Vin was upset.

  I filled him in on what had happened and where we were going next. He’d taken everything in stride until I got to the part about the Naledzar fight. That’s when he decided to interrupt. Granted, I’d saved that part until last, but that was only because I knew that he wasn’t going to be the only one upset with me.

  “You fought one of those popsicle makers without me!?” My brother’s mount pulled ahead, forcing him to pull back on the reins.

  “You told me you convinced the Naledzar that it wasn’t in their best interest to try to collect the bounty, not that you killed one of their operatives in front of a room full of people!” Starna was standing up in her saddle as she shouted at me.

  “You fought a Naledzar? Without me?” Vin growled as he repeated his rant, then turned to Starna. “Why weren’t you with him? I thought you were going to make sure he didn’t get into trouble?”

  “I was trying to get help from the Tower in case the Agate and Topaz Senates decide to declare war on us!” The tanned Elf fired back. “How was I supposed to know that Sectum was going to run off and kill someone?!”

  “Because it’s Sectum! That’s how he fixes things!” Vin was still growling as he turned back to look at the path. Since it was day, Starna was riding behind me, which meant I was between their screaming match.

  “I don’t always kill people.” I looked back at Starna. I wasn’t against killing, but it wasn’t like I was a serial killer. At least, I hoped she didn’t think I was a serial killer.

  “That’s been your go to move ever since you were thirteen and figured out you had Singiving too.” Vin scoffed. “Bad enough trying to hide a reckless Sineater, but at least people might be grateful you healed them and keep quiet, but Singiving? Nothing but fear and demon hunts for that.”

  I thought about pointing out how of the two of us, he had the higher body count in almost every category, but that felt petty. It was like trying to prove that something wasn’t red because you could find something that was a deeper shade of red.

  “Isn’t that going to make things worse?” Starna looked around. “What if they send the Treca after us?”

  “Treca have a moral code they follow.” I smiled to try to reassure her. “I doubt the Elves could convince them that we were guilty.” I thought about the Treca that we’d fought with in the tunnels. “I guess there are a few rogue Treca out there, but we shouldn’t have to worry about the organization as a whole.”

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  “It only takes one.” There was a pop as Starna cast a spell.

  “Did you just put up a barrier?” I could feel something, but it was only behind me.

  “I’m in the back.” The Elf looked up the mountain behind her. “I think I deserve to have a little more protection.”

  “You can ride in the middle and I can bring up the rear.”

  “No thank you.” Starna looked at Vin, then back at me. “Besides, having you between us means that you can’t get into trouble.”

  “How do I..?”

  “QUIET!” Vin had one hand up in our direction as she cupped both of his upper arms around his cat ears.

  “What do you..?”

  “SHHH!!!” Vin slid off his mount and looked around.

  We were about halfway down the mountain and if we took too many stops, then it would be very late when we reached Bollilundr. Not that I was looking forward to being in the town, but all the rocks were making me uneasy. I would have much preferred the open water than this barren slope.

  “Something’s coming.” Vin straightened and looked around. “It’s big.”

  “How big?” Starna took her staff off her belt and extended it.

  “You remember the wurm?” Vin pointed down the slope to his right. “We need to get over there.” He paused as if he remembered that he’d switched answers midway through. “It’s bigger.”

  “Wait, what?!” Starna stood up in her saddle. “What’s bigger than a wurm?!”

  “Nothing native to this mountain.” I had a bad feeling that I knew what was coming for us. “Is that going to be an open enough of a place?”

  “It beats this path or the slope.” Vin was moving beside his drake as the pair headed for the semi-flat place that was about a hundred by three hundred rectangle. I slid off my mount and started moving. Starna had already headed that way and was trying to get as far as she felt comfortable from Vin, which was less than twenty feet.

  “Is it what I think it is?” I looked at my brother while I handed my drake’s reins to Starna.

  “What do you think it is?” Starna started to tie the reins around a rock.

  “Don’t do that.” I shook my head as I looked at my brother. “VIN!”

  “I’m not going to jinx us!” The Camadt had his claws out and had let his drake take off down the mountain away from us.

  “Too late.” I watched the thing that was causing the tremors break through the side of the mountain where we’d been traveling not very long ago.

  The serpentine head that broke through the side of the mountain was barely a foot wide, but the hole kept getting larger as it pulled its thirty foot long frame out of the ground. It was almost four feet wide at its largest part, making it one of the largest snakes I’d ever seen. Lips peeled back to reveal a row of very large teeth in its mouth. It sniffed the air before focusing its glowing yellow cat's eyes on us.

  “What was the Agate Senate’s wyvern class guardian?” I looked over at Starna. She’d dropped the reins and our mounts were fleeing in the opposite direction.

  Her voice was trembling as she spoke. “A basilisk.”

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