“Privileges are earned,” Carnag replied emphatically.
“Can you guys hear me?” Mira whispered. “Are you all right?”
“We’re caged inside a giant monster,” Cole replied. “Otherwise, we’re fine.”
“How do you hear one another?” Carnag bellowed. “Silence!”
The cage shook brusquely. Cole clung to the bars to stay on his feet.
“Don’t make it madder,” one of the legionnaires advised.
“I haven’t lost all of my shaping skills,” Mira called.
“Is that Miracle down there?” another of the legionnaires asked. “The Miracle, from all those years ago?”
Cole considered the legionnaire. Apparently the conversation between Mira and Carnag had provided him with enough clues to guess what was really happening. If he was adding up the facts, Cole figured it would be best to put the whole truth into circulation.
“Her father stole her powers,” Cole said.
“You don’t mean the High King, do you?” the same legionnaire replied.
Cole nodded. “He stole the shaping powers from all of his daughters and faked their deaths. Mira’s been hiding all this time. Her father started losing the stolen powers, and Mira’s powers turned into Carnag.”
Everyone in the cage looked astonished.
“Who are you three?” a different legionnaire asked.
“Nobody important,” Jace said. “We’re helping her. Or trying.”
“We have to get to that woman inside of Carnag,” Cole said in a hushed tone.
“Good luck,” the oldest of the legionnaires said. “We have our weapons. The monster didn’t bother to confiscate them. We tried to chisel our way out. The creature is really solid. When we finally made a little progress, it just shaped away the damage and shook us around.”
Carnag was walking again, moving through the woods, her long arms pushing trees aside like bushes. With each step, the cell swayed and the surroundings creaked.
“I may be able to help,” Liam said quietly in Cole’s ear. “I’ll have to get closer, but I should be able to open up Carnag for you, at least briefly.”
“We’ll be ready,” Cole whispered, his heart thumping.
“Where is she taking us?” Twitch asked.
“To put us with the others,” the woman said.
“What others?” Jace asked.
“That’s all she told us,” the oldest legionnaire said. “Presumably, the other people she has taken. You heard her. Carnag collects people.”
Twitch put his ear to the beam. “I think the woman is talking again. It’s pretty soft.”
“Try to catch some words,” Jace urged.
Cole drew near to Jace and used his quietest whisper. “You heard Liam?”
Jace gave a nod and put a finger to his lips. “I’d try to pry it open with my rope, but this thing is too solid.” He kicked the back wall of the cell, then winced and hobbled for a moment. He sat down by Cole, his golden rope in his hands. “Looks like we’re stuck. We’ll have to wait and see where we end up.”
Cole wondered if Carnag bought the theatrics. The giant gave no indication one way or the other.
They passed out of the woods and started across open fields. Cole looked down at a barn and a farmhouse. The buildings appeared vacant, but cattle and sheep roamed some nearby pastures.
He noticed a speck in the distance. It grew rapidly, as if heading straight for them. He nudged Jace, who looked up with a start.
By the time Carnag stopped walking and turned to confront the oncoming threat, Cole could see that it was Liam. He flew straight at Carnag, only swerving when one of those long arms reached for him.
“Get ready,” Liam said as he streaked around behind the giant, not speaking loudly, but plenty loud with the earpiece.
Carnag chased Liam in earnest now, twisting and leaping, both arms swatting. Everyone clung to the cage’s bars as best they could.
“The woman isn’t far from you,” Liam said after a series of dizzying evasive maneuvers. “Be quick! I’ll try to distract it.”
The back of the cell suddenly opened up into a tunnel that sloped inward and down. Wasting no time, Cole dashed into the opening. Jace and Twitch joined him, a step or two behind.
Carnag gave her most enraged roar yet. The overwhelming echoes came from everywhere. Staggering forward with his hands over his ears, Cole could feel the bellow as clearly as he heard it. The ragged walls of the makeshift tunnel quaked.
The tunnel wasn’t very long. Cole reached the end quickly. He was in a simple lit room. A woman sat on a fat cushioned chair. She was middle-aged, with long dark hair and a loose black dress. Her physique hinted that she sat in a chair a lot more than she exercised. Her eyes were wide with alarm as she rose to her feet.
“They’re in—” she started screaming, but Jace’s rope whipped forward and wrapped around her head at the level of her mouth several times. All she managed after that was muffled fury.
“Shut up!” Cole ordered, brandishing his Jumping Sword. “Sit down, or I’ll chop you in half!”
“I’ll do more than that!” Jace promised.
The woman dropped into the chair. Behind him, Cole noticed the tunnel close up. He, Jace, Twitch, and the woman were now trapped in a fairly small space illuminated by glowing stones.
The room lurched sideways, and Cole fell to his knees. Jace went down as well, but he kept hold of the rope. Twitch gave a little jump, fluttered his wings, and stayed on his feet. The chair slid a short distance, but the woman remained in it.
“What are you doing in here?” Cole asked.
The woman glared at him and pointed at the rope over her mouth.
“Right,” Cole said. “Call for help, and we’ll show no mercy.”
She gave a nod.
The coils of the rope loosened, sliding down to encircle her neck. Her eyes stayed on Cole. She curled her fingers at him and glowered. “How did you get in here? That was a strong act of shaping, yet I sense no active power in any of you.”
“None of your business,” Cole said. “Tell Carnag to let us go.”
She grinned and gave a smug laugh. “Let you go? Are you trying to hold me hostage? You haven’t seen Carnag mad yet. But you will.”
One wall of the cell bulged, and Mira stepped out, a tendril in her back. Up close, the semblance was uncannily lifelike. “What are you doing in here?” fake Mira asked.