as best he could in the sand. Holding it unsheathed and ready, he took a cautious step toward the place where the bear had appeared out of thin air.
Jehenna was responsible for this. He had been trying to get to Vivian. Now he understood that there was only one way to find her.
As he approached the stone he heard a buzzing, faint at first and then louder. A softening of everything in his line of vision. His heart beat faster. A thin place; a crossing. He had no idea of what lay on the other side.
Blood calls to blood, she had said. Just call my name if you want me. “Jehenna,” he breathed like an invocation, took another step.
And stood in a dark cavern, lit by flickering torches. A massive column of red stone rose before him, thrusting up and away into the darkness. Compared to its raw power, the Finger was a child’s toy.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” a voice said behind him. “It rises through the roof and into a chamber above—through that again, until it reaches the open air. That’s where you’d find your Dreamshifter—if you could get to her.”
He swung around, ready to strike, but the sword stopped against his will, hanging in the air, immobile.
“You,” he said.
“You called me. I admire your perseverance, but you will not be able to save her.”
Vivian was still alive, then. Whatever the witch said, there must be a way. He looked around him, taking in the high stone altar, the carved pillars, registering the reek of blood.
“Don’t be too sure,” he managed.
She laughed at that, fondly, as though he were an adorable child. “You would be just in the nick of time if you were not down here in the temple. She’s right above you, you know. Your Dreamshifter. And the dragon.”
“What dragon?”
“Oh, come now. It’s an old tale, that of the maiden and the dragon. Played out through so many worlds over so many years. You might as well put that sword away. You can’t kill me, and it would be a shame for you to hurt yourself.”
Before the sword was fully sheathed he was halfway to an open door, driving his weary body to reach it before, before—
“Stop right there, hero. You’re not going anywhere.”
An invisible barrier bounced him back. Again and again he threw himself against it while Jehenna’s laughter echoed around him. His brain kicked in at last and he stood, breathing hard, within arm’s reach of an open door that posed more of a barrier than prison bars. “Why?” he said. “What do you stand to gain?”
In answer to that, she only smiled. “You might as well sit down; you’ll be here for a while.”
“Please—you can do whatever you want with me. Just let her go.”
“I can do whatever I want with you, anyway. All I need do is speak, and you will dance for me, a puppet on a string. At the moment your vicarious suffering is sufficient. Let me tell you what is happening up there. Your beloved, dressed in a gown of white, is chained to the tip-top of this Blood Stone. The dragon isn’t in a hurry—it’s too well fed. It will toy with her at first, but soon, very soon, it will devour her. There may be leavings—a hand, a foot, a fragment of clothing. I’d love to have you watch, but it’s so much safer if you stay here.”
She walked over to him and ran her hand over his mangled face. He sucked in his breath at the pain but managed to hold his head steady, not to flinch away. “Oh, the scars. Priceless. I must say I thought the bear would win when I sent it through—I underestimated your abilities. This has been an interesting visit, but I’m afraid I must leave you now.”
“Off to watch her die?”
“Oh, no. Fascinating as that would be, I have a more important thing to do.” She reached into a pocket and extended her hand toward him. On her open palm lay a black stone object, intricately carved.
“You see, I was able to find this without your help. The Old One thought he could outwit me. It took the girl and the flightless bird, both, to find the key. But it is mine now. And I have no more need of Dreamshifters or dragons, spells or potions or incantations.” She pressed her lips against the gleaming thing. “This will grant me life everlasting and unrivaled power.”
There was nothing he could do. All of