“Bullshit,” Kevin said. “I knew you inside and out. And in again. And then out again—”
“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered. I glanced back at Ruv. “The middle stone. There’s a path?”
He nodded. “Any deviation from it will… be less than ideal.”
“How the hell did you figure that out?”
“Trial and error.”
If that wasn’t chilling, I didn’t know what was. “How many died?”
“Figuring out the path? Sixteen. The sand mermaids were… quite vicious.”
“Why doesn’t Kevin just fly us across?” Ryan asked. “He’s got wings. One at a time, and we wouldn’t even have to worry about them.”
“Hey! I’m not some kind of pack mule—”
“The vibrations from the wings,” Ruv said. “They’ll move across the surface of the sand. The creatures can sense them. And they can jump out of the sand higher than one would think. Kevin will have to stay here. Tiggy and Gary too. We must move with lightness under our feet.”
“Did he just call me fat?” Gary said, sounding outraged. “Bitch, I ain’t fat. I am motherfucking jolly—”
“And you know the path?” I asked, looking out at the sand. Tiggy had been spot-on. I had a bad feeling about this.
Ruv nodded.
“Shit,” I said. “This isn’t going to go well, is it?”
“Sam,” Gary said. “You can’t possibly be considering listening to him. We can’t trust him.”
“Gary’s right,” Kevin said. “There has to be another way. Can’t I just roar like the manly dragon I am and call him out?”
“And risk the sand mermaids?” Ruv said.
“Everything risks sand mermaids,” Tiggy said.
“He’s got a point,” Ryan said. “We have Sam’s magic. He can just, you know. Do his finger-zappy thing and turn them to stone or something.”
“My finger-zappy thing,” I repeated. “Gosh, babe. Way to make me sound so awesome.”
He flushed. “You know….” He glanced at the others and flushed deeper before continuing. “You know what I meant. And you know how I feel about the… finger. Zappy thing.”
“Damn right I do.” I leered at him.
“Ryan gets a boner when Sam does magic,” Gary told Ruv. “It’s sweet. And really fucking awful for the rest of us.”
“How lovely for him,” Ruv said wryly. “And magic wouldn’t be the best idea. They’re drawn to it. Like bugs to firelight. It calls to them. It’s why they stay here, around the dragon.”
“So what you’re saying is that I’m effectively neutered,” I said. “This… isn’t going to go very well, is it?”
Ryan scowled. “What happens when we get over to the island or whatever it is? Will the dragon wake? What then?”
“It’s why I’m here,” Ruv said. “I’m the distraction.”
“What?” That wasn’t what I expected to hear. “Vadoma sent you here to be the bait?”
“Oh no,” Ryan said. “That’s so sad. Gods, I really hope nothing happens to you.”
“I forget how bitchy Knight Delicious Face can be sometimes,” Gary whispered to Tiggy. “Makes me want to lick his face.”
“We lick him later,” Tiggy said.
“Oooh,” Gary said. “Deal.”
“I could get in on that,” Kevin agreed. “Have him spread out like some big ol’ knight buffet and just gorge ourselves—”
“Let’s stop right there before it goes any further,” I said. “Because it will. It always does. And Ryan, stop looking so godsdamned smug. It’s disturbing and you haven’t earned the right.”
He scowled at me.
I turned back to Ruv. “I can’t in good conscience let you be bait. And even if I wanted to, it’s not something the King would allow. I am here as an extension of the Crown.”
“Sam,” Ruv said, reaching out and squeezing my arm. “Your concern for me is sweet…”
“It’s really not,” Ryan muttered.
“…and I know you don’t trust me, but I know what I’m doing. I’ve gotten to the… island before.”
I frowned at that. “But you’ve never seen the dragon?”
“It wasn’t meant for me to see,” he said simply. He looked at Gary, Tiggy, and Kevin. “I will help them. I promise. But you must promise me that unless it’s absolutely necessary, you stay back.”
Gary glanced at me. I nodded. He narrowed his eyes as he looked back at Ruv. “If anything happens to them,” he said coldly, “I will hold you personally responsible. All jokes aside, I will make sure you never leave this place.”
“Ditto,” Tiggy said, cracking his knuckles menacingly.
“Double ditto,” Kevin growled. “There won’t be enough of you left to bury by the time we’re finished. I once ate a woman who threatened them, and I’m a vegetarian. That should show you how serious I am.”
Ruv swallowed thickly, and that made me feel a little bit better to know he could be intimidated just like anyone else. “Understood.”
“Don’t die,” Gary said to me. “But if you do, I get all of your stuff.”
“I want some stuff,” Tiggy said.
“How touching,” I muttered. “Okay, so how are we going to do this?”
Ruv picked up the wooden contraption and fixed it to his pack again. “One step at a time.”
WHEN ONE is crossing a sea of sand with gigantic monsters circling sight unseen underneath, one tends to get slightly nervous. Couple that with the fact that one’s best friends are waiting behind, offering such pearls of wisdom as “Don’t look down!” and “If they start to eat you, poke them in the eyes or something!” it tends to make the situation a little tense.
“Would you guys shut up?” I growled.
“Someone’s moody,” Gary muttered. “And you guys have only moved like five feet. This is taking forever.”
He was right. It was taking forever. Ruv was in the lead, with me behind him and Ryan bringing up the rear. Both of them were crowding me slightly, causing Kevin to make some crack about wanting to be stuck in that sexy sammitch. If I thought I could get away with it, I would have demanded the sand mermaids kick his ass.
But it was slow going, and the island looked as far away as it did when we first stepped out onto the pathway. It hit me with that first step that there had to be some measure of trust in Ruv, but not because I was willing to follow him out (I’d always been a bit stupid), but because I was allowing Ryan out on the sand. Granted, Ryan would never have let me go alone, but still; I trusted Ruv enough that he knew what he was doing.
I didn’t know what to do with that.