leaned back. "Tzariene is in the dungeon?"
Cordelia nodded. "But I go and see her. I make her happy."
"You go and see her?" Bastien said. "You have a way into the dungeon, no?"
"No?" Cordelia nodded her head. "I mean yes, I do."
"How?" I asked.
"It's a secret passage way. But it is dangerous. Very dangerous."
Great. Danger in Faerie could mean all kinds of icky things. "What's the danger?"
"The Winter Queen laced the passageways with iron. Tiny, nasty pieces of iron."
"And iron doesn't bother Boggarts."
She did a little dance. I was starting to like Boggarts.
Starting to. We didn't have ignition yet.
"Can you take us through the tunnels?" I smiled at her. "Please?"
And she leaned in close with her overly large eyes. "You are here to slay the Dragon."
"I'm not—"
"Oui," Bastien said, interjecting into my answer. "That is right."
"We? You are both here to slay the Dragon?"
I smirked at Bastien as I said, "Yes, we're both here for that."
"Good! Yes! Queen say to bring you if you come!"
"Queen? You mean Tzariene, right?"
"Yes, yes. She said to guard the Urisk Cairn. Said you would come through here."
Now, how in the hell did Tzariene know we'd be coming in through this particular Cairn? But what did it matter if it could get us in the palace—wait. "Cordelia, are the dungeons in the palace?"
"Yes."
"And the Dragon is in the palace?"
"Yes."
"Is the Dragon in the dungeon?"
"No."
Yeah, thought that would be too easy. I rubbed at my face. "Where is the Dragon?"
"He is in the great room."
The great room. "Throne room?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"Until they move him."
"Move him? To where?"
"To the Silver Palace."
"When is that?" I was getting really frustrated as that ball of anxiety that had Crwys and Ivan's names on it churned.
"Cordelia doesn't know. They're making ready for the wedding first."
"Wedding?" I glanced at Bastien. "Who is getting married?"
"The Queen is to be married to the Dragon!"
WHAT?!
"So you're going to slay the Dragon?"
I glared at Cordy. Here I was risking my life to come and save that prick's ass, and he was getting married? To his captor? "Hell yeah I'm gonna slay him."
TWENTY ONE
The secret passage started out as a ridiculously small hole on the side of the grotto. Now the grotto itself, looking at it from the outside, resembled what I'd consider a Faerie hill would look like. It was a mound of dirt and rock, and the outside of it was trimmed in all kinds of growth. I was pretty sure if we looked at it from the air or a distance, we'd see an oasis in the middle of a desert.
We were gonna have to go in on our stomachs and elbows. Cordelia was first in, easily sliding along the damp, circular walls. I wanted to go in last but Bastien insisted he bring up the rear in case we were attacked. I figured he wanted the back so he could look at my butt.
But I had to give him credit. He never said a word.
The trek through the tunnel proved to be uneventful. At first I didn't worry about the darkness since I could still see Cordelia ahead of me. But the further in we went, the darker it became.
"Wait a sec," I said, stopping and planning to summon my Salamander for light.
Only…the tunnel became lighter. I looked behind me and could make out the contours of Bastien's face and then I looked at Cordelia. She had turned around and faced me. "Where is the light coming from?"
"The Earth," Cordelia said as she put her tiny elephant-like hands on the sides of the walls. "Your voice. It's reacting to your power."
"My power?"
"Elemental," she nodded, and then turned and started moving further down the tunnel.
"Don't worry about it, chérie," Bastien said and his voice sounded a bit strained. "Let's move quickly, s'il te plait."
I seconded Bastien's plea to be free of the claustrophobic tunnels. I could only imagine how uncomfortable it was for him…but didn't wolves make dens underground?
Sweat trickled down my forehead and into my eyes. I paused a few times to wipe it away with the back of my hand. The air was getting thicker and I was getting really, really tired as an ache and a cramp started between my shoulder blades and worked their way down to the small of my back.
Abruptly, the tunnel grew a little wider so we didn't have to scrunch up so much. I could actually go forward on my hands and knees, which added to a whole new level of pain.
I sensed, rather than heard, a distant rumble.