Damas nosed at the ground as we walked deeper into the cave. The bare rock did not hold tracks, but they held smell. He’d informed me that the giants had come this way many times. He didn’t know if they were inside now or out on the mountain somewhere.
I didn’t know which to hope for. Inside, I would have to deal with them. Outside, the soldiers would.
Water dribbled down the rounded walls, and a drop splashed on my gloved hand. Steamy sulfurous air caressed my cheeks.
Was my chest growing tighter? Or was that my imagination? I’d felt constriction before purely due to my own emotions stressing me out, so I tried to breathe evenly and maintain a calm state of mind.
The tunnel widened, opening into an underground chamber with a lake in the middle. Water dripped into it from above, and pu
