Chapter 3
Vienne
T he orc jumps to his feet, securing his goggles over his eyes as he tries to locate the source of the sound. The terrible rumbling continues, and I stumble when the floor itself shakes.
“Fuck!” Instinctually I grab onto the closest object to hold myself up—which is, unfortunately, my companion’s big arm. His eyes are wide as he also reaches out for support, landing against the wall and trying not to fall over as the stones underneath us shift and groan.
Then, suddenly, it stops. The floor goes still again, and silence falls around us. I realize I’m still clutching him, and quickly let go, putting space between us.
“Uh, sorry,” I say, rubbing my hand. But something else has caught his attention.
“ Zag !” The orc points at something over my shoulder. “ Ag yak zag! ”
I don’t know what this means, but I understand the gesture. I spin around to find that in the middle of the room, the floor has separated, leaving a huge hole. From it, something is now rising up—something irregular in shape, almost egg-like. We both take a few steps back so we’re up against the wall, and stare as the big object emerges. It appears to be on a pedestal, and as it approaches the surface, it slows down.
Then, when the pedestal is flat with the floor, it stops and lets out a soft click!
Neither of us moves.
“What the hell?” I take a step toward the rock, but a big, green arm shoots out, blocking my path. I glare at the orc, but he shakes his head, and the fear is written plain on his face. We just triggered some ancient mechanism, and we have no way of knowing what we did—or what this huge rock-looking object is.
“Fine,” I say, pushing him away and crossing my arms. “What do you suggest?”
He rolls his eyes, clearly unable to understand me, either. He gets down on his knees and pulls off his pack, then rifles around inside. After a moment, he withdraws something small tucked in his hand.
“What is that?” I ask as he rises to his feet again. Extending his arm, he opens his fingers to reveal what looks like a very large bug.
I put up my hands to protect myself, and the orc guffaws. He dangles it by one leg, holding it out to me. It’s not moving, so it must not be alive. My curiosity demands I lean closer and get a better look.
Wait. That’s no bug. It has tiny metal legs, each joint attached by a very small gear. Grinning, the orc crouches down and drops the bug on the floor, then pokes it in the back.
Then the tiny thing gets up . With a whirring noise, it proceeds to move forward, each of its legs tapping the ground as it goes. Slowly it approaches the big rock in the middle of the room, on a straight collision course.
I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Did he make this? He has a smug expression, so I think so.
When the bug runs into the rock, it can’t move forward any longer despite its scrabbling legs. With a quick nod, the orc stands up again and proceeds to walk towards it.
“Hey!” I call out, but he ignores me as he strides confidently across the room. I jog after him. “You don’t know if it’s safe!”
He glances at me over his shoulder and smirks. When he reaches the rock, he kneels down and picks up his bug, pressing the top to turn it off again. Then he pops it back in his bag.
I stay a safe distance away as he runs a hand over the surface. I’ve only come across a few booby traps in my years with the King’s History Corps, but an axe almost taking off your head trains you pretty quickly to keep your distance.
The orc, however, is very much not afraid. No, he’s curious as he investigates all the holes riddling the stone.
“ Yazak ag, ” he mutters to himself, rubbing his chin as he checks every side. It’s almost like he’s looking for something.
That’s when it all starts to glow .
Purple light streams out from underneath the rock, and I jump as far back as I can before running into the wall. It looks almost like water, except it’s twining upward, crawling through all the nooks and crannies.
The orc lets out an immense exclamation I can’t understand. He reaches into one of the valleys filled with the purple substance, and I rush toward him to stop him. It could be anything. It could be dangerous.
“What are you doing?” I snap, grabbing his hand. “You could kill us both!”
The orc stares at me, then down at where I’m touching him. Suddenly, he starts laughing. He pushes me aside and then reaches in again—which is when I realize it’s not water in the channels and holes.
They’re worms .
The big, stupid orc picks one up and dangles it out in front of him, and if I had to describe his face, the word would be “gleeful.”
“What is that?” I breathe, staring unabashedly as he whips out a leather pouch and drops the worm into it.
He sighs at me and shakes his head. Grabbing another one, he puts it in his palm and holds it out to me. Then he gestures at it.
“ Ag yak azan ,” he insists. I have no idea what he’s saying, though.
With a roll of his eyes, the orc grabs my arm, yanks me toward him, and slaps my hand down over his.
Now stop being such a pain, comes a voice.
* * *
Graz
Hopefully she’ll get the picture now that we’ve both touched the wriggly little magic creature. I made sure her hand touched it, and then I thought, Let me talk to her .
I’m not going to swallow the worm, though, like that idiot Lo’zar did. That’s how he made the ability to communicate with his human mate permanent. As if I’d ever do something so risky—and disgusting.
Not that I need to talk to this particular human for more than a few minutes. I’ve gotten what I came for.
The human woman lets out a gasp when I speak in her mind, and she stumbles backward, clutching her hand as if I’ve burned her. I shrug and return to the big rock, intending to collect as many of these critters as possible. Each one holds enough magic for a significant amount of experimentation. I’ll be absolutely rich in the stuff after this.
“ Ayan haas?” the human says, rubbing her head.
I don’t know what you’re saying , I think in her direction.
She makes some more exclamations in her language, and it’s clear she’s too stupid to figure it out. Ignoring her, I grab some more worms and tuck them into my bag, until it’s full with the wriggling bastards. Then I tie it tightly closed and shove it in my pack.
All right. I’ve gotten what I need. I salute the human. Couldn’t have done it without you .
Where the fuck is that coming from? She looks all around the room, as if it will provide some kind of clue. What’s that voice?
Really? My eyes are about to roll out of my head.
It’s me, you dolt , I say, waving my hands back and forth in front of her. Use your mind, if you have one.
Her mouth falls open, and her blue eyes are as big as saucers. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over how strange humans look, with their bright white sclera and multicolored irises.
No way. She shakes her head, as if that will clear me out of her thoughts. This can’t be happening. I’m imagining this.
I have to laugh. I promise, you’re not.
How the hell are you talking to me? she asks, furrowing her brow.
I don’t think twice before I answer. Magic is powerful stuff.
Oops. I probably should have kept that to myself. It’s all just too... exciting. I want to get back to my shop already and get started on experimenting.
Magic?! The human’s eyes dart over to the rock that’s covered in worms. Those things?
I don’t answer. I shouldn’t be telling a human about this—and certainly not demonstrating how powerful it is. It would be awful if magic fell into the hands of the human King. Who knows what kind of damage he could do with it?
How did it get here? she asks in her rather brusque voice. How do you know all this? Experimentally, she picks up one of the worms, holding it out in front of her as it wriggles. Is it alive?!
I laugh again. I don’t think so. It’s what’s inside them that’s important. I sling my pack onto my back, then narrow my eyes at her. Don’t tell anyone about this.
She blinks. Why not? This is incredible. This is a huge discovery. I can talk to you, for starters. Human and trollkin, communicating freely? That could change the entire world.
Just great. That is my worst case scenario.
Sure, it could . Probably for the worse. I step toward her, jabbing a finger in her face. But imagine what would happen if someone in power got hold of this. What terrible things they could accomplish.
She tilts her head. What’s so bad about it?
I guess I need to show her if I’m going to drill into her idiot brain how dangerous this stuff can be, how important it is that she not spread the word about what she found here today. Grabbing the worm out of her hand, I squish it in my palm and close my eyes.
Bring Izzy here , I think. Abruptly, the worm falls still.
And then the woman screeches in her language, “ Ya arya sa !”
When I open my eyes, I find that my wish has worked, and my enormous lizard now sits on the floor between us. The woman is furious, though, and raises her foot into the air to stomp him.
Hey! Stop! I snatch Izzy up off the floor, and he flails his little legs. Don’t step on my iguana!
That’s yours? She scratches her cropped yellow hair. Where did it come from? It wasn’t here a moment ago.
Of course not , I say, opening my other hand to drop the worm’s shriveled corpse to the ground. Her eyes follow it, and her brows furrow even further. He’s here because I wished him here. He was just back home in his cage.
I hold up Izzy in front of me, scratching his head like he enjoys. Finally, he relaxes, and I gently set him on my shoulder where he’s used to perching.
You wished it here? The woman gapes at Izzy. That doesn’t make any sense.
I’m done trying to educate her. That’s what magic does , I say impatiently. It will do whatever you ask of it... for the most part. The real question is, why is it here?
That is a good question, the human admits. Her eyes travel back to the wall behind me and she squints at it. It has something to do with that carving, I’m sure.
I follow her gaze to the huge image of the human face and the trollkin face, with our depressed handprints at the bottom.
She might just be right about that.
But how? I walk to the carving, running one finger over the grooves. What does it mean?
Well, it took both of us to trigger this, whatever it is . She gestures at the big rock that emerged from the floor. And that’s what this carving implies, too. That it takes one human and one trollkin.
She has a point there.
That’s when I hear voices. They’re echoing down from the hallway where I saw the human first emerge.
Who’s that? I ask, narrowing my eyes. Are you here with others?
Her brow creases. Yes, but they shouldn’t be coming down yet. Then it clicks in her mind—we’re enemies. Our people may not be at war at this moment in time, but if there are other humans coming, that bodes very poorly for me.
Fuck! I throw on my pack and whirl toward the side entrance, where I came in. But before I can take off, a small hand wraps around my arm.
Wait! The blue-eyed woman has fear written across her face. It makes me want to protect her from whatever is coming. If what you’re saying is true, it will be bad if Raiden finds this stuff. This “magic.”
Raiden? I ask.
My boss. Do you think we can put it away? The tone of her voice is rising. If we touch the handprints again, will it go back?
At least something I said got through her thick skull. She doesn’t want her compatriots to discover what we’ve found, either. And if she doesn’t trust them, then I certainly don’t.
We both crouch down at the wall and put our hands on the matching prints once more. To my surprise, the two circular depressions respond instantly, and with a creak, they both pop back out to be flush with the wall. There’s another groaning sound, and the entire ruin shakes once more under our feet.
The woman stumbles, bumping into me. I grab her arm to steady her, putting my other hand on the wall. She’s so small—small, and surprisingly soft to the touch. I keep her from toppling over as the huge rock in the center of the room descends once more, and the worms crawling over it speed up their movement. Suddenly, the woman darts forward and snatches one off the surface before it can fully disappear into the floor.
When it’s gone, a stone circle emerges through some ancient, mechanical means I can’t begin to comprehend, and covers the hole.
Then we’re alone again, and the shaking ceases. Louder shouts come from the hallway, and I know it’s time to go.
Sorry to cut this short, I say, releasing her. But I have to leave .
She gestures at my pack. What are you going to do with those?
I shrug. Figure out what this stuff does. Why it’s here. I glance up at the huge carvings on the wall. Maybe find out what this means.
I want to know, too , she says, her lips forming a hard, determined line. There’s another ruin, in the Stoneteeth Mountains. We’re going there next.
I stare at her. Does she have the same map I have?
Guess I had better get there first, I say, heading toward the exit. For a brief moment, though, I don’t want to leave. If she’s after the same thing I am—if she has the same knowledge that I do—I wonder what else she knows.
The woman cocks a brow. As if you could beat me there.
I wink. Good luck, I say, before ducking into the tunnel that led me here.
I don’t need luck .
That’s the last thing she says to me before I slip out.