The Dragon (Creasan #2)

Althalos dumped the pitcher of water over his head and then held his hand out for a towel.

Rowan cringed. “Sorry, Young Highness.”

He blinked at him through the dripping water, quickly feeling the chill of the dungeon seep into his bones. “No towel?”

The old man shook his head apologetically. “Couldn’t risk it.”

“Risk what?” Althalos demanded, hurrying to put his shirt back. “No one would notice a towel that was missing for five minutes!”

“I am trying to keep you safe,” Rowan responded. He winced and reached down to rub his knees. The many stairs from the palace to the dungeon weren’t being kind to his arthritic bones.

Althalos ran his hand through his wet red hair with frustration. He was getting sick and tired of the man’s excuses. “If Aestus is here, I don’t see what you need to protect me from. Just let me out and I’ll talk to him, and as a Lance, he will protect—“

“Listen to me, boy,” Rowan snapped.

Althalos jerked back. Rowan had always been gentle and submissive with Althalos, never daring to raise his voice.

But his patience was beginning to wear thin and he’d just about had it with the servant routine. “You are not a Lance. The king was not your father. You are a bastard, and Aestus is not going to protect you.”

He gaped at the old man in utter shock. “How dare you. If my father was here—“

“The king is dead.”

Althalos’ response was instant. “You’re lying.”

The madman called, “No, he’s not.”

“Shut up!” Althalos shouted, curling his small hands into fists. “You’ve been in here the whole time. You would have no idea.”

“Rowan doesn’t lie.”

Rowan didn’t look smug or pleased at the support. He just looked tired. “I do not mean to be cruel, boy. I tried to spare you this, but it’s about time you knew.” He drew a deep breath and continued, “Your mother had an affair with a Guard and you are the product of that union. After the king was killed, word of your mother’s indiscretion spread. Everyone knows you are not a Lance. You are no longer protected under that name.”

Althalos wanted to scoff in bewilderment. Wanted to call the man mad and leave it at that. But the words Favian had shouted that night Althalos was thrown in the dungeon echoed through the boy’s mind. You are a failure and a coward! Just like your father.

The king would never have spoken of himself that way. He would have been referring to someone else…which meant…the queen had…and Althalos wasn’t… “I’m not a Lance?” Althalos’ words came out in a whisper.

If he wasn’t a Lance, then what was he? Everything he knew about himself was defined by his name. Without it, he was…nothing. Meaningless.

“I am sorry, Young Highness,” Rowan said, and Althalos could see he meant it. “Truly I am. But that is why I must be very careful. Aestus will not protect you. I’m all you’ve got. And if I’m found out, there will be no one left to help you.”

Althalos tried to process all of that as he plopped down on the cold stone ground. He knew his mother and father weren’t especially close, but he never thought—

“Who is my father?” he asked.

“No one knew his name,” Rowan answered. “And it doesn’t matter. The king had him executed as soon as he was discovered.”

He slumped against the wall, feeling the loss of his identity profoundly. Emptiness opened within him. His mother abandoned him, his father was a void, and he would be left in the dungeon for the rest of his life, reliant upon a man who was nearing the end of his own life.

He tried one last option. “What about my uncle?”

Rowan gazed at him sadly. “Aestus had a request for him. Your mother went with him on the journey.”

Completely alone. Utterly isolated. With only a madman for a companion.

Rowan had said he hadn’t meant to be cruel, but Althalos could think of no crueler thing than to have had one’s self revoked and left to decay without any chance of discovering it again.

Maerwynn’s head felt heavy and her feet seemed to drag through the sand of the cave as she followed her son through the maze of rocks. Lief turned to smile at her over his shoulder, and she thought she would burst into tears.

While her thoughts had become murky, there was one that ran through her head over and over again. My son is alive.

The king had said he’d been killed by dogs, ripped to shreds and beyond recovering. Eaten by beasts. There weren’t even bones left to bury. But here he was! Alive and warm with his hand in hers.

She wished Jarin was here to see his son. If he had known Lief was alive this whole time, he never would have felt the need to go up The Forbidden Mountain, never would have gone missing. They would have been a complete family.

But Maerwynn refused to dwell on any bittersweetness. Lief was alive. That was all that mattered.

Her foot caught on a rock and she stumbled drunkenly, slamming into the sandy ground hard enough to make her teeth shake.

“Mama!” Lief shouted, crouching beside her. “Are you all right?”

Her ears rang with a high-pitched sound and she had to blink several times to form any sort of image. Even when she did, the edges of everything were fuzzy, like she was looking at the world through cotton. Nothing looked concrete.

Except Lief. He smiled, and that image was in such focus that Maerwynn couldn’t help but smile in response. He held out his hand to help her up, and even though it felt as if her limbs were made of brick, Maerwynn found herself reaching for him again.

With her neck barely able to hold up her head, she tried to glance behind her to see if Thea was as happy as she was.

Her vision went black for a moment, and she just caught herself before she fell again. When she spoke, her voice sounded like it was coming from underwater. “Where is Thea?” she asked.

“She went ahead of us, Mama,” Lief said, his grip on her hand tightening.

“Oh…” Maerwynn responded sleepily and did her best to keep walking through the cave.

Eventually, it opened up to a large cavern, and it reminded Maerwynn of The Source’s headquarters. It appeared to be a fully functioning area, with people hurrying back and forth, clad in armor. They spoke in hushed voices to each other, and the sound of it rose like the buzzing of a hive.

“Come,” Lief said, pulling Maerwynn toward the center of the room, “you must speak with our leader.”

Maerwynn no longer had the strength to speak. She simply allowed Lief to lead her into the center of the busied chaos.

Perhaps it was just Maerwynn’s blurry mind, but it almost felt as if the people around had begun to converge on her.

Fendrel had insisted that Thea stay behind, but, unsurprisingly, that hardly did any good. There was no bloody chance of her waiting behind while her mother was in danger. She had wanted to leap overboard immediately, but Fendrel had demanded they at least take Brom with them.

Thea sat on the floor as she waited for the prince to return. She felt sluggish and chilled while not at all feeling the cold of the cave. The chill seemed to emanate from inside of her. But it didn’t matter how she felt. Her mother would have walked through fire if Thea needed her, and Thea would do the same.

Fendrel hurried back on deck with Brom and Ana in tow.

Thea raised a trembling finger toward Ana. “What is she…”

“She heard me and His Highness,” Brom explained. “I told her no but—“

“I spoke to Maerwynn a few days ago,” Ana cut in. She looked nervous and unsure, yet her stance was immoveable. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I think she would want me there.”

Thea was going to ask her why she thought that, what they had spoken about, but she simply didn’t have the energy. She just gestured for Brom to help her up, which he did easily. He hooked her arm over her shoulders and helped her down the decks.

Fendrel pushed open the hatch at the bottom of the ship and they all quickly crossed over the plank of wood onto the sandy shore.

Without needing words, Thea knew to remove her arm from Brom’s and replace it over Fendrel’s shoulders.

Ana asked, “Where did she go?”

“Brom’s tracking her,” Fendrel answered.

And indeed he was. He studied the sand, taking slow measured steps as he looked for any sign of inconsistency that would suggest a direction.

While holding Thea securely against him, Fendrel handed her a sword. “I’m not an expert on Dúdach Cave,” he said, “but I imagine it’s taken her to its hive.”

Fendrel’s words were muted in her ears, but Thea nodded quickly, hearing her heart’s beat echo through her skull and feeling her breaths come out in stuttered gasps. She needed to find her mother as quickly as possible; she felt like her world was bound to go black at any moment.

Fendrel shook her and Thea jerked her lids back open, not even realizing she’d started to sag. With his free hand, he grabbed her jaw and forced her to focus on him. “Just the one on her,” he repeated. “No heroics. We’re not obliterating the whole hive. Just your mum, and then we’re out. Right?”

She nodded again. “Right.”

Ana watched her with her hands wringing nervously. “Perhaps I ought to take her back—“

“No,” Thea said quickly, wrapping her fingers tightly around the hilt of the sword. “I’m fine.”

Brom yelled back to them from up ahead, “This way!” He pointed to a path that led deeper into the cave.

Thea forced herself to put one foot in front of the other, feeling very much as if she were climbing The Forbidden Mountain again. Every movement felt as if it needed her full concentration and strength.

Brom led the way through the cave, moving slowly and stepping silently.

It was like walking through catacombs. The walls were tight and claustrophobic, the air was humid and suffocating, and darkness had begun to weave its way around them the further in they ventured. Fendrel turned sideways to make sure he could continue to help Thea; she put her hand to the wall in front of her, letting her hands slide along the slippery stones which looked nearly like obsidian.

Brom paused and gestured for the rest of them to stop as well.

Thea knew he was listening, and she heard it too. In fact, they all heard it; it was impossible not to. The sound of what seemed like a million flies buzzed through the cave. Beside her, Fendrel muttered, “Shit.”

Thea blinked slowly and then lifted her head to see around Brom.

The tunnel they were in opened onto a large cavern that was entirely filled with the same sort of black mosquito insect that had been on Thea’s neck. They blanketed the ceiling, entirely covered the walls, and flooded the ground. And they were all slowly creeping toward —

Thea didn’t have the energy to gasp but her eyes flew wide as they landed on Maerwynn standing in the center of the hive.

Her eyes were closed and her mouth was frozen in a dreamy smile. Her face was incredibly pale, but Thea couldn’t say if she was further injured because the rest of her body was entirely engulfed by the insects. They didn’t crawl over her, they simply sat there, mouths in place, growing larger with each second.

Ana took Thea’s hand in hers and said, “We’ve got to go back.”

Thea couldn’t speak but she shook her head instantly.

Fendrel translated for her, his voice resigned. “She’ll not leave without Maerwynn.”

“There’s too many,” Ana argued. “And you’re weak as it is. We can’t fight off a whole hive!”

Brom licked his lips nervously and turned away from the morose sight, meeting Thea’s gaze. His voice gentle and apologetic as he ventured, “I think…I think she’s already gone, Thea.”

She blinked her eyes several times and did her best to bring everything back into focus. It had almost sounded like Brom had suggested her mother was dead. Which was, of course, impossible because Thea could see Maerwynn standing right in front of her.

Fendrel swore under his breath. “He’s right.”

All Thea could do was shake her head again. They were wrong. They had to be wrong. Thea was there! She would save her.

Ana put her arm around Thea’s shoulders and tried to guide her back the way they’d come. “Let’s go. I’ll make you a cup of tea and we can—“

Thea’s voice was gravelly as she insisted, “No.” She stuck her foot in the sand, refusing to move. She shook off Fendrel’s arm as well as Ana’s and rested her weight against the rock walls. “I’ll get her,” she ground out. The world spun as she took a step, but it didn’t matter. If they weren’t going to help her, then she was going to get Maerwynn on her own.

“Thea,” Fendrel hissed, eyeing the hive and making sure they hadn’t been noticed yet, “it won’t do any good and it’s too dangerous. You have to come back with us.”

She didn’t bother acknowledging his asinine comment. She pushed herself forward, the slippery rocks allowing her to move easily.

Fendrel turned to Brom with pleading eyes. “Do something.”

Brom instantly blocked Thea’s route with his body.

Her head trembled as she raised it to meet his eyes. There were tears in hers but she couldn’t be sure if they were tears of exhaustion, pain, or something else. They couldn’t be tears of grief because Maerwynn wasn’t dead. At least not yet. If Brom would just move—

All Brom did was whisper, “Thea,” and look down at her with a gaze full of remorse and sorrow.

It was like a punch to her gut. If Brom was telling her to stop, if he thought it was pointless, if he was already grieving…

No.

As if her health had been miraculously restored, Thea shoved Brom out of the way and plunged forward. An ache had started in her chest and had begun to spread out, but she ignored it. She just had to get to her mother. That was all that mattered. She stumbled out of the tunnel and into the cavern, using her sword as a cane.

Fendrel cursed. “Thea, get back here!”

It was like she hadn’t even heard him. Thea’s vision was starting to narrow and blacken at the edges, but that was all right with her because it was narrowing on Maerwynn. Her mum.

She didn’t bother trying to fight the insects; she just walked through them and prayed to Aestus they kept their distance from her.

Thea couldn’t even see her mother’s hair. The insects had quite literally covered every inch of her except her face, and Thea tried to ignore the ache in her chest that had now spread to her arms. She had always loved her mother’s hair, had asked her to help her with hers many times. She always had the most wonderful braids, the most durable styles for a battle, the softest strands to touch. And now Thea couldn’t even see it.

Thea felt a pinch at her neck and knew an insect had landed on her. She didn’t care. She was so close to Maerwynn now that she could see the veins standing out starkly in her face. She looked like a piece of marble—perfect and bright, with lines running through.

Thea fell against her and grabbed Maerwynn by the cheeks. An insect instantly crawled onto Thea’s hand, but again, she didn’t care. She shook Maerwynn’s face. “Mama? Wake up. Can you hear me?”

There was no reaction on her mother’s face. That dreamy smile etched into her marble.

Thea felt her stomach sink. She shook her harder. “Mama! I need you to wake up. We have to get out of here. You’re in danger.”

Another pinch on Thea’s arm and her vision tunneled. But she wouldn’t let go of Maerwynn. Tears poured down her face and she shouted, “Mama, wake up! Wake up! Wake—“

Thea was suddenly lifted into the air and she had a moment of hope where she thought her mother had moved her. But then she looked down and found Fendrel hauling her over his shoulder. “No!” she screeched, reaching for Maerwynn. “Let me go! She needs me!”

But the prince didn’t listen to her as he turned and headed for the tunnel.

The buzzing of the insects rose with the disturbance, and the several thousand that weren’t suctioned to Maerwynn took flight and shot toward Thea and Fendrel.

Brom was there, sword in hand. He slashed as fast as he could, his blade becoming a blur as he whipped it around.

Thea kicked weakly as her lids fluttered and her head swam. “Put me down! We can’t leave her —“

“She’s gone, Thea,” he answered. “I’m not going to let you die, too.” He called over his shoulder, “Brom!”

Brom never faltered with his sword as he backed toward the tunnel.

Thea slammed her fists into Fendrel’s back and tried to glance back at Maerwynn, but she noticed — “Where’s the queen?”

“I sent her back to the ship.” Fendrel tightened his hold around the back of her knees. “Brom, let’s go!”

Brom swung one more time before turning and sprinting into the tunnel.

Fendrel followed his lead, and when he turned, Thea was given full view of her mother as she abandoned her.

She sobbed openly as she felt the energy draining from her. “No,” she croaked. “Please…please, we have to take her home…please…” Her tears landed on the ground as her head fell forward and her vision went entirely black.

Ana reached the ship breathlessly and yelled up, “Hello? Is anyone up there?”

She waited for a moment in silence, her breaths clouding in the air in front of her.

Then Peronell’s head appeared over the banister. “Where the bloody hell is everyone? What are you —“

“I need oil!” she cut him off. They didn’t have time for this. Fendrel, Thea, and Brom would be bursting out of the tunnel any second, most certainly with a swarm of blood-sucking insects behind them. She needed the oil, and she needed it now.

“Oil?” Peronell shook his head. “What for? Where’s Thea?”

“She’s going to die if you don’t get me oil and a torch right now.”

Even from a distance, Ana could see Peronell’s eyes widen. Immediately, he disappeared from the top deck. The queen waited impatiently, bouncing on her toes and eyeing the opening of the tunnel.

Then Peronell emerged from the ship’s door on the bottom deck with a bucket of oil and a flaming torch held high in his hand. “What is going on?” he asked. “Where are —“

Ana jerked the bucket out of his grip and spilled it in a line in front of the tunnel. “No time to explain,” Ana said in a rush. She could already see figures coming toward them. She held out her hand and Peronell gave her the torch with bewilderment.

Fendrel shouted something she couldn’t quite hear, but it echoed along the walls and reached her seconds later. “I told you to go back to the ship. What are you doing?”

Ana didn’t bother to answer, just held the torch at the ready. She could see the mass of black that followed the group on their way out of the cave and she felt fear well up inside her, making her hands shake.

Beside her, Peronell murmured, “What the bloody…” He pulled a dagger from its sheath at his ankle and brandished it.

Fendrel — with Thea on his shoulder — and Brom shot out of the cave.

Ana didn’t even remotely hesitate to throw the torch down on the oil. A wall of fire shot up in front of the tunnel. The queen fell back from the immense heat, feeling as if she’d burned her skin simply from standing so close.

On the other side of the fire wall, the insects gave a horrified shriek. Ana couldn’t see them through the flames, but she could hear their buzzing. They weren’t leaving; they just weren’t coming through.

“Back on the ship,” she ordered.

As one, they turned back and sprinted onto the ship.

Peronell headed to the rooms to wake the crew, while the rest of them went straight to the top deck.

Fendrel laid Thea on her back. Her head lolled to the side, looking more pale than before. He patted her cheek several times, trying to rouse her.

Brom went directly to the anchor and locked his fingers around the rope, heaving with all his might.

Ana headed for the steering wheel. They needed to get out of Dúdach Cave as soon as physically possible; the oil would burn out eventually, and they would never be able to fight off an entire swarm.

Merek rushed onto the deck. “What’s happening?”

Fendrel turned from Thea to address him. “Merek, help Brom with the anchor and then get to the sails. We need to get out of here immediately.”

He nodded and hurried to his position.

The rest of the crew found their way to the deck, all looking as equally perplexed as Merek and Peronell had. Ana and Fendrel took turns shouting orders to them, and eventually, everyone was in place.

Ana had given up the steering wheel to Janshai and now she knelt beside Thea, holding onto her to make sure she wasn’t stepped on and further injured among the chaos.

Carac froze in the middle of the deck, cocking his head to the side. “I hear buzzing,” he said.

“Damn it.” Fendrel leaned over the side of the ship and was just able to glimpse the entrance of the cave. The fire wall was half its original size, and those insects were already leaking out. “We have to go. Now!”

“The sails aren’t catching,” Peronell yelled back.

Ana’s eyes widened. They had hardly moved at all, and at the speed those insects could fly — She stopped as an idea occurred to her. She breathed, “Oars.” She caught the eye of the person closest to her, Merek, and repeated, “We need the oars.”

“Where?” Merek asked.

Ana wracked her mind for a moment as she tried to remember where they had been located on The Rán. The few times Favian had gone sailing on this boat, he’d asked for the oars to be hidden, meaning for the vessel to simply float in the water. A medium for relaxation, not urgency. But he would have been a fool to get rid of the oars, so he’d kept them in the… “Captain’s quarters,” she blurted. She hiked her skirts and headed for the back of the boat.

Merek watched her with a short look of confusion before yelling out to the rest of them, “Oars! This way.”

Everyone except Janshai — who remained on deck to steer — barreled to the back of the boat where Ana already stood, grappling with an enormous wooden oar.

The Captain’s Quarters were the largest room on the ship, but Favian had purposefully asked that The Rán hide them, in the unlikely event of an attack. A ludicrous request to be sure, but the builders had done as requested and fashioned a trap door in the floor. Inside, the room stretched like a suite in the palace, with plenty of room for the oars.

Ana hopped down into the room and glanced up at the others. “Merek, Brom,” she called, heaving the handle of an oar up to the door, “help me hand these up.”

Instantly, the men were in the room beside her and grunting under the weight of the oars as they offered them to Fendrel, Peronell, and Carac.

In no time, they were back on deck, slipping the oars into place beneath the banister and settling onto the wooden benches. Even Ana sat with them, sweat coating her forehead and breaths coming out in panicked huffs.

Carac said, “Buzzing’s getting louder.”

Ana glanced back to see the fire wall was nearly extinguished and the insects were pouring out of the entrance in earnest. They seemed confused, which Ana assumed was the reason they hadn’t immediately attacked. They were just a black cloud of legs and wings hovering in the air.

But then Ana could feel the moment they’d been spotted. It was like the cloud had a head and it turned in their direction. “We have to go now,” she screamed.

Fendrel took the lead. “On three. One, two, three, heave!”

Ana gritted her teeth, her face turned red, and her arms shook as she pulled on the oar as hard as she could.

It was like sitting on a horse whose rear end had just been given a good smack. The ship lurched into motion, and Ana tightened her grip on the oar to keep her balance.

The prince continued to count out their rowing, and the ship slid through the path of the cave easily. Ana’s biceps began to cramp but she didn’t dare stop.

Carac shouted, “I can still hear them.”

Sure enough, the black cloud of furious buzzing was just behind the ship as the vessel raced through the water.

“Faster!” Fendrel ordered and increased the speed of his counting.

Ana rowed as fast as she could, pulling and pushing the wooden oar with all her strength. Sweat fell down her face and her arms burned.

The ship burst out of the hall of the cave into a large lagoon, water splashing up around it. But the crew didn’t stop rowing. Across the expanse of the lagoon, Ana could see the mouth of another tunnel. Where it led was anyone’s guess, but the crew inaudibly agreed to head in its direction.

“Wait, wait!” Carac called, tilting his head to the side. “They stopped.”

Panting, Ana glanced over her shoulder.

At the entrance to the lagoon, the insects had frozen, as if blocked by an invisible wall. Still in their vicious, swirling cloud, they hovered by the opening. But they didn’t come any closer.

Merek licked his lips as he rose from his seat by the oar. “Should we take that as a good sign or a bad one?”

Fendrel shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Maybe it doesn’t mean anything?” Carac suggested hopefully.

Brom said, “That must be the end of their territory.”

“Then whose territory are we in now?” Peronell asked.

No one answered, a dark and heavy sense of foreboding settling over the group like a suffocating blanket. They stared at the insects as the ship continued to float through the water. All Ana knew about Dúdach Cave was limited to the chilling warnings of madness. No one knew what else lived in the cave.

No one knew what else lurked in its darkness.