Page 118 of Sonnets and Serpents
The wound on his leg seemed like a mosquito bite in comparison.
“I wish we’d met under different circumstances,” Silas said, mind racing as he tried to decide the best approach.
Leaning into his emotions would give him the strongest magical commands, but they were a swirl of grief and regret and anger. That would agitate a snake, make it more aggressive, and he wasn’t trying to get either himself or Kerem killed. Besides that, he didn’t know how loyal the snake already was to Kerem. Revealing himself to be at odds with the professor might encourage the serpent to strike.
He tried to project calm. “I’m not a threat.”
The serpent shifted its head, knocking free a stream of pebbles and dust from the cavern ceiling as its scales scraped the rock. With deliberate precision, it lowered its jaw, revealing pointed fangs like rapiers.
Clearly, the calm had not communicated.
Out of the corner of his eye, Silas had been watching Kerem. The professor had retrieved a bone-white Artifact from a chest, this one bearing no sign of damage.Two Artifacts.Silas remembered the Stone Caster from the market, buried without bones in the graveyard, like Iyal Havva.
With the first Artifact stolen by Ceyda, Kerem would have been forced to craft a replacement. Ceyda had created a tidal wave that overturned a full-size merchant galley. What would Kerem be capable of?
Run. The instinct rattled his bones.
Sarazan struck. Its head lurched forward on a stretching neck, jaws closing over the spot Silas had been only a moment before. Gray mist puffed in the air.
As an adder, Silas shot toward the edge of the room.
Artifact glowing, Kerem pressed one hand to the wall, spreading a jagged crack like a bolt of lightning. Chunks of stone tumbled free, threatening to crush Silas. He transformed back, hissing as a large rock rebounded off his shoulder.
Sarazan coiled for another strike.
Silas lunged forward as the massive serpent crashed into the fallen rocks behind him. Its furious hiss echoed across the cavern.
His eyes darted to the closest tunnel, trying to gauge the distance.
With a calm exactness, Kerem directed Stone Casting again, collapsing that exit. His low voice carried across the room. “There’s no escape, Silas.”
That was narrow-minded thinking. There were at least five escapes left.
Until another rumble of Stone Casting left four.
The sea serpent twisted farther into the cavern, brushing up against the table holding the lantern and throwing part of the room into darkness as it blocked the would-be sun. Half its body still filled the tunnel it had emerged from.
Silas fixed his gaze there. Kerem couldn’t collapse that tunnel without risking damage to his pet.
Transforming again, Silas shot in that direction. Behind him, he heard Kerem curse.
Unlike its master, Sarazan gave a satisfied, echoing hiss, one that shivered against Silas’s mind in a single, clear impression.
Hunt.
It would have been wise to figure out what she was going todoonce she found Silas, especially if he was with Kerem, but Eliza had to focus on the present. The sunlight behind her faded quickly, the tunnel growing darker until it was pure night.
She kept one hand on the wall, orienting herself. It was a goodthing the tunnel had been made with magic because, as she hurried forward, the unnaturally smooth ground remained clear of obstacles, though she still walked with every muscle tense, anticipating a sudden drop or fall.
Tulip slithered ahead, a hiss of scales against stone. At one point, she turned left, and Eliza almost missed the turn, then stumbled when she found it but lost the wall. She hit her knees, giving a soft cry of pain.
Then she dragged herself upright and kept going.
“Tulip,” she panted, “slow down.”
But the snake paid her no mind. Eliza had been lucky to communicate once—assuming that was what had happened and these awful tunnels weren’t just the python’s preferred hunting grounds when she grew tired of library rats.
Rats.Eliza winced, thinking of Henry. Even if he found her trail and tried to follow her, he’d become prey in a country of predators. No wonder he’d been frustrated by the form of his magic. A wolf would have been useful. Or perhaps a dragon. Were there Dragon Affiliates?
