“I think you have other matters to concern you,” said Haplo quietly.
“Humpf!” Grundle snorted, and shook her whiskers at him.
Turning her small back, she stumped off, battle-ax bouncing on her shoulder.
“Damn!” Haplo slammed shut the door.
The Patryn paced his small cabin, making plans, discarding them, making others. He had just come to the point of admitting to himself that this was all nonsense, that he was trying futilely to control what he had no control over, when his room was suddenly plunged into darkness.
Haplo stopped in his tracks, blind, disoriented. The submersible hit something, the jolt sent him flying. He crashed up against one of the walls. A grinding sound coming from below led him to guess the ship had run aground.
The vessel rocked, shifted, listed to one side, then seemed to settle itself. All movement, all sound, ceased.
Haplo stood absolutely still, holding his breath, listening.
His cabin was no longer dark. The sigla on his skin glowed a bright blue, bathing himself and every object in the small cabin with an eerie, shimmering light. Haplo had only once before seen the runes react this strongly to danger and that had been in the Labyrinth, when he’d accidentally stumbled upon the cave of a blood dragon, the most feared of all the fearsome creatures in that hellish place.
He’d turned tail and run then, run until his leg muscles burned and cramped and his lungs ached, run until he’d been literally sobbing with pain and exhaustion, and then he’d run some more. His body was telling him to run for it now. . . .
He stared at the glowing sigla, felt the almost-maddening tingling sensation pricking him to action. But the dragon-snakes had not threatened him. They had done just the reverse, promising him—or seeming to promise him—revenge on an ancient enemy.
“It could be a trick,” he reasoned. “A trick to lure me here. A trap? But why?”
He looked again at the runes on his skin, was reassured. He was strong, his magic was strong, back to normal. If it was a trap, these dragon-snakes were going to discover they’d caught more than they’d bargained for—
Cries, shouts, footsteps, jarred Haplo from his thoughts.
“Haplo!” It was Grundle, howling.
He flung open his door. The mensch came running toward him, racing down the corridor. Alake lit their way, holding in her hand a lantern containing some sort of spongelike creature that gave off a bright, white light. [2] The mensch appeared considerably startled to see Haplo, whose skin was glowing as brightly as their lantern. They stumbled to a halt, huddled together, stared at him in awe.
In the darkness, the sigla shining brilliantly, he must be a marvelous spectacle.
“I … I guess we don’t need this,” said Alake faintly, and dropped the lantern.
It fell to the deck with a clatter that went through Haplo like sharp knives.
“Shut up!” he hissed.
The three gulped, nodded, exchanged frightened glances. They must think the dragon-snakes are spying on us. Well, perhaps they are, Haplo thought grimly. Every trained and inbred instinct warned him to tread softly, walk warily.
He motioned, with his hand, for them to come closer. They moved down the passageway, trying their best to be quiet. Alake’s beads jangled, Grundle’s heavy boots thumped on the deck with a hollow sound, Devon got tangled up in his skirts, tripped, stumbled into a wall.
“Hush!” Haplo commanded softly, furiously. “Don’t move!”
The mensch froze. Making less noise than the darkness, Haplo crept over to Grundle, knelt beside her. “What’s happened? Do you know?” The dwarf nodded, opened her mouth. Haplo drew her near him, pointed to his ear. Her whiskers tickled his cheek.
“I think we’ve sailed into a cave.”
Haplo considered. Yes, that made sense. It would explain the sudden darkness.
“Is this place where the dragon-snakes live, do you think?” asked Alake.
She had moved over to stand beside Haplo. He could feel her slender body trembling, but her voice was firm.
“Yes, the dragon-snakes are here,” Haplo said, looking at the glowing sigla on his hands.
Alake edged closer. Devon drew a deep, shivering breath, pressed his lips tightly together. Grundle humpfed and frowned.