For all she knew, the other men were dragons as well—otherwise, how had they appeared up here in the mountains?
Unless they planned this and he had his men wait here while he kidnapped me and stole my map...
“Move,” the dragon man said impatiently and nudged her.
Gritting her teeth, Chiara did as she was told.
She had something they wanted. It wasn’t just the map.
She’d studied the map for weeks to even get to the point where she knew where to start her search. She’d studied maps of these mountains, too.
That’s what they want me for. They don’t want to waste time doing their own research. Because it isn’t enough just to have the map, you need to understand it, too.
Which was reassuring, in a way. As long as she was useful, they wouldn’t harm her. Probably.
But once they find what they’re after...
It was probably best to worry about that once she’d actually made it to the artifact.
For all she knew, the map was a joke. Maybe there was nothing there. Maybe it was just a particularly difficult level of geocaching. She’d find a little tin box, and there’d be no magic, just a little booklet to sign her name.
Or maybe the magic was real, and whatever she’d find would be powerful enough that she could make her escape.
Worry about it once you get there, she told herself, struggling up a steep mountain path.
First, she had to make it there. She was only useful to them as long as it looked like she knew what she was doing...
Fortunately for her, it seemed like she’d been right about everything she’d worked out.
There had been several symbols on the map that she’d at first thought were code. But in fact, it was much easier than that.
When the steep path ended in what looked like a small ravine with no way out, Chiara stopped and raised her eyes.
The stark mountainside towering above her was intimidating. Not much grew up here except for grass and lichen and the occasional bush.
But there, a little to the right, was a strange protrusion from the wall of rock. Together with a crack that ran through the mountain there, it looked a little like a face with a large nose.
Despite the danger she was in, Chiara smiled.
The nose.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Zane still had the map, but she didn’t need it anymore. She’d stared at it so often and for so long that she could call it up in her mind whenever she needed it.
Old, faded parchment. A twisted path through the mountains.
And a nose right above where the path continues.
“There’s nothing here, boss,” one of the men called out.
Several of them turned around to stare at her from their shadow-tainted eyes. Chiara suppressed a shiver.
Ignoring them, she moved forward.
“It’s right here,” she said, even though she couldn’t see anything. The ravine ended before them, and there was nothing but rock towering above them...
She looked up again, searching for the nose. She was almost beneath it now.
She stepped past the men, continuing down the ravine for a few more steps. Still nothing but rock.