“Well, I did. They claimed I was helping you too much. Not letting you figure out how to get past the ormyrr was bad enough in their eyes, along with guiding you through the gnoll lair and breaking the lock on that cage. But they were especially mad that I saved Jorick from the trap and Evin from being torn apart by the gnolls.” She looked into Evin’s eyes, her features grim. “I’m thinking that they’re soon going to be taking wagers on whether I make it out of this alive too.”

They grew silent.

“Last time I talked to them,” Bet whispered after a moment, “I told them I think what they’re doing is wrong. I was going to try and help you … in secret, and in my own way.”

“Enough.” The chimera’s voice boomed, loosening dirt from the burrow’s ceiling and sending it raining upon their heads.

“I grow bored of your explanations, levethix.” As he spoke, the chimera stretched and rose to his feet. His hind hooves clomped heavily against the dirt as he began to pace back and forth in front of them. “If your words are true and you were an unwitting accomplice to the wizards who hold me captive within the walls, then you can help me escape.”

“Help us,” Jorick corrected under his breath.

“I don’t know,” Bet said, looking up at the fearsome creature. “The wizards on watch are very powerful, and their power will be even stronger when they discover they’ve been betrayed.”

“She’s lying,” Evin said. “About being innocent in all this. Otherwise she’d help.”

“I’m not lying!” Bet cried.

Evin jumped up, breathing heavily. “Prove it,” he said. “Give me and Jorick our memories back. All of them. Take away the enchantment that’s clouding our heads.”

Bet swallowed and slowly stood. “I can’t,” she whispered. “Only the wizard who put the spell on you can take it away.”

Evin took a step forward, coming so close to Bet that they stood nose to nose. She took a step back.

“Then you’d better take us to the wizard who did this.”

Again Bet swallowed and looked down. Behind her, Jorick scowled.

A blast of flame seared through the burrow. “I said enough!” the chimera roared.

Evin, Jorick, and Bet backed away from the creature as he turned to face them, his wings spread wide. He seemed three times larger than he had been only moments ago.

“Enough of your explanations,” his dragon head hissed. Narrowing his eyes, he looked among all three of them. “You three want to destroy the wizards, as do I. So let us take our fighting to them.”

Chapter Twenty-Five