Since he was far more powerful than I, I couldn’t object. Since we would need all the help we could get, I rubbed Sindari’s charm to summon him.
As Zav strode toward the tunnel, I noticed he wore the yellow Crocs. I would have thought elven slippers would be more appropriate for a quest, but maybe he thought he would need luck inside.
I had a feeling we both would.
26
Yis Tarathka, a female voice rasped in my mind before we’d gone more than ten feet into the tunnel.
The lich? Not sure I wanted to know what she was saying, I tapped my translation charm.
Visitors? she continued. A puny mongrel and one of the righteous Stormforge dragons.
Zav continued on. If he answered, he didn’t include me in the telepathic communication.
Thinking of his warning not to vex the lich, I also didn’t answer. Sindari padded silently at my side, not commenting on the telepathic announcement.
I expected far more dragons than one, the lich continued. And I am prepared. You will not survive if you continue farther into my abode. I have claimed this world for mine, and as soon as I have gathered the necessary forces, I will claim all of the Cosmic Realms. After a pause, she purred an addition that seemed to be for me. Including the wild worlds.
I swallowed. That was Earth.
“There’s no way she can do that, right?” I whispered.
Zav looked at me over his shoulder. She will not defeat all the dragons and claim anything.
I defeated one dragon already, she continued. Once I made the change, the Stormforge dragon who ruled this world was no match for me. I slew him easily and allowed my minions to feast upon his bones.
Sacrilege! Zav replied.
Some of my minions still retain enough mortal flesh that they grow hungry.
A dead dragon must be interred, not fed to scavengers. Zav’s back was as stiff as a board as he picked up his pace, striding through the tunnel, no sign yet of the skeletal minion that had spotted us.
All Stormforge dragons will be treated thus. You have slain many Silverclaws, so I have been tasked to deal with your clan, to remove them from the Cosmic Realms. Permanently.
She had been tasked? Had the bitter Silverclaw dragons gotten together and drawn straws? Let’s see who gets to turn themselves into an undead lich today…
It is the Silverclaws who will be dealt with permanently. Zav, maybe forgetting he wasn’t in dragon form, growled.
“Don’t let her vex you,” I whispered, patting him on the shoulder. “Women like to play mind games with men. Don’t give in.”
I am regretting that I forbade you from vexing her, he replied.
You didn’t forbid it. You only suggested I not vex her. Actually, you asked it as a favor. I can ignore your favor and vex her vociferously if I feel it’s appropriate.
Do not.
Our tunnel slanted downward, growing darker as we traveled farther from the opening, and I activated my night-vision charm. The world turned a pale green, details more difficult to pick out and depth perception iffy. I almost missed a step when the flat ground turned into a staircase descending into the mountain.
So far, the walls, floor, and ceiling had been smooth, carved with magic or some stone-shaving tool. I ran my fingers along one wall as we descended. The stone felt more crystalline than porous, and the tunnel smelled clean and fresh instead of dank and musty, like most caves I’d been in, or acrid and sulfuric like the air outside. My sensitive lungs were grateful for this small boon, but it was confusing.
I brought a finger to my nose and sniffed.
It’s salt, Sindari said.
Salt? Black salt? I’d seen black “lava” salt in the fancy grocery stores back home, but it was regular sea salt mixed with charcoal.
Black salt. The dwarven world is known for it. Some say it is as valuable a trade item as their enchanted weapons.
I’ll gladly chip away a few barrels full to trade for my sword.
Does your new blade not satisfy you?
It’s heavy, and it doesn’t glow.
Perhaps it does, and you don’t know how to activate its magic.
“Story of my life,” I muttered, and Zav glanced back. “Sindari and I are discussing the dwarven salt trade,” I explained, seeing little point in keeping my mouth shut since the lich knew we were here.
Zav didn’t seem surprised. They are known for it.
After descending the equivalent of a couple of European cathedrals, we reached a wide tunnel at the bottom that stretched in two directions. A faint creaking came from the right, silence from the left. After coming upon the dead dwarves outside, my imagination had no problem conjuring bodies hanging from nooses, the creaking a result of them swaying on ropes buffeted by underground drafts.
Zav gazed in both directions but must not have had any better luck than I did sensing what was out there.
I am accustomed to striding straight into danger and trusting my prowess and power to be enough to win the day, but that is likely to be insufficient here. Zav faced me. We must have a crafty plan and must not allow ourselves to walk into her trap.
Is it my job to come up with that? I looked at Sindari, who ruffled his fur and shook his head. The tiger equivalent of a shrug.
As a less powerful being, you’ve had to be crafty before, Zav pointed out.
Yeah, but I’m not great at it. Can you sense anything down here?
Yes. I sense many, many undead minions in that direction. He nodded to the right, toward the distant creaking. Anyone wishing to avoid a battle would choose the other direction. He looked to the left. This makes me believe that the trap is that way, perhaps some magical explosion that will bring down the mountain on us or kill us outright.
I’d never seen Zav hesitate to face an opponent, and it scared me. How was I supposed to come up with something clever enough to best someone even he was worried about battling?
Can you read any of their minds and get the lay of the land? I asked. If we had a map, that would be helpful. It would make it a lot easier to avoid her traps and sneak up on her.
Or avoid her altogether until the others arrive. I seek only intelligence. A map would be excellent, but I also must know if she has found something that can defeat my people. She must know they are on the way, but she sounded confident. He arched his eyebrows toward me. Cocky.
Don’t all dragons always sound confident and cocky?
Superior predators have that tendency, yes. As to the mind-reading, it cannot be done with undead minions. Their brains are gone, their skulls empty. That is why they are so easily led by their masters and so difficult to subvert by their masters’ enemies.
A distant scream echoed up from the depths of the mountain, and I flinched. “That didn’t sound undead.”
Sindari cocked his head, listening. It sounded like a human female. The thief?
“Is Li still alive?” I’d been certain the creatures or the lich would have torn her apart, and my gut twisted at the idea of her being tortured. “Why would the lich keep her alive? To question her? What could she possibly know?”
Where you are? Sindari suggested.
“Why would the lich care about me? Besides, aren’t we assuming she already knows where we are? She’s been chatting with Zav and me.”
A broad telepathic transmission. Zav held a finger to his lips. I am certain she knows that we are inside the mountain, thanks to the error with the sword, but she shouldn’t know our precise location if our cloaking magic is working sufficiently.