I could smell it from the tunnel.

  Lavender, urine, and blood. It was like the first was trying to cover up the other two, but that just made the whole thing suffocating.

  “How can the Camadt not smell this?” I had my shirt collar up over my nose and my left hand was cupped over my mouth to try to minimize the discomfort, but the scent was squeezing through my finger like they weren’t even there. My eyes watered as the tainted air stung them. “How can the cultists even stay down here?”

  “Air Elementalist.” Starna’s muffled voice was just as full of discomfort. “They’re also the best Elementalists to kill Camadt.”

  “No one notices that the air is getting thinner.” I agreed. “Not like they do a fireball or a stone spike.”

  “I don’t think we have to worry about getting attacked.” Starna blinked as she pointed in the direction we were headed. “Nothing alive is ever that still.”

  I nodded, but didn’t put away the dagger in my hand. Just because they weren’t moving didn’t mean that they couldn’t still be asleep or that they weren’t well trained.

  I almost dropped the weapon when I rounded the corner and saw what was in the room.

  Drying racks with furs of various different animals took up almost every open space on the walls. A skinned, headless nether cat hung over a bucket in the middle of the room. Unmarked, open crates were filled with folded skins that were waiting to be shipped. The room was so large that the dozen empty cots in the far corner didn’t take up even a fifth of the room.

  “This is…” I shook my head as I walked over to a stack of empty cages. “This reminds me of the place where we found Vin.” I pounded on the metal bars. “I’m glad he’s not with us.” I turned around when I realized that my companion hadn’t said anything. “Starna?”

  The beautiful Elf was on her knees in the middle of the cots. She scooped something up, then stood up with a look on her face of complete awe.

  “It’s okay…” Starna cooed. “You’re safe now- OW!” She whipped her left hand away from her chest, then promptly stuck the injured finger in her mouth. “Why’d you bite me?!”

  The weak nether kitten in her arms tried to growl, but the effort turned into a sneeze. Its back legs hung limp as it barely had the energy to hold up its head. Considering that a nether cat male could weigh over five hundred pounds, I guessed that the kitten was only eight weeks old.

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  “Can you help it?” The tanned Elf took her finger out of her mouth and cupped the kitten in her hands as she held it out for me to look at.

  I could see the outline of ribs in his black fur. The kitten’s blue eyes glared at me as the fur on the back of his neck rose, but that was all the aggression it had the energy to give.

  “What do you want…” I chuckled as I looked up at the doe eyes Starna had. Vin and I had tried to perfect the look every time we had asked dad for a pet, but we’d never got half as close as what was on the beautiful Elf’s face.

  “You know this isn’t a pet, right?” I smoothed out the kitten’s fur.

  “But he doesn’t have a mama anymore.” Starna nodded towards the corpse hanging in the middle of the room. “We can’t just leave him here to die. Plus, I know that you can tame them! They’re really smart, plus he already knows that we’re not going to hurt him, see? He hasn’t tried to bite me again?”

  I thought about pointing out that the kitten didn’t have the energy to lift his head, let alone snap at her finger again with his sharp teeth. I chuckled. “Vin is going to hate this, but if it’s what you want…”

  “Because he didn’t find it?” Starna pulled the kitten close to her chest and squeezed it in a soft hug.

  “Probably don’t do that until I heal it.” I put my hand over the animal and let it have some of the energy I’d taken from the poachers from earlier. “No, Vin hates other male cats.” I smirked. “Doesn’t matter if they can’t talk. It’s an alpha male thing, I guess.”

  “Well, that will remind him to keep his distance.” Starna giggled as the kitten started nuzzling deeper in her hands. “Because I’m keeping Shadow.”

  “So that’s what you’re calling him.” I shook my head as I heard the feline start purring. Now that he had the energy to try to escape, he wanted nothing more than to get closer to Starna. “You’re the one who’s going to have to convince Storbek to let you take him on the ship on the way back.”

  Starna smiled. “That won’t be a problem, we already know he loves me.”

  “It’s more like he enjoys the extra money Lessa pays him to transport you around.” I chuckled as she pretended to be hurt. “You’re one of the easiest clients that we ever had to accommodate. If Talia can find him a job in the direction you want to go, then it’s easy money.”

  “All the more reason to let me keep him holed up in my room.” The tanned Elf straightened as she pet the purring kitten.

  “The problem is the pranks that Whizz will pull.” I shuddered as I thought about all of the things the Goblin had snuck on board. “But that’s a future us problem.” I motioned at the cots. “There’s enough space for over thirty people to sleep if they were rotating shifts. If this is just a crash pad, then there could be three or four times that many.” I looked around. “Are you sure that it’s just us in here?”

  “Yes…” Starna bit her lip. “Actually, no. That body isn’t big enough for what I was feeling earlier and it sure wasn’t moving.” She looked down at the kitten as it started to vanish into the shadows of her cupped hands. “What’s wrong, Shadow?”

  “The pelt!” I pulled her closer to me and drew my sword. “Mist the room!”

  Starna pointed at the bucket of blood and it exploded, misting the entire room in droplets of water. The red outline of a cloaked figure drew a diamond dagger out from under the shadow as it launched itself at me.

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