Page 35 of The Black Dragon
You are Mage, my daughter. Never forget that. Never break the code of honor and secrecy of ourpeople.
Ariel shrugged. “It was just arumor.”
His gaze narrowed, as if he didn’t believe her. Justin rubbed his chin. “Maybe I should do thisalone.”
“And leave me out here? Do you have a rope so at least if I fall, I won’t break myneck?”
It worked. Justin glancedaround. “All right. Follow me and do as Isay.”
A narrow ledge ran parallel to the wall. Wide enough for one person to walk abreast, but Ariel tried to prevent looking down. If she fell, she’d die. She wasn’t Justin, able to sprout wings and flyaway.
Every two feet, Justin searched the rock wall, running his hands overit.
“I was told the babies live below the rock, in acave that Skins can’t see. Or access. There’s a rock wall and a keyhole that key you carried is supposed to fit.” Justin frowned as he studied the surface heexamined.
“Then how are you supposed to get inside if you can’t find the keyhole? Call on a wizard of theBrehon?”
“I doubt they’re on anyone’s speeddial.”
They rounded a corner to another flat surface, this one muchwider. Like a landing strip. Surely this was the entrance. Ariel’s pulse raced. She was about to see dragons, real dragons, the source of much magick in thesevortexes.
Other Mages would kill to have thisopportunity.
Suddenly he stopped. “Oh damn. I think we found thedoor.”
She ground to a halt, staring, her heartracing.
In front of them stood the most malevolentcreature she’d ever seen. The creature breathed a stench fouler than raw sewage, and pure evil. Its mandible jaws clicked together as it paced in front of the rock wall. The same wall with akeyhole.
Justin motioned for Ariel to slowly back away. Not that she neededdirection.
The creature stood well over seven feet tall, with fangs like a spider’s. Covered in white fur, it lookedlike a hybrid spider and Skin. It opened its mouth, showing dual rows of triangular teeth. Eight legs in the creature’s middle moved in different directions, but the arms and legs on the creature resembled a Skin’s arms, much like the rest of the creature. Flat openings in the face served as nostrils, and the red slash of a mouth pulled back in a scream that made her clap hands over herears.
“What is it?” shewhispered.
“The Drogmire.” Justin splayed out his arms, preventing the creature from seeing her. His protective gesture touched her, even as primal fearrose.
An iguana scrambled across the rock toward the hidden door. It was black, and crawled on fourlegs.
The beast turned, shot a strand of sticky silk out of two of its eight hairy legs, trappingthe lizard. Then the Drogmire stabbed it with a pointed leg, brought it to itsmouth.
Wet, crunching sounds followed. Her stomach turned. Mouth dry with panic, she turned and hugged the cliff wall, scraping her bare calf on a jutting rock. Blood flowed and the creature lookedup.
Oh dear goddess, it sawthem.
Justin blew out a breath and mist poured forth, shrouding the creature.Ariel followed Justin back on the trail to where they hadlanded.
When they were safely around the corner, she collapsed on the ground, rocking back and forth. “I guess cave visits are out today.” She laughed, the sound hollow to her own ears. “Unless you want to end up asdessert.”
“No. I’ll come back after noon, when it’s sleeping.” He gave her a pointed look. “Much later.Alone.”
He unzipped her pack and took out a bandana she’d tucked inside, wrapping it around her bleedingcalf.
“What is that thing?” Ariel peered at the rock, hoping it didn’t decide to chance coming around the narrow ledge and attack. “It looked manifested from my worstnightmares.”
“I doubt it sprang from your imagination. Mine, maybe. I’ve never seen anything like it in all mytravels.”
“How did you find out about it?” Perhaps if she coaxed some information from him, when he left her, the Mage community would let her stay. Up until now, they shunned her. Ariel suspected it was because of her father’s unorthodox practices and experiments with dragonmagick.
