The Dragon's Rogue

Chapter 27

I tried to send her a wave of security, of hope. To let her know I was coming for her.

I tucked the oil away as carefully as I dared, pulling out my flint as I did. In one single, decisive stroke my pillar burned with the intense heat of a spilled lantern.

Great Six let Cillumn get that signal. I could not wait to see if he did. I ran, my bare feet pelting across the stone, making far more noise than I cared for, reaching the previous pillar. One strike of the flint lit that one as well.

A mangled hand wrapped around my upper arm. In the rush of the moment it seemed almost like a nightmare. The remains of a man's face hovered next to me, wide mouth half transformed to lip-less wolf snout. His teeth were still intact though, and they gleamed in the light of the fire I just lit.

My mind stuttered for an instant and then I did the only thing that I could. Bracing myself below the band of blazing lantern fluid, I pulled. His jaws snapped at the empty space where my arm had been. He still held firm of course, which was why I yanked toward the fire. The man-creature would have two choices; let go or burn.

Sadly, as intelligent as I had come to realize they were as a group, on his own they didn't appear too smart. He didn't let go, not at first. Not until the flames licked at his skin and a sickening smell of burning flesh filled the air. I pulled just as the awareness of his situation registered on his face.

At last he released, clawing instead at the flames that had taken hold in the remnants of his hair. I did not waste time, I turned and fled toward my pattern of fires to light.

An enraged bellow stirred the complacency of the possessed shifters. Alerted to our presence, or, at least to some presence they swarmed into a mass of confusing bodies behind me. I was out of the ranks, but some of the creatures were sniffing and oozing my direction.

I hoped the disruption meant that Cillumn had somehow gotten Adda. I was getting close to the latticework now, the last of the structures I needed to weaken. Smoke tainted the air, it would never fill the cavern, the space was too massive, but I hoped that it might overwhelm or confuse the noses of the shifters.

When the latticework finally loomed before me I dared another look back. The previously organized gathering was a twisting river of shifters, they moved and flowed about each other in frenzied agitation. Only one figure, a massive gray dragon at the head of the pack where the Master had stood, remained in place.

Fear, bright as the flames I lit coursed into me. Instinct urged me to stop, to find a place now where I might hide. It was nearly impossible to think through the panic.

Gotta light those fires.

I pushed myself forward, turning my gaze and my focus from the beast.

Three more.

Illaise appeared at my side with a scowl deep enough to cause any pup to wet itself. She was nearly as intimidating as the dragon, but I paused at the next pillar anyway. This one took three strikes on the flint from my shaking fingers.

Illaise reached out to me, intending, perhaps to pull me toward the exit. I deftly avoided her grasp striking the flint again. If I didn't finish we would be trailed by the entirety of the shifters in the cavern, and we would have accomplished nothing. I wanted to strike a blow to the Quatori, to end the gathering of shifters, and make sure that none of this happened to anyone else.

I finally managed a spark and lit the post. It blazed immediately, the ring of lantern fluid guiding the flames and creating an intense heat. I knew from experience that the flames combined with that fluid would eat away quickly at wood. I had lost more than one worktable due to unfortunate spills of the stuff. Even now, a few moments later I could see that the wood indented where the fire had started.