“Thank you, Hiyyan.” She pressed a cheek to his neck, hot from exertion, and stroked his back. “You did well. We can walk now.”
“What’s gotten into you?” Brajon said. He was out of breath from clinging to the back of the running dragon.
Silver shook her head. “I don’t really know. I just heard something.”
“Right, the foxes.”
“It wasn’t the foxes.”
Silver pressed her lips into a line, and they walked on. Silver closed her eyes and focused on reading Hiyyan’s emotions. She sensed he was tired, but she also noticed an ache—his wing joints hurt. Silver frowned. Did Aquinder have to fly, the way humans had to eat or sleep?
Soon, I promise, Silver thought.
Hiyyan grunted and sent her more sensations. The smells from before were stronger. And there were sounds. Muffled sounds she couldn’t identify, but different from the never-ending dripping water, and boots shuffling through cave dirt. Silver grinned.
“We’re really close,” she called back to Brajon.
Hiyyan’s big feet splashed in the water. Here, there was no riverbank. The water went all the way to the cave walls and partway up, too. Silver closed her eyes again and took several deep breaths. She was starting to feel caged in. The walls and ceiling were too close, the ragged ceiling like a maw.
Brajon put his hand on her shoulder. “It’ll open up again, soon.”
“I’m okay.” Silver reminded herself of the smells she’d sensed. Spices, perfumes. “We’re almost out of this place. Nebekker was right. Just follow the main cave all the way and—augh!”
The party of three skidded to a stop. The cave narrowed into an opening, which they could have squeezed through, one by one. Except for the massive boulders that were blocking the way.
“No,” Silver whispered. All this way, and now they were trapped.
“A cave-in.” Brajon groaned. “That would explain why the river’s gotten so high here.”
At the cave-in, the level of the river was at Silver’s chest. Silver slid from Hiyyan’s back. Even here, many feet from the rocks, the water was above her knees.
“Maybe there’s an opening in the rocks,” she said, “somewhere under the water.”
“What do you want to do? Swim down there?” Brajon scoffed. “We would have our bodies pounded against the rock by the current.”
“We have our water dragon,” Silver said.
“Which would be useful if you could see under there. Look how murky it is near the rocks.”
“What’s your solution, then?” Silver snapped. Calidia was on the other side of those rocks. They had to get through. They were so close to saving Kirja. So close to the races.
“We have to turn back,” Brajon said.
“Huh?”
“Hiyyan’s hearing is better than ours. I bet he’ll know when we’re near the foxes. He can hear fox feet running and scratching. That’ll be where their burrows are.”
Silver’s eyes lit up, and she hugged her cousin. “Brajon, you’re a genius! Burrows will have holes to the surface. A way for us to get out!”
“More useful than a jelly pickax, wouldn’t you say?” Brajon grinned. “Let’s go.”
Instead of riding Hiyyan, Silver and Brajon walked. They kept close to the wall, dragging their fingers over it and looking closer whenever there was a small crack or hole.
Silver also kept a lookout for those silvery eyes that had watched her before.
“Not much longer now—I can feel it.” She closed her eyes and connected with Hiyyan’s senses. “I can hear their paws pitter-patter on the other side of these walls. We just have to find an opening or some way to get to them.”
Brajon called, “Foxes … foxes, where are you?”
Silver was careful to not pass up a single crevice as she searched the walls with both hands. Finally, farther back the way they’d come, she saw them: silvery eyes.
“Fox! Don’t go!” she whispered. The eyes disappeared, but Silver broke into a run. Brajon and Hiyyan kept pace with her, the excitement of her discovery spurring them all on.
Silver stopped and patted the cave wall. “I saw its silver eyes. The foxes were here.”
“I don’t see anything,” Brajon said. “There’s nothing there.”
The walls were almost perfectly flat, unwilling to give up their secrets.
Silver closed her eyes and connected to Hiyyan’s senses again. She could hear the foxes’ yips and calls louder than before. But how were they getting to the other side of the wall?
She moved to a small, dark cave off to the side. Nebekker had warned them to stay in the main river cave, but Silver sensed that the burrow was here.
Rattle, rattle.
“Come on,” Silver said to Brajon. “I hear something.”
Silver ran ahead into the smaller cave, holding her lantern in front of her.
“Fox, fox, where are you?” Silver called.
Rattle, rattle.
“We’re close,” she called happily over her shoulder to Brajon. They were almost out. She couldn’t contain her laughter. “Hurry!”
But when Silver faced forward again, she screamed.
TWENTY
At the sound of Silver’s scream, the beast whipped its head toward her. The creature was so tall it had to hunch over to move in the cave. Four arms extended from its thorax and two long, spindly legs protruded from its midsection. They were as thin as a desert spider’s legs, but at least six or seven feet long.
Rattle, rattle.
With horror, Silver realized the beast was the one that had been making the rattling sound.
She watched the creature put its weight on its four arms, dragging its legs, its claws curled into loose fists, its knuckles dragging on the ground. Spikes jutted out on the backs of its leg and arm joints, and its tail flicked back and forth. There were three more spikes on the tip of the tail.
But just as Silver was about to let out another scream, the beast vanished into thin air.
Silver stood frozen, searching the darkness. She heard something roll across the cavern floor toward her. It hit her foot. A small bone, picked clean.
Silver scrambled backward, her boots sliding against gravel. She heard Brajon calling her name and running toward her, but she was too scared to make a noise. She fell, scraping the skin off her palms, but flung herself up again. There was a massive splash as something enormous jumped into the center of the stream, then began moving in her direction, sloshing water everywhere. The thing was coming closer.
The creature reappeared directly in front of Silver.
“Stay back,” Silver shouted.
Trembling, she held up her lantern to get a closer look at the beast, then instantly wished she hadn’t.
Its head was massive and made up mostly of a huge jaw filled with teeth. She couldn’t see eyes or ears or a nose. Only that long fang-filled mouth. The whole creature was white, like the color of bones that had been bleached by the sun in the vast desert. She felt its hot breath blowing on her face.
Brajon finally caught up to Silver, but he slammed into the back of her. She lurched forward, and her lantern fell to the ground and shattered.
“Don’t move,” Silver said. Her voice shook.
The cave went deathly silent. Even in the dark, the creature’s teeth gleamed eerily.
With some relief, Silver sensed Hiyyan joining them in the darkness. He pushed his body in front of her and Brajon, and gave a low warning growl.
Rattle. Rattle.