Warrior of the Wild(71)

“It’s an interesting discovery, but why do you—” He cuts himself off, as he clearly comes to the same realization I’ve already had.

“This is why we haven’t been able to take certain paths up the mountain,” I say. “It’s coated in whatever makes up this new lodestone, and it won’t let our armor come anywhere near it. And Peruxolo’s lair? I’ll bet this metal rims the whole thing. It’s why I wasn’t able to enter. I could throw a rock inside because it must have not contained any iron within it. And Peruxolo’s armor? It must be made out of this lodestone, too. That’s why he was able to fling me around and why my ax couldn’t touch him. He’s bigger than me and must be wearing even more of the metal than the amount of iron I wear.

“He doesn’t have power over metal,” I say. “He’s only using a lodestone against our iron.”





CHAPTER


21


When Soren and I are less than a hundred feet from the mountain’s base, we have to duck behind the nearest tree.

Peruxolo is outside of his lair.

“Where is he headed?” Soren whispers.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him walk around the mountain’s base. Maybe hunting?”

We are as still as the tree trunk at our backs, waiting for the god to move on.

Soren is the first to move once Peruxolo is out of sight, gauging the distance to the ground. “We’d better take a different route home.”

“Wait.”

“What?”

“Peruxolo is away from his lair.”

“So?”

“I’m going in.” I practically race the last several paces to the ground, before heading for the seam in the mountain.

Soren hits the ground a few seconds after me. “Rasmira! You can’t! What happened to waiting for Iric’s armor?”

“It’s different now. I know it’s not a godly power that’s keeping me out, but a natural one! And we know Peruxolo isn’t home. We’re already here. This is too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

Soren fidgets with one of the straps on his pack. “What can I do to help?”

“Keep watch. Give me a warning if Peruxolo comes back?”

“You got it. I’ll hide over in the tree line. But, Rasmira—” He grabs the arm I’d been using to remove my armor. “Be careful. No risks. You’re there to look. Don’t touch anything. Just because the god is using a natural substance as a barrier, it doesn’t mean there aren’t magical defenses also in place.”

I hand Soren my ax and armor for safekeeping. “I’ll be careful. Now stop worrying.”

I turn away from Soren and head for that dark gap in the mountain. My pace is a quick walk. The sensation of being flung around by an unknown power is not one I can easily forget. It makes me cautious, even if I now know the source of that power. I try to remember exactly where the barrier would halt me outside the seam in the mountain. Was it here? Or maybe a few steps forward?

But when my feet stop right outside the entrance, a proximity I know I never managed before, I know the truth for certain.

Peruxolo has been taking advantage of our isolated villages. No one else has access to this new lodestone, and he has been using it against us for centuries.

I stare down that dark crevice, wondering what I will find in the god’s home.

And I enter.

I cannot see a thing for the first few steps. I stop and blink, willing my eyes to adjust. Eventually, I can make out the walls, made entirely from the new metal that reacts negatively with my armor and ax.

I put one hand to the wall and traverse deeper. The farther I go, the less I can see. Just when I worry the darkness will envelop me completely, my foot bumps against something on the ground.

Bending down, I reach for the item.

A torch, and next to it—

Flint and pyrite.

So the god cannot see in the dark.

I light one of the torches, holding it high in my left hand. If anything or anyone else is in here, I’m doomed, for the torch will give me away immediately.

There’s nothing to be done for it now. I’m committed. Whatever secrets this opening holds, I will learn them.

After perhaps twenty more steps, I come to a gate. It’s a metal contraption pounded into the rock on either side. It can’t be to keep mortals out, for that is the lodestone’s job. Perhaps it is to keep the dangerous ziken away?

I find where the gate connects in the center. A length of rope ties the two halves together. I take careful note of the knot, so I can replicate it before I leave, before undoing it and forcing the gate outward.

It opens to a cavern full of comforts.

A massive mattress heaped with blankets and furs. Chairs topped with lavish cushions. Rugs made from animal skins cover the floor. Off to one side are the water barrels from the Payment. A cabinet is full to the brim with the pickled vegetables and preserved fruits from the Estavor village. On a table are leather pouches holding dried meat. Enough food and water to last a single person for several years.

The only things out of place are the shackles dangling from one of the walls, blood crusted to the metal. They rest atop an empty bed. I realize it must be where he keeps the woman sacrificed to him each year. How long was the one I watched dragged away from the clearing kept here before she died? And what did Peruxolo do to her?