasn’t right.
Without balking, we walked up the beach and through the illusion we’d seen before. This one didn’t change the second time around like that other one had.
“I wonder if you could’ve walked on that water,” I said randomly, thinking of the illusion of the hut on the ocean.
Something large drifted above us. The roar shook my bones, bubbling up fear from inside me.
A black dragon.
The black dragon.
Chapter Thirty
“What in the hell is it doing here?” I screeched, starting to run.
Darius grabbed my arm, probably worried he’d lose me in the layered illusion. Do not use your power. We have to blend in.
No kidding, but could I stop myself from protecting us the only way I knew how when it was a matter of survival? I wasn’t sure.
“Should I go naked like you? I can burn off my hair. That might make me look as odd as the rest of them…”
“No. Keep moving.” We stayed near the edge of the passageway, scraping our backs on the jutting, sharp rocks. The tail of the dragon disappeared overhead.
Demons hurried toward us or moved with us, glancing up in panic. One crashed into Darius and careened to the other side of the corridor, scraping against the rock.
Its eyes hit mine as it pushed away. A rare helpful demon, it said, “Go back the way you came! They only bring in dragons to burn the place out!”
He scurried toward the river.
We ran forward into a cluster of demons, all equally panicked. Another roar made everyone flinch. Someone grabbed at Darius’s satchel, a thief taking advantage of the distraction.
Thieves should know better than to get grabby with a vampire.
Darius snatched the demon and swung it around, bashing it against the rock. Then he flung it to the ground and kept going as though nothing had happened.
A hollow of creatures opened up around us, giving us more room. That probably wasn’t good.
The black dragon drifted overhead, and I looked up through my eyelashes, trying to see if anything or, rather, anyone rested on its back. Empty. Thank holy buckets of goo.
“Maybe dragons can’t sense power,” I murmured as we hunched and crowded in with the demons in front of us. They tried to get away, but we persisted, running behind them, basically herding them the direction we were going.
Don’t chance it, Darius thought.
Everyone slowed into a cluster as we all reached the big open area where I’d slayed the huge demon. Only a few brave souls walked through it, hurrying from one side to the other.
“What does the dragon want?” I asked a strange creature beside me. It didn’t look much like a demon, but I had no idea what it might be. Gargoyle?
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know dragons existed!”
“It’s looking for someone,” a demon in front of us rasped.
“Will they find someone else by accident?” I asked.
“Yeah. This is the start of the raid. Anything that can’t go back across the river will be killed. Usually they don’t bother with this area, but when they do, they clear it out. Won’t want anyone on the outside hearing about dragons. The news can’t get out with everyone dead.” The demon looked up, its fear plain.
“Then why don’t you head toward the river? Why doesn’t everyone?”
The demon glanced back over my shoulder. “Too late now. I gotta stay alive long enough to sneak back over.”
I followed its gaze but only saw a mass of cowering creatures, hunched together, as though trapped and waiting for a golden opportunity to escape.
I didn’t know why it might be too late, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going toward the river, anyway. And I certainly wasn’t the kind of girl to wait for the enemy to come to me.
“Darius, let’s light this place up with magic and make a run for it.”
“Wait. You got magic?” The demon in front turned around, giving me its full attention. It pointed.
I punched it in the face.
“Don’t draw attention to me and I won’t kill you,” I seethed.
It ripped its finger down. “You’re that human that beat two turns with the dragon,” the demon whispered. “You got magic. That sect has been looking for you.”
“They found me. The clown is dead. Take a hint.”
The demon shifted. It looked around and then back to me, not moving away. It took hints like it minded its own business—not well.
“Where’d you get all that magic? You got any for sale?” the demon asked.
Two other demons hovering near us glanced over. Darius leveled an assessing stare at the demon willing to buy. I had no doubt a side business featuring large payments to the dual mages and demons acting like mules into the underworld could come out of it, but we didn’t have time to hang around.
“We gotta—” I cut off as yelling and shouts rose over the murmurs. Everyone looked back, me included.
“Told ya,” said the demon with a future as a magical mule.
The crowd around us shifted, their movements harried and jerky. Through opening gaps I saw demons running toward us from the corridor, fear smeared across their faces.
“Raid!” someone shouted.
The dragon roared somewhere to my right. A stream of fire raked through the trader space in front of us, blasting us with heat. Two demons flailed in the fire, scorched in the spray.
Screams of agony and the clank of metal filled the air, and the chaos was, sadly, headed our way. Large demons with weapons surged forward, pausing now and again to deliver a killing strike. An insect-looking creature climbed up the wall, whining and flinching as the protrusions pierced it. It didn’t get far before one of the armed demons ripped it down. Suddenly the corridors surrounded by jagged rock walls made sense. They made it easy to corral, then take down, prey.
“We gotta go,” I said, urgency speeding up my heart. I unzipped my pouch and dug out a handful of spells. I handed them over to our potential new business associate. “Pinch,” I yelled, taking one out and pinching it. “And throw quickly.”