I drew a breath and let it out slowly before I answered. “Some supernaturals, when they injure others, can cause a deep kind of damage. Ish thought he might heal over time, and then she thought she might be able to help him, but that . . . that’s not been the case. Maybe if she gets all the jewels she needs and gains all her strength back, something could be done.” I had not planned on saying that much to him, but really what did it matter at this point? The chances were good he wouldn’t make it back with me.
“You said she needs the jewels. Everyone else has only said she wants them. Which is it?”
I stared at him, the blue of his eyes unwavering as they stared right back at me. “Needs. She needs them. And so does Bryce.” There. Let him make of that what he would.
I gave Balder a slight tap to move him a little faster. “Enough girl talk. We’re coming up on the southern edge of the forest and we need to be on guard.”
Maks and Batman caught up and I pointed ahead. The start of Dragon’s Ground was marked by a massive petrified tree that stood nearly a hundred feet in the air. Ish had told me about it, but hearing about it and seeing it were two different things. Etched into the entire trunk were markings I couldn’t read, and didn’t need to. Ish had explained they were warnings about all the horrible things that would happen to you if you dared to cross into the dragons’ lands. All the ways you could, would, and should die.
“That’s . . . impressive,” Maks said.
“That’s not the word I’d use, but sure, go with impressive.” I shrugged. “We’re going to stay to the outside edge of the forest and make our way north as fast as we can. The sooner we’re into the Witch’s Reign, the sooner we get Darcy back.”
“This is why we held the horses back the last few days, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Yes. There’s a good chance we’ll end up running for our lives and we need them to be at full speed.” I pulled Balder down from the trot and settled him into a fast walk. “Check your gear and make sure it’s all strapped tightly. Do not pull any weapons on them. Let me do the talking if any of them show up. If they find out you’re human, they’ll eat you without hesitation.” I wasn’t entirely sure of that last bit but I needed to make sure he didn’t say something and get us both eaten.
“Shit.” He breathed out the word. “Wait, so why aren’t we going farther east to avoid this whole party with the lizards?” Maks spoke as he worked at his straps.
“Because Darcy doesn’t have much time. This is the fastest route, as the crow flies.” I swept the area around us with my eyes, looking for anything that would tip me off that we were being watched. So far so good.
“Why does she only have so much time? I mean, I know she’s a captive, but the note didn’t say anything about her being killed, only kept as a prize.”
Ish had shown him the note? Again, I wondered at his relationship with my mentor. I wrestled with giving information, but again, the reality was he likely wouldn’t be around very long, so whatever secrets I touched on, he’d not be alive to share. “The Ice Witch has a connection to the Jinn in the south. The Jinn hate the lion shifters because we stood between them and the other supes in the area, doing our best to protect the weaker. The Ice Witch will send Darcy to the Jinn and Marsum as a gift—she is like me, a daughter of an alpha. It would keep the Jinn happy to have a princess in their grasp.” I knew because I’d been hunted before by the Jinn and only Ish’s strength and Darcy’s quick thinking had saved me. The Jinn hated the women of the lion prides more than the men. Why? I didn’t know the answer. But they did, and it was why Kiara had been kept at the stronghold and not sent after the jewels. I was . . . disposable, seeing as I wasn’t really a lion. And Darcy had demanded to take her place in hunting the jewels Ish so desperately needed.
He adjusted his seat, his eyes thoughtful. “Wait, I thought the Ice Witch is some crazy bad-ass everyone is afraid of?”
I snorted. “She is. I don’t know if the Jinn are stronger but it wouldn’t surprise me. They’re horrible, Maks. The worst of the wall’s guardians by far. They kill without reservation for nothing more than power. At least the dragons eat their kills. At least the Ice Witch doesn’t bother anyone who doesn’t bother her. The Jinn hunt down those who they hate, they hunt them until they have their hides.” A shiver ran down my spine as if speaking their name had drawn their attention to me once more.
“You’re sure about all that?” he asked softly.
“Yes. I . . . I’ve lived through their dominion, Maks. I know the darkest side of their nature.”
He drew a breath and slowly nodded. “Okay, so back to the present. We’re on a time crunch because Darcy’s going to get shipped off to the Jinn. We move fast, don’t engage, and get Darcy out of there. Sound about right?”
I turned and looked at him. He was frowning slightly, his eyes serious, and I realized he meant every word. Strange, when I’d been raised to believe humans were nothing but self-serving assholes, afraid of everything around them, to see this kind of behavior. “I don’t want to like you, Maks.”
He grinned and a laugh slid from him. “Well, I’m sure I’ll piss you off at some point, slothful human that I am.”
“True enough, and you do have balls, and that’s the surest way to end up in my bad book right now.” I nodded and an answering smile on my own lips caught me off guard.
There was silence for the space of about three heartbeats.
“Any idea where Darcy will be exactly?” Maks asked.
I frowned. “I assume in the castle the Witch holds court in. Pojhola. Northern part of what used to be Finland. She’s got guardians that help her, three of them. But they won’t bother us, I don’t think. We’ll slip through the borders and be in and out of her castle in no time. We aren’t going for the jewel. They will have their eyes on Steve and Kiara, not looking for two very quiet, very stealthy travelers.”
He grunted. “Are you deliberately trying to make this sound easy?”
“Yes.” I flashed him a smile. “Because the truth would make you pee yourself.”
“Well, we can’t have that. I’d end up frozen to my saddle,” he grumbled and I laughed.
Damn, I really didn’t want to like him. Humans died here, and I’d already lost enough people I cared about. Adding a weak man who had a thing for my best friend to the list was not something I would consider a smart idea. I sighed, the laughter dying out.
A few moments later, I held up a hand, cutting off anything else he might say.
We drew close to the petrified tree and the first official marker of the Dragon’s Ground. Like a doomsday sentinel, it rose far above us and the engravings in it shone in the winter sunlight, glinting like cut gemstones in the blackened and aged wood spire.
A sense of foreboding scampered up my spine. We weren’t being watched exactly, but it was like the forest itself knew we were there, and we didn’t belong. Or maybe like we’d set off some alarm system like Bryce had been trying to set up for the Stockyards.
I shook my head and urged Balder into a faster walk. We wouldn’t bolt unless we absolutely had to—as in if a dragon popped out and decided to have us for lunch. I eased Balder closer to Batman and Maks.
“The dragons are whelping right now. That makes them especially vigilant, and testy, which is the last thing we need while we are trying to sneak by quietly. Keep your voice low and your eyes open.”
“You mean they’re having babies?”
“Yes.” Goddess, he wasn’t really that dumb, was he? What else did he think I meant when I said whelping?
A crack in the trees to the left of us sent my heart rate up a few notches. I put a hand out and grabbed Maks’s arm, slowing him. Damn, those were some fine muscles under my hand.
Focus, Zam. Focus. The nice muscles are attached to a dumb human likely to get killed in the next short bit. Cannon fodder, remember?
I blew out a breath and let go of Maks. I put a hand to my hood and pulled it back so I could uncover my ears. I tipped my head sideways, working the way the wind blew across me so I could pick up on the noise I’d heard, and there in the distance was another crack and . . . a cry of someone being hurt. Or scared. And it was small enough that it likely wasn’t a dragon.