Page 12 (1/2)

When the green serpent crested, Thronos worked his wing as hard as he could to reach its back Ha! Heading for a perfect serpent touchdown; he was getting handy at this

He landed just as the beast thrashed Thetoward one of those board

Thronos heaved his wing, fighting to right hiht he spied a s between two lava flows Could he hit that tiny target? Such a risk! He steered with his wing, down and left

Down and left, down and left

Left, left!

They bulleted through the opening He dropped his legs, reversing his wing, touching his feet down

Thetoward the back wall; he twisted to his side, leaning away, feet sliding sideways in the dust

They stopped inches from the wall

THIRTEEN

Lanthe had been certain of death, convinced theirthe them a lava bath

Instead, Thronos had hit the bull’s-eye, then slid home She drew back to face him —Okay That was a pretty cool ht it took hier than usual to scon at her He set her to her feet, steadying her with a big palm over her shoulder

—Thanks—

He jerked his hand away, looking angry with hilow of the lava flows just beyond the cave ht for even Lanthe to see clearly Each of the cave walls had been hewn smooth, as if to create a canvas for a lyphs There were pillars to support the ceiling, a raised rock shelf along the back wall, and layers of dust

She’d been to ancient ruins before This place seemed so old it made those other ones appear techno

Thronos cased the peri at intervals to scent the air What she wouldn’t give for his heightened senses And his strength, she added when heit up as if it were a matchstick

“You have no idea e arrived here?” he asked

She shook her head, trailing after him In the back left corner of the cave, she perceived so that made the tiny hairs on her nape stand up There was only one way her senses could truold

Yet the wall appeared solid Looking for a door, she exaave the

Even as she walked away, she glanced over her shoulder longingly Maybe there was a mother lode locked in the mountain, never to be discovered in this hell plane

The idea left her deflated Now that the adrenaline of their escape had waned, she was growing dizzy with fatigue and blood loss Her regenerating tongue was sending waves of pain throughout her s, sorceress?”

She’d been learning Demonish in Rothkalina, was conversant at least, but she didn’t recognize this —Proto-Pandemonian, maybe? Or some kind of primitive Demonish?—

Thronos looked even h his thick hair So him “You expect me to believe your door to Pandeone anywhere, anyplace in existence Believe me, it could’ve been worse—

“Worse than Panden realerous that only an ih many in the Lore believed iht they’d been forced to evolve in those foreign dimensions, to beco Then they’d traveled across realities to inhabit the mortal world, attracted to the relative ease of that plane

So basically, Sorceri had evolved with senses only a little better than a human’s, bodies that eak compared to other Lore species, and life spans that could end fro or mystical fire

Her species sucked at evolution

“What realm trumps this one, Melanthe?”

—At least there’s rain here— She started wringing out her hair —We could have gone to Oblivion, forced to fight other des twitched with irritation “Other demons?”

—Would you rather we’d landed in Feveris?— Anyone who entered that plane was bespelled with unending, uncontrollable desire

“Feveris, then?” Had his voice grown huskier? “The Land of Lusts?”

If she’d had ht have blushed at his tone

“Have you been there?” he asked

She had, just to dip a toe, to see if the rumors were true Her servants had tied a rope around her waist to drag her back if she got bespelled, a precaution they’d been forced to use Within noet that perpetually sunny, coastal plane, redolent with the scent of Hawaiian Tropic, island flowers, and sex Or its twinkling rays of sun

“I’rated

She was still s from his harlot comment on the prison island —Maybe YOU influenced ht I was captive of a demon, so naturally I opened a threshold to YOUR ho, “Do not call round, then repeated his earlier words: —Sensitive about this, creature?—

“Derace and a sacred purpose We are descended froods!”

—How do you know this?—