Chapter 177: Shared Pain
"What?" Irwin whispered, wondering if his ears were playing tricks on him.
He and Daubutim were as far to the back of the cargo hold as they could go, leaning against the wall and whispering to make sure Brinni didn't hear them. Perhaps he'd not heard his friend correctly?
"If you go inside and find portals to shardworlds, come back immediately and remain here while Greldo escorts the kids there and me," Daubutim said, calmly repeating himself.
Irwin shook his head, trying to understand why Daubutim would want to bring the kids along.
"Why?" he finally asked as he looked at Daubutim's profile.
The flickering flame on his hand caused long, chaotically moving shadows across the hold's hull.
"Because you and Greldo can't go into the portals due to your heartcard, but I need cards. If we can find portals to shardworlds beyond this portal they will have been there for a very long time, and the chances of us finding powerful cards will go up," Daubutim said.
Irwin looked at his friend, wondering if there was anything he hadn't read to prepare. He was about to answer when Ambraz wriggled himself free of his pocket.
"One-eye is right," Ambraz whispered as he landed on Irwin's shoulder.
Irwin glared at the Anvil for his poor joke, but Ambraz ignored him.
"It's the reason the wealthy merchants pay a lot of soulshards to be the first into those shardworlds," the Anvil whispered. "
Irwin opened his mouth, about to say that it was too dangerous to bring the kids in there, when he realized the ridiculousness of that remark. He and Greldo had been no more than kids when they were tossed into their first real portal, and they had only one card each at the time. Besides, Zender and his sisters would need cards if they wanted to extend their life to even a decade. No, the thing that was actually a problem was that Daubutim could die if he went inside.