Chapter 38 #3
“You accused me of burning everything around me but look at you setting fire to our friendship before it can even begin.”
The corner of my lips rose in amusement despite myself.
“Who puts a keystone in a fucking sea cave anyway?” North asked as a rush of water brought the level up to our knees.
“I am not certain anyone put them anywhere. They just…are. Fae may have visited and worshipped them, carved idols onto their faces, but they are the cornerstones of the continent we live upon. They sit within the ground because they are a part of the earth and so remain connected to it.”
“Still seems kind of odd to me. Kind of like my sister Kayla’s hiding place for her nipple clamps. She thinks we don’t all know about them but one time–”
I strode away from him without a word. Vesper’s five minutes were up.
Water sloshed around my thighs as I took the path she’d instructed me to follow, my heart pounding in my ears.
“Vesper?” I called into the darkness ahead, the echo of her name mocking me in reply.
Another rush of water sent the level up to my waist and North let out a bark of alarm as he waded after me.
“You walked off while I was in the middle of telling you all about–”
“Hush,” I commanded and he somehow managed to silence himself for once, though he grumbled as he did so.
“Vesper!” I called again, wading deeper into the cave, the glimmering light of her Faelight urging me closer.
But before I could reach her or the keystone she’d come here to fix, she burst into the tunnel and started running for me as fast as she could through the rising water.
She was far shorter than both me and the Wolf, a wave washing over her shoulders as it crested my chest. Blood stained the water around her as she ran for me and I could make out deep cuts along both of her arms.
“What happened?” I demanded, reaching for her and pulling her to me.
“I had to use runes to break free of the ether,” she panted. “I’ll explain later if we get out of this but it’s done. The keystone is restored.”
I hauled her into my arms and I could tell she was utterly exhausted by the way she let me, her head falling against my shoulder.
“Take my hand,” I barked at North, holding it out to him as more water rushed into the caves.
“What?”
“Now or never,” I growled, tugging Vesper closer to me and lashing her body against mine with vines.
North opened his mouth to say something else and took a slap from a final wave of sea water instead as it rushed in to steal the last remaining space within the cave.
His hand caught mine a moment before I abandoned him to his fate instead, my other palm striking the cave roof above us as I urged the stone to mould itself to my will.
Rock was harder to manipulate than soil, taking far more effort to do so, but I poured my power into it, holding my breath while I forced a path into place which hadn’t been there before.
Water rushed into the opening almost as fast as I could climb into it, North coughing and spluttering as I hauled him up behind us.
The rocks groaned as I forced them to part further above our heads but the water was rushing in quicker than we were going to be able to climb into the passage.
Vesper cursed, flicking water from her face before turning to North and grabbing his arm too.
“I need magic,” Vesper growled at North. “Give me yours.”
“What? I can’t. I hardly even know you, let alone trust you enough to power share,” he spluttered as the water once again rose to our chests.
“Then I’ll do it the old fashioned way.” Vesper shifted, her body hardening where it was lashed against mine, her features sharpening into the ethereal level of beauty which was hard to behold.
It took every piece of will I possessed to turn my gaze from her and focus on opening the way above. But North was overwhelmed by her allure instantly.
“Let me brush your hair,” he breathed, grabbing at the hand she still held him by and closing in on us so tightly that I growled in warning. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever–”
His words were cut off by a wave slapping him in the face but Vesper had clearly stolen enough of his power through his desires for what she needed and a moment later a ball of air magic closed around us tightly, forcing the water out at speed, its walls as solid as stone.
North fell to his knees at the air ball’s base and I leaned against its wall as the water continued to fill the tunnel I’d carved for us to escape through. We rose like a cork atop the rising sea level and Vesper’s face pinched with effort as she fought to maintain her hold on her power.
I gritted my teeth as I stretched my magic to its limit, carving a route for us right to the peak of the cliff and releasing a curse of effort when I finally felt the rock crack apart to reveal open air above.
“We’re almost there, love,” I told her, banishing the vines and lifting her into my arms instead.
Her gaze was shuttered, her jaw clenched as she fought to hold the bubble around us, the space shrinking inch by inch until I was forced to drop to my knees beside North.
He was muttering prayers to Aries, Sagittarius and Leo, urging them to see us to safety, listing all the great things about himself that the world would miss out on if he died. He was certainly very confident of his own self-worth.
I was almost spent but I placed my hand against Vesper’s cheek, opening the floodgates to what remained of my magic and pouring it into her so that she could keep the bubble in place.
Daylight loomed above us.
“Thirty more feet,” I growled.
“Bastian…” she panted and I dropped my gaze back to her, my brow furrowing as I took in the runes she’d carved into her own arms.
“What have you done to yourself, love?” I growled.
“I did what I had to,” she hissed. “To…return…to you…”
I saw the moment she lost her battle with oblivion before I felt the water closing around us.
North yelled in alarm as our air was stolen and the water crashed into the space it had defiantly been claiming for us. But we were still being propelled skyward by the current and I crushed Vesper to my chest as we sped the remaining distance to the surface.
My lungs burned and head spun but all the time I held her fate in my arms, I knew I wouldn’t succumb to the water. I kicked as hard as I could, propelling us higher and higher until finally we breached the surface in a spray of salt water.
Hands grabbed hold of us as the Vampires shot to meet us with their unnatural speed, the three of us dumped on the ground to cough and splutter.
“Here,” one of the Vampires rushed forward, wielding water magic and coaxing what we’d inhaled back out of our lungs.
I wouldn’t let him help me until he’d assisted Vesper and by the time I was able to breathe easily again, my mind was filled with nothing but fear for what repairing that keystone had cost her.
Each of these corrupted ley lines had been harder to restore than the last and I could only imagine what it might demand from her to repair the final one which awaited us in Avanis.
“She did it,” Lazarus said in wonder but I only scoffed at his awe.
“Perhaps you know less about her than you think you do, Vampire,” I said. “Because there isn’t a thing in this world that that woman can’t do when she sets her mind to it.”
“She’s insane,” North muttered, shaking his head like a dog to remove the water from his hair.
“No. She’s fucking unstoppable. And you’d all do well to remember it.”
I took her hand in mine and curled her fingers around the bundled herbs she’d given me.
“Fire,” I barked, my glare finding North as he failed to do as I’d commanded.
“What?” he asked, frowning at me in confusion.
“Set this alight,” I said, pointing at the bundle in Vesper’s fist.
He looked ready to protest again but at my snarl he sent a shot of flame onto the sodden package of herbs and runes.
They blazed a bright green as they burst alight and the Vampires retreated, muttering curses about dark magic.
Vesper‘s fist snapped shut, snuffing out the flames just as I began to fear they’d burn her. She sucked in a sharp breath as her eyes flew open and I dropped down, pressing my forehead to hers in relief and drawing her further into my arms.
“Did you doubt me, Dragon?” she teased, her voice still weaker than I would have liked.
“Never,” I replied. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like the lengths you go to.”
“Stop fussing.”
“Never,” I repeated and the breath of laughter that escaped her had my pounding heart slowing at last.