The Hidden Crystal

Chapter 8

It was a nice change to wake up warm and comfortable. Iris shifted, pulling the blanket tighter around her as consciousness slowly came back to her. This wasn't her bed. It was too soft for that, and Kayla wasn't cuddled up to her. The blanket was too thick, too.

"Morning," Char's voice said, somewhere across the room.

Suddenly, Iris' heart was racing all over again. She lay perfectly still, hoping he wasn't talking to her.

He yawned, and then he said, "She's still asleep?"

"Yeah," Rath said, his voice much closer to her. "What a lightweight. One glass of wine was enough to put her out cold."

"She's been running since Sunday," Char replied, his voice stretching and changing as if he were physically stretching. "Probably hasn't gotten much sleep since then," he added, sighing contentedly as the stretch ended. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Anybody but you to make it," Rath said sourly.

Char snorted. "As if you're any better at cooking. Come on. She's not going anywhere."

A chair groaned as Rath stood up. His footsteps crossed the room, away from Iris, and then she couldn't hear them anymore. He and Char were still talking, but they were in another room, their voices muted.

They didn't sound so frightening this morning. They sounded like brothers, actually, and they looked like them, too. Iris sat up carefully, tucking her hair back behind her ear as she scanned the room. Without furniture, it was just a cave. But it did have furniture. Aside from the sofa underneath her, there was a coffee table before her, two lounge chairs across from her, and a bookcase up against a wall. Rath must have been sitting in one of those chairs, watching her. A chill ran down her spine at the thought. She was a prisoner. Someone was probably sitting there all night watching her, and they were probably discussing her right now. She needed to get out of here. She forced her eyes from the chair across from her and continued her visual search of the room. Three doorways broke the smooth stone walls, two open, one sealed with a large stone. That one was probably the exit, she thought, disappointment settling in her gut. She didn't allow herself to focus on it, though, continuing her perusal of the room. There was no visible light source, and yet everything was well lit. She twisted around to look behind the sofa and saw another open doorway. The voices were coming from that room. She slipped off the sofa and crept quietly to the wall next to the doorway, hugging the stone until she was close enough to hear.

"You dragged me into it, and I'd like to know what's going on before we report back and both get in trouble," Rath was saying angrily. "This was supposed to be a simple mission. Check out their numbers and their defenses, get back to us with the information, and move in for a surprise strike. So what went wrong? And no dancing around the truth. I want a straight answer."

Char sighed, irritated. "The mage wasn't supposed to be there." Something was sizzling in a pan, filling the air with a savory aroma that made Iris' stomach growl. "That changed everything."

"It didn't have to. You could have reported back, and we could have hit that night or the next morning, before he had a chance to get organized."

"The goal was to hit fast and hard, weakening the army while minimizing civilian casualties. He was staying in an inn in the middle of town. How do you think the humans would have liked us razing a town with our first move? The rumors are already painting us as bloodthirsty monsters."

"Fair point," Rath grumbled. "Okay, what about slitting his throat? That should've been easy enough."

Iris' stomach twisted.

"As if it were that easy," Char said derisively. "He had a barrier up at his door. I took a huge risk just staying in the inn."

Rath sighed. "You took too many risks. Period."