Part 27 (1/2)

For several moments, they all remained quiet, drenched in a grief too intense to bear. Even the onlookers grew respectfully hushed and still.

Finally, Zylas spoke. ”We should have known not to make a child, both of us distant descendants of Prinivere.”

”Prinivere?” Collins blinked making a connection that seemed obvious but might prove absurd in this otherworld, where even the basic principles of science did not always apply. ”Are you saying Trinya's switch-form was ...”

”A dragon,” Seera said, barely above a whisper. A chill spiraled through Collins. ”A dragon? Is that . .

. common?”

Zylas looked up. ”As far as any of us know, she was the only Random ever to become one.”

”If Carrie told the truth,” Collins pondered aloud, ”then there are at least two.” He met Zylas' bleary gaze. ”Zylas, your daughter might still be alive.”

Chapter 18.

The conversation that followed left both men with unexpected hope. Collins came to understand that his companions had brought him from the castle to an area where dogs could not track him. Like the flowering tree where the group had hidden just before Korfius found them, the skunk odor that pervaded the quarters of Barakhai's downcaste garbage workers should hide their scent from second tier guardsmen.

After a meal and a bath, Collins felt more open to explanations. Alone in a straw-cus.h.i.+oned cavern with Zylas, he listened to the rat/man with an open mind. ”You see, the less you knew, the safer you, we, and a pack of innocents remained.”

”Maybe.” It was a point Collins did not know if he could ever accept. ”It might be the scientist in me, but I like to work with as much information as possible. The less my ignorance, the more I can figure out what to do to keep myself, you, and these innocents safe.”

Zylas laced his fingers, dodging Collins' gaze. ”I understand that now.” He finally met the probing dark eyes. ”But, at first, you didn't want to know that much.”

”You mean when I thought I was going right home?”

”I guess so.”

”But you knew I wasn't going right home. You should have told me that, too.”

”I didn't know what the best thing was.” Zylas threw up his hands. ”It was supposed to be simple.

Bring you here. Have you get the stone. Get you home.”

Collins sat up straight, holding Zylas' attention now that he had finally seized it. ”But you knew it wasn't that easy from the start. You brought others before me. Others who went mad. Others who died.”

Zylas closed his eyes and nodded sadly. ”But you were different. I chose you much more carefully.”

The words startled Collins. ”You did?”

Zylas' lids parted to reveal the familiar, pallid eyes. ”I watched you for a long time. Made a well-researched, long-studied decision. Surprised?”

”Very,” Collins admitted. ”Why me?”

”None of us wanted more deaths, and you are our last hope.”

”I was your last hope?” Collins forced himself to blink, still stunned. ”How so? My world has about five billion people at last count. You could always grab another.”

”No. You are our last hope.” Zylas thrust his hand into a pocket, emerging with the translation stone.

”Our last of these, my very own, this one a unique treasure because it allows communication even in animal form. I was supposed to give it to you, but I just couldn't let it go. I won't put Prinivere through that spell she cast on you again for any reason. She nearly died, and she's not getting any younger. She's still weakened from it.”

The details did not fit. Collins tried to clear his head, to force order to the last vestiges of chaos. ”Why didn't the people of Falima's town guess what I was, given that I wasn't the first?””To them you were.”

”Oh?”

”You were the first to leave the ruins before I could switch to man form and explain.”

”Why didn't you just talk to me as a rat? You had the stone.”

”What do you think drove our first visitor mad?” Zylas blinked with slow deliberateness. ”And what was your hurry to go tearing off into the unknown, anyway?”

Collins felt foolish. ”I was hungry. Very very hungry.”

”I left you food.”

Collins ran a hand through dark brown hair that seemed to have grown an inch since his arrival, and it felt wonderfully clean. ”I-I didn't see any food.”

”You didn't look.”

Collins felt a warm flush of defensiveness. ”You should have put it in plain sight.”

”If I made it too obvious, you would have worried you had stolen it from someone else. Or that someone had laid it out for you, poisoned.”

Collins doubted either of those possibilities. ”I was too hungry to worry about things like that.” He thought it far more likely he would have pa.s.sed up the stems, roots, and insects as some science experiment rather than food. Given how well-read I am, it took me stunningly long to realize I had entered another world. ”And how do you know what I would have worried about any way ?''

Zylas shrugged. ”As you pointed out, I made mistakes in the past. But I want you to know this. You were the first one to leave the ruins prematurely and the only one who killed. The others kept searching for the way back home.” The corners of his lips twitched, but he did not smile. ”And I thought your need to find these might keep you there long enough.” He drew Collins' gla.s.ses from another pocket.

Collins gasped, s.n.a.t.c.hing the offering from Zylas' hand and planting them on his face. Instantly, the cavern leaped to bold relief. He had forgotten how sharp every crag could look. Each blade of straw became singular and distinct, its colors a gradual blend of yellow, white, and gold. He saw lines in Zylas'

face he had never noticed before. ”Thank you, you horrid little thief.”

Zylas grinned to show he took no offense. ”You're welcome, you big ugly murderer.”

Though faced with a harsh joke, Collins forced a chuckle. He resisted the urge for a crueler one, though Zylas had given him the ammunition by opening his life's story. He did not want to discourage the albino rat/man from sticking with even the most difficult truths.

”You weren't supposed to kill anyone, and you weren't supposed to get arrested.”

Collins nodded, realizing a grimmer truth. At that point, Zylas Could have abandoned him for another champion as they had not yet met or spoken. Collins could not have given away any information anyway, since he would have been executed before he found a way to communicate. ”How did you ever manage to get Falima in position?”

Zylas waved a dismissive hand, as if to proclaim the whole thing no bother. ”We'd been working on her for years, carefully trying to sway her to our side. You can see the advantage to having a horse-guard as a spy.”

”Yes.” Collins wondered how much convincing it had taken to push her that final step knowing that it would involve turning herself into a wanted fugitive to help a man she considered a murderer and a cannibal. No wonder she acted so hostile toward me. He could understand why they had chosen Falima, a Random considered a lesser being than the other guards, at least according to her. He had to know, ”You took a huge and unnecessary risk saving me.”

”Unnecessary?” Zylas' brows rose with incredulity. ”I had led you here. I couldn't just let you die.”

It was not literal truth. Zylas could have let him die simply by doing nothing, though Collins knew he meant his morality would not have allowed it. ”Ialin would disagree.”