Page 97 of Liar Witch

When Shen passes through a room filled with another set of underwater cells, I want to vomit. How many of these rooms are there? How many sirens are stuck in those tiny, three-foot wide prisons?

I’m not sure I want to know the answer.

The next cavern we come to, I brace myself for yet another endless set of cells.

But this time, something different awaits us.

The creatures chained to the walls are glowing. Every dark scale lit from within by enormous heat. Flames lick off their backs, running the full distance from the top of their flat heads to the end of their long tails like a strange mane. Their eyes are the pitch black of a starless sky, but lit with intelligence that cannot be a coincidence.

Oh, and they’re massive. Each one is easily the size of the tunnels we’ve been striding through.

Tunnels which make so much more sense now.

Salamanders.

Four of them.

“Goddess above,”Opal whispers.“They’re supposed to be a myth.”

So are leviathans, I think to myself.

But here we were.

Four enormous, legendary lizards. Exactly like in the picture books I had as a child.

Just like the leviathans, salamanders are rumoured to be distant cousins to the extinct dragons, and I can see why. Although they’re wingless, there’s a definite draconic cast to their faces. They’ve got powerful forelimbs, with large paws and sharp claws adapted for digging, which explains the tunnels. In the stories Glenna used to tell me, the salamanders were always described as powerful elementals, with an affinity for earth, fire, and lava.

Seeing them chained up like this is awful. Each one of them is wearing a collar made of gold, carved with transmutation circles and studded with crystals.

“They must live in the volcano.”Opal stretches on my shoulders and hops down.“Nilsa… they smell like…”

I know what she’s going to say before she says it.

“Shifters.”

Captain Shen doesn’t get close, but the second the four lizards see her, their domed heads snap upwards. Hisses spill from their forked tongues and their tails whip from side to side.

They only get more aggressive when they catch her scent.

It’s almost like they’ve gone berserk. Straining against the chains which creak ominously as they throw their full weight against them.

“Captain.” The new voice is a snap against the darkness. “Why are my salamanders in distress?”

“Lord Rinaldi.” Shen salutes the portly man who approaches her. “I’ve had reports that their collars are wearing out. I came here to investigate.”

“I recharged them a month ago. I cannot be expected to continue my work if I’m constantly required to keep the beasts contained. Douse them in more seawater. Hell, terminate them for all I care.”

“They keep the volcano stable…”

I tune out of their conversation, instead turning my attention to the three guards who entered the room with the mage.

Only five people in the room—not counting the salamanders.

Fate has given me an opportunity if ever I’ve seen one. I can’t imagine that Rinaldi and Shen will be so lightly guarded and within my reach again. Still, I need to be fast.

The first two are down with spirit blades jutting out of their chests before the third can even draw a panicked breath. I slip out of the spirit realm, tossing a final blade at the remaining guard, before I go for the duo who appear to be at the centre of all of this.

Mage first. He’s the biggest threat. Rinaldi’s transmutation circle is already flickering to life beneath his feet, his immortal senses detecting me faster than Shen’s human ones can.