Page 77 of By the Horns

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Kipp gives our group a fierce nod and then picks up the loose end of the rope, eyeing me and then Raptor.

Right. We should tether ourselves again. I take it and loop in at my belt, then hold it out to Raptor.

“Want to do me the honors?” he asks, gesturing at the lantern he’s holding aloft.

I put the rope around his waist, and as I do, I notice the raging erection tenting the front of his pants. My face gets hot.

It’s a good thing that it’s so dark in here.

It’s very evidentafter a while that we have no idea where to begin. Kipp leads us up and down the tunnel, and we examine oursurroundings,searching for the very things that Master Jay told us to hunt for—ruins hidden under moss. Rock falls. I desperately want to point out the broken column on the lip higher up the wall, but I also don’t want to be the one to call attention to it. Instead, I deliberately avoid looking there and gamely shoulder my pickaxe and shovel as Kipp points out one spot, and then another.

And we dig.

We hammer at the rock. We look for clues. Aspeth—er, Sparrow—mentioned to me once that everything from Old Prell has a layer of the salty lichen that preserves it all. We look for that, but the tunnel here—the practice tunnel—is heavily traveled, and I can see no sign of where an artifact might be hidden. Neither does anyone else.

Raptor refuses to help, too. He holds the lantern and shoots amused looks in our direction. “You four need the experience, not me.”

After what feels like hours, we dig at a spot of crumbling rock until we’ve dug a Kipp-sized hole and find nothing of value. It’s the seventh hole we’ve dug in the last while, and I’m tired and sweaty, and the buzzing from the dead is starting to peck at me again, like a thousand angry birds.

It’s that uncomfortable shiver under my skin that makes me speak up, makes me reckless. “Why don’t we look near the columns? It’s as good a place as any.”

“Why?” Arrod asks.

“Because they’re ruins,” I point out. “Maybe we’ll find something near one of those.”

“It seems obvious, but I agree,” Hemmen says. “We’re not getting anywhere right now. Might as well try the obvious.”

They immediately turn toward a crumbled column near our feet, and I want to scream in frustration. Instead, I bite my tongue and dig near it alongside them. When we take a water break, I pretend to scan the cavern and then point out the spot that’s been bothering me all day. “Oh, look. It’s another column.”

Instead of looking over at it, they turn to look at me. “How’d you see that?”

Uh-oh.

“How’d you miss it?” I toss back. I mean, sure, it’s at least twenty handspans up the cavern, near the tall ceiling and practically hidden by along stalactite drooping from above. But if one looks closely, one can see just a hint of a shelf of rock, and on it, more of the infernal moss.

Raptor holds the lantern higher, frowning. “You must have good eyesight for a human.”

“The best.” I keep my tone casual and flirty. “Besides, there’s a hard corner under all that moss. Don’t tell me that happens naturally in a stone cave.”

“Actually, it does with certain types of rock,” Raptor says, moving past me. His tail flicks my ear, and it feels like a caress more than anything. I rub my earlobe as he strides over to the spot I’ve pointed out and holds the lantern higher. “That’s definitely a column, though. Good eye.”

“Thank you.” I’m glad no one else is questioning my ability. Itisrather far up the cave wall.

He turns to look at our group. “Now the question is, how do we get up there?”

That ends up being easier than anyone expected. Kipp sheathes his sword and adjusts his overlarge, battered shell on his back. Then he climbs up the wall as nimbly as, well, a lizard. When he makes it to the top of the shelf, he disappears behind the column and reappears a moment later with something in his hand.

Something that sparkles in the lantern light.

“Aha,” says Arrod, and claps his hands with delight. “Master Jay tried to trick us!”

Kipp crawls down the wall and lands with a triumphant thud. He holds the item aloft, and we all lean in to take a closer look at it.

It’s a cube of some kind, made of metal covered in runes. Raptor takes it in hand and turns it over, and as he does, the sparkle turns to a soft yellow glow, with one set of runes lighting up. As he turns it over again, a different word brightens, this one in pale blue.

“Can you read what it says?” I ask, captivated. I’ve only been close to true artifacts a few times in my life, but each time I’m utterly fascinated by them. They’re not meant for common people. They’re the domain of the rich and powerful, and even though the cube looks like nothing but a child’s toy, it feels special. Valuable.

Raptor turns it over again, and the writing becomes a deep pink. “This symbol is the one for ‘mistress,’ like lady of the house. And thisone means ‘activate.’ ” Arrod reaches over and touches the “activate” rune before anyone can react.