Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Fedra heard every shift of dirt and each pebble that rolled, as if they were right next to her ear. Marcus was closer than ever before. She imagined herself reaching out to him, their fingers touching. She had tried to speak to him again, but he obviously couldn’t hear. So, she listened to him.
She knew when he stilled, and his breathing deepened, that he was deep in thought. Would he hear her if she tried one more time? If he continued forward, he would find her. He had to find her. She couldn’t continue where she was.
Fedra’s thoughts froze when she heard someone digging. Elation swelled in her chest, clogging her throat. She longed to see the moon again, to bask in the sun’s rays and feel the rain upon her skin. She yearned to swim in a river and jump from the waterfall.
Though she couldn’t see, she urged Marcus to keep digging. Her mind spun with thoughts of freedom, but with it came the reality that he—and whoever his people were—might not be able to get her back where she belonged. If they couldn’t, then she would find the ones who could.
No matter how long it took.
“Marcus,” a deep voice called.
“I’ve got this,” he answered.
If Fedra could’ve smiled, she would have. She had known Marcus was special. He would be the one to find her and release her, and then she would finally be able to see colors. She never, ever wanted to see darkness again once she was freed.
Marcus created tools with his magic and dug slowly.
He constantly compared the spot he was digging to the blueprints in his head to make sure he didn’t deviate.
Maybe it was because all his concentration was on getting through the cave-in, but the unease he had felt earlier had tripled.
His heart raced, and no matter how many times he controlled his breathing, he couldn’t get his pulse to slow.
His skin prickled with awareness. He paused and looked around to make sure no one was there, once more finding that he was alone. He looked toward Evander. His friend was still in the same position, watching.
Nothing had made him black out. Nothing had made him sick.
Maybe it had been the tech that’d caused both before.
That didn’t explain the apprehension now.
It was just one more thing to figure out once he cleared the corridor.
Once he got through, he would be able to see the entire passageway and know where to place the supports so they could begin fixing the ceiling.
That would take magic, but he couldn’t do it until he had a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree look at the area.
Inch by inch, Marcus tunneled his way through the cave-in. The tiny hole became fist-sized, then grapefruit-sized, then balloon-sized, and then beachball-sized. He paused when he encountered a large rock. He could make out three sides of it, but he had no idea how far it went up into the ceiling.
Marcus couldn’t go around. This was the only way through. He flattened his hand on the rock and sent waves of magic out from his palm to slowly break the stone in half horizontally. The first crack splintered outward from where his palm sat in the center and spread to the sides in either direction.
He spotted a crack shoot upward and immediately ceased his magic.
For several moments, Marcus stood there, watching the fissure to make sure it didn’t spread up or down.
Once he knew the cracking had stopped, he returned his focus to breaking the rock, except this time, he used both hands and directed his magic to the two points to the right and left.
The minutes dragged as he moved his hands outward to follow the fractures.
He tried to determine how thick the stone was, but the fissures were too thin for him to tell.
The break, when it came, happened quickly.
A loud crack split the air. Marcus caught the bottom of the rock as it broke away.
He stared down at the three foot by three foot gray stone in his hands.
There was no time to examine it as he set it aside and studied the other part that hung from the debris.
“Just as I thought,” he murmured after carefully digging around it and finding that the rock was a massive boulder.
It looked as if it might hold, but he wouldn’t take any chances. He created some metal support poles and securely braced them under the boulder. Then he continued digging. He came across more rocks, but none were as large as the boulder.
Sweat rolled down his face as he directed the piles of dirt to the side with a wave of his hand. He rolled the stones farther away, keeping the area around him clear of debris. The hole was large enough that Teo could crawl through now, but it wouldn’t be the lad who crossed to the other side.
“Marcus.”
He cringed at Con’s voice in his head. Marcus didn’t turn around to see if the King of Kings was there. He opened the mental link shared by the dragons and answered, “Aye.”
“Were my orders unclear?” Con demanded.
“No’ at all.”
“Then do you want to explain what you’re doing?”
Marcus had made the initial opening large enough for him to get through. Now, he needed to excavate the rest. “I’m finding out what’s on the other side.”
“You need to stop.”
“I can no’ do that.”
There was a beat of silence, and Marcus knew Con’s black eyes were narrowed on him. Finally, the King of Dragon Kings said, “You doona know what’s on the other side.”
“And we never will by ignoring it.”
“You lost time and memories last time you were in there.”
Dirt dropped onto Marcus’s face. He shook his head to dislodge it from his lashes. “That hasna happened this time.”
“It might.”
“I’m no’ coming out. You can either support me in this or come and get me yourself. But I’m no’ leaving willingly.”
Marcus severed the connection. He had said all he had to say. There was no need to continue. He would know soon enough what Con’s decision was. He kept digging, breaking through more and more ground.
He gently moved a large stone back and forth until he dislodged it from the others.
As he turned to set it aside, the pile of rock and soil above him groaned as it shifted, sending a shower of dirt down upon him.
He didn’t turn away quickly enough and got flecks in his eyes.
Marcus blinked several times to clear his vision.
“Let me take over.”
He stilled at the sound of Con’s voice. Marcus looked up to find him standing beside him. “There is only a narrow section we can get through, so the rest doesna fall.”
“Then what else can we do?” Con asked.
Marcus frowned, but before he could ask who else was there, Evander came into view.
“Doona worry,” Evander said as he pointed to the rope wrapped around his and Con’s waists. “Ryder, Brandr, and Vaughn are in the atrium.”
Marcus met Con’s dark eyes and nodded. “Clear the hall.”
“I’ll handle that,” Evander stated.
Con remained next to Marcus. “I’ll keep an eye on things out here.”
Marcus got back to work tunneling his way through.
The cracked tiles he had to dislodge from the pile slowed his progress.
Some he was able to shatter, which made moving them easy.
Others were trickier as they were balanced with rocks and soil.
He was on his hands and knees digging when there was suddenly no more dirt.
He dropped to his stomach to try to see through the small opening. There was no light on the opposite side, but his enhanced vision allowed him to see that there was about another twenty feet of hallway and then a room.
“What is it?” Con asked.
Marcus pushed up onto his hands and knees. “I broke through. There’s a room.”
There was no more talking after that. Marcus had to force himself to go slowly so as not to make any mistakes, but it was difficult knowing there was only about a foot of debris to get through before he could explore the new chamber.
The pile groaned twice more, almost like a warning. His calculations were right, and he had secured the pile, but that didn’t mean thirty tons of earth couldn’t fall on them. However, for him, it was worth the risk.
Marcus smiled when he removed the last rock and stared into another dark section of the corridor. “I’m through,” he said.
Con squatted behind him. “What do you see?”
“The corridor itself looks the same, but the room beyond has a different construction. The tiles, the look, everything.”
“Do you see anyone?” Evander asked through the link.
Marcus peered through the opening and scanned the area he could see. Dragons had flawless eyesight. They could see as well at night as they could during the day. If something was in the dark, he would see it.
“No’ that I can see from this location. I need to go in farther,” Marcus replied.
Con said, “I’m right behind you.”
Marcus crawled out of the caved-in section and stood. He brushed the dirt from himself and moved forward. There were broken tiles on the ground that had fallen with the ceiling collapse. Marcus stepped around them as he walked forward. It was only then that he realized the uneasy feeling was gone.
He crossed the threshold from the passageway to the chamber, and lights flickered on.
The room was octagonal, with unusual markings on the walls.
In the center was a stasis chamber. Marcus slowly walked closer and looked down to find a dark-haired woman within.
He didn’t know how, but he knew she was the one who had been reaching out to him.
She wanted to be released. He looked for a latch to open the pod and grasped it once he located it.
“We doona know why she was placed here,” Con said, moving to the other side of the stasis pod.
Marcus paused, knowing Con was right. After a moment, Marcus removed his hand.
Con motioned to the walls. “Look at this place. We need to decipher if these are writings or art before we do anything.”
“We could ask her.”
“If it was just the two of us, I’d agree. But there are bairns here. We’ve offered others safety and sanctuary, and I can no’ put them in danger.”