The Hungering Flame (22 page)

“
Why would our army take that path?
”
Garrett asked,
“
What kind of trap is it?
”

“
What is this place?
”
Ymowyn asked, looking over Garrett’s shoulder.

“
I don’t know,
”
Garrett said,
“
I think the dragon guy sent someone he didn’t like to stay in this city, to use him as bait.
”

“
So, how would he be so certain that you will attack there?
”
Ymowyn asked,
“
Is this place important to you somehow?
”

“
I’ve never heard of it, but maybe...
”
Garrett pursed his lips.
“
Why would Max move his army along a road anyway? It seems like he would go through the trees or something.
”

“
What if it’s not a road?
”
Warren asked,
“
What if it’s a tunnel?
”

“
Oh,
”
Ymowyn said,
“
...if they think the tunnel is a secret...
”

“
And it isn’t,
”
Warren growled,
“
We’ve gotta warn ‘em!
”

“
When is this supposed to happen?
”
Ymowyn asked.

Garrett thought for a moment.
“
Tonight I think.
”

“
The wolves won’t be fast enough,
”
Ymowyn said.

“
Time to wake up the vampires!
”
Warren said, already heading in the direction of the deeper woods.

Garrett handed the map to Ymowyn and jogged after him.

They found the gaunts hanging upside down from the lower branches of an enormous tree. Their glossy black wings were wrapped around them like cocoons, their only movement a gentle swaying motion and the occasional twitch of one of their wing claws.

“
Marla!
”
Warren called out,
“
...Other Guy! Wake up.
”

“
We need your help,
”
Garrett added.

The larger gaunt twisted its head around and hissed at them, causing Garrett to jump. The creature let out an angry stream of clicks and then unfolded its wings. The vampire Claude, already awake, leapt down from the gaunt’s embrace, landing on his feet with a long, thin blade in hand and his fangs bared.

“
Sorry!
”
Warren yelped, backing up a step with his paws raised,
“
Just trying to get your attention.
”

“
What is the danger?
”
Claude hissed. Without his goggles, his eyes flashed, the color of fresh blood.

“
We’ve learned of a trap for the Gloaran army!
”
Garrett said,
“
We need someone to warn them before it’s too late.
”

“
What trap?
”
Claude demanded.

“
What is it, Garrett?
”
Marla said, her voice sleepy.

Garrett looked up to see Marla’s gaunt gently unfurl its wings, lowering her down with its claws. The moment she placed weight on her feet, she swooned. Garrett moved toward her, but Claude was already there, supporting her in his arms. She smiled her thanks at him and regained her balance, standing on her own. She turned to Garrett again.

“
That scroll I took from the dragon rider,
”
Garrett said,
“
It was a map. I think they’re going to try to trap the army in a tunnel under the city!
”

“
Where is the map?
”
Marla asked.

“
Here,
”
Ymowyn said, striding toward them with a torch in one hand and the map in the other.

Marla took the map and held it up in the torchlight.
“
Taelish,
”
she said,
“
an elven city, lost to the swamp, only ruins now… This map is elvish as well… it
is
a tunnel. They called it the Moon Path.
”

“
That’s dumb,
”
Warren scoffed,
“
How are you gonna see the moon underground?
”

“
You didn’t see it until you reached the end of the path,
”
Ymowyn said.

Everyone looked at the fox woman.

“
You see that circle there?
”
Ymowyn asked, pointing at a symbol on the map, nearly obscured by the tip of the charcoal arrow.

“
The Eye of
… I can’t make out the rune,
”
Marla said.

“
The Eye of Gul’Nagroth,
”
Ymowyn said,
“
The ghost moon.
”
She looked away, shivering slightly.

“
I don’t know that term,
”
Marla said,
“
It doesn’t sound draconic.
”

“
It’s not,
”
Claude said,
“
It is the language of the war-bred.
”

“
I have no idea what any of you are talking about,
”
Warren said.

“
It is an old ritual,
”
Ymowyn said,
“
A solemn procession through dark places, emerging at last into a sacred grove beneath the night sky. In times past, the ancients would step from the shadows into the radiant light of the moon that was and is no more. There, magnified in the pool… the Eye… they could see its true beauty on certain nights of the year. Now… these places are cursed, only a few still know the ritual, and fewer still will perform it. It is an abomination.
”

“
A what?
”
Warren asked.

“
It is wrong!
”
she said,
“
It is like violating a grave!
”

Warren looked at Garrett and snorted with stifled laughter.

Ymowyn bared her small, sharp teeth, silencing the shaggy ghoul.

“
Why would anyone still perform the ritual?
”
Marla asked.

“
Because they can still see it in the pool!
”
Ymowyn said, her face twisted in disgust.

“
You’ve done this,
”
Marla whispered, her eyes wide.

Ymowyn turned her back to them.
“
I was young,
”
she said,
“
eager to learn all that I could of magic… I wanted… There were others like me… others who would dare even the darkest paths. We found a teacher, a thing of the old times. I will speak no more of it… just thinking of it gives it power over you… It taught us the name of the ghost moon.
”
Her torch lowered as her shoulders sagged.

“
We followed a path like the one on your map,
”
she said,
“
At the end, we found a pool. The sky above was empty… black and starless… but the pool… oh gods, the pool!
”

“
What was in the pool?
”
Warren asked, his voice trembling.

Ymowyn turned on him, her eyes glistening with tears, and her face contorted with pain.
“
It was the most beautiful thing I have ever… will ever see!
”

“
That… that doesn’t sound too bad,
”
Warren said.

Ymowyn’s green eyes went wide, a wild grin on her face.
“
Oh, no!
”
she said,
“
Not bad at all… very pretty indeed… the only thing though… the thing the creature never told us… it was singing!
”

The whites of Warren’s eyes gleamed in the torchlight, an expression of bewildered horror on his face as Ymowyn strode toward him, grasping his arm in her paw.

“
You didn’t know a moon could sing?
”
she asked,
“
Oh yes, it sings like a bird… a great big, shining, horrible crystalline bird! And the best part?
”
Ymowyn’s face took on a crazed expression as she looked at them each in turn.
“
The best part is… once you’ve heard that song, you don’t ever stop hearing it!
”

She looked at them, daring them to ask the question. When no one spoke, she answered anyway,
“
And, yes, I can still hear it now! You want to know the really interesting part… the reason I spend a great deal of time in the tunnels beneath a very noisy city? The thing is, that song comes from a very specific spot in the sky… a great big, ragged hole in the sky where she used to be and isn’t anymore.
”

Ymowyn jabbed her finger at the darkness above the trees.
“
There!
”
she hissed,
“
Right there!
”

Everyone’s eyes went to the starless spot in the darkness. Garrett’s skin crawled, grateful that whatever madness had seized the fox woman, he did not share it.

“
What happened to the others with you?
”
Marla asked.

Ymowyn looked at her, blinking. Reason seemed to return at last to the fox woman’s emerald eyes. She straightened her back, passing Warren the torch and smoothing the front of her dress with her hands.

“
The others,
”
Ymowyn said,
“
followed their new master…
the thing half in shadow
. It called me too, but… well, I ran away.
”

“
That was probably a really good idea,
”
Warren said.

Ymowyn flashed him a tight smile and pinched Warren’s cheek.
“
You’re cute,
”
she said.

“
So,
”
Garrett said,
“
I guess we’re pretty sure that we should stay away from this tunnel, for a lot of reasons.
”

Ymowyn raised her furry brows and nodded in agreement.

“
And the dragon lord just left an entire legion in the city to draw Master Zara into an attack?
”
Marla asked.

“
Uncle Tinjin said they would do things like that,
”
Garrett said.

“
I guess it’s a good thing the redjacks hate each other too,
”
Warren laughed,
“
otherwise, we’d probably be neck-deep in ‘em by now.
”

“
Yeah…
”
Garrett said,
“
I guess…
”
His voice trailed off as he stared into space.

“
What is it, Garrett?
”
Marla asked.

He looked at her, a slow grin spreading across his face.
“
I need a ride,
”
he said.

The scroll case, bound by a cord, slapped rhythmically against Garrett’s back as the cold night wind rushed past his body and his stomach churned within. Claude, it seemed, preferred a more aggressive style of flying than Marla. Garrett had abandoned his shyness and clung tightly to the vampire’s leather-clad back. He kept his arms locked around Claude’s chest as they soared on invisible currents of air. All too often, the air seemed to drop away beneath them, and they would fall suddenly, only to catch the wind again and rise once more.

Worst of all, Garrett suspected that the vampire did not like him.

When Garrett had described his plan to Marla, Claude had stepped in to forbid it. Marla, Claude had argued, was still too weak from her encounter with the dragon, and they needed to fly back to the army with news of the trap. Marla had agreed on both counts, volunteering herself to fly to
Max
’s camp, leaving Claude the obvious choice to fly Garrett to Taelish.