“You could threaten to kill me, and I still wouldn’t.”
Sagittaria Wonder sighed. “Don’t be so dramatic,” she said. “That’s unnecessary.”
A glimmer of blue caught Silver’s attention as Sagittaria reached for the gemstone pendant peeking out of Nebekker’s tunic.
“But this is necessary.”
Her palm closed, and she ripped the chain off Nebekker’s neck. At the same time, Silver flung herself at Sagittaria. The dragon racer looked up in time to throw an arm out as she stumbled backward, knocking Silver to the ground. The pendant flew through the air and landed under a tree.
One man was lying still on the ground and the other hovered to the side, sizing up Kirja. The water dragon didn’t pay any attention to them. She watched only Nebekker.
“Tell her to land,” Sagittaria Wonder said.
“I can’t force her to do anything,” Nebekker said. “Not after—”
“Don’t lie to me. I’ve been around dragons all my life. I know their ways.”
Nebekker tightened her lips but then nodded toward Kirja. The dragon touched down at the edge of the water and stretched her nose toward Nebekker.
As the man near the lake tiptoed closer to Kirja, Silver got to her feet. Half-formed plans flooded her brain. Leap on the man? Try to rescue Nebekker? Her body froze with indecision.
The man on the ground groaned. He pulled himself up, but he was clearly in pain, and Silver realized that the bone-snapping sound she’d heard hadn’t been Nebekker’s. It was his.
Sagittaria loosened her grip on Nebekker long enough to wave at the men to close in on the dragon. Silver saw her chance and took it. She dove. At the same time, the men jumped on Kirja, jamming their hands into the tender joints where her wings met her body. Kirja screamed.
So did Silver. “Aaaiiieee!”
Sagittaria toppled back in surprise. Kirja reared, throwing off one man. The other managed to get a rope around one wing. Silver pulled Nebekker to her feet while Kirja swung her head and lashed out at the man with the rope, knocking him into the center of the oasis pool.
Sagittaria ran for the dragon, pulling on the rope until the other man got a rope around Kirja’s other wing. Silver threw her body toward the water dragon, but Nebekker caught her.
“No.” The old woman shoved Silver in the opposite direction. “Run. Now.”
“I won’t go without Kirja!” Silver fell at the roots of the trees, refusing to move.
“You will. We both will.”
Nebekker shoved her again, and Silver got up. They pushed the greenery aside and dove for the sands on the other side. Nebekker grabbed Silver’s hand.
“This way!”
They cut left and circled the outer oasis until Silver found herself at a cave entrance.
“Get inside. They won’t find us here.”
“A cave,” Silver said, panting. “In the desert. They’ll find us.”
“Trust me.” Nebekker shoved her inside and pulled on a rope hanging at the entrance. A tapestry perfectly mimicking the landscape of the desert fell into place, obscuring the cave opening.
Nebekker took Silver’s elbow and marched them toward the back of the cave. “Keep walking.”
“There’s nowhere to go.” They were headed for a wall. What did Nebekker want her to do—walk through it?
But then Nebekker led them slightly to the right, and Silver realized that the cave continued, in a sharp slope down into darkness. There were myriad smells: stone and soil, water, and something else. Something lush and vegetal. Her ears picked up the sound of water, too. Dripping, somewhere close by. And, not too far away, rushing, like a stream.
Silver had so many questions. “How could you just let them—”
“Keep walking,” Nebekker repeated.
Silver scowled. She was finding it hard to trust the old woman. As they stepped deeper and deeper into the cave, flashes of Kirja’s expressions flitted through Silver’s mind: the Aquinder’s uncertainty, her anger, her need to make sure Nebekker was all right.
The water dragon was devoted. Too bad the same couldn’t be said of Nebekker.
Silver’s boots flew out from under her. She landed hard on her backside, sliding down the slick passageway and coming to a stop in the midst of something thick and wet. She got to her feet as fast as she could.
“Ew.” She wiped her hands on her trousers. The water was freezing. She knew she should be freezing, too, but the riding suit beneath her clothes was keeping her warm. “What’s down here?”
“Moss,” Nebekker said. “And perhaps a few slugs.”
“What are slugs?”
Nebekker snorted. “Desert girls,” she said. “Imagine a small, slithering animal made of jelly.”
“Gross.”
Silver’s ears tightened with pressure. How far underground had they gone? A chill ran up her spine. She didn’t like the way the walls seemed to close in on her from both sides and she really hated how close the ceiling was to her head. She barely had room to stand up straight.
“It’s too cramped,” she said.
Nebekker guided her with a gentle touch on her back. Silver turned left, then right. Then she turned another corner, and the underground opened up before them.
THIRTEEN
The cavern was massive, falling so deep into the ground that it was like standing on top of the Jaspaton cliffs, except that instead of the vast desert in the foreground, it was thicklayers of moss and, cutting through the middle of it all, a swiftly flowing river. Above the river, stalactites like dragon’s teeth hung from the ceiling, dripping water in a pattern that filled the cavern with an otherworldly song.
Nebekker pushed past Silver so she could take the lead. The path to the riverbank descended rapidly down crudely cut steps in the cavern walls. Silver squinted to see each stair in the low light that came from an opening to the right. The glow gave the cavern an eerie quality; the light moved across the walls like sloshing waves.
Nebekker pointed. “The river runs through the oasis lagoon on that side. The lagoon undercurrent is strong. It pushes some water up to the surface.”
“Does the river go all the way to Calidia?” Silver said.
“To, and beyond.”
At the bottom of the trail, the riverbank was wide, asthough the river had once been mightier and had carved space for itself. Nebekker made her way toward an overhang, where there was a stack of fuel for fires; baskets of preserved foods; piles of blankets; and a variety of tools, like knives and lanterns. She picked up one of the lanterns and lit the wick. It smoked for a moment, then burned clean and clear.
The light opened up the cavern even more, bringing its multicolored rock structures into view. It was the most beautiful place Silver had ever seen.
“You’ve been here before,” she said.
“I’ve been here often,” Nebekker said. She nodded in the opposite direction from the lagoon. “The river flows from Jaspaton in that direction.”
“Jaspaton?”
“Yes, Jaspaton,” Nebekker said. “Where you’ll be heading soon. I don’t need you hanging around here longer than necessary.”
Silver frowned. “I’m staying here until you get Kirja back.”
How could Silver even think about going home now that she knew Aquinder were real?
Nebekker chuckled. “I never invited you to stay.”
“You don’t own this cavern.” Silver crossed her arms and sat down. Right in a puddle. The water was freezing cold, and she gritted her teeth to keep them from rattling.
Nebekker built a small fire, ignoring Silver. From one basket, she pulled out a pot and set it over the fire to boil; from another, a package wrapped in paper. She walked to the river and stood there with the package in her hands, looking toward some stalagmites.