Azolirum roared through a cough, and his silver eyes shone. He lowered his head and, with a stomp that seemed to shake the ground, charged again. Magnus braced his hands high and did the stupidest thing he’d ever done. He charged, too.
They met in the center. Instead of crashing together as two Nozverak might, Magnus reached out to grip Azolirum by the horns before contracting and dropping like a stone. The soft bottom of Azolirum’s face, not his rock-hard forehead, smashed into Magnus’s folded up knees. The pair of them crashed into a rolling heap on the floor.
As Magnus had hoped, the horde king was stunned. An eruption of cheers and taunts filled the cave. Magnus wouldn’t waste the opportunity. He hopped atop his opponent and sent a fist into his jagged mouth. His knuckles shredded. The next blow, he sent into the flat nose. He didn’t get a third strike.
Azolirum caught the fist headed toward his chin, then sent it back into Magnus’s own face. The world went pale. Regna, he’d been hit with the mountain. When his vision cleared, Magnus realized he was on his back.
The horde king climbed to his feet. Magnus shot up, then was knocked to the ground by a second blow to the face. A boot landed on his side. Magnus gasped and tried to roll away, but another punch stopped him, this one in his injured shoulder. The pain was staggering. His jaw dropped on a silent scream, and the horde king straightened for a killing blow.
The cave quieted on held breaths as Azolirum dropped his fist. He slammed his open palm down onto Magnus’s chest, causing him to cough on the blood that had pooled in the back of his throat. The Nozverak leaned so close Magnus could smell his musty breath.
“Beg for your life, little man.”
Magnus coughed and sputtered on a laugh that sent flecks of blood onto his opponent’s blue face. He wouldn’t ask for mercy, but only because he knew doing so was pointless. The Nozverak would laugh at such cries before stomping the beggar beneath his boots. Magnus choked out an answer. “Do what you will, my friend.”
The hush ended abruptly in roars from the Dokiri and a whooping chant from the Nozverak that started low and grew until it reached a frantic pitch, like the thundering of Magnus’s own heart in his chest. It started low and grew with volume until it reached a frantic pitch like the thundering of Magnus’s own heart in his chest. Azolirum drew back his free fist to deliver the killing blow. But he pulled that elbow back too slow, the force too measured, and Magnus knew before it was even fully raised that his fate had been stayed.
Magnus’s relief must’ve shown in his eyes, because Azolirum answered with a wicked grin. The fist came down before exploding into a burst of open fingers that clutched Magnus around the shoulder and hauled him upwards. Magnus’s vision completely blurred as the blood rushed from his skull and into his feet, which scrambled to find purchase on the dusty ground. He hooked a bloodied fist onto Azolirum’s arm to steady himself as he hunched over and fought to catch his breath. Each heaving gasp sent jolts of pain through his chest and down his spine. Regna, the Nozverak had nearly broken him.
He seemed determined to finish the job when he gave Magnus’s shoulders a mighty shake and turned to address the crowd on all sides. “Never has a nozturel challenged one of our own. And never, in our wildest tales, would one be mad enough to challenge the horde king!”
The Nozverak booed and hissed in Magnus’s direction until Azolirum pumped his fist into the air. “Silence. That he did not piss in fear when I charged him was more than I imagined.”
Magnus shifted him an incredulous look through swollen eyes even as the Dokiri burst into cheers. Even some of the Nozverak turned their boos into grunts of approval. The Dokiri beat their fists upon their chests, and Magnus managed a painful smile in their direction. Erik stood with his head ducked low to meet Magnus’s eyes through the tangle of hair swept in front of his face. He was still hunched over, held up only by Azolirum’s hand clutching his forearm.
The horde king went on. “If the overlanders beg to throw their lot in with a female, I will accept the word of one with the stones to challenge me and the grit to withstand my claws.”
A tug of Azolirum’s hand jerked Magnus upright. He met the Nozverak’s gaze through a swollen eye with a reddening field of vision. The horde king clutched Magnus’s aching jaw in one hand and, before Magnus could react, used the pointed end of his forefinger to scratch a hash mark to the side of his forehead. Magnus blinked, but hardly reacted otherwise. He couldn’t feel the pain amidst all the other aches in his body. Still, he put a hand to the bleeding scratch.
Azolirum released him only to reach up to the same side of his own head, to the largest of the two horns, and scratch a deep hash next to a row of similar tics. The Nozverak turned slowly to give the onlookers a good view of what he’d just done.
“I mark this oath with the claw of my own hand and swear that the alliance between my people and the nozturel will be honored. So long as they do the same.” He turned back to Magnus, then settled his gaze on Erik, and even glanced at Nadine. “My people will lead yours into the heart of the Earth.”
16
Crooked Seams
Nadine marched down the darkened tunnel where Erik had practically dragged Magnus away. The torch in her hand was her only light to navigate the twisting paths. She narrowly avoided tripping on rocks that seemed to sprout from the ground like unearthed roots. Fury pounded through her blood. She was on fire with it.
What had the barbarian done? Who did he think he was? What was he trying to prove?
A hundred questions swirled within her without a single answer emerging from the tumultuous tide. She couldn’t make sense of her own anger. Disaster had been avoided just now. Why didn’t she feel relieved?
Nadine growled through the darkness as she tore around a curve. A sudden question made her stop as though she’d slammed into a rock wall. What disaster had she avoided, precisely? The possibility that her own men might turn on her? Try to take the Eye for themselves and leave her behind? That this mission might fail completely before it had really begun—before she’d had the chance to prove herself?
The thought had her skin crawling and burning all at once. If the ocean had been nearby, she’d have dove head first into its salty waters to bathe the horrible sensation clean. It wouldn’t be enough.
Because that’s not what you feared most.
She scraped her nails against the wall before she shoved off in the direction that stupid barbarian had disappeared. She’d get to the bottom of this, find out what had driven him to this insanity. What made him think he could act like that, make that kind of spectacle out of himself? What had been his grand purpose other than to absolutely infuriate her? She ground her teeth. That had always seemed more than enough motivation for him.
The rapidly rising temperature distracted Nadine from her rage. She slowed down as her footing became less steady upon steam-slicked rock. Sulfur filled the air. Nadine was coming close to the hot springs. Erik must’ve taken his brother for repair. She huffed. He was going to need more than a bit of hot water after what that monster had done to him. And he was going to need a lot more than any earthly remedy by the time she’d had her turn.
A glow of light around the distant corner caught her attention, as did the murmur of voices over the soft popping and bubbling of trickling water. Nadine’s march slowed to a creep before coming to a halt at the edge of the entrance to the wide open springs. Holding the torch toward the tunnel she’d just come through, Nadine pressed her back against the wall and peered around the corner to get an idea of what she was walking into.