Page 73 of Shifter King
Some hundred feet from here was the joining point of a massive river. Ten tributaries all stretched out like broken distended fingers, clawing across the wilderness. Forests and hills swelled around most, some obscuring portions entirely.
No. He crushed the despair. This was more knowledge than they had had before. The answer was here.
Unless the Bealorns moved her.
No. He soared over the forest, scanning it for signs of anything that might possibly be connected to a Bealorn forest city. They couldn't possibly hide everything.
* * *
AaQar examinedEskiatlo next to the fire QueQoa had built. The fall and rough course along the river weren’t the only things that had harmed her. One leg was badly broken and twisted. And numerous bruises and lash marks suggested she had been beaten regularly as well as stuck with needles. Even though she was a Vawtrian, she was not healing as well as she should have, and chills shook her violently. He'd given her his robe to help stave off the cold, but more was needed. Food, warmth, and rest at a minimum.
She grabbed at his hands, struggling to speak through her chattering teeth. "There was a mind twisting girl there."
"Amelia?"
"Maybe. I don't know her name. She didn't do what they said. She just opened the gate and dropped me in the cave river and then tried to jump in after me."
"Tried?" AaQar split a log to use as a temporary splint. "She was captured again?"
"They summoned one of the eagles to grab her. As long as I'm dead or mindless, that's enough. But they wanted her." She shook her head, her eyes seeming all the wider in her gaunt narrow face. "They're going to hurt her for helping me. They've already hurt her. The eagles are cruel."
"Can you tell us anything about the place you were kept? And hold still. This will probably hurt more than it should." He'd never had to splint a Vawtrian's leg before.
"It's impossible to find. They made it that way. Most of it underground. It's cut off with their Abliato technology but only just enough. I've never seen the outside. They have weapons everywhere. Poison traps and barbs near the walls. Lots and lots of stone doors. And if the Abliatos come for them, it's set to burn. Queen Zorna says they will never take her people again. There are oil cannisters everywhere."
"The queen intends to die then?"
"No. The underground burns last. She'll have some way out through there, but I don't know the ways. Only that they go deep. At least two miles. I don't know how to help her, but—" She burst into tears.
AaQar drew his hand over his face. Underground was bad. A Bealorn city set to catch on fire in case of an attack was also bad. But Zorna had to have escape routes. There had to be plans. "Do you know where any of the entrances and exits are? Or where they might be? Descriptions of any sort. Anything could help at this point."
She shook her head as he began to fasten the splint around her leg. She winced, her features drawing painfully tight. "No! I'm sorry. They brought me there five years ago. I wasn't conscious when they moved me, and we're never allowed near those places."
He tightened it a little further. "You're chilling badly," he said. "I'm going to ask my brother to take you back to our camp if you're willing. Are you?"
The woman nodded weakly. She shivered under his robe, her coloring sickly yellow and her lips purple blue. "And you are all Vawtrians? Like…"
"Yes. Like you. Just not from this area." He gestured for QueQoa to come over. "Take Eskiatlo back to the bunker. Make sure she has what she needs. And check on the little one as well. She'll probably need feeding."
QueQoa crouched beside the woman and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Will you let me carry you?"
As she gave a nod of assent, QueQoa hesitated. "Perhaps we need a doctor. For this and Amelia."
Yes, they definitely needed help. Zorna had the look of a ruler who would take everyone down with her rather than lose anything more. She'd probably kill Amelia simply to keep anyone else from having access to such a valuable resource. For now, she wanted Amelia to provide her people with mindreading Bealorns. But Amelia was not the easiest person to convince to cooperate. And she was probably well on the wrong side of the queen's favor by now. "All right. Get Eskiatlo to her."
"I'll be swift," QueQoa promised. He turned into his favored iron dragon form with the long body, six legs, and massive wings and picked Eskiatlo up carefully with his forelegs.
AaQar turned back to the river. He took the whistle then, set it to his lips, and sounded the call for Naatos and WroOth to return. WroOth answered back, clearly on his way.
Amelia wasn't in the river. And that was perhaps for the best based on the feeding frenzy now happening upriver. Bloody waters rippled out as the fish and reptiles tore one another apart. Eskiatlo's escape was practically a miracle.
Now came the hard part. Convincing Naatos to give up the search long enough for them to regroup. He set his hands on his belt, far more aware of the cooler air now without his robe. His tunic and trousers were not nearly as warm.
Already the sun was setting, the golden sky now darkening in the east.
WroOth's bright-red fire dragon form left little doubt that he was on his way as summoned. Naatos though hadn't answered. Altering his lungs and his vocal cords, AaQar sent out a sharper dragon-voiced warning call. Naatos should know better than to ignore the signals.
The answering bellows told him Naatos had heard and was returning. He released a tight sigh. How much longer would that last realistically? For now at least—and barely—Naatos heeded the summons. But that wildness and desperation in his voice warned AaQar it would not long be so. His brother walked a crumbling ridge of madness, and if they didn't find her swiftly, all would fall away.
