DragonFire by Donita K. Paul

need.” She made a clucking noise with her tongue. “I shouldn’t think we will encounter another flood of druddums.”
    Bardon’s hand rested on the hilt of his sword. “I’m thinking there’s more to this than just a random collection of misguided rodents rampaging through the tunnels.”
    Kale peered into the dark recesses of the stone corridor before them. “They were running from something?”
    “That would be my assumption.”
    Granny nodded to the path. “What do you sense, Kale?”
    She closed her eyes and opened her mind to what might lurk beyond in the darkness. She detected something. Nothing solid, but something more like the scent of an animal that had recently roamed the tunnels.
    “I can’t say what was there, Granny. Only that it is gone now.”
    The emerlindian stood quietly for a moment with an air of concentration about her. She shook her head slightly.
    “Try again. This time, examine the physical makeup of the tunnels. Search for something that seems out of place.”
    Puzzled, Kale again explored the area beyond their sight. Many hardworking hands of the high races had formed these passageways. Sharp tools had chipped away the porous rock, exposing clumps of the luminescent crystals. In some places the glowing lightrocks were tiny but scattered in a swathlike vein running through the less dense composition of the walls.
    Her perception coursed along the tunnels, distinguishing bumps and cracks and a sparse scattering of debris along the walkway until she came to a rock of a startling different composition. Heavy, dense, and recently formed.
    She clenched her teeth for a moment before uttering the phrase she knew would help her uncover the mystery of this oddity. “I search for truth under Wulder’s authority.”
    Her mind explored the polished surface and discovered a large box without seams.
    “What have you found?” asked Bardon.
    “I suspect a hiding place for something nasty.” She turned to Regidor. “What do you think?”
    The meech nodded. “Shall we break it open and face whatever is within? Or shall we creep past and hope it doesn’t want to come out and play?”
    “Oh,” said Bardon, drawing his sword. “I’d rather make its acquaintance formally than have it pouncing on us later.”
    Regidor lifted one eyebrow. “An informal meeting?”
    Bardon nodded. “Informal, and at our enemy’s discretion.”
    Regidor smiled at Kale. “Shall we go knock?”
    “Yes, let’s.”
    Kale held one hand in the air, and her minor dragons flew to circle her head.
    “Gymn, you and Metta stay with Granny Noon and Gilda. Pat, go ahead and analyze that stone structure. See if you can find a point of entry. Filia, go help Pat.”
    “Why send Filia?” asked Gilda.
    “She has a wealth of knowledge stored in that thimble-sized brain of hers. Between Pat and Filia, they will come up with an answer.”
    Dibl and Ardeo landed on her shoulders.
    “Dibl, you accompany Gilda. Ardeo, light our way. I’d rather not depend on the uneven glow of lightrocks on this visit with our peculiar host.”
    She opened her moonbeam cape and reached into a hollow to secure a weapon. She held the invisible sword in front of her and nodded to the others. “Ready?”
    Bardon and Regidor both winked at her. She grinned at their eagerness and wished her bravado was more than show. No amount of training would ever ease her anxiety when it came to a fight. She depended greatly on the skill and calm that transferred from Bardon to her through their unusual bond.
    Regidor led the procession down the cool stone corridor. Bardon followed with Kale beside him. Granny Noon and Gilda walked two dozen paces behind.
    Kale’s curiosity welled as they approached the stone box. Her first sight of it confirmed what her mind had perceived. The structure stood on end like a coffin. A big coffin. What was inside?
    Kale raised a hand as if to touch the box but kept her palm an inch clear of the surface.
    “A lot of heat,” she