Death Sworn(48)

After ten minutes, the crumbling passageway ended in a medium-sized cavern with large boulders in a looming jumble at its far end. Bazel hopped onto one of those jagged rocks, reached up, and pulled himself over it without looking back. Ileni followed, scraping her ankle on a sharp edge.

The crack between the boulders and the ceiling turned into a low, flat tunnel. She had to lie on her stomach and pull herself forward by her elbows, twisting her hips sideways and dragging her legs after her. In front of her, Bazel wasn’t exactly quiet, but he had clearly done this before, and she had a hard time keeping up with his smooth, efficient movements. The magelight vanished, leaving them in complete blackness. The tunnel got narrower and narrower, until she was pulling herself through by her fingernails, hips and shoulders scraping painfully against the rocks.

She was starting to worry about getting stuck when something thumped lightly ahead, and a few seconds later her fingers hit empty air instead of rock. She wiggled forward cautiously, reaching down and sliding her hands along the smooth rock wall below the tunnel’s end. Bazel had landed with barely a sound, so the ground couldn’t be too far down. Suddenly eager to be out of the stifling tunnel, she pushed hard with her feet.

She slid out of the tunnel, too fast. Suddenly she was out and flying down headfirst. She scrabbled frantically to grab the too-smooth rock, and her sharp scream cut off as she slammed into the stone floor with an impact that thudded through her entire body. For a panicked moment she couldn’t breathe, and then she gasped in a lungful of air that hissed painfully through her chest.

The magelight flared white, revealing Bazel’s round face looking down at her. Ileni scrambled to her feet, a spasm of pain shooting through her back, and tossed her head. The movement sent clumps of dirt flying from her hair, which did nothing to further her pretense of cool assurance.

Bazel muffled a laugh. Ileni’s fists clenched. It was one thing to be humiliated in front of Sorin, or even Irun, but in front of Bazel . . .

“I think that’s about enough of my blindly following you,” she snapped. “Why don’t you tell me where we’re going?”

Bazel just looked at her. Ileni was suddenly aware of how close he was, and how tall. He might be the least of the assassins, but he was still deadly and dangerous. Somehow, she had let the others’ attitude infect her, and she had forgotten.

But he thought she was deadly and dangerous, too. A powerful sorceress. And unlike Irun, he’d had no experience in killing sorcerers. Ileni drew herself up. If he saw her fear, that would cause her death. She tried to be the girl she once had been, supremely confident in her abilities, eager to take on any challenge.

“Tell me,” she said. “Or neither of us is going any farther.”

Bazel set his jaw. Ileni glared at him, then lifted one hand as if to begin a spell. She could freeze him to the ground where he stood. For a moment, she believed it, and whatever he saw on her face made Bazel’s eyes widen.

“All right,” he said. “You should have some warning, I suppose.”

“Yes.” Ileni lowered her hand, but not all the way to her side.

Bazel took a step back, his eyes on her hand. “I suppose Sorin gave you the usual speech about these caves. How we’re isolated and indoctrinated and trained to think of nothing but death.”

“That’s all common knowledge, actually.”

“Right.” The side of Bazel’s mouth lifted in a sneer. He sidled sideways and sat on the edge of a flat black rock. “Well, it’s not that simple. Even here, the rules aren’t always followed. There are entrances into these caves besides the way you came. And things can be smuggled in that aren’t only about our mission.”

Ileni leaned forward. “There are traders who come into the caves?”

Bazel shifted. “Official traders come to designated meeting spots, and are met with contingents from the caves. That’s how we get the food we can’t grow or raise nearby. And then there are . . . unofficial traders.”

Ileni raked her hand through her hair, dislodging more dirt. “That seems like a rather dangerous endeavor. It must be quite profitable for them.”

“It is.”

Of course, the traders who ventured this far into the mountains tended to be an adventurous lot to begin with. Ileni had seen some of them when they visited the Renegai village, but never spoken to any. Sorcerers didn’t get involved in the time-consuming business of haggling for chocolate and spices.

She rolled her shoulders back, cautiously. They still ached from her impact with the ground, but they didn’t protest the movement. “They trade with you?”