Snake Heart (Chains of Honor #2) -Lindsay Buroker Page 0,81

Nurian honor demand that she fulfill her mission no matter what the extenuating circumstances?” Dak asked.

“Yes,” Arayevo and Lakeo sighed together. Lakeo added a comment of, “Jellyfish brain,” and smacked Yanko again.

Yanko held back a sigh of his own, though he did not disagree. Jellyfish brain, indeed.

Chapter 18

Dak led the way up a rocky incline that climbed steeply from the beach area. This island had a tree-covered butte in the middle, the remains of a volcano that had blown its top during some past century. Yanko hoped it was a dormant volcano and that hunting for the lodestone wouldn’t involve any trips through lava tubes. He’d had enough of that.

A desire to get to the artifact propelled Yanko up the slope with alacrity, and he and Dak outpaced the women. Of course, part of that was Yanko’s desire to avoid being smacked by Lakeo again. She kept glaring at him and calling him a fool for letting the mage hunter escape. Fortunately, with Dak’s powerful rowing, their group had reached the island first. The pirates hadn’t yet sent a team to land, either, though Yanko suspected that would change soon, and that the beaches would be besieged with his mother’s people by noon.

“Thank you for coming after me, Dak,” Yanko said quietly as they scrambled up bare lava rock. They had already risen five hundred feet or more above the beach, leaving the ocean and the pirate fleet within clear view. The morning sun rose behind the volcano, burning down through the stunted vegetation. This island was dryer than the last, and the trees were not as dense, the leaves not as thick.

“Thank the women. I wanted to go directly to the island. The journal identified this as a staging area for the bandit.”

“Ah. They overpowered you, did they?”

“With nagging, yes. Even the strongest warrior would succumb to that.”

“Some warriors might simply have locked them in that closet. You’re stronger than both of them put together. Don’t tell Lakeo I said that.”

Dak snorted. “I will tell her, so she can switch her nagging to you.”

“That’s already happened.” Yanko glanced back, not at Arayevo and Lakeo, but at the beach, fearing he would glimpse the mage hunter. He could not see anyone, but that did not mean much. The assassin had probably reached the island by now and disappeared into the interior. “Also, I don’t think you’re supposed to call it nagging when a woman argues with you. It’s derogatory. They prefer the term discussing forcibly.”

“Your mother tell you that?”

“My brother. He was catnip to the ladies in our village.”

“How old is he?”

“Almost twenty-one.”

Dak stopped his climb and frowned down. Yanko thought he would offer his opinion on the worth of getting advice on women from someone half his age, but he pointed at something. Yanko picked his way up the slope, which had become nearly vertical. To Dak’s right, a human skull sat wedged into a fissure, looking out onto the sea below.

“The remains of someone who discussed forcibly with the wrong woman?” Yanko asked, attempting levity, though those empty eye sockets were an unwelcome reminder that his last attempt to get to Heanolik Tomokosis’s stashed goods had not gone well. The yellowed and wind-worn skull had been there for years, if not decades, but it remained an effective warning.

Dak continued climbing. “I chose this route, figuring it would be less likely to be booby-trapped than the gentler slope on the other side, but keep an eye out.”

Yanko waited on his rocky perch, so he could share Dak’s warning with the others.

“This is fabulous,” Arayevo announced when she drew even with him, gazing out upon the sea and the tiny ships below. “Such an amazing view.”

Yanko pointed to the skull.

Arayevo blinked, but then shrugged. “You don’t think he agrees?”

“I didn’t ask.”

“That someone who met your assassin?” Lakeo asked when Yanko pointed the skull out to her.

“Doubtful. That skull has been here a long time, and the mage hunter didn’t look much older than me.”

“Maybe she’s inexperienced then.”

Yanko remembered the kills the woman had claimed, twenty-seven mages. “Let’s not assume that.”

He scrambled after Dak, accidentally kicking rocks free as he ascended. He was relieved when the slope grew less vertical, since he did not trust his ability to manipulate air to save himself from a deadly fall. Dak might have climbing gear in his pack—he was the only one who had retained all of his belongings—but he had not pulled it out. What was a near-vertical slope to a Turgonian? A