Alexander looked more closely at the man. His colors were muddy, tainted with darkness and power. He was wraithkin.
“Our terms are simple, Dragon,” he said. “You give us the keystone and secure the Sovereign Stone for us and we will return your egg, intact and unharmed.”
“You are playing a very dangerous game, Human,” Bragador said. “It is unwise to make an enemy of a dragon.”
“Be that as it may, the deal is what it is,” the wraithkin said. “We have no wish to involve you in our war but we require these items. Deliver them to us and we will return your egg.”
“From your demands, I assume you are not in league with the bearer of the Sovereign Stone, the one who calls himself Alexander Reishi.”
“No, he is a pretender,” the wraithkin said. “He has stolen the Sovereign Stone from its rightful owner, Prince Phane Reishi.”
“Yet the Stone is bound to this Alexander Reishi,” Bragador said. “I know something about this item from stories told to me by my grandsire. By the tradition of the Reishi Empire, the rightful sovereign is the one bound to the Stone. So it would seem that Prince Phane is the pretender.”
“Irrelevant,” the wraithkin said. “We have your egg. Deliver the items we require or we will kill your unborn child.”
Bragador leaned forward menacingly as if she was considering eating the wraithkin whole. Alexander saw the turmoil within her colors, the battle within her raged as she struggled to decide.
“Bargain struck,” she said. “Be warned—if you harm Anja, my brood and I will come forth and wage war against Prince Phane with fury and wrath.”
The wraithkin smiled and then vanished, reappearing twenty feet closer to the cave entrance, taking a step or two and then vanishing again. Alexander slipped into the firmament and focused on the dragon egg named Anja. Nothing happened.
He brought his consciousness back into the room with Bragador and started sweeping through the entire island in a grid pattern. The world passed by in a blur with each pass but he moved just slowly enough so that he could discern enough of his surroundings to find what he was looking for … and find it he did.
After nearly an hour of systematic searching, he located the cave where Phane’s agents were holding the dragon egg. They’d found a cave similar to the one where he was hiding his ship, only theirs was bigger and had a number of large passageways entering from the mountain.
The egg was on a broad stone shelf resting in a pit of hot coals. Alexander examined the men surrounding the egg and found a formidable bunch: three wraithkin, two master wizards, and twenty armed men. As he assessed the enemy’s strength, he stopped abruptly when he reached the captain of the vessel moored in the cave. He looked closer even though he knew his first glance hadn’t been mistaken, couldn’t have been mistaken.
At his waist, the man carried the Thinblade of Tyr. He was a pirate and a rogue. His colors were as disreputable as any Alexander had seen in a man, yet this man had the blood of the House of Tyr coursing through his veins, and he possessed the last of the three remaining Thinblades.
Alexander added yet another task to his list.
He marked their position and scouted a route to them, then turned his attention to the blood of the earth. After some searching within the bowels of the mountain, he found the ancient chamber where the potent magical liquid was collecting and traced a route back to his current position. It was long, treacherous, and circuitous but he was confident that it was passable. Satisfied with his reconnaissance, he returned to his body.
“Report,” he said.
“All’s quiet,” Hector said from his position guarding the entrance to the Wizard’s Den.
“What did you learn?” Isabel asked.
“Phane’s people are here,” Alexander said. “They stole Bragador’s egg, then offered to exchange it for the keystone and the Sovereign Stone.”
“She didn’t agree, did she?” Isabel asked.
“I’m afraid so,” Alexander said. “She didn’t seem too happy about it, though.”
“I don’t imagine,” Jack said, “but that does present quite a dilemma.”
“We have an advantage,” Alexander said. “I know where they’re keeping the egg.”
“You want to steal it back?” Jack asked.
“The thought crossed my mind,” Alexander said.
“Once we get the egg back, what then?” Isabel asked.
Alexander noticed a subtle shift in her colors, as if some outside force was exerting influence on her. His focus sharpened.
“We give it back to Bragador,” he said.
“We could use it to bargain for the keystone and her tears,” Isabel said, muddy darkness swirling through her clear bright colors.
Alexander swallowed hard. Azugorath’s influence was growing. He knew his wife well enough to know that she would never try to use another’s child as leverage.
“Focus, Isabel,” he said. “The darkness is influencing you.”
She stepped back as if he’d slapped her, clenching her eyes shut and shaking her head vigorously. Her colors cleared and brightened, though the taint remained.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “You have to believe that I would never suggest such a thing.”
“I do,” Alexander said, taking her into his arms. “Phane’s influence is growing. We have to be vigilant.”
“I hate this,” Isabel said. “I’m so terrified that I’m going to hurt you, that I’ll betray you when you need me most. I can’t live like this, Alexander.”
“We’ll fix it, Isabel. We’ll get the egg from Phane’s people. Once we return Bragador’s egg, I have to believe she’ll honor her bargain and give me the keystone and her tears in exchange for Mindbender. As soon as we toss the keystone into the endless mist, we’ll set sail for Ruatha. You just have to hold on until then.”
“I don’t know if I can,” she whispered. “I can’t even explain it. It felt like bargaining with Bragador’s egg was my idea and I thought it was a really good one when it occurred to me. This is so insidious.”
“I know,” Alexander said, his stomach squirming. He was torn between his need to help Isabel, his rage at Phane for what he’d done to her, and the horrible realization that he couldn’t trust the one person he loved most in the world. He’d known that this was coming, tried unsuccessfully to prepare for it and reasoned that he could handle it as long as he knew there was a way to save her. Now that she was starting to slip away from him, he wasn’t so sure. It felt like something deep inside, something vital, was breaking.
“Quiet,” Hector said, slowly drawing one of his short swords.
Alexander dimmed the light in the Wizard’s Den and grasped the hilt of Mindbender. Closing the door to the Den would have protected them completely, but he didn’t dare risk what it might do to Isabel, so he envisioned a stone wall and released it into the sword. Because he’d opened the door to the Den against the wall of the cave, it was a simple matter to project an illusion that blended with the natural stone.
Everyone held their breath as the sound of careful footsteps approached. They saw the light of fire first, flickering and dancing against the volcanic stone of the walls.
A man cautiously rounded the corner, as if he expected to encounter a threat. On his outstretched palm danced a flame, though there didn’t appear to be any source other than his hand. He had a medium build with black hair and dark green eyes that almost seemed to glow and sparkle in the dim firelight. He entered the small cave and stopped, listening intently, then sniffing the air like an animal.
“I can smell you, Human,” he muttered to himself. “You can’t be far.”
He left through another passage. Alexander quietly exhaled but didn’t move. He stood, waiting and listening to the sounds of footsteps echoing softly in the distance. After several minutes, when he was sure that they wouldn’t be heard, he increased the light in the Wizard’s Den just enough for his friends to see his gestures and motioned for them to follow him.
They crept out into the cave and left through a different passage, moving slowly through the dark, feeling their way along the uneven stone walls. Alexander was following a map burned into his mind from his clairvoyant reconnaissance. They moved painstakingly, trading silence for speed. After an hour, they stopped again in a small cavern.
“Who was that?” Isabel whispered.
“I don’t know for sure, but he had the colors of a dragon,” Alexander said.
“How can that be?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know that either,” Alexander said.
“I know dragons are creatures of magic, but I never expected them to be able to take human form,” Isabel said.
“This complicates things,” Alexander said. “I figured we’d be safe from them in such narrow passages, but I’m starting to think otherwise. It might be safer to take a much longer route that takes us deeper under the mountain.”
As they moved deeper, the temperature started to rise. They were able to move faster once they decided it was safe to use the light of their night-wisp dust. Alexander led the way, taking each turn only after carefully thinking through the path he’d scouted. He used his all around sight to peer down each twist to ensure they wouldn’t blunder into anyone or anything, reminding himself that dragons and men weren’t the only threats he might encounter.
The passages they traveled looked like they had once been channels for free-flowing lava, an unsettling thought, but under the circumstances, the least of their worries. At a few points they had to use ropes to continue down the path. Alexander stopped abruptly as they rounded a corner and the heat of a river of molten rock washed over them.
The path they needed to take ran for twenty feet along a shelf that paralleled the lava flow a few dozen feet below. The heat was stifling, scalding their faces red and singeing their hair. They backed around the corner and the heat diminished.
“This is going to hurt,” Alexander said as he opened the door to his Wizard’s Den. “Jack, Hector, Horace, you’ll stay in the Den. Will your shield protect you from the heat, Isabel?”
She shook her head. “The heat is in the air, my shield only stops magic and solid objects.”
“Alright, douse yourself in water and wrap yourself with a wet blanket.”
Alexander dunked a blanket into one of the barrels of water and tossed it over himself, wrapping it across his face.
“We’ll have to move quickly,” he said. “Stay close.”
She nodded as she prepared her blanket. They stepped out of the Wizard’s Den and Alexander closed the door.
“Ready?”
Isabel nodded.
Alexander led the way, staying close to the wall. The air was scorching hot, burning his lungs with every shallow breath. The heat was suddenly almost unbearable but he pressed on as quickly as he dared until he reached the passage leading out of the chamber. He kept an eye on Isabel the whole time through his all around sight. She was faring worse than he was because she needed to expose part of her face to the unbearably hot air in order to see.
As he reached the turn, his blanket caught fire. Isabel’s blanket ignited moments later. He pressed ahead a few more steps, then tossed the blanket off himself before it could burn through and ignite his clothing.
Isabel stumbled and went to her knees, choking on the hot air. Alexander tore her flaming blanket away, scorching his hand, and grabbed her by the back of her leather armor, hauling her away from the deadly heat. Around another corner and the temperature dropped significantly, though still sweltering, around the next corner it dropped further still. He willed the door to the Wizard’s Den open and hauled her through it. Jack was there waiting for them. He took Isabel and helped her to one of the beds while Hector and Horace got water to cool them both.
Alexander felt as though his lungs were on fire, and his hand was blistered. Isabel was burned across her face and on her hand and knees. Worse, she was unconscious. Alexander set his own pain aside and went to his wife. She was breathing shallowly but steadily. Her lungs were no doubt as scorched as his. He propped a pillow behind her head and fumbled with his pouch for a jar of healing salve.
Gently, carefully, he dabbed ointment around her eyes. Her skin was red and blistered. Hector handed him a pail of water and a towel. Alexander put the cool towel on Isabel’s forehead and sprinkled water on her neck and cheeks to cool her down. She woke with a gasp and whimpered at the pain in her lungs.
“Hush,” he said. “You’re burned pretty badly. Can you swallow a healing draught?”
She nodded without opening her swollen eyes. He carefully held the potion to her lips and tipped the vial slowly. She swallowed the draught in one gulp, then winced. Alexander lowered her back onto the pillow.
“Try to sleep,” he said.
She nodded.
“Maybe you should take your own advice,” Jack said.
Alexander nodded, taking another potion from his pouch and quaffing it. It felt like he was swallowing fire. He lay down on the bed next to Isabel’s and closed his eyes, hoping that the magic of the healing draught would claim him quickly.
***
He woke with a start. It felt like bugs were crawling over him but he quickly realized it was just beads of sweat running down his body under his clothes. The heat was oppressive. Jack and Hector slept restlessly while Horace stood guard at the door, sipping a cup of water to replenish the water he’d lost to sweat. Isabel was asleep, breathing slowly and deeply. The healing draught had done its work, the burns across her face were nearly gone, leaving only redness where hours before there had been blisters and angry welts.