Page 25 of Crown of Ashes and Awe

While Minkin caught her breath, I reviewed every moment since the night we’d met, wondering if she'd ever done the same to me. I could think of nothing. But how would I know?

Sweetie rolled his eyes. "The minds of simple men, usually. Come on. We need to get lost in this place before the guard realizes what he’s done."

Minkin took the lead. We chased each other through the crowded streets for so long, however, that I wondered if we were about to emerge out the other side. Then we came around a corner and found ourselves in a large square with a sculpted fountain of a dragon in the center. With its wings unfurled, the beast was the size of two wagons end to end. The shadows from a plethora of smoking torches made the narrow chest appear to be moving, and lights flickered in its polished eyes.

Serpent Square. Damius had warned me of the place. If each city had an underworld, this was Sunbasin's epicenter.

Through the streets, there had been calls from vendors selling all manner of merchandise, their cries following us with an edge of desperation. Ultimately, who needed a new cooking pot when the end was nigh at hand? Who cared to die in new clothes?

But Serpent Square was different. Offers were entertained by patient men and women who were confident their products were in demand. No matter when death would descend upon our heads, there was always time to satisfy a hunger. Attempts at haggling were met with good-natured smiles.

In Serpent Square that night, no vendors called for attention. But in low tones, hawkers offered satisfaction of all sorts.

Tearloch looked back at me. "Stay close. I'll take you to a safer part of town, but first, I must enquire about Huxor.”

I shook my head. "No need. I'll take my leave now. Thank you for?—"

He advanced on me, sending a jolt of fright through my body. "You don't know what you're talking about. You will stay close. I don't have time?—"

"This is Serpent Square. Den of iniquity. Body slaves, hallucinogens, murderers for hire. I know what is here and I know where to find safe shelter." In answer to his disbelief, I added, "Books have more than words, you know. They have maps. I know precisely where I am."

"Books won't tell you who you can trust."

"I trust no one."

He looked me over from the top of my head to my boots and back again. "You have nothing of value."

"We all value different things. I have enough for my needs."

He shook his head, still unwilling to trust me on my own.

"Go," I said. "Be whole...for as long as you can. And I will do the same. Your old friend is getting farther away by the minute, remember?"

Minkin's hand came to rest on Tearloch's arm. "She's right. We have no time to waste." Her gaze found mine. "And I think she is cannier than we know."

His jaw flexed beneath a shadow of beard. “She thinks she can find Huxor before we do. And now, I think it has little to do with revenge.” He’d watched me closely on the road and had jumped to the wrong conclusion.

“You’re mad,” I said. “I don’t want power,anyone’spower.”

“So you say. But you also claimed to be an Uncast, and yet—Minkin, hand her your stone.”

Confused, the small woman did as she was asked. The stone shone brighter than before because of its connection with the heartstone road. But as soon as it touched my outstretched palm, it radiated painful light from the energy I’d stored.

“It’s nothing,” I told them all. “A secret Demius taught me, to find rejuvenation on the Moonless Quarter. That’s all it is. Plenty of people can do it.”

Sweetie’s horns turned back and forth. “No. Plenty of people cannot.”

Dower gloated as if his every suspicion of me had been vindicated. “Dragons can. That’s why they nest in caves and canyons, where the heartstone is plentiful. But only the Everfolk, or the?—”

“I’ve never known of anyone,” his brother injected, “who could connect to power who wasn’t at least a millenarian.”

I laughed. “Well, I’m not a dragon. And I have no power. I know some of my master’s spells, but they won’t work for me…becauseI am an Uncast! I swear it.”

“Doesn’t matter anyway, does it?” Bain grimaced. “We’re parting ways. She’ll be free to hunt for Huxor on her own. So, I suppose it will be a race.”

“No, it won’t.”

They waited for me to explain.

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