Within the Dragon's Jaw (The Dragon Thief Book 2) Read online

  Ty snorted. “Treats me? He favors Olivia, not me. He lets her get by without having to pull the same jobs he asks of the rest of us.”

  They neared the temple, taking up position in the back of the courtyard looking over the temple and the crowd lining up for service. More and more people had gathered, just like more and more people had started coming to the city since they had evacuated following Ishantil eventually calming.

  “Do you think Roson is here?” Eastley asked.

  “I don’t know. We’ve got to find it before he does.”

  “We need to find it so that we can finish this with him.” As before, there was a hint of anger within Eastley’s voice. Ty understood, even if he worried about it.

  “Promise me that you won’t do anything too rash if we see him,” Ty said, looking over to Eastley.

  “I’m not going to do anything that will throw this off. If that’s what you’re concerned about.”

  Ty shrugged. “A little bit, if I’m being honest.”

  “Well, I’m not going to do anything. So you can settle yourself. I’m going to make sure we do what we need to do to get your brother. And then I will get my revenge.”

  Ty nodded slowly.

  After a while, a figure started coming toward them, and Ty shifted so that Bingham would notice them.

  “Sorry about my delay. I ran into Olivia. Had to tell her what we had been through.”

  “You didn’t tell her what we are after, did you?” Ty asked. He still wasn’t sure about her.

  “I didn’t tell her, but I didn’t need to. She knew that we were on the job. But I promised to meet her later. You need to get past whatever issue you have with her, Ty. It’s about time that you find a way to trust her.”

  “It’s not that I can’t trust her. It’s just that I’m not sure about her real motivation.”

  “And what about his?” Bingham asked, nodding to Eastley. “What is his real motivation?”

  “Revenge right now,” Eastley muttered.

  Bingham regarded him. “You have to be careful that you don’t go chasing revenge so hard that you overlook the job. Otherwise you might be the one to get caught in the snare.”

  Ty started to smile, and Eastley glowered at Bingham.

  “Did you tell him?” Eastley asked.

  “I didn’t, which makes it even funnier.”

  Bingham watched them.

  “Let’s do this,” Bingham said. “I don’t want to take any longer than necessary.”

  They got into line just as the temple doors started to open. Two young priests stood on either side of the door, almost as if they were standing guard.

  Ty looked over at Bingham. “That’s new. What do you think they’re doing?”

  “It looks like they’re testing everyone who goes inside.”

  As Ty watched, he realized that Bingham was right. The priest touched the chest of every person who entered the temple. That was strange. It certainly wasn’t any greeting that he had ever seen within the temple.

  “If they try to stop us before we can see what Albion might have hidden…”

  “And we come back another time,” Bingham said.

  Ty nodded, looking around him and realized there were other Priests of the Flame situated around the courtyard. Did they know that he was coming?

  He still didn’t know what to make of the Order. Were they with the priesthood, or were they something separate?

  The burning in his stomach began again. He’d forgotten about it as they walked through the city, but it had remained a knot of flame, a burning sensation that told him that the dragon magic was present nearby. He had no idea why he was so aware of it, or what it meant for him, only that as the sense persisted, he felt it deep within himself and knew that it meant something. Not something good, either.

  “What is it?” Bingham asked, looking over at him.

  “It’s nothing,” he said.

  Bingham frowned, but he didn’t press.

  They moved closer to the front of the line, and the closer they got the more Ty began to wonder if perhaps this was a mistake.

  All of them didn’t need to be a part of this, especially if there was some danger here. Eastley, especially, might be better off waiting for them outside.

  “Why don’t you wait for us,” he said.

  Eastley shook his head. “I’m not separating from you on this, Ty.”

  “I just don’t want—”

  Ty didn’t get a chance to finish telling him that he didn’t want anything to happen to Eastley again. He had already suffered enough.

  They were at the front of the line and the Priests nodded to him. They reached for Eastley first, tapping on his chest, then waved him in. Ty waited for them to do the same to him, and when they touched him chest, there came a sudden surge of heat from deep within his belly, spreading out to him arms and legs, but then it faded.

  The priest waved him in.

  Bingham went next, and by the time Ty got inside of the temple, he looked back to see him being waved off. Only he and Eastley had made it inside.

  “What was that?” Eastley said. “I felt a flare of heat. It was when they tested us. Did you feel it?”

  “I think I was a little too nervous to feel much of anything,” Ty said, looking around the inside of the temple. The benches had already started to fill, and he headed to the far side of the room, periodically glancing at the dragon sculptures before turning him attention back to the altar. That was the reason he’d come here. He needed to see the Flame and to discover whether there was anything in it that might provide an answer. By the time he took a seat, the priests were already starting to make their procession toward the front of the temple.

  Ty glanced at Eastley. He shifted in place, looking all around them. “Do what you need to do.”

  “That’s just it,” Ty said. “I’m not exactly sure what I need to do.”

  “Do you mean you’re going to make me sit through the service?”

  “You didn’t have to come.”

  He started to laugh, but when somebody near him shot him a hard expression, Eastley cut off. “No. That’s fine. I’m more than happy to celebrate with you.”

  The priest started his incantation.

  Everybody stood, and Ty used that moment as his opportunity to hold the note up. When he did, he held it to the Flame at the center of the altar and stared through it. It was similar to what he’d done when he was outside, and again he noticed the way the shapes on the note started to shimmer.

  It was strange to see, and it left Ty wondering if perhaps his brother actually had some control over the power of the Flame, using it to lock some hidden message.

  He tried to understand what was written on the page but could not.

  Still, something shifted.

  Eastley leaned close to him. “Is that changing?”

  Ty nodded. “Answers are within the Flame,” Ty muttered.

  The chanting was nearly over. When it was, Ty would have to sit. He wouldn’t be able to have the same advantage with the Flame. He stared through the note.

  Then the shifting stopped.

  “It’s a map,” he whispered.

  Eastley looked closer at him again, but he elbowed him again.

  As he stared at it, he noticed that the map jumped out at him. It wasn’t what he was expecting. It wasn’t like the symbols on the page shifted around; it was more that they swirled around him in the air, as if they had separated from the page. He looked around himself, realization settling in as to the meaning of the map, along with the reason that his brother had wanted him to come to the Flame.

  It was a map of the temple.

  Not just any part of the temple, but this part.

  He started to take a seat, but when he did, his gaze drifted along the map, settling on the center of it, realizing that was what was marked there.

  It was something within the temple.

  What his brother had been after was here.

  Chapter Twe
nty-Seven

  Ty folded the note and slipped it back into his pocket before taking a seat along with the rest of the celebrants of the Flame. The priest continued his chanting, speaking his invocation to the Flame, searching for guidance—the usual gibberish they begged for when he came to services like this, which wasn’t often. Ty shifted, looking toward the center of the temple. Whatever he was looking for was there. He had to find it.

  It was strange, though. On the map were the dragon sculptures that were situated around the room, along with the Flame. And that was what was marked in the center of the map.

  Ty continued staring around the inside of the temple during the service, fidgeting. Every so often, Eastley would lean over, trying to say something to him, but he shook his head, trying to ignore him. He didn’t have any answers, and until he had a better idea about what was going on here he had no idea if there was any reason to stay.

  Finally, the priests began their progression toward the back of the temple, and Ty got to his feet along with the rest of the congregation. People started filing out, but Ty stayed in place.

  Eastley glanced back at him. “What are you doing?”

  “Go on. I’ll be there in a minute.”

  “I told you that I’m not going to let you do this on your own.”

  “I’m not going without you. I just need a chance to look at this. Go.”

  Eastley separated from him, and Ty waited a moment until most of the temple had emptied. He used that opportunity to focus on what he had seen on the map, hesitant to pull it out and draw attention to his presence. Still, he needed to see something.

  A shape on the ground caught his attention.

  As he approached, he noticed one of the stones was a little different than the others. It was irregular, and strangely it was shaped like the note, but also like the shape he’d seen when he held the note up to the Flame.

  Ty looked around the inside of the temple but didn’t see anyone. He crouched down, pulling out his dragon-bone dagger, and began to pry at the ground. It didn’t look like much of anything other than a misplaced stone, but it had to be what he was after. This had to be what his brother was seeking.

  Why wouldn’t he have had the opportunity to find it?

  Or had he? His brother wouldn’t have necessarily had a map like that… which meant he had made the map.

  If that were the case, then why wouldn’t Albion have simply said that?

  Because he couldn’t. People had been listening.

  Answers would be found within the Flame.

  And now Ty had to find the answers.

  The Dragon Thief had to find the answers.

  The dragon-bone dagger slid into the space between the stone. He dug, jerking his hand around. It left him wondering if his brother had hidden something here or if he had simply found it. Either way, he questioned why Albion hadn’t claimed it if that was what he was after.

  Unless he had claimed it, Ishantil had started to erupt, and Albion had hidden that here so that somebody else wouldn’t take it.

  He needed to do this, and then go back to his brother and get answers.

  A noise near the door caught his attention, and Ty began to pry at the stone a little bit faster and harder, trying to dig into it. He had to get it free.

  He wiggled the dagger, and finally it started to move.

  A voice came from the nearby hallway.

  It was one of the priests.

  Ty lay flat on the ground, hoping that the bench would conceal him. He continued wiggling the dagger, trying to get the marker out of there, and as he wiggled, he could feel something shifting.

  Heat flared in his belly.

  That wasn’t good.

  He heard a shout and a voice near him.

  Eastley? What is that fool doing now?

  He continued wiggling his dagger. The sound of the priest’s footsteps on the tile was loud but went past him. Ty pried, pulling the stone free, and once it was out he held it up.

  It was irregularly shaped and seemed to be made of obsidian, like so much within the city. The surface of it was smooth, at least on one side, but on the other…

  When he flipped it over, his breath caught.

  It wasn’t obsidian—at least, not completely. It reminded him of a relic, but wasn’t as smooth nor did it have the same warmth to it.

  He had to take this with him. This was what Albion wanted.

  And this was how he was going to get his brother to safety.

  Did it mean that he would be able to use this to trade for Albion?

  Gayal. That was who he would go to.

  He would have to be careful with the bargain, but then…

  Before making the bargain, though, he thought that perhaps he would need to find Albion and make sure that he agreed.

  He crawled underneath the benches, dragging himself toward the doorway. Voices outside the temple caught his attention, and he tried to move as quickly as he could. Still, heat flared in his belly.

  Ty neared the back row of benches and looked around.

  All it would take would be to bolt out of the temple. There might be priests out there, but he thought he could hide, lower his head, cover himself with his scarf and cloak, and they wouldn’t have any idea who he was. He could get out into the courtyard, disappearing into the city before anyone had an opportunity to even pay any attention to him.

  The other option was going out the side door, but that involved going down the hallway that he wasn’t sure he could reach from here. Besides, if the priests were there, he would have to go through one or more of them. He didn’t want to do that at all.

  No. It was safer to go out the main door of the temple and hope he could hide. He had readied to run when the doors to the temple suddenly slammed closed.

  A different kind of heat flared in his belly, hot and painful, and he cried out. A figure stood in a doorway to a hallway that he hadn’t seen before.

  Roson James.

  He had known that Ty was here.

  Ty looked to make sure that Eastley wasn’t around as well.

  But if he was, it would be to their advantage. Eastley could help incapacitate the Dragon Touched.

  Ty reached for the crossbow, pointing it at Roson James as he came to him.

  “You returned. I knew that you had left and heard whispers that you visited your brother.”

  Albion had been right to be careful.

  “What answers did you find within the Flame?” Roson James asked.

  Ty stiffened. He knew what his brother had said.

  Roson’s gaze drifted to the crossbow. “I imagine you have a bolt loaded?”

  Ty held up the crossbow. “I do.”

  “Then I will have to act quickly.”

  He raised his hands, and heat flared again in Ty’s belly.

  Ty pointed, the pain burning in his stomach making it difficult for him to focus. As much as he wanted to ignore the pain, it flared within him.

  Roson James tipped his head to the side, watching him. He waited for bands of power to loop around him the way that it had the last time he had been attacked by the Dragon Touched, but nothing came.

  Still, it was almost as if Roson knew what he experienced.

  “You feel it. You feel the power of the Flame.”

  Ty’s jaw was clenched. “I didn’t think any Dragon Touched cared for the Flame.”

  “Oh, not the one the priests celebrate. If they knew how to reach true power, they wouldn’t waste their time on this.”

  He took a step toward him and pointed the crossbow. He needed him to be close enough that he could fire it and not miss, but if he didn’t stay away from him, he wasn’t sure that he would have any opportunity that would lead to him getting out of here.

  Roson watched him, almost as if he could see the debate waging in his eyes. “Yes. You want to pull the trigger, but you also want to make sure you do so when I am close enough that you won’t miss.”

  There was a darkness within him, somethin
g that seemed to stretch beneath the surface, a thing that he could actually feel. And Ty realized that the flaring heat in his belly came from him.

  Could he detect the power that Roson James drew? It seemed impossible—at least improbable—that he would be aware of Roson James in that way, but what other answer was there? He was one of the Dragon Touched and powerful. Ruthless. Violent.

  The pain flared again and Ty gritted his teeth as he tried to ignore it.

  Roson watched him with a smile.

  “It’s unfortunate you have come to know this connection so late in your life. Had you learned when you were young, you might have been able to control it, and perhaps could even have been powerful.” He smiled tightly. “I see it within you. There is potential, but unfortunately…” His gaze drifted to the stone he held. “Hand the dauvern to me.”

  Ty held up the stone. “This?”

  He nodded. “Yes. That. Hand it over and we can get the rest of this over with quite quickly.”

  “What is it? You and the other Order of the Flame are after it, so obviously it’s important.” Ty frowned. “But does the king know you’re after it?”

  He glared at him. “It has been kept from me for long enough. I have collected others, but this…”

  “Others?”

  “Do you think this is the only one?”

  “What is it?” Ty asked.

  Roson had shifted his power, trying to call upon more of his dragon magic, so Ty thought he still had time. The moment that he started to summon that power through him, building the flames around him, was the moment he could create a barricade that would prevent him from using the crossbow. He could run at him, doing the same thing he had with the Order of the Flame, but Ty didn’t know if he could harm Roson James.

  He would have to drop the crossbow, grab for his dagger, and use that. “I don’t know anything about it. If you want it, then you’re going to need to tell me what this is.”

  “I suspect this is the reason the Dragon Thief came to the city in the first place. It has taken me a while to find the truth about it.” He tilted his head, smiling darkly at Ty. “It is called the dauvern. Ancient, much like many of the dragon relics.”

  It wasn’t a dragon relic, though. Ty knew relics.