Snake Heart (Chains of Honor #2) -Lindsay Buroker Page 0,15

subtle, not wanting anyone anchored out at sea to glimpse it. “Want to go ahead and try to find the waterfall first?”

Maybe Lakeo could do exactly what Yanko had imagined Dak doing—go in first, locate the lodestone, and hide it.

“I’ll try,” she whispered. “Delay him if you want me to have time to search.”

“Will do.”

Lakeo pointed at his shoulder. “Your sleeping parrot have any better directions to give than head west?”

“He’s not sleeping. He’s being quiet because it’s dark.” Yanko wondered if Kei had seen a waterfall while he had been off gorging himself on that nut tree.

“How do you know he’s not sleeping?” Lakeo asked.

“Seeds!” Apparently, Kei had noticed they were both looking at him.

“Just a hunch,” Yanko said. He tried to share the tortoise’s memory of the waterfall with the parrot while asking if Kei had seen such a place.

The bird stood higher on his shoulder, flexing one set of talons and then the other. He squawked, a pleased sound this time, rather than a complaining one. An image filled Yanko’s head, one where a pool and a waterfall were in the background, and the focus lay on a giant berry bush at the water’s edge.

“How did you get there, Kei?” Yanko whispered, trying to get an aerial view rather than the close-up of the parrot pantry. After a couple of minutes of cajoling the bird into thinking of more than food, he was able to see how Kei had arrived at the spot.

The crashes and snaps from the ravine below were growing distant. Yanko would have to scramble down quickly to catch Dak.

“Head that way,” Yanko said, pointing north, along the edge of the ravine. “You’ll have to go to the beach before you can cross, I think. And be careful, because the ravine stays deep until the end. Once you reach the beach, follow it west until you see an outcropping of lava rocks. There’s a river at the bottom that empties into a bay. Follow that river upstream. You might make it to the pool before we do.”

“Why don’t you try to make sure that happens?” Lakeo whispered, tilting her head toward the ravine.

“I’ll see what I can do. But be careful if you go behind the waterfall—I expect that an old pirate would booby trap his treasure cave.”

Lakeo waved in dismissal and started north. “I’m always careful.”

“Also, don’t eat the bush full of red berries. Kei has claimed those for himself.”

“Odd, Yanko. You’re an odd boy.”

Yanko warned Kei that he intended to climb down to the bottom of the ravine, figuring the parrot might not want to go along for the ride, especially since he wasn’t sure how controlled of a fall it would be. He could levitate objects decently enough, but he hadn’t tried to lift himself that often, not the way Gold Hawk had at the mage exams.

Kei made a grumpy noise and hopped onto a nearby branch.

“Sorry,” Yanko whispered. “I was supposed to go to school for five years before having to do these things in the real world.”

The parrot did not respond. Yanko crept to the edge of the ravine, carefully pushing the foliage aside to identify the drop-off point. It was abrupt and well-hidden, as Dak could surely attest. Yanko decided to try climbing down instead of testing his magic.

As soon as he started, a mass of soft dirt gave away, and his climb turned into a rapid descent. Alarm surged through him, and his mage light went out. His toes slipped through earth, knocking clumps free. He skidded and bumped over roots, as leaves and branches clawed at him. He struggled to find the concentration necessary to levitate, or at least slow his fall. Air ruffled his damp silks, and he could feel pressure pushing against his feet. In the dark, it was hard to tell if he was slowing or not, especially with the entire forest scraping and clawing at him on the way down.

There was too much brush to see the ground approaching, so the landing startled him. It was surprisingly soft. Despite the distractions, he had managed to slow himself down.

Water trickled past nearby, and mud lay beneath his feet. He had the sense of the ravine only being ten or twenty feet wide at the bottom.

Though moderately pleased that he hadn’t broken any bones, Yanko couldn’t waste time patting himself on the back if he wanted to catch up. He hurried in the direction Dak had gone. He had barely taken five steps when