Sinister Magic: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons #1) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,42

place could have avoided notice from the outside world.

Though the trees along the steep valley slopes were massive, with branches that stretched much more expansively than normal over the valley floor, sunlight filtered down through the leaves and needles. It was hard to imagine that this wouldn’t be visible to the various helicopters and planes that flew around the area, taking visitors over the mountains and volcanoes. I’d seen a pamphlet for a tour that flew people around to remote locations to look for sasquatch.

But as I eyed the branches, I noticed a hint of magic about them. It was hard to pick out, since the auras of magical beings and artifacts bombarded me from all sides here, but an enchantment was definitely up there, hiding the valley from outside detection.

A few beings whispered as we passed, and with my translation charm still active, I picked out Ruin Bringer, Slayer, and Deathstalker along with other less flattering names I’d heard before. Even so, I hadn’t realized I was this notorious among the magical. A few of the speakers were children, gnomes and dwarves wearing the tattered clothing of true refugees. I decided I didn’t want this fame—this infamy—and wished I could let them know they had nothing to fear from me, so long as they didn’t prey on humans.

One boy called out a semblance of Rocket’s name, the accent putting the stresses in odd places, and threw a grubby tennis ball. The dog bounded off to get it. Mom lifted a hand, as if to call him back, but she dropped her arm and let him retrieve the ball. He brought it back to her instead of the skinny gnome kid who’d thrown it, but she passed it along to the owner. Rocket wagged his tail for the first time since we’d encountered the werewolves.

“There she is.” Mom pointed to a cave set into the back of the valley and framed by a pergola made from wood and the porous lava-rock boulders.

The huge golem sat on a stone bench the size of a conference table, her dark gray skin almost matching the surrounding rock. She looked like she’d been carved from it, with waves of green hair akin to moss falling to her broad shoulders. Very old eyes like polished pieces of obsidian gazed at me as we approached.

I would not wish to fight a golem, Sindari informed me. Their skin is as hard as the rocks of their native world.

So I shouldn’t piss her off?

I recommend against it. She is a lava golem. They are slow to anger, but when they lose their temper, it is as bad as a volcano erupting. They can melt pieces of their stone flesh and throw flaming lava balls at enemies, assuming they don’t simply grab you and crush you to pieces.

Our troll guide bowed to the golem and backed away without a word, heading back to her post.

“Hello, Greemaw,” my mother said. “I apologize for intruding in your world again, but my daughter has a mystery it’s important for her to solve, and I thought you might be familiar with a sigil that’s her only clue.”

“Your daughter is the Ruin Bringer?” The golem spoke slowly and precisely, her deep rumble reminding me of a cement mixer.

“Apparently.”

“She is not welcome among our kind.”

“I’m not here to bother anyone,” I said. “And I’ll pay for the information. In money or tennis balls and pool noodles. Whatever excites people here.”

The obsidian eyes regarded me without warmth. Mom frowned at me. I felt like the delinquent teenager who had been dragged home by the police.

“I thought,” Mom said to Greemaw, “that since you told me before that you’ve been here since the last volcanic eruption, you might be familiar with all the races that have come and gone in that time period.”

“Hasn’t it been over a thousand years since the volcano erupted?” I waved in the direction of the lakes and Paulina Peak.

Mom nodded. “Golems are long-lived, she tells me.”

“It is true,” Greemaw said. “I was alone then and for many centuries afterward, except when travelers passed through. Now, the village is full of life. It is very busy to one such as myself, but I cannot turn away refugees.” Her gaze fell on me again. “There are so few safe places for them in this world.”

Because this isn’t their world, I kept myself from saying. Instead, I pulled out the vial and warily approached the golem. Even sitting, Greemaw towered over me, with shoulders four