A Meet of Tribes (A Shade of Vampire #45)(59)

“What now?” I asked her.

She grinned and took a few steps forward.

I took a moment to admire the sculpture. They were twice as tall as us with sturdy legs, broad shoulders, and red vines crawling up their torsos. It dawned on me then that these were the Dearghs that Aida had described from her vision.

“Wake up, you lazy oafs!” Hansa shouted at the stone giants.

“I don’t think they respond to that kind of—” Draven started to say.

The stone began to crackle, and the giants moved.

One by one, they opened their eyes to reveal fiery pupils made of lava and stepped forward with heavy grunts. The biggest one came closer, looking down at us. I couldn’t help but tremble. One wrong move and either one of them could crush us with a single blow. My mouth gaped, and my eyes widened as I took in the entire tableau.

“A little respect could get you a long way,” the Deargh in the middle said, his voice rumbling like thunder.

“I have no time to caress your ancient egos, Inon,” Hansa replied. “We’re here to discuss an alliance, as per my conversation with Urdi. Time is running out, so you need to summon the lava boys here tonight!”

A moment passed before Inon spoke again.

“Is this the Druid?” he asked, pointing a lazy finger at Draven.

Hansa nodded.

“Indeed. We’ve held up our end of the bargain. We’re here. It’s your turn to come through,” she said.

“I thought I smelled a snake,” Inon smirked and stepped aside.

The other Dearghs cleared the path for us and, one by one, we entered the mountain through a narrow opening in the wall they had been covering in their statue forms. We reached a tall cave. Its smooth beige walls were riddled with millions of stick figures etched in black and depicting various scenes of hunting, gathering, and prayer. Tiny streams of hot lava ran across the floor, bathing the space in a warm orange light.

I was careful to walk over them as we advanced through the cave.

We stopped in the middle and turned around to face the Dearghs. Inon came forward and spent some time measuring me from head to toe. I was a strange creature to them and not of this world.

“Is this the Oracle?” he asked no one in particular.

“No. My brother is one of the Oracles,” I replied.

I didn’t know where I’d gathered enough courage to address a Deargh, but Draven’s presence so close to me seemed to be a likely source. Somewhere deep inside, I felt like I had to prove to him that I was fearless, unlike him.

“Before I summon my brothers,” Inon said. “What is it that you will bring to the table, Druid? Why should we trust you in battle?”

“We have the Oracles and the last Daughter of Eritopia,” Draven answered, his chin up. “With the right support from creatures like the Dearghs, the Lamias, and anyone else standing to lose everything if Azazel conquers the whole of Eritopia, we will be able to take him down once and for all.”

Inon nodded again.

“But you already know that,” Draven added.

Both Hansa and Bijarki turned their heads to look at him, raising their eyebrows.

“I would like to know what else the Dearghs can provide in this battle, other than brute force,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Inon replied, tilting his giant stone head to one side.

“Yes, what do you mean?” Hansa asked Draven.

“We need to get Sverik, son of Arid, out of Azazel’s dungeon. A regular trip there will get us killed, as the Destroyers are getting closer and more aggressive each day, and there are thousands of spies in the jungle, recording every movement that anyone makes through those woods. However, there is an active volcano less than a mile away from that dungeon. We need you to get us there when the time is right,” Draven explained.

Inon looked at Draven and smiled.

“You are quite brave to think you could survive such a trip. We are made of lava. It will not burn us. But it will kill you for sure,” he replied.

“I’m well aware of that. I’m also aware of the fact that one of the swamp witches’ books is with the Dearghs,” Draven said, prompting Hansa to stare at him in genuine shock. “The witches were well known for their protective spells against fire. I’m sure there’s one in there that we can use.”

Silence lingered between them.

“You know about the books?” Hansa asked Draven.

“Of course I do. I have the Oracles, remember?” he replied, then smirked. “I also know you have one too, but we’ll talk about that later.”

Hansa’s skin glowed subtly, reminding me of what she’d told us about the succubi blushing. She’d probably realized that Draven might also have learned about her relationship with his father.

“What will it be, Inon? Will you give us the book?” Draven pressed.

“How did you know we have it?” Inon replied.

“I’ve done my homework on you, Dearghs. Klibi would have needed some very powerful protection to keep the book hidden and safe from anyone,” Draven said. “Mount Inon is the only volcano that creates black diamonds, and there is nothing more powerful, more impervious than that. I had to make a wild guess on this one but given that you’ve just confirmed it, I’m glad to see I was right.”

The Druid wore a smile that spoke of sheer satisfaction. I figured he had his intellectual pride to keep him warm at night, since he’d been so dismissive of me.