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“Do you honestly think that’ll be an option?”
“No. But—”
“These people have shown a propensity to kidnap and kill, Beth. If we do nothing, theywillreact. Badly.”
He was right, of course, and not just because of the Looisearch. Beira had also warned that this task was mine and that no matter how I might wish otherwise, there would be no escaping it.
I scrubbed a hand across my eyes, smearing grit in the process. “What I don’t understand is how they even knew we were here. Even if we were followed, they wouldn’t have been able to get the mage herethatquickly. Not by a car, at least, and if he’d ridden in on the wind, Iwouldhave sensed his approach.”
My talents might be raw and untrained, but surely evenIwouldn’t have missed such a deliberate and direct movement of clouds and air.
“Given how quickly the mage attacked once you’d called the sword down,” Lugh said, “there’s only one real possibility—they knew our destination beforehand.”
“But no one outside Rogan knew we were coming here.”
“Eljin knew because he was there when I was talking to Rogan about it, but it’s doubtful he was in any way involved. Aside from the fact he’s only just arrived in the country and hasn’t the contacts, I’m still getting him up to speed with everything Nialle was involved in. I haven’t yet mentioned the Claws.”
“Rogan wouldn’t have said anything to anyone, though—not with how desperate he is to get his hands on the Claws for the museum.”
“Unless, of course, hedoessuspect we plan to destroy them rather than hand them over.”
“Why would he suspect that? You haven’t said anything, have you?”
“No, but he did come into the office when I was searching for ‘the Forge of the Gods.’ It wouldn’t have been hard to jump to the right conclusion.” Lugh grimaced. “Personally, I’d rather believe his office is bugged than think he’d go to this extreme to get the sword before we could destroy it.”
“I guess it would depend on what he valued more—you, or having the Claws for the museum.” I paused. “Do you actually think the council would allow them to be displayed, given how dangerous they are as a package?”
“Who knows with our fucking council.” Lugh pushed to his feet and offered me a hand. “Shall we continue to search this black and undoubtedly dangerous slice through the earth?”
“Sure, but I give you fair warning—if bats divebomb me, I will scream.” I let him haul me upright. “What about Cynwrig and Mathi?”
“If they’re not too badly injured, they’ll probably make their way home—”
“No, they won’t. They’ll be coming here to check what the hell happened to us.”
Lugh hesitated and then nodded. “It’ll still take them time to get here. Time we could be using to check whether this is the tunnel we’re looking for or not.”
And time was something that was rapidly running out for us all. He didn’t say that, but it nevertheless seemed to hang in the air.
He pulled on his headlamp, then ordered me to put on a harness. Once we were roped together, we started down the narrow tunnel, the lamps highlighting the jagged edges of limestone and glimmering off the larger calcite crystals.
It was tough going, as the passage was narrow and the footing an inconsistent mix of rubble and smooth, slick stone, meaning we had to watch every step. I scraped my shoulders more than once. Lugh, who was far bigger than me, had just about shredded his jacket by the time the tunnel finally gained some width.
Lugh stopped and pulled a flashlight from his pack. The beam was far brighter than the headlamps, and it illuminated the narrow but high cavern we’d entered. Water trickled through the center of the floor below and dripped from the stalactites above.
I couldn’t see an exit point, but Lugh headed left, walking along the narrow ledge that circled the cave’s basin until we reached a particularly large stalagmite. The passage continued behind it.
“How the hell did you spot that?”
My voice echoed loudly and, from the darkness above, leathery wings rustled. I shuddered and quickly followed Lugh in.
“I have a gift for finding exits in tight situations. It’s come in handy a few times, let me tell you.”
“One of these days, you really are going to have to stop going into godforsaken places to find relics. Rogan isn’t paying you enough to risk your life like that.”
“It’s never been about the pay, Beth.”
“Mom basically said the same thing once when I asked her why she went after relics without a guaranteed paycheck. She said that there are more important things in this world than money.”
