40. Tez

40

Tez

We watched as several more Dragon underlords arrived at the ledge.

Caliel eventually shivered, and pulled his cloak closer. His intent stare at something at my feet drew my attention downward.

Three snakelike creatures were curled around my boots. I took a step back, and they followed me.

"Lizards, too." Caliel pointed to the trunk of the tree beside us. Where, indeed, several tiny lizards, each no bigger than my finger, clutched the rough bark.

"Are they always attracted to you?" he asked.

"It's getting worse," I assessed.

"Might not be a bad thing if you can use them," he stated. "You see through the bird's eyes. Can you see through theirs, too?"

My stomach clenched. "I've never tried."

He regarded me and raised a brow. "Right now, what we need is intel. Ears and eyes everywhere. If you have that ability, it would be very useful."

A fly on the wall. I hadn't thought about it being so literal. The little lizards were everywhere in the building, no one could keep them out.

Suddenly, Bree was with me. If you can see through their eyes—it might just keep you two alive, and show us possibilities for getting Mykal out.

Information was power. It was time I got us some, if I could just figure out how.

Then Bree sent a pulse of power along the link, and I knew exactly where it was from. I closed my eyes, and let Excalibur carry me—suddenly, I experienced a barrage of visual information. Far too much for me to decipher—and there was a piercing pain in my head.

The power cut off. Are you okay? Bree asked.

Yeah, think so. Then I swayed. But Caliel caught me—and a pulse of his healing warmth shot through to my head. The piercing ache vanished.

"Maybe this wasn't such a great idea." His voice quivered.

"No, it's a good idea. Bree sent me energy. I just need to modify it. To her, I said, Maybe not quite so much, this time.

She offered power that was more trickle than flood, and I cautiously gathered it to me. Then I reached for the lizards on the trunk…

And got a rather multifaceted view of Caliel and me watching them.

"I can do it," I said. "But it is going to take some finessing."

"Well, let's not do it out in the rain." Caliel led the way back into the building.

We shook the water off our cloaks, and I followed Caliel to his suite. We passed two mercs heading for the stairs, and I paused as Slade, or rather, the Gryphon who looked like him, unlocked his door.

"This is likely to start rumors," I said.

He raised a brow at me as I followed him in. "What kind of rumors?"

"You've taken me home."

He stared at me and then snorted a laugh. "I am hardly your type."

"They so don't know that," I pointed out. "It only matters because they will form associations—and you already don't act much like Slade."

He considered. "You will be tranced out while you do this. Will you feel safe in your own quarters?"

"No," I answered truthfully. "Not if I'm going to be out of it."

"Then they will just have to mind their own business."

I barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes. Keeping this guy alive in this place was going to be a challenge.

Caliel gestured to the bed, and I tentatively stretched out on it.

"I'll be here if things deteriorate," he said. "If you have any pain, let me know."

Great. My own private physician. Nemi chirped as she perched on the bedpost. She must approve of this venture, or she'd be drilling me in the neck. There was a permanent red spot just below my ear that could use Caliel's attention. I sighed, and closed my eyes. My life just kept getting weirder. Now I was talking to lizards.

Nothing fucking normal about that.

I reached for Bree. Okay, mi sol, send me more.

What does ‘mi sol' mean?

I wished with all my heart that I was with her. I envisioned running my fingers along her cheek. My sun, I answered.

She sent a burst of warmth through the link, and then she gave me another tentative trickle of power.

I took it, and went fishing.

I reached for the many sets of eyes that were scattered throughout the stronghold. The vantage points were often confusing as the lizards clung to ceilings, upside down, and high up on walls. They also saw things very differently than human eyes did, with a greater range of color.

It was very disorienting. I struggled, and eventually was able to focus my contact, narrowing it to specific individuals rather than the groups they often hung out in.

As I looked down at the mess hall, no one paid the slightest bit of attention to the tiny lizard clinging to the stone. I pushed a little with my mind, just a suggestion rather than an order, and the creature moved closer. Being able to control its movement really helped. Voices drifted up to me. They were discussing the stew.

Making a mental note to avoid that barf-worthy recipe, I left that lizard and moved on, touching more that skittered along the halls and within the stairwell. Then I found those in the dungeon.

I took a deep breath. My head was starting to ache, but I was just getting where I needed to be. Send me a little more, mi cielito.

What—

It means my little sky.

You are such a romantic, she practically purred, and sent me more of the sword's power.

The boost carried me into Aurora's chambers, to a group of lizards cowering in the rafters.

They were cowering because Mykal was screaming.

I almost dropped the contact. It was incredibly difficult to force one of them out of hiding, so I could see what was going on. Bree had to send me more sword power to do it.

The Trinity and the coven stood along the front edge of the cage. Arranged on tables before them were crystals that pulsed the color of old blood. Everything was bathed in their crimson light.

Within the cage, Mykal writhed in agony every time the light touched him. His bones and muscles expanded and contracted almost in time to his heartbeat—but he never completely shifted to beast, almost as if they were robbing him of the ability.

Nausea rose within me. What were they doing to him? It seemed like more than just pushing him to grow.

Then, like someone had thrown a switch, the red light snapped off. Everyone lowered their arms. Mykal collapsed to the cage floor and lay there, unmoving.

Caliel. He needed Caliel, but there was no way to get the healer to him, not with the Trinity and the coven present.

The Finnity turned to Aurora, and said, "…We have enough of the essence to complete it…"

"But we need more of the scales for the spell…" the female stated.

"…We will reconvene in an hour…" The second male gathered some crystals into a sack.

The female simply turned and led the way out of the chambers. The two males went with her, and for a moment, I panicked. I wanted—no, needed—to see where they were going.

Desperate, I re-engaged with the lizards in the hall. The Trinity strode in unison to a door at the very end. I couldn't help but notice that both males had their hands on the female, and not in a brotherly way—my stomach twisted. After using a burst of red power to open it, they passed through to a set of stairs going down.

My aching skull warned me that I was dangerously overextended, but my instincts screamed that this was important. More, Bree, I need more.

Are you sure? I feel every bit of your pain.

Just send it. There was command in my mindvoice.

Only because we desperately need this, she said, unimpressed.

I grabbed hold, and ran with the additional power. Found not lizards in the damp passage beyond that door, but something that rarely saw the light of day. I didn't know what they were, but they showed me the Trinity walking along another passage, until they came to an archway.

Beyond it, the passage widened, to the point that the dim lanterns barely lit the opposite wall. The Trinity turned left, and when I managed to grope my way to another set of eyes, I saw that they'd entered an enormous vaulted space.

Lying in the center of it, was a body. It was massive, far, far larger than even Tyrez's Dragon. And desiccated, as though it had been dead a very long time. Bones showed through the dried skin, and as I stared down at it in the dim light, the Trinity stood before the massive skull. They laid the crystals out along it, and then the female pulled some scales free, before they all raised their hands.

The red light pulsed out from them, and I had to fight to keep the creature whose eyes I was using from bolting for cover. As the light spread out over the body, it revealed what I had not seen before.

It had not one head, but three.

What is that thing? breathed Bree. And what does it have to do with Mykal?

The female Trinity stiffened, and turned to stare straight up at where my creature clung to the stone.

I had zero control over my reaction—I released the contact and bolted back to my body. For just a moment, I thought something dark and blood-tinged followed me—but then the sensation was gone. The Finnity?

I shivered. And with a gasp, I sat up. I was in Caliel's quarters, and the light shining through the window indicated I'd been down for far longer than I thought.

As I blinked, and then swayed, something warm trickled from one ear, and I tasted blood in my mouth.

"Hold on." Caliel hove into view, and he lay his hand along my face.

When I yanked away, he pinned my head between both of his hands. I'd impulsively knifed people for less.

Dammit, Tez. Just let him heal you.

Heal me. Right. I gritted my teeth and let Caliel's warmth penetrate my skull. The pain slowly receded.

Finally, he let me go and sat back. "You pushed yourself too hard," he chastised me.

It was the sword. Bree's mindvoice shook. I shouldn't have sent you so much from it.

We needed to know, mi alma.

You aren't sweet talking your way out of this one, she countered. We didn't need to know that badly.

"I hope she is giving you a hard time," Caliel said. "Because you could have killed yourself, doing that."

"Sorry. I was too busy watching to worry." It was alarming to see the concern in Slade's vivid-blue gaze—it wasn't a sentiment he would ever have expressed.

He rose. Took one step—and almost fell.

I was beside him in an instant, supporting him with an arm around his waist. "What's the matter?" I asked as he swayed and leaned on me. "Was it because you healed me?"

"Sort of," he said. "I'm having some issues with this body. As in, it doesn't want me in here."

I struggled to understand. "It's rejecting you?"

"More like it never really accepted me. It's taking all my resources to keep it alive."

I sensed Bree's horror as I sat him down on the bed. "Are you saying you're a zombie?"

"No," he said. "Not yet, anyway."

I stared at him. "Not yet ?"

He regarded me soberly. "I'm not meant to be in here, Tez. So far, everything is functioning fine, but only because I am a healer. But this isn't a battle I'm likely to win."

I didn't know whether it was Bree's heart that twisted, or my own. He was telling us he was dying. "Isn't there something we can do?"

"I've been dying since Isobel ripped my life essence from my body. If I can just keep going long enough to see this through, it will have been worthwhile."

No. He cannot die. Bree all but wailed the words.

We will figure something out, I promised. I had no idea how I was going to keep that promise, but I was determined to try.

Caliel rubbed a hand over his face. "You started to bleed in your brain. I hope what you saw was worth the risk."

I swallowed, and grimaced at the metallic taste. "I have no idea what the fuck I saw. But I think we need to figure it out." I pushed a hand through my hair—it was soaked in sweat. "Whatever they are doing to Mykal, it sure as hell isn't just about growing him up fast."

Caliel froze. "What did you see?"

I took a deep breath before telling him.

And then, we contemplated our next move.