“What are you looking for now?” Javi asked.
“A wayunder.” The Wolf pressed at a particular spot. Nothing happened. “The Underground Pass.”
Brunie was displeased to hear the news. His claws dug into Risa’s skin, a deep growl starting at the back of his throat.
“I don’t need more injuries,” she admonished the cat with a mutter. “If you scratch any further, I’ll let Javi get rid of you.”
Brunie gave her a look that told her the cat did not believe her.
“Ah,” Javi said as he leaned on the wall with an elbow. “Right. The famed Underground Pass, of Underground Pass notoriety.”
The Wolf looked past the prince to Risa. “Is he always this annoying?”
“Yes.” Then, for good measure because she didn’t enjoy being on the same side as the Wolf, scowled.
“There is a tunnel system beneath the mountains,” the Wolf explained. “It takes less time than going over or around. I know there is a secret entrancesomewhere. I have used it plenty of times before.”
“Do we have to speak the magic words or something?” Javi prodded. “Do a little jig?”
Risa leaned a hip against the cliffside. “Perhaps we need to cut out the heart of an aggravating prince and offer it to the mountain gods.”
“That’s not funny.” Javi turned to the Wolf. “We don’t, do we? Risa and I have already had a very traumatic experience with malevolent gods.”
It was impossible to read the Wolf’s expression with her hood pulled down. Risa assumed the Wolf was glaring at Javi in disbelief, like she was. “No. Now, if you do not mind.”
“I don’t.”
“She’s telling you to shut up,” Risa translated.
Javi dismissed her by sucking his teeth.
“Fine,I’mtelling you to shut up,” Risa retorted.
A quirk of the brow. A suggestive tilt at the corner of his lips. “I can think of one way to occupy my mouth.”
“Me too. I can stuff it with rocks.”
“I was thinking something less violent.”
The Wolf had abandoned her search. Her face was shrouded, but she pointed an accusing finger at the two. “Do you always fight like this?”
“Yes,” Risa answered.
“Love is a battlefield,” Javi joked.
Risa shot him a dirty look, Brunhilda’s spell pulling at the thread that tethered them.
Inexplicably, he looked away, the tips of his ears turning slightly red where they poked out through his curls.
“Consider ending your war for the duration of this journey,” the Wolf advised, then strode to where Javi was leaning and reached for the clod of weeds behind him. She pulled, a click resounding through the valley.
Stone scraped against stone. A deep rumble trembled beneath their feet. Grinding reverberated in Risa’s ears.
The cliffside began to open, a giant maw yawning until a cavernous crack in the mountain stood where there had once been a wall. The entrance sighed, a gust of wind carrying the smell of rot.
This was a terrible idea. A horrible idea. ABadIdea. Risa knew they should not walk into that empty void.
Even the cat was against it. Brunie hissed and seethed, fur standing on end.