Patterns in the Dark (Dragon Blood Book 4) (30 page)

Tylie was watching him pace, her eyes full of faith.

He swallowed. Even if he could cure the dragon, where would that leave Zirkander and anyone else infected?

Healing the dragon might make him feel favorably toward you
, came Jaxi’s thoughts in his head.
He might be able to then help with healing the humans.

Tolemek would never admit it later, but hearing Jaxi’s voice in his head reassured him, reminding him that he didn’t necessarily have to do this with pure science and technology. Sardelle and the soulblade could bring other powers to bear. Still…

If he had the power to kill the virus infesting its body, wouldn’t he have done that three thousand years ago?
Tolemek asked.

Not if he didn’t know how. I’ve been listening to you babble on about atoms and radiation and whatever else, so I could relay the information to Sardelle, and I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about. She seems to get it, even if she doesn’t know the terms you’re using, but I doubt a healer three thousand years ago would have had even the faintest grasp.

Would you be able to create ultraviolet light?

Of course. What is it?

Tolemek snorted, then tried to form an image in his mind, a table of the light spectrum produced by the sun. Maybe using a picture would be more helpful than a bunch of words that hadn’t existed when Jaxi had walked the world.

Yes, thoughtful. Thank you. Let me think about it for a moment. We’ve got more trouble out here.

Gunshots fired in the distance, followed by a far greater rumble, then a crash. Tolemek stared toward the corridor, afraid that had been a rockfall or some other devastating explosion. Cas, Duck, and Sardelle had gone that direction to keep the Cofah from returning to the lab. He wished he could see what was happening. He would have to trust that Jaxi would have warned him if anyone had been hurt.

Zirkander stood up, his head nearly brushing the ceiling. He squinted toward the dragon, then climbed off the table and walked toward the shattered wall.

“See something?” Tolemek asked.

“The light level in there seemed to change. Maybe it was my imagination.”

Tolemek had been looking in the other direction and hadn’t noticed a change, but he walked over with Zirkander. He didn’t know if there was much more that he could do without Jaxi’s help.

The dragon hadn’t moved. The floor and walls hadn’t changed, and the panel was emitting the same steady glow it always had, its light responsible for much of the lab’s illumination, as well as the chamber’s. Zirkander leaned close to the glass, almost pressing his chin against it as he looked up.

“Hm.”

“Hm?” Tolemek leaned close, too, though he didn’t know what they were looking at. He didn’t see anyone crouching in the passage he had used earlier or in the big one that Jaxi had burned in the wall.

“I think the barrier’s gone,” Zirkander said.

Tolemek stared upward, trying to tell. “It might just look different from below. Did you look before?”

Zirkander picked up a shard of glass from the floor and walked toward the door.

“Are you sure you want to go out there?” Tolemek glanced at the dragon, thinking of the way its cold, reptilian stare had been leveled at him.

Zirkander didn’t answer. He pushed open the door, walked out a couple of feet, and tossed the piece of glass upward. Instead of being incinerated, the shard simply fell back to the stone floor with a soft tink a couple of meters from the dragon. His eye flicked beneath the lid, but he didn’t otherwise move. His breathing seemed labored, and Tolemek didn’t know how much longer he had to come up with something. He could feel his sister watching him.

On his way back inside, Zirkander jerked to a halt so quickly that Tolemek reached for his pistol. He glanced around the lab and readied for an attack. But Zirkander wasn’t looking through the glass—he was staring at the panel next to the door, the one that presumably controlled the stasis chamber and the protective barrier. He pulled something out of the side, something that hadn’t been visible from Tolemek’s position in the lab. A dagger.

Zirkander stuck it through his belt, held up a finger, then walked along the outside of the chamber. Following the wall, he turned a corner and disappeared behind the dragon.

“What happened?” Tylie whispered, her eyes toward the open air where the barrier had been.

“I don’t know,” Tolemek said. It was the truth, but he had a guess. He had been worried that he—or maybe Tylie—would be the assassin’s target. But maybe it was the dragon.

Zirkander came into view again, shaking his head as he returned to the door. He paused to look up for a long moment before entering.

“No sign of him?” Tolemek guessed.

“No.” Zirkander leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. “I was watching the lab, but he must have come through without me noticing. Either that, or he came down from above and went back that same way. There aren’t any other ways out of this chamber.” He sighed, his shoulders sagging. He looked like a man who hadn’t slept in days. “It didn’t occur to me… I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me, that he might have been sent to deal with the dragon.”

“What?” Tylie spun toward him, her long hair whipping about her face.

Zirkander opened his eyes and spread his hand. “I’ll watch from here.” He pushed the door open so he could stand in the middle. He gave Tolemek a tired, wry smile. “Maybe I should have had Ahn stay in here, after all.”

A boom sounded from somewhere down the corridor that held the others.

“No,” Tolemek said. “You made the right decision. I need you to call Sardelle back, if you can.” He eyed the dragon again. “We’re going to need Jaxi.”

Chapter 14

Cas crouched, using the corner for cover. An invisible magical barrier stretched across the corridor, shimmering yellow every time a bullet was deflected, so she probably wouldn’t have needed to bother, but standing out in the open went against her instincts. Duck knelt behind her, looking over a crude map he had found in one of the dead soldier’s pockets.

“I wish they would leave,” Sardelle said from the center of the corridor. Apparently, her instincts trusted her magic, because she didn’t feel the need to hide behind the wall.

Sweat gleamed on her forehead. Cas didn’t know if it was an early symptom of the illness or a sign that the work taxed her. She hadn’t yet drawn her sword.

“I don’t wish to kill them for doing their duty,” Sardelle added softly.

Cas had fewer qualms about that and almost said so, but she doubted that was something she should be proud of. At times, it bothered her how much of her father there was in her. “The colonel just said to keep them out of the lab, right?”

“Yes, but there would be more time for research and for attempting to communicate with the dragon if the Cofah were not here.” Sardelle sighed. “I can’t stand here, doing this indefinitely.”

“We’ll take shifts if it comes to that. My bullets aren’t as flashy, but they’re good at convincing people to leave me alone.” Cas shifted her weight. Her thighs were starting to burn. “Duck, anything enlightening in that map? There’s no way they can get around us, is there?” Earlier, the soldiers had tried to attack en masse, sending a barrage of rifle fire at Sardelle’s barrier. There was even a cannon squatting in the corridor up there. But the firing had been less frequent during the last fifteen minutes, and Cas had glimpsed the same two men leaning out from behind cover and taking shots.

“Looks like we’re guarding the only route to the lab,” Duck said. “Those storage tunnels dead end.”

“Nothing above us or below us?” Cas thought of the volcano lab, where defenders had attempted to crawl through ducts above the ceilings to attack them.

“Unfortunately, this map is only of the ground floor here. Guess there aren’t any crow-like cartographers in this crew that could figure out how to display different levels.”

Cas raised her brows. “Crow-like?”

“Sure, crows are smart.”

“Smart enough to make maps?”

“Nah, they don’t need maps. Got it all in their heads.”

“There aren’t ducts,” Sardelle said, nodding toward Cas. She must be remembering the other lab too. “But I do sense that there are other tunnels around here, above and below us. Most dead end and are filled with sarcophagi, but it’s possible they could get fairly close to us. Still, these blocks are all ridiculously large. And dense. Without Jaxi to burn holes, it’s hard to imagine how they could reach us or slip behind us to reach the lab.”

“But they’re up to something, aren’t they?” Cas asked. “There are only a couple down there, where there were several before. Maybe we should push through to deal with them. Before they have time to use their crow wiles.”

Duck snorted. “I told you, they’re not as smart as crows. Maybe robins.”

“I’m reluctant to go far from the lab,” Sardelle said. “In case there
is
another way around. I—”

One of the Cofah fired at the barrier again, and Cas thought that might be why Sardelle had paused, but after a moment she said, “Tolemek needs Jaxi. He has an idea.”

“About curing people?” Duck asked.

“About curing the dragon.” Her lips thinned. “We’re hoping one will lead to the other. Somehow.”

“Sardelle,” Duck said, “you
have
to help him come up with a fix for the colonel. He can’t die out here. Not like this.”

The haunted expression in Sardelle’s eyes said that such thoughts hadn’t been far from her mind. “I will.”

“Wait,” Cas said. Given the somber topic, she felt awkward speaking up, but they had to think of survival and of dealing with the enemy. “Can you do something to those men before you go?” Cas waved to the intersection past the barrier, where the two soldiers were keeping themselves out of sight except when they leaned out to fire. “Knock them out, maybe?”

“It’s difficult to force people to fall asleep when they’re in a highly alert state,” Sardelle said.

“Can you try? Now that there are only a couple left, maybe it will be easier? I want to go find out where the rest of them went, and it will be easier if I can get past those two.”

“Go find out?” Duck frowned at her. “By yourself?”

“I’m sneakier alone.” She might not have her father’s gift of stealth, but she had more skill at it than the average pilot. “Besides, someone needs to stay and guard the lab entrance.”

“That’s
both
of our jobs.”

“It’s our job to keep the Cofah off Tolemek’s back while he works on a cure. That’s what I plan to do.”

“But—”

“What if some squad blows the walls open in the lab and charges in, shooting at everyone? Give me your map, please.”

He scowled at her. Cas expected an argument from Sardelle, as well, but she had her eyes closed. When she opened them, she said, “They’re unconscious, for the moment. I trust they won’t be killed while they’re sleeping.”

“I can find some rope to tie them,” Cas said.

Sardelle inclined her head, then walked toward the lab.

“Stay here, Duck.” Cas plucked the map from his fingers—he didn’t try to keep her from taking it, but he didn’t relinquish it easily, either. “Don’t let anyone in. I won’t be gone long.”

He scowled at her but didn’t object.

Cas trotted to the intersection. It was empty except for the two soldiers slumped on either side of the corridor. Since she had left her pack outside, she didn’t have any rope with her, but she carved up their clothing and used the fabric for the task. She would have preferred to lock them away somewhere, but aside from the two lab entrances, the ziggurat was short on doors and locks. She studied the map briefly and decided an opening to her right was most likely to parallel the corridor Duck was guarding.

Soft footsteps sounded in the corridor behind her. Assuming it was Duck again, she turned, intending to remind him that she outranked him, if only by a month.

“Going exploring?” Zirkander asked. Duck was peeking around the corner behind him.

Cas grimaced. She shouldn’t have mentioned her plan to Sardelle. She must have told Zirkander right away.

“There were eight or ten men here a few minutes ago,” Cas said. “If they’re gone, I’m assuming they left to plot something. I’d like to look for them.” She watched the side passages as she spoke, aware that they were in the open, vulnerable to anyone who walked out of a doorway.

Zirkander must have been thinking the same thing, because he stepped back and waved for her to do the same. Cas slumped. He wasn’t going to let her go. Didn’t he see the folly in sitting there, waiting and reacting instead of going on the offensive? If they were in the air, he would never succumb to such a strategy.

“You’re not going hunting for your father, are you?” he asked.

“What? No. I mean, if I see him, I can try to stop him, but…” She hated to admit it, but she finished with, “I’m not sure that’s within my power.” She searched his face, trying to guess what had prompted the question. His eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and she couldn’t read anything beyond that he was tired. And sick. “Did you see him, sir?”

“He was in the lab. He destroyed the device keeping the barrier over the dragon, but he was gone before I spotted him.”

“That’s how his interactions with people usually go.” The dragon. Was that what her father was here for? It made sense, now that she thought about it. If Tolemek or even Sardelle had been his target, he could have waited until they returned to the city to strike. That didn’t necessarily mean they were safe, but she would be less distressed if he killed the dragon than one of her friends.

“Go,” Zirkander said. “If you find them and need help, come back and get us. I’ll be with Duck. Jaxi is about to possibly blind everyone in the lab, so it seemed a good time to leave.” He smiled weakly.

Cas didn’t understand the joke, but she nodded, glad he trusted in her abilities enough to let her go. She hoped to live up to that trust. She also hoped Zirkander would still be alive when she got back. He looked like a half-drowned rat with his damp hair clinging limply to his head.