Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons #2) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,76

that blade specifically, but most dwarven weapons are enchanted with that command. You may be aware that dwarves usually dwell in tunnels. They can see in much dimmer illumination than humans, but, as with felines, their eyes do need a small amount of light to function. Even their simplest tools are enchanted with the power to create illumination. If there is time later, we can try other commands, but you should thoroughly research your sword.”

“Oh, sure. I’ll hit up the Seattle Public Library when we get back. The magical swords section.”

“Good.” Zav headed into the cave.

Thinking again of traps, I lingered in the entrance to the larger chamber and peered around using Chopper’s pale blue light. I supposed it was wrong of me to wish that Zav would fall into some kind of nefariously clever pit trap with magical bindings and dragon-eating lions, and that I could heroically rescue him and prove I wasn’t an imbecile.

Fortunately—or unfortunately—the ground didn’t open up, nor did any obvious trap spring. Zav stopped in the back to stare at mounds of dried fir and cedar needles that might have been a very large bed. Not a very comfortable one. The mounds were low and didn’t do much more than even out the lumpy floor.

“He slept here,” Zav said. “At least one night.”

“No sign of kidnap victims, eh?” I peered at the walls, remembering the niche under the floor of the windmill where Dob’s young prisoners had been stashed.

“No.” He lifted his nose in the air again.

I wondered if he still had superior olfactory senses when he was in human form. Most shifters took on the characteristics and gained the attributes of whatever creature they turned into, and then largely lost them in their human form. But I didn’t think dragons were the same as werewolves and werecats and the like. Dragons were their native forms, not the other way around.

“Can you smell if any other humans were here?” I asked.

“Only you.”

“Do you know how long ago Dob was here?”

Zav turned and gazed at me.

“Sorry. I’m annoying you. I’ll stop asking questions. Carry on.” Since no traps had enveloped him, I wandered in and poked around.

There wasn’t much to poke at. Other than the mounds of needles that could have been brought in by animals, there was no hint that this was the home of an intelligent being. Even if it was temporary, I had expected more from a dragon. Something to suggest the cave was lived in by someone more sophisticated than a bear or badger.

“Like what?” I mumbled to myself. “A wall unit and a throw rug?”

Zav, who had been considering the needle bed with his chin in his hand, looked at me again.

I started to apologize once more for interrupting his contemplation, but then I remembered: “It was your idea for me to come with you for this.”

“I didn’t realize you would be so verbose.”

“You didn’t? The first time we met, I burbled nonstop in the hope of chancing across an argument that would keep you from killing me.”

“You did burble,” he agreed, then pointed toward the exit. “Wait outside. I’m going to set a trap in case he comes back.”

Normally, I would point out that he should have added a please, but if he was going to make something that would spew fire from the walls at anyone inside the cave, I didn’t want to hang around for an etiquette discussion.

Outside, with the river rushing by below, I stood in the rain and worried that this whole trip would be a waste of time. Was there any point in checking more caves? Would Dob be stashing people in one, wrapping them up with some magical binding, and then sleeping in another? So they wouldn’t get their human cooties on him while he dozed?

As I gazed at the water, I realized there was no guarantee he’d kept those joggers alive. I’d been assuming it was a possibility since he’d kidnapped the kids, but then he’d slaughtered those horses and riders on the trail. Was all of this to keep Zav distracted from the criminal-capturing mission he’d been on? Or distracted from things happening back in his world? What had he learned when he’d gone back home for a visit, and who had called him back?

I grew aware of more auras than Zav’s and dropped my hand to Fezzik’s grip. There were several magical beings in the trees higher up the slope behind me. Knowing that made my shoulder blades itch, so I