Page 62 of Sea of Stars

And then I saw her.

Chapter 21

Her hands were bound together by rope, which hung on a chain above her head. She was hanging, lifeless, from a horizontal crystal rod. She was as pale as the crystals that surrounded her, except for the burn marks on her skin. The marks looked exactly like the one on my chest, but there were dozens of them. They must have been trying to get predictions to show on her skin. Her head was slumped forwards.

I reached Harish and slammed the side of the dragon’s tooth into the back of his head. He fell to the side and stopped moving.

“Mahlia?” I said gently. I reached out and touched her leg. Her body was cold despite the heat around her. There were deep slices in each of her ankles with smeared marks of crusty, dried blood underneath of them. Beneath her hanging body was a large vat stained with blood. Just a few drops of blood remained at the very bottom.

“Someone drained her blood,” Denton said from beside me. He tipped the vat and looked inside.

“Help me up. I need to cut her down.”

“Breghton.” He grabbed my shoulders and turned my body toward his. “It’s too late.”

“Help me up,” my voice cracked.

Denton shook his head, but he still got down on his hands and knees underneath of Mahlia’s body. I picked up Harish’s dagger and stood on Denton’s back.

“Mahlia?” I said again. She remained slumped over, motionless. I reached up and sawed at the rope around her hands. When it snapped, I quickly caught her. She was so thin I could barely feel any weight in my arms.

I jumped off Denton’s back and laid Mahlia's body down on the ground. I leaned over to let my hair touch her chest. There was no heartbeat. I thought of what I saw Augury doing earlier. I placed my hands together and pushed down on Mahlia’s chest. I held her nose closed and breathed into her mouth. Her chest rose. I pounded down on her chest again.

Denton knelt down beside her and touched the dried blood underneath her ankles. “She’s so cold,” he murmured.

I blew more air into her mouth.

“Breghton stop!” he yelled and shoved me hard in the chest when I didn’t listen. “Her body is cold.”

“I have to save her. Please just let me keep trying.”

“No, you don’t understand. Her body is ice cold. It’s bloody hot down here, it doesn’t make any sense. Her body should be decomposing.”

“So is she alive?” I asked breathlessly.

“I don’t know. Was her heart beating?”

I shook my head.

Denton sat back on his heels and put his chin in his hands. “I know I’ve read about this.”

“Denton just tell me what to do!”

“I don’t know! I don’t remember! I didn’t think any of it was real.” He pressed his fingers against his forehead.

I looked down at Mahlia’s corpse. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the dragon’s tooth. I reached over and picked up the fang. “Denton?”

“I’m trying to think, just give me a second.”

“Denton, the gift from the fellow,” I said and held out the dragon’s fang.

He snapped his fingers. “Breghton you’re brilliant!” He grabbed the fang and looked it over. He stood up and ran over to a patch of crystals to try to get more light onto the tooth. He knelt down and studied it in the light of the crystal cluster.

“What are you doing? Did you remember what you read?”

“No, but I know something that can save her. Hold this,” he added and tossed the dragon’s fang at me. He dumped out the contents of his satchel.

I looked at the tooth and tried to find what Denton had been looking for. In the very center of the top was an extremely tiny hole. I peered into the fang and I could see out the bottom. “Why is there a hole in the fang?”

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