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Lugh shifted the stake in his right hand to his left and then clasped my hand and let me haul him up. “If an exploding chest is the worst thing we encounter, I’ll consider this a win.”
“Given a green mist now surrounds the island, I’m thinking it won’t be.”
“No, but it doesn’t hurt to put some positivity out there.”
It hadn’t actually helped so far, but maybe he’d have more luck with that sort of thing than me. I turned and studied the chest. There was no wood left, but the straps remained and looked like shiny metal bones. Inside their ribs lay a glittering pile of jewels, ornate mazers, and even a few knives and hair combs. This was definitely a hoard of some kind, but the question was, whose? And had the owner realized what he actually possessed when he’d hidden the chest here?
Or was it simply a blind? A glittery means of ensuring the Ring of Ruin didn’t stand out in any way?
My gaze rose to the emerald that sat on top of the hoard—an emerald as big as my fist and which glowed the same luminescent green as the light that now ringed the island and the skeletal hand I’d seen in my vision.
I pointed a knife at it. No reaction. I couldn’t help but hope whatever spell lay on the chest was the only magic we had to worry about, but when the hell had anything in this hunt been that easy?
“I’m thinking it’ll be in our best interestsnotto disturb that gemstone,” Lugh said, “though that’s not going to be easy if the ring lays directly under it.”
“Which it likely will, given that’s how these things generally go.” I paused. “Maybe the Eye will be able to give us some direction.”
He nodded and motioned me to proceed.
I tugged the Eye from under my clothes and warily approached the skeletal chest. Light flickered through the emerald’s rich heart, but nothing else happened.
I pressed the Eye hard into my palm and concentrated on the need to see the ring. For several seconds nothing happened, then my vision lurched forward with sickening speed and suddenly I was “in” the middle of the glittering pile of precious items, surrounded by an eerie green glow, staring at a golden ring that resembled a snake consuming its own tail.
I released the Eye and sat back on my heels, drawing in deeper breaths to calm the cloying sense of approaching danger.
“Anything?” Lugh asked.
I nodded. “There’s an ouroboros ring, made of gold with emerald eyes, sitting right under the bigger jewel.”
“Damn.”
“I think a stronger word would be more appropriate at this point.”
Lugh laughed. “Did you get any sense of a spell?”
“No, but let’s see what happens when I touch a knife tip to the emerald.”
I did. Nothing happened, though the increased intensity of the crazy inner light suggested there was definitely something going on.
“So, no magic,” Lugh said.
“None that the knives recognize, anyway.” I frowned. “What do you actually know about lich?”
“Not a lot.” He shifted and studied the emerald from a different angle. “Going on past experience with various other occult nasties, I’d say it’s likely that nothing major will happen until we touch whatever it’s meant to protect.”
“Is that the entire hoard or just the Ring of Ruin though?”
“Question of the day, I’m afraid.”
“Shall I do the honors?”
“Please, be my guest.”
I smiled and swept my gaze over the hoard, looking for something easy to spear in an effort to avoid disturbing the emerald. I saw a ruby-crusted silver ring sitting off to the side of the emerald and carefully pressed the knife’s tip through its center and lifted it up.
The emerald cracked, and air hissed out. Green air that coalesced into long, bony fingers.
“Which leaves us with only one choice,” Lugh said.
