The Dark Rower made no visible reaction when Brixaby requested the destination. He just went very, very still before he inclined his head. “Are you certain this is where you wish to travel?”
“Yes, otherwise I would have requested somewhere else,” Brixaby answered with a huff.
Arthur put his hand on one of his dragon’s foreclaws in silent warning. Then he gave the rower a closer look. “You’ve rarely questioned us about a destination before. Is there something that we should know about this one?”
The rower was silent for such an extended amount of time that Arthur nearly repeated himself. Then it said, “The journey will be long and death will be close. You should be… aware.”
“Death?” Arthur repeated. He flashed to the card that his cousin had carried within him. Had he been exposed to it long enough for it to taint him? No, this felt like a general warning.
In answer, the Dark Rower gestured to the sky, specifically to the formless nightmares that circled and dove, entwining around themselves in an eerie dance.
Brixaby snorted. “Well, I have the Call of Life card. I fear no death creatures, and we must go to the destination that I indicated.”
Arthur had his own reservations, but Brixaby was right. He didn’t want to order one of the green portal dragons to take them, either. With Whitaker up to no good, advertising that he and Brixaby were gone from the hive was a very bad idea. They had to use Brixaby’s portal card to leave quietly.
“Then take us there,” he said, then turned and gestured Marion and Asha forward to board the oversized rowboat.
Soon they were off, and it seemed that the things in the sky dove down closer than ever before, so close that Brixaby actually flinched a time or two.
Asha had taken one look, despite everybody telling her not to, and then promptly hid her head behind Marion as if she were a tiny hatchling again and not nearly a full-size silver dragon.
“They will not harm you,” Brixaby said. Then he added, “But perhaps do not look at them too closely.”
“Very reassuring,” Marion grouched, but he aimed his glare toward Arthur. “Tell me that you don’t start off your dates with Cressida like this.”
“When do I have time for dates?” Arthur was a little surprised at the bitter tone he heard in his own voice. “Brixaby and I have been pretty much running from one emergency to the next since I first sneaked into Blood Moon hive. It only got worse once we actually took over.”
“True,” Brixaby said, “though I cannot disagree with the results. We have collected many cards and now have become one of, if not the strongest, leaders.”
“Yes, well, adding several Legendary cards from the same set into your hearts will do that,” Marion said with a smirk.
Arthur let out a breath and forcefully made himself relax. Brixaby was right, of course. He had been running all over the place, but couldn’t argue with the results. Even though he would have liked to take some time just to be with Cressida. That went double now they were facing the possible end of the Kingdom.
It wasn’t only the things in the sky. The trip down the river seemed to take much longer than Arthur had expected. He and Brixaby were exchanging glances, daring each other to speak first, before finally the Dark Rower maneuvered their boat around a final bend. At long last a pier came into view.
“Best of luck,” the rower said, which again was unusual.
That caught Arthur off guard enough to make him hesitate before stepping out of the boat. “Is there something about this destination that we should know?”
“Only that I feel death,” the Dark Rower rattled.
Arthur’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Our death?”
“The world’s death,” it explained, but then would say no more.
With that less-than-reassuring send off, they stepped into the destination… and were nearly blinded by bright light.
Arthur blinked rapidly, and it still took him a few seconds to realize that it was ordinary sunlight off orange sand. The sky was so achingly blue it was as if it had never seen a hint of cloud. And around them, they were in a bowl of some sort, with sturdy rock walls hemming them in.
The light was only part of it. The heat was another thing entirely. While the rower’s realm had been dark and cool as a night spent on the river, this was as if they had walked right into a raging oven. In the distance Arthur heard scourgling whistles. Some sounded as if they were just on the other side of the rock wall.
What had he brought Marion and Asha into?
He had only taken one step toward Brixaby, ready to jump on and for his dragon to lift him into the sky, before the ground rumbled.
Scourglings, Arthur thought.
Something emerged from the sand, but it was not a scourgling. It was the tip of a rock—sort of quartz with a bit of rose coloring to it. It kept emerging and growing, and he realized that there was a card power at play.
He went to step closer to it, to get his Counterfeit Syphon to tell him exactly what it was. Before he could, the rock split like a lotus bud opening. There was a twist of the air as if space was warping. Out of the newly grown flower-stone stepped a giant pink dragon, one he’d seen before. She wasn’t any larger than a normal Legendary dragon, which was already quite large and would never have fit in the flower-stone without that odd space-warp effect. There was a power and presence to her. Something indefinable, but carrying weight as if Arthur were trying to pick up a heavy stone and failing.
This was a Mythic. One he’d seen at the lowest level of the Dark Heart—a being strong enough to fight Scourge-Gods.
The pink dragon looked over them and snorted. “Finally, somebody with the guts to show up for a challenge.”
Then she glanced over at the rock wall, snorted again, and there was distant rumbling. Pink spears of stone erupted so high that they appeared over the stone walls. Most of them speared scourglings straight through.
“You are Crystal,” Brixaby said, and his normally brusque voice was tinged with awe. Then again, he rarely met another dragon who actually outranked him. “The Mythic.”
“Yes, and you are Brixaby, and you are Asha. Lung Bai told me all about you.” She did not so much as glance at Arthur and Marion. “Welcome to the land down under.” Then she chuckled to herself as if she’d made a joke.
“Are we at an eruption?” Brixaby demanded.
“You could say that,” Crystal said. “I’d rather say that we’re at a dark heart, one that has been partially conquered by yours truly so that now it is more of a naturalized dungeon. And if you’re anything like what Lung Bai has promised, you will be able to do the rest.”
Arthur’s heart sank. He had hoped for a dungeon, and a mostly destroyed dark heart qualified. But conquering the last one in New Houston had been no easy task, and that one had at least been partially drained by the city around it. Somehow he didn’t think that this one would be as easy.
“Why don’t you destroy it, great lady?” Asha asked, dipping her head in a respectful bow.
That seemed to be the right track to take with the pink dragon as she softened, just a touch. “For the same reason why you may not choose to go forward. There is a rank limit on the entrance to this particular dungeon.”
“What does that mean?” Arthur asked.
Crystal ignored him as if he had not spoken. Out in the distance, more scourgelings died by the hundreds, judging by the whistling shrieks.
Brixaby said, “What does it mean by a rank limit?”
“One quirk of this dungeon is that what remains will not allow anybody with cards over Rare to enter.”
There was a beat as everyone absorbed that.
It’s not fair! A part of Arthur wanted to scream and stomp his foot like a toddler. “So you’re saying that Brixaby and I can’t enter?”
No, they couldn’t be stopped now. Not when they were so close to completing both their sets.
“That does not make sense.” Brixaby growled. “There must be a way for us to enter. We were shown by my seeking card that there is a Legendary-ranked card in there. If it has grown a Legendary card, surely there must be a way for it to allow Legendary users.”
“You think that dungeons follow their own rules?” Crystal asked. “They are the epitome of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’ And I assure you that your card is not the only one in there.”
She twisted her head and looked down at the ground, staring, Arthur thought, as if she could actually see into the dungeon below. “It has vexed me for quite some time. There are many, many treasures, much more than any one card of yours. This dungeon is half destroyed, yet has been ripe for decades. If I had the ability, I would have gone in there and plundered it a long time ago.”
Arthur’s hands were balled into fists so hard that his fingers ached. He was wound so tightly in frustration that he nearly jumped out of his skin when Marion put a hand on his shoulder.
“This is not insurmountable, Arthur,” Marion said. “Asha and I can go in there.”
“Without combat cards?” Arthur said.
He pursed his lips. “Then we’ll go back and get the rest of the retinue. No, more than that,” he added. “This is too important. You’re the hive leader so throw shards at the problem. Reward anyone who has Rare levels and below who are willing to go in and get the card you need from that place.”
That was tempting, but everything that he’d learned about creating card sets told him that he and Brixaby had to somehow win this themselves. A Legendary, and especially one that would align itself with Brixaby’s personality would never accept being stolen by a minion.
“It won’t work,” he said to Marion. “And even if it would, I won’t send people into danger on my behalf like that. I’m not being noble,” he added as Marion began to object. “We need every able body we can for the fight to come.”
Marion gave him an exasperated look. “That’s an excuse. You are too noble for your station.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Arthur shook his head and glared down at the ground. The dungeon was under there somewhere, and it was beyond aggravating to not be able to gain access to it.
They didn’t have time to be stopped now.
Arthur felt his temper start to fray. “So what do you want me to do?” he demanded to Crystal. “Rip my Legendary cards out of my heart and go in there?”
Crystal actually answered.
“Yes,” she said. “That is exactly what you must do, and why no Legendary or Mythic dragon can enter.”