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

  The smoke drifted back down, creating a layer around the pit.

  Had the Flame just saved him? He had seen this sort of smoke ever since leaving the capital, but he had never seen smoke do anything like this.

  What was going on?

  Ty backed toward the door, keeping the pit and the layer of smoke hovering around it in view, and when he reached the door, he pulled it open and darted out of the temple. He sprinted, heading toward the jungle, unmindful of anything else, and reached the edge of the trees before stopping and panting.

  He had to find someplace safe.

  But where was safe?

  Not in Zarinth. There were too many Dragon Touched. Too many of the Order.

  How was he going to keep it away from both of them?

  How was he going to use it to get Albion back? And maybe, Ty realized, he couldn’t. If not, did that mean that Albion was lost to him?

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The burning in the pit of his stomach persisted as he ran, and Ty knew that meant either the Order of the Flame was chasing him or one of the Dragon Touched was, maybe even Roson James. It was growing darker, and heading through the jungle in the middle of night was considerably less safe than doing so in the middle of the daytime.

  Ty had little choice. He had to keep moving.

  As he ran, he continued looking around, a sense of panic building.

  He kept reaching into his pocket, running his finger along the dauvern, trying to understand why something like that would be as important as it seemed like it was. It had to have something valuable within it.

  Smoke swirled around, as if following him.

  Did that mean that the Dragon Touched or one of the Order had chased him?

  He couldn’t tell.

  He reached the path and darted along it, realizing immediately that he was heading toward his familial home. The sound of the velum shrieking distantly told him that there were others in the jungle with him, but he didn’t need to hear the velum to know that this wasn’t going to be safe.

  There was something that he could do. Something that he probably should do.

  The relic.

  He didn’t remember seeing it.

  Could Roson have found that as well? If he did, what would he do with it? Worse, what would he do with that knowledge?

  Ty had to be careful. He had to move carefully.

  And as he did, he couldn’t help but feel as if he risked himself in ways that he didn’t want to.

  When he reached his familial home, he paused at the clearing.

  He saw a light in one of the windows.

  Ty froze.

  Why would there be light there?

  Not a Dragon Touched.

  If it was one of the Dragon Touched, they wouldn’t have lit a lantern or a candle, so who was here?

  He started to turn when the door came open. He recognized the red hair immediately.

  Ty froze. “Olivia?”

  She stood in the doorway of his familial home, looking out at him. Her mouth pressed into a tight frown, and for a moment it persisted, but then it faded, and she smiled. It was forced. He knew that it was, but he found it beautiful the way that he always had. Despite himself, he couldn’t help but want to smile back.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for you,” she said, stepping out of the home. “I ran into Bingham, and he told me where you were going to be, but by the time I got there I only saw Eastley. And he told me what happened.”

  How had she gotten here ahead of him?

  “Eastley? He was with me in the…” He caught himself before telling her where they had been. It might upset Olivia to know that they had gone off without her. She might still be angry that they had left the city without her in the first place. “He was with me before.”

  “He said you were having difficulty with that Dragon Touched.”

  “How did you find him?”

  “I was at the Temple when you were there.”

  She was there?

  Ty frowned, searching his memories, but he didn’t remember Olivia being there.

  Something about this left him unsettled.

  He had enough difficulties with Olivia as it was, and though he wanted to trust her, Ty found it increasingly difficult to do so.

  “Where is Eastley now?”

  She nodded, motioning to the door. “Inside. I came with him, and he told me to keep watch for you.”

  Ty let out a sigh. “We can’t stay here. It’s not going to be safe. The Dragon Touched knows about this place.”

  “Why is he after you?”

  “Because my brother was after something else in the city when he was here.”

  Olivia frowned. “Is that what he told you when you went to Carn?”

  Another velum shrieked in the distance, and Ty glanced back, worried about the sound, the source of it, and if it meant the Dragon Touched were making their way toward him.

  “Albion didn’t really tell me what he was after,” Ty said. “To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what he had.”

  “But you went to the temple for something.”

  “He told me the answers were found within the Flame,” Ty said. He patted his pocket, knowing that it was drawing attention to the dauvern. The way that Olivia watched him left him bothered, though.

  “We need to get moving,” Ty said. “Get Eastley and we can go.”

  “Not without what you took from the temple,” she said.

  She stepped forward, and Ty noticed that she had a blade in one hand. As soon as he saw the blade, he knew what was going to happen here. What did she think she was going to get from him, though?

  “Is that how this is going to go down?” Ty asked her.

  “I don’t know what you have, but it’s obviously valuable to the Dragon Touched. I need it, Ty.”

  “To help your family? Your father? Or was none of that true? Are you just after the big score?”

  He didn’t know what her real motives were. How much was an act? How long had she been playing him—and Bingham?

  “It was all true,” she said, her voice soft. “And nobody cares about them the way that I do.”

  “You would betray everybody for them?”

  That was what this was coming down to, after all. She intended to turn on him, on Eastley who was still inside Ty’s family home, and on Bingham.

  All to help her family.

  Wasn’t that what he would do?

  No. Ty had chosen something different. When given the option of betraying those within the city who he had become friends with him to help his family, he had made a choice. He had continued helping them. He wouldn’t have made the same choice that Olivia did.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m not giving it to you, Olivia. If you think that you can take it from me, go ahead, but…” He shifted his cloak, revealing the crossbow. If she wanted to threaten him, he could do the same thing.

  She stiffened.

  “What did you do to Eastley?”

  “Nothing more than he deserved,” she said.

  “Why did he deserve anything?”

  Olivia glowered at him. “You don’t see it, do you? You don’t see what’s really happening and how we are treated.”

  “You make your own choices,” he said to her. “I’m not making them for you, Eastley isn’t making them for you, and Bingham hasn’t made them for you.”

  He held his hand on the crossbow, ready to pull it out, but didn’t want to try to harm her. He just wanted to send her away. And until he did, he had to make it seem as if he were willing to attack, even if he didn’t want to.

  Another velum shrieked, and Olivia glanced up.

  Maybe she was like Eastley.

  Ty whistled, using the undulating sound that would call to them.

  She looked over to him, her eyes widening.

  “I just called to the velum.”

  “I don’t fear the creatures in the forest.”

  “You should
. When the priests came through on their way to Ishantil, they were attacked by the velum. They were using knives.” He pulled out the crossbow, and aimed it at her feet. “Now that I’ve called them, something that my mother taught me to do when I was younger, it won’t be long before the they arrive.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “Return to the city,” Ty said. “You aren’t taking the item.”

  “So what? You are just going to get rich?”

  “It’s not about getting rich,” Ty said.

  “That’s what it’s always about,” she said. “Like the relic that we stole, and that you made disappear. Do you realize that Bingham hasn’t even paid me for that?”

  “You saw what happened to his shop.”

  “I saw,” she sneered at him. “And had he cared…”

  Ty shook his head. “It’s not about caring. Not with Bingham. He buys and sells relics. That’s his job. I can’t believe you think to expect Bingham, of all people, to care.”

  “He cares about you,” she snapped.

  Ty wasn’t sure if that was true or not, as it certainly didn’t feel that way to him. Bingham appreciated Ty’s ability to track down dragon relics, determine their authenticity, and take them. That was about as far as Bingham’s appreciation for Ty extended.

  Another velum shrieked. It was closer.

  “You don’t have much time left,” he said.

  She slipped around the clearing. “You don’t want to make an enemy of me,” she said.

  “An enemy? Weren’t you the one who said this was just a business transaction?”

  She shot him a look, and he pointed the crossbow at her until she disappeared into the trees. Ty exhaled a sigh of relief, and made his way toward the door, pushing it open. There was a lantern lit inside, and he saw the crumpled form of Eastley lying there. Ty hurried over to him, nudged him with his boot, and Eastley moaned. He had blood streaming from his temple.

  When he came around, he grabbed for his head, shaking it. “What did she do?” Eastley mumbled.

  “It seems that Olivia got the jump on you.”

  “I can’t believe she would do that,” he said.

  “Then you don’t know her the way that I do.”

  Eastley started to laugh, but he winced, grabbing his head again. “I can’t do that, can’t I?”

  Ty snorted. “No. It’s going to hurt for a little while.”

  He helped Eastley to his feet, and Eastley looked around. “Did you get it?”

  Ty patted his pocket. “There was something in the temple, just like my brother said. I was chased, and now we have the Order along with the Dragon Touched coming for it.”

  “What do you intend to do with it?”

  “I don’t even know. I thought that I could use it to trade for my brother, but I don’t know if that’s even going to work.”

  At this point, Ty had no idea what he could do.

  The simple answer was to give it to Roson James, let him and the Order deal with each other, but if he did that, then there would be no guarantee that he could get Albion free. The other alternative would be going to Gayal, but Ty didn’t know if he trusted that she would help.

  She had helped him. She had shown him the Hatchery, and she had told him how to find Albion. That was where he had to go.

  If he could reach her.

  “We’re going to have to go through the jungle,” Ty said.

  Eastley nodded slowly. “I’m with you.”

  Ty guided him toward the door. “It’s going to be difficult. We can take the jungle back toward Carn. It might take a few days, but we won’t be able to be followed very easily.” And then they could rejoin the road, get to the city, find Gayal, trade the dauvern for Albion, and…

  He noticed smoke in the clearing around his home.

  They had to move.

  As soon as he started out, a figure stepped forward.

  Roson James.

  He must’ve followed them. Either that or he had some way of tracking them.

  He was a Dragon Touched. And powerful. Of course he would have some way of tracking them.

  But Ty wasn’t about to get caught by Roson James here.

  Especially now that he had Eastley.

  He faced Roson James, reaching for the crossbow.

  He had two bolts remaining. One of them was loaded, but he’d already seen how the Order of the Flame had been able to withstand the crossbow bolts. They had some Dragon Touched ability, though it wasn’t nearly as powerful as what a true Dragon Touched could do.

  Roson James watched him. “You will find that is not going to be effective.”

  “It’s going to be effective enough. I’ve seen what it can do to you.”

  “You got lucky the last time, but you won’t again.”

  Heat began to build within Ty’s belly, stretching up his arms and his legs, boiling within him. It was different than the pain he had felt before. This was much more acute and quite distinct, leaving him feeling a flare of agony.

  Roson James watched him. The moonlight glittered off his face, giving him a haunted, angry appearance. “Did you know it can be controlled?” Roson James asked softly.

  Ty stepped forward, trying to find the right angle. He tried to keep himself in front of Eastley, knowing that he was injured, but it was more than that. If they could separate, they could split on either side of Roson, and maybe they could converge upon him. He had to think that together they might be able to attack.

  Another shriek of the velum came, and Ty whistled, trying to call to them.

  Roson chuckled softly. “It won’t work again.” It was Roson’s turn to whistle, a sound that Ty remembered. It was one that would send the velum away. “I did learn a few things about the creatures.” He held one hand up, and flames began to spiral away as he twisted his hand. “Besides, they are afraid of the fire. Now,” he continued, turning to Ty. “I will have the dauvern. Then I will use it the way it was always meant to be used, and—”

  Ty whistled again. He put urgency into it. He knew Roson feared the velum. They cried again, howling, and he was rewarded as Roson looked up to the trees.

  Ty held out the crossbow.

  “I don’t know. You’re putting too much stock in their fear of fire. They came to the lava lake,” Ty managed to spit out, though it was difficult to do so. Each word seemed as if it were agony.

  The boiling deep within him persisted, building within him, flowing outward, and he struggled against it, wanting nothing more than to find some way to push back against it.

  As it built, pressing on him, he needed a release. He took in a deep breath. The smoke swirled and then flowed down his throat.

  Ty coughed, gagging.

  He’d seen what had happened to the Order of the Flame before when the smoke filled their lungs. There was something caustic and toxic about it, and the others who’d been consumed by it had not survived. Would that be his fate now?

  As it filled him, he could not take another breath. It flowed within him. The heat built swelled and came with a strange shattering of energy. It echoed outward, shooting away from him.

  Ty struggled with it, straining, and he stumbled forward, collapsing onto the ground.

  Roson James came toward him.

  Ty managed to bring the crossbow up and pointed it toward his face. “Don’t.”

  “You can’t control this.”

  “Control what?”

  “You can’t control—”

  Roson turned and a burst of flame shot from his hand.

  Ty rolled his head to the side. Eastley charged at Roson, and the flame struck Eastley in the chest, causing him to cry out and collapse against the ground.

  “No!”

  Ty pulled the trigger on the crossbow. The bolt struck Roson in the shoulder.

  He rolled off to the side. The pain was still within him, but there was something different about it this time. It no longer throbbed way that it had before. It no longer had that same
burning sensation he had noticed before. It was there, lingering within him, but it was not as bad.

  Ty breathed in, taking a breath of smoke. He could tolerate it better than he expected. Throbbing persisted, but he ignored it. He hurriedly reloaded the crossbow, pointing the weapon at Roson, who lay motionless on the ground with a crossbow bolt in his shoulder.

  “Fix him,” Ty said.

  The Dragon Touched had magic. He had seen them use it. He knew there had to be something for Eastley. But Eastley did not move. He lay on his back, his body motionless. Not breathing. Staring at the trees.

  Roson reached for the dragon-bone bolt sticking out of his shoulder, twisting it. “Nothing can be done for that boy.”

  When he got to his feet, it seemed as if steam swirled across him. It shifted his appearance, making him seem dangerous and dark.

  “You will find it easier to simply hand over the dauvern. Do not make this more painful than it needs to be.”

  “Why do you even care about it?”

  “Because with it I can summon the dragons. Your king foolishly thinks he can control them, but he has nothing more than dragonlings. They are nothing.”

  Roson had said “your king.”

  He wasn’t even from the kingdom.

  Did that mean he wasn’t even a Dragon Touched?

  Lothinal.

  Gayal had said they were trying to infiltrate the kingdom. Could that be the reason she and Roson had been at odds? Could she have known—or at least suspected?

  Why had she not said something to him? Perhaps there was nothing to say.

  Ty needed more time. He had to get to Eastley, see if there was anything that he could do. This was his friend. He had so few friends in Zarinth the way that was, and Eastley had been there for him. He had come into the jungle, hating it, and had been willing to go back with him to the capital through the jungle, all because of Ty’s brother.

  And now he was hurt.

  Distantly, he knew better. It wasn’t just that he was hurt. He was dead.

  Anger surged within him.

  Roson took a step toward him.