House Of Gods 9 - Samantha Snow Page 0,66

be rulers over all nine of the worlds, that they could handle a place such as this. In fact, she thought it wise to dive right in and get the more difficult worlds underway first.

Upon entering the building, they saw only a few men there to greet them. The men had leathery appearances, no doubt weathered by the harsh climate, and even more leathery expressions that held scowls and looks similar to that of disgruntled employees. They were shorter than both Tannin and Tara but stout and appeared to be muscular even under their layers of warm clothing. One of the men walked right up and grabbed Tara by her wrist to examine her glove for some curious reason, and within a flash, Tannin had his dagger drawn and pressed tightly to the man’s arm.

“Let go of her, and I will consider letting you keep your appendage after you explain to me what you think gives you the right to lay a hand on your queen,” he said.

“Queen?” the man snorted. He pulled his arm away quickly, enduring the cut that Tannin’s blade made through his jacket and into his skin. The color of his tan coat began to pinken with the flowing blood. “There is no queen here.”

“There is now,” Tannin growled angrily.

“Remain calm,” she said to him as she put her hand on Tannin’s wrist to lower his blade. “Aggression will not do our rule any favors.”

The man laughed. “Looks like she is your queen.”

Before Tannin could demand respect or skewer him with his knife, the man turned and walked away, making sure to be as abrupt and rude about it as possible.

“Well, that was off to a smashing start,” Tannin said as he replaced his dagger into its sheath and held onto Tara’s hand.

“Don’t take it personally,” a deep and bellowing voice called.

“Where is that voice coming from?” Tara asked as she looked around the room.

“What voice? I don’t hear anything.”

“He can’t hear me,” the voice said again. “Only you can. Haven’t you figured out that is part of your gift? It’s why you could hear him before he was born.”

“Where are you?” Tara said.

“Who are you talking to?” Tannin asked her with a look of confusion on his face.

“Beneath you,” the voice answered.

“There’s someone down there,” she said to Tannin. “Under the floor.” She bent down to place her ear against the cold stone and could hear the sound of a massively breathing beast.

Tannin looked around the room to see if there was any access point to a dungeon or level below. He found an opening in the corner of the room that had a spiraling staircase cut out of its crevice, which led downward.

“Here,” he said as he waved Tara toward him.

They carefully descended the stairs, and when they reached the bottom, they were both shocked to see a giant, copper-colored dragon laying on the ground before them. If not for the fact that it was chained to the cold ground with a giant metal shackle around its neck, Tara might have been fearful, and Tannin would have drawn his blade again. But the beast was very obviously constricted and unable to get close enough toward them to inflict any harm. Unless, that is, it could breathe fire. In which case, they had no hope of racing back up the twisting staircase fast enough to escape being burned alive. Tara walked toward the dragon with her hand extended.

“What are you doing?” Tannin shouted as he grabbed the back of her hood and pulled her away from the dragon.

“He’s not going to hurt me,” she said.

“Confident one, aren’t you?” the dragon said.

“Can you still not hear him? she asked Tannin.

Tannin shook his head. “I don’t hear anything except for its loud breathing.”

“I can’t help that,” the dragon sounded insulted. “The cold air makes it difficult for me to breathe properly down here. Especially since I can’t lift my neck enough to even clear my throat.”

“Why are you chained?” she asked.

Tannin looked on as she spoke aloud to the dragon. He may not have been able to hear the dragon’s reply, but he knew firsthand that Tara could communicate with things that others could not, and he trusted her to do so and relay anything of importance to him.

“I am chained because the beings on your worlds are inhumane and dogmatic monsters.”

“This is not my world,” Tara replied. “I am sorry for your suffering, and we will try to help. But this is the first time we