The rest of our watch passed quietly. No sudden thieves in the night or surprise discoveries in the audience chamber as Prevna, Kuma, and Tike swapped stories about their various experiences living outside the traditional tribes. I listened in as I did an inventory check on everything in my pouches. It was all just as I remembered it. Meanwhile, Klus had decided four hands were better than two and he had stretched out between Kuma and Tike so they could both occasionally scratch his scales. However, since the crocodile was as close to the fire as he could be, without being in it, they had to be careful not to get burned by the flame. From what I had overheard, Klus would have made the fire his nighttime nest but Tike had dissuaded him from it so he could cook.

Tike also ended up being my partner when it came for us to split up the night watch. He still had the tendency to run his mouth when he was nervous, but I got him on the topic of myths and unusual events happening around the inner valleys once we had settled closer to the throne so the others could sleep in peace. Then I let his words wash over me as I focused on our surroundings. He knew a surprising amount of interesting tales, but not more about Minhel, the mountain spirit said to trap men in living graves.

By the time the sun brightened the fog surrounding the audience chamber he had quieted down. I wasn’t sure if he had gotten more comfortable or if he just ran out of words, but I didn’t ask.

It didn’t take long after the sun rose for Nine Claws, Malady, and Deamar to swap places with us. Deamar looked exhausted being dragged along with the whisper woman but it was better for him to learn how the world worked now than when he was at the Seedling Palace. I wasn’t sure the lesson would actually sink in in time but that was also his problem, not mine.

Our group gave Nine Claws and Malady our report that all was quiet before we headed back down the mountain to the villager waiting to ferry us back across the lake with his floating box. Prevna and I kept close to each other but we didn’t speak much. There wasn’t a lot to be said.

She didn’t want me to get hurt. That was a familiar concern, but it was odd that it wasn’t driven by a different concern about reputation or how little I’d be able to help while healing. Rawley and Fellen had cared in the same way as well, but it didn’t seem like my blessing had been as much of liability in their eyes as it was to Prevna, except for the fact that it might make me have too much life.

I had to uphold her trust. Something that should have been simple, but I knew that letting her put herself in as much danger as I did, especially if it was for my sake, wasn’t something I’d easily be able to swallow.

I also had another choice waiting once we got back to the village. Return to the Night Cave immediately to make sure I didn’t miss my chance or wait until after Mishtaw arrived? If I waited I might be more prepared to meet the dream entity again, but there was also the chance I could run out of time and not make it back to the Night Cave before the Dawn Crawler’s grace period ended.

Failing the Lady of Calm Waters’ first request of me didn’t seem like much of an option. Doing so just because I ran out of time sounded idiotic.

“Tike.”

He froze in the act of trying to hurry away from our group before he slowly turned to look back at me.

I decided not to give him the option to back out either. “Meet Prevna and me back here at our camp in an hour. We have some things we need to get ready but then we need you to lead us back to the Night Cave.”

His eyes flew wide open. “But…why?”

I gave him a tight smile. “Unfinished business.” He started to protest again so I cut him off, “Just be ready.”

He gave in then, clearly unhappy with going back to the dreaded cave, but I knew he’d keep his word. As soon as Tike left to take care of whatever he had to do before we left again, Prevna rounded on me.

“Unfinished business?”

I still hadn’t told her about the nightmares. So I pulled her into one of the remaining tents at our commandeered campsite and caught her up from the first dream I had on the mountainside to the encounter in the cave.

She rubbed her hands over her face. “I’d ask why you didn’t tell me before but we both know why. Nothing spoke to me when we were in the cave. Why do you think you’re being targeted?”

I held out the stone Esie had given me. “The favor the Lady of Calm Waters called in. Esie said that her ‘friend’ couldn’t be found if she didn’t want to be. The nightmares might be her way of giving me the chance to complete the favor.”

“How would she know you were trying to find her though?”

I shrugged. “Maybe they told her and this is all some test. But the entity in the dreams also isn’t normal. She might have some other way to know about the stone.”

Prevna leaned forward. “What if it’s not even the ‘friend’ you’re looking for? It could be a trap or just the mountains playing tricks. They’re known for nightmares.”

“Or maybe they’re just known for that because the friend is here.”

“So you’re going? No matter what?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Then I’m going to.”

I nodded again. Not surprised in the least after the conversation we had the day before.

Tike and Klus were prompt about returning, and we set off for the Night Cave after stopping at the springs for water.

The Night Cave was just as we left it. Trees crowding away from its lightning strike shaped entrance and darkness waiting beyond in the cave mouth.

Prevna and I both looked to Tike when we stopped just beyond the forest’s edge. We both knew we’d be going inside but it wasn’t clear if he’d be brave enough.

“You didn’t sleep for a week after you went in there.” His fists clenched as he glanced back at the forest. “It’s also not smart to wait out here alone.”

Prevna offered, “You could go back to the village. We should be able to find our way back from here now.”

He shook his head slowly. “No, I can’t do that. Not after the fire dancers.” Tike drew in a deep breath. “I’ll come with you.”

“Are you sure?” Prevna pressed.

“I’m sure.” He kept his voice even, though I could see him trembling at the idea of entering the cave of the spirit that was rumored to bury men alive. Kluss hissed and Tike’s posture gained a little more confidence.

He started off in the front as we crossed the field in front of the cave’s entrance but by time we reached it he had drifted to the middle between Prevna and me while Klus stumped along as close to him as the crocodile could without tripping him. I ended up in the front and I clenched the stone in one hand. Ready, even if another dream stole over us without us noticing.

We turned the sharp corner further into the cave and I heard Tike slow as the darkness stole his sight. There was a rustle of movement and Prevna murmured something to him before she told me to keep going. When I glanced back I saw that they had swapped positions so Tike could put his hand on her shoulder as a guide. Perhaps we should have remembered that he wouldn’t be able to see in the dark, but I also hadn’t expected he’d be brave enough to go inside the cave.

We made it to the main chamber full of statues hanging from the ceiling and stars under foot without incident while I strained to notice the moment we slipped from being awake to asleep. But nothing seemed to change. Everything was quiet and still with only the different versions of death to keep us company.

I took a step away from Prevna and Tike and held up the little stone. “I’ve come to complete a favor. To give you this stone from the Lady of Calm Waters.”

“What of your answer to my question?” The voice filled the chamber, sourceless. Grinding stone and rock hitting rock, like the whole cave was about to come crashing down on our heads.

I glared up at the carved revelers enjoying their time in Silver Forest. “I have it.”

“Do they?” And, just like that, the voice came from behind me. More wind and leaves rustling than rock this time.

I whirled.

Hands like tree roots pulled free of the earth encircled Prevna and Tike from their hips to their necks. They had been separated so they stood side by side and while Klus was blubbering something about how he wouldn’t be any fun to bury, Prevna stared back at me, not moving. Klus was pinned under one shadowed foot, unable to thrash anything but his tail.

Everything else about the entity that had caught them was impossible to make out despite my Dark Sight boon. It was tall, tall enough to tower over Prevna and Tike, but other than that it was like the spirit, if this was the earth spirit the villagers whispered about, was made of shadows.

“Perhaps I’ll give them back if you all answer honestly.”

Roots twists up out of the floor to wrap around their legs. I rushed forward—and fell. Another root had slipped around my ankle and held tight. When I shoved myself up, a moment later, ready to rip my way free of the root, they were already gone.

Prevna, Tike, and the crocodile.

Disappeared in the second it took me to look up from my fall.

“What is this?” I growled at the entity.

It now stood over me despite there being no indication of the movement. “Did I not say to return when you were ready to face me?”

“I am. I have my answer.”

“My roots don’t bind those that know their own bindings. Who know what they wish. What need then would they have to act as a reminder?”

I glared up at the mass of shadows. “I know my answer. What I strive for. Give them back.”

The entity ignored me as it plucked up the stone I had dropped when I fell. “Did she really tell you to return this to me?”

The temptation to lie was there on the tip of my tongue but I couldn’t risk Prevna, not after we had just reached a new understanding. “Esie did. The Lady of Calm Water’s retainer. She said the Lady would could consider it a favor paid if I found her friend in these mountains and gave her the stone. You fit the description.”

The entity ran the point of one finger around the spiral within a spiral on the stone. “I see.” The stone disappeared as easily as the others had. “Then perhaps, in return for giving me such a nice gift, I can help you see where your answer still lacks.”

“I—”

My voice was cut off as uncomfortably familiar large hands wrapped around my throat and one fingertip pressed against my skin, drawing blood. Everything had gone dark and I could no longer see the entity in front of me.

The voice like a rockfall came from right behind my ear. “Watch and listen or you might never wake up. Perhaps you would like to keep me company for the years and years to come? Is that what you’d like to strive for?”

“No.”

The finger pulled away from my throat and I could only hope that Prevna and Tike weren’t trapped like I was.