Page 123 of The Dragon Queen

“This is how he gets you,” Ged grumbled. “Makes you think his idea is yours.”

“Can see another way forward, Rider?” Soren snapped. “No? Then you know what we need to do.” His focus shifted back to me,that warm gaze reminding me of my dream. “You’ll do this anyway, with or without us, right?” I nodded sharply. “Then you’ll have me by your side. Always, Pippin.”

“Brom?”

“I should’ve known you conceded defeat too easily.” He smiled slowly. “Of course I’m with you. To be honest, I’m not sure if the dragon-led attack will even work past the first wave. We don’t mind rape our bondmates. They’ll feel the deaths of all those people as they happen. I’ve raised this with the general, but he won’t hear it.”

“He doesn’t want to,” I replied. “A glorious victory, one he achieves by blasting Blackreach to hell, that’s all he can see, but we’ll show him, won’t we, Ged?”

“Bloody hell…” He shook his head sharply. “Let me look at that map. Commander, can you verify which parts are accurate and which aren’t? Anything that comes from Marcus needs to be checked twice.”

“They can do that.” Flynn swept in, directing me towards his bedroll. “While we work out a plan.” My eyes went to the tent flaps and watched Soren tie them closed as I sat down with Flynn. “Now, tell me more about these caves…”

It was justa hole in the ground, I told myself over and over. It was now an hour or so past midnight and we each walked with careful steps, trying to mask the sound of our passing. We needn’t have worried. At this hour, no one was near the cave entrance, and for good reason.

You know that strange feeling you sometimes get, when in a house all by yourself, or when walking into somewhere dark and gloomy? Your skin prickles, as if sensing unseen eyes watching you. Initially, it’s just uncomfortable. You’re more aware of yourself and your surroundings than you usually are.

Then it gets worse.

“Gods above…” Ged hissed, rubbing at his arms.

A face with needle-like teeth appeared before me in the darkness, yet when I stopped still, stifling a scream, it was gone in thenext blink. I felt something brush against my side, yet when I whirled around, I realised it was just a breeze. By the stifled grunts from those around me, I realised the others were dealing with the same thing.

“This place…” Ged muttered. “Surely there’s another way.”

“Not without blowing a hole in the wall.” Brom tried to smile but failed utterly, his eyes wide and haunted. “And that might draw attention to what we are doing.”

“We aren’t even in the cave yet.” Soren looked down into the dark mouth of it with a terrible frown. “Well, it's not as if I haven’t walked into a fight wanting to piss my pants before.”

“Yes, but this is the first time it feels like it’s actually going to happen.” Flynn’s hand went to his sword. “We need to keep going. Once we go in… there, we need to move fast. Run, if we have to.”

“Good idea.” Ged shot him a withering look. “So we can get lost in the cave of doom? There’s too many bloody chambers to this cave. Is it too much to ask for just one clear path.” He stared at the lot of us. “We can’t get separated. If we do, we could end up walking around and around for hours.” He swallowed hard. “Days even. Did we bring enough water? Food? Why the hell didn’t we bring supplies? What are we going to do if we get turned around? What if this map isn’t even accurate? Marcus would be laughing on the other side of his face if he?—”

This way.

We all turned around to see my dragon had appeared.

Glimmer,we talked about this, I told her.You and your mates will stay here. The dragons loyal to the duke will sense your presence and report us to him. We need the element of surprise to make this work.

You need me.

I felt it as soon as she walked past. Muscles released, my spine straightening, no longer bracing for an unseen attack.

“So I’m guessing the little queen is joining us?” Flynn asked, but I could see the palpable relief on his face. Her glow seemed to settle something in us.

“If this is what we’re doing, then we need to get going,” Bromlooked up at the sky. “We’ve got a couple of hours of darkness to complete this mission. The faster we get in…”

The faster we’d find out if we could abort this war before it could really start.

The rocks around the cave entrances were still demons ready to pounce, but for some reason, I could walk past them without disgracing myself. I eyed them closely, waiting for them to move, but they didn’t. They were just rocks, this was just a cave, and that was just?—

“This is Drathnor?” Flynn asked as we approached the skull. “Gods, how the hell did a beast like him fly?” Like I had the first time I saw it, he fought to take it all in, let alone the rest of the dead dragon’s bones. He turned to the others. “Imagine riding such a creature. Everyone would bow before you.” A strange gleam filled his eyes. “No one would dare raise a hand against you, against your family.”

“Flynn—”

When I stepped closer, he wrapped an arm around my waist.

“No one would ever hurt you.” That was whispered into my neck. “I’d be able to protect you, Pippin.”

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