“I’ve never seen the stars myself,” Jig said. The idea of such openness made him nervous. Worse, he had once heard stories about snow. Water and ice falling from the sky, with nothing overhead but a thin wooden roof for protection? How could they live like that?

Jig tried to stretch out, but the end of his rope was still looped around his arm, and the movement tightened the noose.

“What’s that?” Riana said loudly.

“Me,” Jig said, once he finished choking. He quickly unwound the rope from his arm. The noose was too tight for his fingers to pry loose. He felt around for a thin bone to use as a lever. Barius would be furious if he freed himself, but Barius might also be dead, and Jig was tired of being tied up.

He found two long bones that might work. One was too thin, but the other had a broken end with a jagged point. This could make a passable weapon. Not as nice as his sword, but better than nothing. As he felt along the other end of the dry, scaly bones, his fingers touched a loop of cold metal.

A bracelet? It was wide enough. The oval ring was as wide as his upper arm, but might fit snugly about a human’s wrist. He could feel hammer marks on the metal, and a bit of engraving on the inside. That was odd. Who engraved jewelry on the inside, leaving the outside bare and ugly?

Still maybe he could swap it to Barius for his sword. He slid the bracelet onto his arm, above the elbow, then snorted. Sure, and after Barius returned his sword, Jig would get Ryslind to teach him that fire-shooting spell. Maybe he’d follow it all up by asking Darnak for his wineskin.

He grabbed the bone and shoved it through the noose, close to the knot. The point scratched his neck, and he couldn’t pry the knot too hard without choking himself. He tried again, giving up only when blue spots of light began to float across his vision. Had the knot loosened at all? He couldn’t tell. Gasping, he fell back against the wall.

“What are you doing?”

Jig felt his neck. The touch stung, and his fingers came away sticky. “Cutting my throat.”

“What?”

He ignored her confused question. Tossing the bone away, he went back to searching the floor. Whoever this was, he had died wearing that bracelet. The other creatures still bore weapons and armor. What else might this one have with him? Jig hadn’t had time to look at things very closely before flinging himself into the alcove.

“If anyone cuts your throat, it should be me,” Riana muttered.