“Of course,” said Relic. He left the others and headed toward the shadows of the hall where we had first entered. Infidel sat there, crouched down out of sight of the others. She’d removed her shining steel bra, which was squashed flat. She was hammering the flattened plates back into cup shapes with her fists, using her knee caps as a guide.
“I’m sick of this,” she grumbled softly as Relic approached.
“Patience. You may shed your disguise soon enough.”
“I don’t mean I’m sick of my disguise. I’m sick of this mission. Stagger and I goofed around in these ruins for a decade before he got killed. This team is dropping like flies. Maybe Aurora and I weren’t always friends, but she deserved a better death than that.”
Relic squatted down beside her. With his limbs hidden within the confines of his cloak, he looked more like a heap of rotting rags than a man. “We can’t be certain that Aurora is dead. Her thoughts simply vanished when the pyramid swallowed her. Perhaps she was transported elsewhere.”
I also had my doubts she was dead. Unlike Ivory Blade or Reeker, Aurora hadn’t lingered behind as a ghost. Or would a human ghost and an ogre ghost go to the same afterlife? The Great Sea Above she’d described certainly was nothing like the church’s version of heaven. Since the ghosts usually only lingered a moment, had I simply missed her in all the excitement?
Infidel tried the repaired cup on for size. It was still dented, but it did vaguely resemble the curve of her breast again. “The Black Swan said that only two people survived this quest, and made it pretty clear I was one of them. Tower’s probably the other survivor, given his bag of tricks. It doesn’t bother you that your death has been foretold? Why don’t you get out while you still can?”
“Whatever the Black Swan saw, she’s already altered our fates. It’s possible we will all survive, and the dragon will die.”
Infidel didn’t look at him as she worked on the second bra cup. Her lips were pursed tightly together for several seconds before she said, softly, “Or maybe all of us will die. Even me.”
I put my ghostly hand on her shoulder, wanting to comfort her. I’d never heard such despair in her voice.
“I thought I was done with this,” she said, hammering the metal on her knee.
I didn’t think she was talking about the bra.
Relic nodded. “And now you are afraid again.”
She picked up the cup-shaped steel and began to smooth it between her fingers. “I haven’t felt like this since I left the palace. I used to be so timid and terrified. I never wanted to feel that way again.”
I was surprised to find out she’d been afraid of anything as a child. It seemed counter-intuitive. As a princess, I would have guessed she’d been protected from everything.
“I was treated like a china doll,” she said. “I wasn’t allowed to play outside because I might fall and get scratched. I couldn’t sit too near a window, because the sun might burn my skin. I slept with armed guards stationed at my bed because my father was afraid of kidnappers. My whole family had tasters who sampled our food to make certain it wasn’t poison. Being constantly reminded I was so fragile left me in a constant state of terror.”
Relic nodded knowingly, but I had trouble imagining a fragile, frightened Infidel.
She sighed. “I wanted to do this treasure hunt as a quick smash and grab, making stuff up as we went along, the way Stagger and I always played it. Events never got out of control when we were together, because we never tried to control them. We just moved on whim and instinct, living fast and fearless. Now, Tower is talking about destiny and history, the Black Swan is playing with people’s lives like they’re pawns in some game, and it sounds like my father is already studying maps of this island figuring out where to build his new palace. I can’t help feeling that all this planning has put things out of control. We’re all going to die.”
Relic rose up, stretching his back, sinews popping. His hunch disappeared as he rose to the height of an ordinary man. His body was still hidden by the tattered cloak. His eyes glowed like red embers in the shadow of his hood.
“Perhaps you’re saying these things hoping I will reassure you,” he said, in a stern tone. “I need offer no comfort. All the strength you need to prevail pulses within your veins. You ceased to be a frightened little girl the second you devoured the blood of a primal dragon. A dragon soul shares your body now, a soul more powerful than the sniveling child you once were. Surrender yourself to the dragon inside and our victory is assured.”
Infidel shook her head slowly as she tested the second cup. Satisfied, she worked silently with the link of chain that held the cups together, crimping the ends between her fingernails, then slipping the whole thing on from the back like a vest before pinching the final connecting link between the cups shut at the front.
She stood up. Relic, still standing straight, looked down upon her, a good head taller. She peered up into his glowing eyes. “Who the hell are you?” she asked.
“I’m the second survivor of this mission,” he said.
“How can you know this? Are you a seer as well as a mind-reader?”
“No,” said Relic, as his head lowered once more, returning his outline to his hunchbacked profile. “But you cannot imagine the trials I’ve endured to reach this moment. There is nothing left for me to fear. Not even Greatshadow.”
“So tell me about the trials. Tell me who you are. Why should I keep listening to you?”
Relic shook his head. “I must remain an enigma until we achieve our goals. Greatshadow can pluck thoughts from the minds of others. If you knew my true identity, he might learn it as well. I’m the one enemy he should fear above all others… because he doesn’t even know I exist.”
“Why are you his enemy? Why do you hate the dragon so?”
Relic clenched his gnarled fist. “This too, must remain my secret. But know that my hatred for the beast is deep and righteous. Turning back is unthinkable. I cannot live any longer in a world that contains Greatshadow.”
I rolled my eyes and said, “I’m really getting tired of your mystery man act. Just answer her questions.”
Relic ignored me.
Infidel shrugged. “Fine. I’ve lived with your mystery man act this long, I can put up with it for another day.”
“And your fears? Can you put them behind you?”
She pulled back her shoulders and clenched her fists. “Dragons are cold-blooded. That’s the only blood I’ve got now. So cold my heart’s just a block of ice, incapable of fear, or doubt, or remorse. Timid little Innocent has long since been devoured by the monster.” She cracked her knuckles, as all emotion drained from her face. She looked like a machine once more. “Let’s go kick Greatshadow’s scaly ass.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
After everyone had rested, we pressed deeper into the palace complex. The rooms we passed through were mostly barren. After all this time, I suppose items made of wood or cloth would have turned to dust, but it was curious that there were no ordinary objects made of stone or ceramic, which would have endured. The emptiness hinted that the people who had dwelled here had time to pack before they abandoned the place. On the other hand, it was tough to ignore the gems and gold embedded in the countless mosaics. Certainly, if people had time to pack up their dinner plates and chamber pots, they would have taken their valuables as well.
With Aurora gone, everyone was sweating profusely. The narrow passageway we followed descended at a rather sharp angle, and stretched for what must have been at least a mile. It made me wonder what the ancients had been digging for.