Page 70 of Realm of Thieves

“Don’t get too excited,” I warn him. “They either move too slow or too fast. Oh, and they spit.”

“Nothing venomous, I hope,” Kirney says.

“No, but it’s gross,” I say, making face. “Though not as gross as the slug webs.”

Andor’s eyes widen. “The what?”

I just smile. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

No point in letting them know before we get to the city itself. They’ll have enough to worry about on the journey there.

Still, the walk across the Burning Sands is uneventful, if not exhausting. Our water doesn’t last long, the heat is relentless, and even a grain of sand blown upon our skin is hot enough to burn. I end up having to tuck my skirt into the tops of my boots so that my thighs stop getting burned. Everyone has their scarves wrapped around their heads, and even Lemi looks taxed from having to shift so often. The dunes in this area are even taller than I thought, making the trip longer than I had estimated.

Finally, as we crest the last dune, we stop and find ourselves looking down over the entrance to the Dark City.

“There she is,” I say, gasping for breath. At least Andor looks equally tired as I do. Everyone’s salve has melted away from their eyes, gathering in their scarves in messy black pools.

“Not as I pictured it,” Andor admits. “But it’s nice to see these bloody dunes come to an end.”

He’s right in that it doesn’t look like much. Below us the dunes peter out into steppes of dirt and low shrubs with severe swatches of cooled black lava cutting through every now and then like a river delta, all of them running from the slopes of the volcano in the distance. Halfway between us is a series of black caves that are barely visible between the shrubs. If you didn’t know what to look for, you wouldn’t be able to see it.

“Where is it?” Feet says, leaning over with his hand on his knees, slipping slightly in the sand.

“See those camels?” I point to a small herd of them grazing among the spiny bushes. “The entrance is the cave just beyond them. Peoplefeed the camels and provide water occasionally to keep them around so that they’re easier to catch when we want to go somewhere.”

“Thank the goddesses,” Feet says. “There is no blazing way I am walking that distance back again.”

“Well, that’s where you’ll be waiting too,” Andor points out. “Hopefully you’ll have enough time to become best friends with them.”

We run down the slope, careful not to trip on our loose clothes, sand flying everywhere, until we reach the bottom. Then it’s a short distance to the camels and the entrance to the city. Lemi stops shifting and pants the whole way back, the ground no longer painful to walk on, and I wish I had some extra water to give him.

But he knows what to do. When we’re close enough to the entrance, he shifts and I have no doubt he’s appearing by the water trough, hopefully finding it full and probably fighting some ornery camels for it.

We hurry the rest of the way, and when we finally arrive we see Lemi lying down in the shade of the trough, some water still left. The camels are a few yards away, half-hidden by the shrubs and eyeing us suspiciously.

“Normally I wouldn’t suggest you have the water here, but if you can get past the fact that it’s full of dog and camel slobber, it’s all yours,” I say to Feet and Kirney. “It’s otherwise safe.”

“Are you boys going to be all right?” Andor asks, adjusting the pack on his back.

Kirney takes out both his knives from his boots, twirls them, and slides them back in. They look to be made from the same water crystals as Andor’s dagger. “We’ll be fine,” he says. “Just come back quick.” He seems to give Andor a look that says for him to come back in general.

“Will do,” he says with a grave nod.

We part ways, Feet and Kirney watching us go like they might come running after us at the last minute.

“You sure you don’t want to stay with them?” I ask Andor as we march toward the cave, Lemi lagging behind lazily. “They won’t have to worry so much.”

“Not a chance,” he says, flashing me a smile. “I’d rather them worry about me than me worry about you.” We stop before the cave entrance. “Now is there anything I should know when we are in there? You say you can’t see as well in the dark; do we need to light a torch? Do we not talk? Stay close?” His eyes sparkle at that last bit.

“There is light in the city’s passageways,” I tell him, realizing that he really doesn’t know what to expect. “Just stay by my side, stay quiet, and let me do all of the talking.” He opens his mouth to say something, but I press my fingers into his chest. “I mean it. All of the talking.”

He presses his lips together firmly and nods, enough gravity coming over his expression that I think he knows to take this seriously. But that’s the thing about Andor—he’ll let you believe that nothing really matters when it turns out that so much does. It’s what makes him so disarming—and dangerous.

I glance behind me at Lemi. “If at any point you want to shift home to see Auntie Ellestra and let her know I’m coming, that would be fine with me.”

But Lemi only wags his tail. Perhaps he’ll disappear when we get closer, but I don’t expect him to leave my side until we’re safe.

I just hope I can expect the same from Andor.

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