Snake Heart (Chains of Honor #2) -Lindsay Buroker Page 0,82

warm-up climb, no doubt.

They reached the top of the butte, but Dak did not head into the trees. He helped Yanko over the edge and waited so he could do the same for the women. Or maybe he was waiting because of the sight of what lay ahead.

The trees at the top of the butte were stunted and skeletal, only a few sparse leaves adorning their branches. The trunks of some of them twisted, as if affected by some vortex. As the breeze swept across tufts of grass and lichen-covered rocks, clanks and thuds came from the skeletal forest. It took Yanko a moment to find the source of the noise, and then he wished he hadn’t. More skulls. They danced on old, frayed ropes, swaying in the wind and bumping against each other and against the tree trunks. There had to be hundreds of them.

“Did the journal mention this?” Yanko asked.

Where had Tomokosis found so many human skulls?

“No, but another book I researched called this island the Fate of the Fallen, a name the natives of this archipelago gave it. It said nobody lived here, that it was reserved for burials.”

“Unless people were buried in trees, it looks like Tomokosis dug them up to, ah...”

“Scare people away would be my guess,” Dak said. “According to the map in the journal, his cache is supposed to be at the highest point on the island, under a skull-shaped outcropping of rock.”

“Do you know anything else?” Yanko asked. “You mentioned traps. Did the journal speak of them?”

“Not specifically.”

“Vaguely?”

“A message in the front warned that anyone who found his records and attempted to pilfer his belongings would meet a painful and horrible death.”

“Pey Lu’s pirates haven’t sent boats to the beach yet,” Yanko said. He could see the sea all around the island from the top of the butte. “Do you think they want us to find the lodestone and then steal it?” Yanko offered Arayevo a hand up, which she ignored, in favor of rolling herself over the edge on her own.

“It’s crossed my mind,” Dak said. “They also know we don’t have a way off the island, so they don’t have a reason to hurry. They’re likely doing some repositioning of personnel and trying to recover supplies and equipment from their wrecked ship too.”

“I understand that completely,” Lakeo said, heaving herself over the side to join them. “Much of the treasure I recovered from the last island went down with the underwater boat.”

“Much but not all,” Dak said. “You clank when you climb.”

“I recovered a few coins.”

“Enough to weigh down our boat, so that taking on Yanko almost sank us.”

“Yes, it’s clear Yanko was better fed than we expected during his time imprisoned on his mother’s boat. Did you feast at the captain’s table, Yanko?”

“Not exactly,” he murmured. He stretched his senses into the forest of dangling skulls, searching for the telltale energy of a Made item.

To his surprise, he sensed something ahead of them, beyond the trees and possibly in the ground. It was hard to tell.

“I feel something,” he said, meeting Dak’s eyes.

“The artifact?”

“I can’t tell. Something Made.”

“Lead the way.” Dak pulled out a machete. “I’ll follow.”

“It feels close, but we need to watch our step and stay alert for traps.”

Though Yanko was tired after the morning’s events and after being up most of the night, excitement burned away much of that weariness. Even if he had no idea how they would get off the island, knowing they might be nearing the culmination of his quest made him believe that anything could be possible. Maybe they could steal one of Pey Lu’s ships and slip away, or maybe he could negotiate with his mother somehow.

His senses led him along the edge of the butte rather than into the forest, and he eyed the steep cliff that fell away to the side, hoping they wouldn’t end up climbing back down it to some cave or lava tube. The earth under their feet was mostly rock, what soil had been made over the eons scraped free by the wind. The stunted trees seemed to grow straight out of the rock, gaining their meager nutrition from that.

Yanko watched each step he took, expecting a trap at any moment. Dak walked behind his shoulder, his weapon at the ready, and Arayevo and Lakeo followed after him.

“It’s under us somewhere,” Yanko said, slowing as they approached a cairn of rocks. It rose above his head, and he tried to see a skull shape in