A Hero of Realms(39)

What we had to do next became clear. We couldn’t waste any more time hoping to come across a scale outside—we had to enter the caves and try to find one within. I hoped that there would be more lying around in there, and we wouldn’t actually have to come face to face with the creature. The four of us gathered together on a ledge just beneath the entrance.

“We can’t enter it now,” Arron whispered. “We should wait for when the dragon is most likely to be asleep.”

Wait. I never thought that I could despise a word so much.

“And when is the dragon likely to be asleep?” I asked tensely.

“In the early hours of the morning.” Arron looked sideways along the mountain slope. “I suggest that we set up camp nearby for the night… It’s evening now anyway. Before we know it, it’ll be time to return.”

It certainly wasn’t wise to set up too close to the entrance, so Aisha transported us about a mile away. We found another ledge of a neighboring mountain that was almost opposite to the tunnel entrance. The first thing I did was make sure Aisha concealed the enclosure with her powers so no onlooker could see us resting here.

Julie pushed back her bangs with the back of her hand, wiping beads of sweat away from her forehead. She let out a weary sigh and slumped down against the wall. Arron also took a seat, stretching out his legs. Aisha said she wanted to look around the area longer, assuring me that she’d return immediately if I touched my gold band.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t feel like sitting or standing. Heck, I didn’t feel like being.

I ended up pacing up and down the wide ledge until the sky darkened and the moon rose. Arron started a fire, after which Aisha soon returned.

She looked more irritable than ever. “I’m hungry,” she said, her voice bordering on whining.

I wasn’t sure what to suggest. With those jaws, I’d imagine that she could eat anything. “You should go eat some leaves, or bark or… rocks.”

“Jinn don’t eat those things,” she snapped, crumpling on the ground.

“I’d offer you some of my blood, but—”

She threw me a look of disgust before I could finish my sentence. “Not even your blood could tempt me, dear,” she said. “I’d rather eat rocks than drink vampire blood.”

“Then why not just magick yourself some bones? Fulfill your own wish.”

“I want my sister to cook for me,” she moaned.

What a fusspot.

I shrugged and sat down close to the edge of the platform, my feet hanging down. Julie was curled up in one corner, resting her head against a stone. Although her eyes were closed, I doubted that she was sleeping. I wondered when she’d last had blood.

If Arron was hungry, he didn’t show it. He just sat in front of the fire, staring into the flames.

I turned my back on everyone and looked out toward the mountain opposite us.

Aisha continued grumbling to herself for the next hour before she slid up against a corner and closed her eyes. That left just me and the Hawk awake. I had been avoiding looking at him, but to my dismay, he stood up and approached me. He sat down three feet away, joining me in watching the tunnel opening.

I shifted a few inches from him, feeling unsettled by his presence. He cleared his throat.

“There’s probably a fifty percent chance that you would survive the surgery if the witch agrees to do it,” he said in a low voice.

Thanks for that piece of information. As if my mind wasn’t already weighed down enough. I gritted my teeth and shot him a glare. “And your point is?”

He shrugged. “No point in particular…” His hand traveled into the folds of his robe, and when it reappeared, he was clasping a small glass bottle filled with a light blue, transparent liquid. I stared at it, wondering if it was some kind of alcoholic beverage he’d carried with him from Aviary. But he made no motion to break open the lid and take a swig. He just held it in his hand, cradling it in his palm and swishing the liquid as he stared down at it.

“Fate doesn’t have to be as straightforward as life or death,” he said slowly.

I furrowed my brows.

“Sometimes there can be… other choices,” he continued. His eyes took on a glaze, his expression calm and relaxed, as he continued rolling the liquid. “Like humans, supernaturals can sometimes contract dangerous and fatal diseases. Diseases that make life unworthy of living. That make one wish he could give up his body entirely just to no longer feel the pain… But death is a scary thing.” He glanced at me casually, though his grey eyes gleamed. “Nobody knows what truly lies beyond death. So, understandably, it’s the nature of living beings to want to cling to what they know, however miserable an existence they might be leading.”