Jucai held up a hand to pause his meeting and asked me, “Where are you going?”
I glanced at the men and women at the table—some kind of committee. Then I leaned in to whisper in Jucai's ear. “I have to use the bathroom.”
Jucai grimaced and then motioned for one of his guards to go with me. I was about as pleased with that as the guard was, both of us trudging out the door.
“There's a bathroom down this hall.” The Sea Dragon knight motioned to the left and then led the way.
I followed him into a marble restroom off a luxurious sitting room. He waited near the door as I went in and saw to my needs. Halfway through, I heard someone talking to my guard, but thought nothing of it. Not until I heard a thud.
“Hey, are you all right out there?” I called through the door as I quietly turned the lock. I hadn't thought to lock it when I went in.
There was no answer.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
I waited. No one tried to open the door. Nothing happened. Then the lock turned in the other direction. They'd been picking it! I wouldn't have worried if not for that last attack. I was a Dragon in the middle of a Sea Dragon palace. I should have been safe. But I knew I wasn't. As soon as that door opened, I had to shout for help.
The knob turned. The door creaked open.
“Help!” I shouted.
Men in black masks and hoods rushed into the bathroom. I rushed them. Someone blew powder in my face right when I inhaled to shout again. Everything went dark.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I came to in an alley, surrounded by Kaikeyo men—rough-looking with weapons on their belts. One of them chanted as he sprinkled something over me.
“You're the sorcerer!” is what I tried to say, but there was a gag over my mouth. I tried to fight them, but my wrists were bound by rope, and the man holding my arm wore a small magic disruptor. They held me still as one of them strapped a mask over the lower half of my face. The thing was solid, bowing out over my nose and mouth.
My eyes went wide as magic tingled over me, and when I looked down, I saw a Kaikeyo body. The sorcerer nodded, and the men shoved me out of the alley. The men formed walls around me, herding me forward. Suddenly, I remembered Jucai's shell. I was wearing it this time. When I looked down, I couldn't see it, but I could feel it there.
We approached the city gate—a passable section of the dome at the end of Kansu's main road. Guards stood to either side of the gate. I shouted through the mask and struggled, trying to get the guards’ attention.
“We're taking a criminal home for justice,” one of the Kaikeyo said.
The guards nodded and let us pass. My heart sank, but I used my struggle to smash the shell on my necklace. Magic shivered into my skin and upward. The Kaikeyo men didn't notice, not even the sorcerer. They were too busy forcing me through the gate.
Then we were swimming away from Kansu. Or rather, they swam, dragging me along, while I tried to make it hard for them. My mask was a breathing unit that functioned similarly to the city dome.
I looked over my shoulder to watch the city grow smaller and smaller before becoming a bright spot in the dark. There was no sign of Jucai. Where was he? Then Kansu was gone, and the darkness consumed me.
We were traveling fast, but not as fast as Sea Dragons. I expected Jucai to catch up. He didn't. We soon slowed and descended. Without my Dragon magic, I couldn't see what we approached, but I felt the ground beneath my feet. Then I felt magic shimmer over my skin as I went from water to air. I had passed through a ward.
Suddenly, light hit my eyes, and I squinted until my sight adjusted. Behind me was a bolted door, conformed to the edges of a rock tunnel. Dry sand crunched under my boots as my abductors marched me forward, past little lanterns nestled in nooks on the walls. They took me through a maze of tunnels and out into a massive cavern.
Several passages led off from the cavern, Kaikeyos coming and going through them. Light came from lamps that hung from the high ceiling and perched atop crates. More crates formed walls, stacked several feet high to divide the cavern into sections. There were dining areas, a stash of weapons, andlounging areas. A wooden platform stood in the center of the cavern with a couple of benches and several more crates atop it.
They took me onto the platform and shoved me onto a bench. A man removed my mask and the gag, then tied my bound wrists to a crate. He removed his magic disruptor and set it atop the crate. My abductors ignored me after that, leaving the platform to join a group of Kaikeyo gathered on some seats to my left. With the magic disruptor so close, I couldn't break the ropes. I could knock it off the crate, but I wasn't sure if that would be far enough to make a difference. Even if I managed to get far enough away from the disruptor to regain my magic, I'd still have to get past a cavern of Kaikeyos, including a sorcerer.
I looked down at myself to see that the illusion had worn off, and I was back to myself. The chain still hung around my neck, but the shell was gone. I couldn't believe it hadn't worked. I'd been so certain Jucai would save me when I broke that shell. Had the water washed it away? Had my moving after breaking it confused the summoning? Was Jucai even now searching the area around the gate in Kansu?
If Jucai didn't come for me, I was fucked. From the way several Kaikeyo men were eyeing me, I worried that I'd be fucked in more than one way. But not long after they put me on that platform, someone new walked into the cavern. I wouldn't have noticed him if he hadn't started shouting. Then I looked over and saw who it was.
“Bantar?” I whispered.
“I told you he's a good man!” Bantar shouted at one of the other Kaikeyos. “He was not to be touched. It was why I stopped Luven from killing him. Then you take him? You disobeyed my order!”
