I clung to Xander’s arm and swept my eyes over the complete darkness. “Um, was this really a-”
“Ssh!” Alice snapped.
A noise of heavy boots was heard above us as a dozen men entered the Rising Phoenix. A couple of pairs of feet clomped across the floor boards to the bar where they paused.
“Bartender.” The voice was smooth, calm, and familiar. My eyes widened and my heart skipped a beat as I recognized the silky voice of the Red Dragon we’d met on previous occasions.
There was a faint squeak as the bartender exited from his hiding place. “Y-yes, sir?”
“I was informed that those who attacked the weard were a group of five people, and one of them was a human woman,” the Red Dragon mused. I swallowed hard.
“I’m not really sure-”
“Of course you are,” the Red Dragon interrupted. “Anyone fit to be the keeper of the Rising Phoenix’s legendary stock is more than fit to know who comes and goes through its door.” His boots clomped around the bar and stopped a few feet short of the secret entrance. He lowered his voice to a soft whisper. “The Lord Red Dragon would appreciate your assistance in finding these five strangers.” I felt Xander stiffen.
There was a brief pause before the Red Dragon chuckled. “I see. You are incapable of betraying your patrons because you are incapable of speaking.” The red Dragon took one step and shifted one foot. “Remove him from my sight, and search the premises.”
Someone stepped forward. “But sir, the Rising-”
“I am well aware of the fondness held for this establishment, but those who attacked our men must be found,” he insisted.
“Very good, sir.” The bartender was led away and we heard the footsteps stomp all over the floor in their efforts to find us.
“Follow me,” I heard Alice whisper.
I felt Tillit walk past us, but Xander didn’t move. I gave a soft tug on his arm. “We have to go.”
“The Lord Red Dragon. . .” Xander whispered.
I gave him a hard shake. “We have to leave, so snap out of it!” I hissed.
I felt him shake himself. “Yes, you are correct.”
He took my hand and led me through the abyss. We pounded the hard ground as the tunnel led us in a meandering direction across the hillside.
“Where. . .exactly. . .does. . .this go?” Tillit puffed. He gagged and clapped his hand over his large nostrils. “Don’t tell me-”
“Stop yer whining or get yer sorry arse back to the pub!” Alice snapped at him.
“What. . .choices. . .” Tillit gasped.
I frowned. “Where are we-” A weak glow appeared at the end of the tunnel.
We stopped beneath the soft light which appeared from the ceiling. An old wooden ladder led up to the hole which was a round wooden hatch. Alice climbed the ladder, but she only made it a few rungs before one arm was dragged down by the weight of a certain sea captain.
She glared down at him and tugged on the chain. “The weard haven’t run this island for fifty years because they’re a little smarter than the stupid populace. They’re a lot smarter, and they’re going to find that hatch sooner rather than later, so-” she took a step onto the next rung and yanked on their joined chain, “-get those old joints moving.”
“Damn wench. . .” Magnus grumbled as he climbed the ladder close behind her. He looked up and his frown turned to a lecherous grin as he admired her assets. “Ya haven’t changed much.”
Alice’s eyebrows crashed down and she kicked him in the face. “Enough of that, ya worthless old hull scum!”
He shook off the hit and chuckled. “As fiery as ever.”
Alice growled and returned her attention to the ladder which she climbed. Tillit followed the pair. I turned to Xander. He looked back in the direction we’d come. His face was furrowed and his lips were pursed.
I set a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”
He didn’t look at me as he replied. “There cannot be another Lord Red Dragon. I killed him myself.”
“Maybe they elected a new one like they need to do at the Heavy Mountains,” I suggested.
Xander shook his head. “The Red Dragons were loyal to their lord, and no one else.
“Maybe he had a kid?” I persisted.
“His Maiden was barren.”
I started back. “She. . .you mean she couldn’t give him an heir?”
He studied the darkness a while longer before he turned his focus on the ladder. “That is for another moment. Now let us climb.”
I frowned, but climbed the ladder with Xander behind me. Our companions had removed the cover and Tillit peered down the hole at us. He helped me over the lip and onto a wood floor. I took a deep breath from the exertion and immediately regretted it.
The air stank like a humid outhouse. Steam floated above our heads like an eternal fog. Large shallow pools of wood strips strapped together with metal rings stood in neat little rows and columns. Women marched in place to a silent music as they chatted away to one another, their bodies knee-deep in soapy water filled with clothing.
I clapped a hand over my nose as I climbed to my feet. “Where are we?”
“The local laundry and dying factory,” Tillit told me. “That pleasant smell is the urine used to clean the cloth.”
“This way,” Alice barked.
She guided us through the thick steam and to the rear of the factory. A back door led out onto an empty narrow street. Xander shut the door behind us and we pressed against the stone wall of the large building.
“What now?” I asked my smelly companions.
Alice raised her imprisoned arm. “We have to get to my ship so I can fix this.”
“We’ll get back to me own ship to do that job,” Magnus insisted.
She glared at him. “Has your bad eye gone blind? These are magic handcuffs created by the naga. They can’t be broken except with a naga tail.”
“You have a naga with you?” I asked her.
She wrinkled her nose. “Of course not. I just have the tail, and we’re going for that now.”
“I’d hate to get into the middle of this cheery argument, but there was a point to us coming ashore,” Tillit reminded our group.
I winced. “The guide Nimeni set us up with.”
Xander swept his eyes around the area. “If the guide ever reached the tavern they are sure to have been frightened off by the weard.”
Alice arched an eyebrow. “Where exactly was this guide supposed to take you?”
Magnus yanked on the chain. “That’s none of yer business, woman.”
She yanked back on the chain. “It is if we’re stuck together.”
“That’s yer fault for clapping these damned things on us.”
“If you hadn’t left me at the altar I wouldn’t need to keep you by my side!”
“Yer the one who left me!” Magnus snapped.
Alice narrowed her eyes. “Ya lying little soil lover. When I get free I’m going to claw yer eye out and use yer fake one as a marble.”
“That is enough,” Xander spoke up as he set a hand on Magnus’s shoulder. “We do not have the luxury of argument if we hope to make it back to any of our ships.”
Tillit glanced up and frowned. “I think we should be trying to find that Dragon Cave.”
“Why?” I asked as I followed his gaze.
My blood froze as I glimpsed large shadows pass over our heads. They were a dozen dragon men clothed in the red sashes and bearing the tell-tale black finger. They swooped over us and in the direction of the harbor.
Xander rushed around the corner of building and the rest of us followed him. He led us to the front where the hillside allowed us a clear view of the harbor. The dozen dragons were joined by four dozen more of their comrades. The flock swooped over the roofs and across the beach to the bay waters toward the ships.
Magnus’s eyes widened. “My ship!”
Cannon shots were fired from the Blå Engel as the dragons flew around its repaired masts. The dragons easily evaded the thick black balls, but not the earth-rattling explosions that followed. The bursting of the balls sent shock waves through the air and shook the buildings and trees.
The balls exploded into thousands of tiny metal bits that clung to the dragons like spitballs. The dragons grabbed the bits and tried to pull them off, but at a yank small spikes sprang from the metal and stuck into their fingers and hands. Some of the spikes shot out and slammed into the unexploded parts, setting them off in a terrible chain reaction of pain. The dragon men dropped from the sky like heavy rocks and splashed around the Blå Engel. The ship opened her sails and sailed out of the bay.
I looked to Magnus and jerked a thumb at the battle. “What the hell were those?”
The captain grinned. “Trap balls filled with spikes and Dragon’s Bane. Nimeni loads them himself.”
“Now it seems we must find our guide,” Xander mused.
Alice arched an eyebrow. “Where was this guide going to take ya?”
Magnus frowned and yanked on the chain. “If we’re stuck together than ya may as well know. We need to be heading for the Cave of the Dragon.”
Her eyes widened. “Dragoi Haitzuloa?”
“You know if it?” Xander asked her.
She snorted. “Aye. The vampires who raised me told me tales of it when I was a lass.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You were raised by vampires?”
She glared at me. “Aye. What do ya think raised me?”
I shrugged. “Harpies?”
Xander stepped between us as Alice glared daggers at me. He turned to the said harpy. “Was your arrival at the Rising Phoenix because you were hired to lead a group to the Cave?”
Alice nodded. “Aye, and-” her narrowed eyes flickered to Magnus, “-now I see I didn’t ask enough for the job.”
Magnus glared straight ahead of him and balled his free hand into a fist. “Damn that Nimeni. I’ll have his hide for this. . .”
“Can you lead us to the cave?” Xander requested.
Captain Bláur folded her arms across her chest and pulled Magnus against her side. She snarled at him and shoved him away. “Aye, but the price just went up.”
Xander nodded. “Whatever it takes.”