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I stuck the mortar under a sink faucet. But how much water to add? Even if I’d had my phone, it wasn’t like an internet search would have given me thisrecipe.
It was going to be a miracle if I survived the next ten minutes. With no other choice, I guessed amounts and dumped water, venom, and more Epsom salt into the mortar. As carefully as I could with trembling hands, I ground everything together. My eyes stung from the vapors. That venom was more potent thanonions.
After everything dissolved, I dumped the concoction into the atomizer bottle, shook it up, and stared at it. It looked like a way to spray perfume, not inhale something. How was I supposed to dothis?
Silence fell in the tunnel outside, no hint of the chanting or even anyone talking. That was more ominous than the shouts had been. It might mean the dark elves had dealt with the intruder and would return to deal with me next. The silence made the sound of my own wheezing distressinglynoticeable.
I closed my eyes, squirted some of the concoction into the air, and leaned in to inhale. Faint moisture touched my skin, and an even fainter vile taste hit my mouth, but I doubted I’d gotten anything down into mylungs.
An ominous growl sounded in the tunnel. That didn’t sound like one of the darkelves.
My tongue tingled. I sprayed the air again, decided that wasn’t working, and grabbed a cloth. I doused it with the liquid, pressed it against my mouth, and inhaled through the moist fabric. Some of the concoction seemed to swirl down my air pipe, but it could have been my imagination. My throat tingled. I hoped I wasn’t about to die from inhalingthis.
Despite the terrifying thought, I kept the cloth to my mouth and inhaled several more times as the growling sound drew nearer. A familiar aura lit up my senses. I would have groaned if I hadn’t been busybreathing.
The owner of the aura strode past the open door in his black robe and slippers with a glowing yellow sword in his hand. He glanced my way and twitched an eyebrow when he saw me but continued past without aword.
That explained the commotion. He must have come for his eggplatter.
Shouts arose again, this time from the chamber below the balcony. I realized that I was breathing more easily. My heart was pounding as if I’d injected myself with straight adrenaline, but that was fine. I would need adrenaline to get out ofhere.
I stuck the cloth in my pocket in case I needed it again, then looked around for something I could use as a weapon. Those awful bath beads. They probably madeanyone’slungs close up, asthma regardless. I snatched up the container, ran to the doorway, and peekedout.
To the left, dark elves lay unconscious or dead on the floor. To the right, Zav stood at the railing of that balcony with the sword raised. Crossbow bolts and fireballs slammed into an invisible barrier that he had created around himself. The items incinerated when they hit it. It made for a startling fireworksshow.
My belongings had been dumped in a pile by the door. Relieved, I dove for them and belted on the sword scabbard and gun holster, then dug out my phone, the sample case, and my inhaler, and stuffed them in a pocket. My grenades were there too. Good. I snatched them up, tucking them under my arm with the toxic bath beads. Now, where was the dark elf who’d put on my charm necklace? If I could find that, I could get out of thishell.
A scared cry came from the front of the chamber, and with a guilty lurch, I remembered the girl. I couldn’t leave herhere.
I crept toward the balcony, staying low in case Zav let his barrier down and that barrage of attacks got through. At first, I thought he was indifferent to the assault as he gazed down at the chamber floor—there were still a hundred or more dark elves down there, half of them throwing some attack or another at him—but his face was tight with concentration. Dimitri’s hypothesis that he wasn’t as powerful in human form came tomind.
Crouching, I peered through the railing. The girl was still wrapped in that blanket—it looked more like some massive spider’s webbing—and lay on the dais next to an angry female dark elf with a bone knife in her hand. If she hadn’t been glaring at Zav, she might have already plunged it into the girl’s chest. The blood in the vat bubbled, filling the air with a disgusting salty metallicscent.
“If you want to go ahead and mow them all down with your power,” I told Zav, “I’ll scramble down there, get the girl, my necklace, and even your platter if I havetime.”
“Mywhat?” He didn’t look atme.
I was surprised he’d responded at all. “Whatever you called it. Yourartifact.”
“I must have it, but I must also capture the two criminals to return to thecourt.”
“I can’t help you there. These guys all look the same to me. Are you going to attackthem?”
“When they have worn themselves out, I will turn my power to knocking them out of my path.” He sounded as arrogant as always, but his voice was definitely strained. There was a frantic edge to his eyes as his gaze swept back and forth in a searchingway.
On the dais, the female hefted the girl up and pressed her bone dagger to her throat. “Leave our home, dragon,” she called, “or I will slay this child before the ritual time is uponus.”
I was surprised I understood her—maybe my translation charm was somewherenearby.
“I care nothing for that vermin girl or your infantile ritual,” Zav called down, his voice ringing with power. “Bring Yemeli-lor and Baklinor-ten, or I will drop the ceiling on your heads and bring the human automobile-way through your ritualchamber.”
Fearing for the girl, I was tempted to spring over the railing and run through the dark elves, but they were all armed and powerful. There was no chance I’d make it even halfway to thedais.
But there was a door in the wall beside the looming statue of bones and skulls. There had to be a back way to it. I remembered the stairs that had led downward at the same intersection the ramp had ledupward.
“Here.” I set the container of bath beads down beside Zav’s foot. “Throw some of those down when you get a chance.” I backed away slowly, not wanting the dark elves to notice. “And try to keep them distracted. Keep saying arrogantthings.”
Zav looked over his shoulder, pinning me with his glare. “I do not take orders from law-breaking mongrels who do not acknowledge the supremacy ofdragons.”
