Chapter 26 #2
As annoyed as I was by that vague response, I swallowed my objections. I was too tired and weary to fight him for answers.
“How did you even know it was in the cave?” I asked.
“When the curse was first laid, there was a small window of time where I could still move between the kingdoms through the portals. I knew the relic was required to free myself, so I snuck into Siris and stole it, and hid it on Mount Kharos thinking no one would ever look for it there. It was only after they realized it was gone that they amended the first task so that I wouldn’t be able to retrieve it again.
All these years, it’s been up there, waiting for the right human to wander in and find it. ” He gave me a knowing look.
“Did they know it was you that stole it?” I asked, trying to keep up with his long strides.
“They assumed it was me, and used their magic to mess with the portals, banishing me from anywhere but Eroth. Honestly, what did they expect me to do when it was required to break the curse?”
“So in addition to being a kidnapper, you’re also a thief.”
“Among other things,” he muttered so quietly I might have imagined it.
Rhydian went silent after that, both of our attentions entirely fixed on trying to get down the volcano in one piece.
He went first, lowering himself down one step at a time, and I did my best to follow.
I only slipped twice, and both times Rhydian’s hand was there to catch my foot.
How many times was he going to save my life?
We descended the rest of the mountain in silence, both focused on not falling to our deaths.
By the time our feet touched solid ground at the bottom, I didn’t know how I was going to make it to the cave.
My limbs threatened to give out with each step, my stomach growling a ferocious roar every few minutes.
Rhydian’s steps swayed every so often, but we both pushed on, desperate to get out of the biting wind and rest again.
The hour it supposedly took to walk to the cave felt like a hundred, and when we finally ducked inside, Rhydian wasted no time getting a fire going from the remnants of when we were here last time.
As soon as I sat down next to the warmth of the flames, exhaustion encompassed me so completely I had to shake myself several times to keep my eyes from sliding closed.
Rhydian was rummaging around in his bag, but it fell to the background of my mind as I struggled to stay awake.
At least until something thunked me on the head then rolled a few feet away. It appeared to be some sort of fruit.
I spun to face Rhydian. “What was that for?”
“Your rumbling stomach,” he replied, amusement lighting up his eyes.
“You couldn’t have just handed it to me?”
“You were falling asleep. Now you’re awake. What’s that phrase in your world? Two birds, one stone?”
“You’re infuriating,” I muttered as I reached for the fruit, eliciting a low chuckle from Rhydian that made my stomach flip.
I bit into the fruit and then stared at it while I tried to figure out what it was.
It looked like an orange-colored apple, but the inside was soft and chewy like a banana.
It was a strange texture, but it was sweet and satisfying, and I quickly finished it off, wondering if there were more hiding in his bag.
“It’s called a Barang. They used to grow plentifully here, but now they’re almost all gone. Nico searched for two days for that one,” he explained, nodding at the core I had just chucked at the fire.
Two days, and I had scarfed it down within seconds.
“I have some bread left if you’re still hungry,” Rhydian said, holding a fabric-wrapped chunk to me.
It was then I realized I hadn’t seen him eat anything.
“What about you? Aren’t you going to eat?”
Rhydian’s arm remained outstretched, waiting for me to take the bread. “I’ll eat when we get back. You need the strength to make the return journey.”
“But you need strength too.”
He shook his head, an amused smile tilting his lips. “I’m Fae, remember? I don’t have the same limitations you humans do. Eat, Maren.” Something flashed in his eyes, and I wondered if he was lying to assuage me, but it was gone quicker than I could decipher it.
It still felt wrong to allow him to starve, especially after that feat of magic he had done. I took the bread from him, tore it in half, and handed one side back to him.
“You need to eat too.”
Surprise lit his features, his long fingers brushing mine as he took the chunk. I fervently ignored the zing that went up my arm at the touch, but it was getting harder and harder to do so. What was happening between us?
I stuffed the bread in my mouth, wiping the crumbs from my hands and my coat once it was gone. The dancing flames ensnared my attention, my eyes growing heavier by the second. I glanced at Rhydian.
“So when are you going to tell me what the second task is?” I asked, breaking the silence. “Will I have to climb another volcano and face yet another monster that wants to kill me without a way of defending myself?”
Rhydian’s face was unamused. “Think what you want of me, but had I known the Lavawraith dwelled within the lava, I wouldn’t have sent you in there so unprepared. I would have done things differently.”
“How could you not know that creature was up there?”
“It’s been many years, Maren, since I’ve been on Mount Kharos, and when I hid that object, I encountered no beasts.” His lips twitched as if he had said something funny, but I couldn’t find the joke in his words.
“You keep saying many years and decades about everything, but you hardly look much older than me.” I sat forward, resting my arms on my knees. “Just how old are you?”
He hesitated, avoiding my gaze as he stoked the fire with a stick.
“Much older than you.”
“But how can that be?”
“Fae don’t age the way humans do, and their life-spans are much, much longer.”
“How much longer?”
Rhydian let out an impatient sigh, running a hand over his face. “Decades. Centuries longer.”
“Centuries? Are you telling me you’re hundreds of years old?”
“Does it matter, Maren?” A strange redness colored his cheeks, and he avoided my gaze.
A weighted silence filled the cave, tension squeezing the air between us.
I wanted to ask more, wanted to demand he give me answers instead of brushing me off, but between the heat from the fire and the food now sitting happily in my belly, exhaustion was overtaking me, my eyelids sliding closed of their own accord.
“Sleep, Maren.” Rhydian’s quiet voice met my ears, his warm hands gently laying me down.
I was vaguely aware of a coat that smelled like cold air and pine being pulled over me before I slipped into the dark.