Chapter 37 #2
Sweat sticks my collar to my neck as we run. Stopping at turns and praying we make the right one. Some paths are already engulfed in flames. It should be a relief that it limits any decision paralysis, but really it just highlights the fact we may be running out of time to escape the first circle.
Lyra picks up speed, taking the lead. We follow her down path after path until we come to a dead end. One that dips down into a pool of water. Aelia and I take either side of her, and another roar and belt of flame erupts in the distance.
“The water…” Lyra says, staring at its glassy surface.
Everything clicks. I push past both Aelia and Lyra, and walk into it until it’s at my waist. Turning back to look at them, I usher them forward. “Come on! Fire dragons hate water! We’ll be safe!”
“That only leads to another dead end!” Aelia calls, flicking her hand at the wall a few more paces in front of me. “Shouldn’t we keep moving?”
“The water,” Lyra shakes her head, eyes fixed on the wall behind me.
Grunting, I take my attention off them and walk faster to the wall, eventually getting deep enough to swim. I slip my hands through the leaves and palm the wall behind it. Looking for some sort of hidden handle or knob. Perhaps a secret door, like the one we entered from.
A roar rolls in from the distance, sounding closer as the longer it drags on. I swivel to Aelia and Lyra, still standing there at the water’s edge.
“Get in here!” I command.
Aelia steps in, but Lyra’s stuck. Shaking her head with those distant, wide eyes. “I can’t swim.”
Another screech. Closer. I pass Aelia, wading to Lyra as a blast of fire flares up close by.
As I grab Lyra’s wrist, a shower of flames carves into the path behind her.
I rip Lyra against me, and fall back into the water as fire engulfs the path.
The dragon dips low, its claws skimming the burning path before we’re swallowed by water.
I push through quickly, pulling Lyra with me to the surface. We both gasp as we break through. Dancing flames fill the pathway. We’re stuck now, unless we want to try our luck walking through fire.
“There’s a gap underneath the wall!” Aelia hisses behind us.
I turn as Aelia dunks herself beneath the water and swims, disappearing beneath the wall.
Lyra clings to me, whimpering, “Marcella, I cannot swim!”
I look at her, wrapping an arm around her midsection and walking back toward Aelia. “Just stay calm, hang on to me, and you’ll be fine. I’m not going to let you drown. You’re going to need to swim underneath—”
“But I—”
“Listen to me!” I shake her. “You have no other option, and we’re running out of time. Remember this?” I lift a hand to show her my palm. “We’re bound, you and I. Trust me. I won’t let you die, okay?”
Her bottom lip quivers, and I grab her hand, squeezing it tightly. “Don’t let me go, alright? I’m going to swim under first, and I’ll pull you with me. But you’re going to need to kick your feet and use your other hand. If you don’t stay calm, you’ll kill us both.”
Not giving her more of a chance to overthink it, I take a deep breath and take the plunge, pulling her in after me and sinking beneath the wall.
When I open my eyes in the water, I find the bottom of the pool isn’t as deep as I thought.
It’s littered with green leaves shed by the maze walls.
As soon as I clear the wall above me, I look back at Lyra whose eyes are squeezed shut.
I place a foot on the wall and push off, propelling us both forward enough that she clears the underside of the wall and we breach the surface.
We both gasp in unison, and I blink water out of my eyes as Aelia runs in to help take Lyra. We exit the pool to find flames to our left sizzling out, and to the right is a clear path. Our boots and dragon scale outfits are soaked—sure to slow us down.
I glance up at the skies, trying to search for the mountains of Vitalis, or any hint of where we are. Are Lady Bethany or Devin even watching us right now? How many women have made it, or worse…How many women have died? What does this trial prove about being a right fit for the Blood Ring?
We turn a corner and run into a group of four other women, headed by Willow. They all look shaken, fear widening their gazes. And yet, we all sag with slight relief that we’re no longer alone.
Not sure if bigger numbers make us an even bigger target, however.
“Do you know if we’ve made it to the second ring?” Aelia asks.
Willow shakes her head, pointing back behind them while panting, “No, but I think we’re close. Stella thinks we’re in the second outer ring of the first circle. Why…are you all wet?”
“We swam underneath one of the maze walls,” I answer.
Another roar of the dragon rolls out like thunder, followed by the unmistakable scream of a woman.
Everyone’s eyes round, and Willow swats a hand toward a path. “Let’s keep moving!”
The seven of us barrel down the path after Willow. The three of us soaked head to toe are a bit slower than the rest. After a few minutes she stops suddenly, holding out a hand and backpedaling behind the corner as a shot of flame rips down the path and explodes against the ivy wall to our right.
Lyra tucks in behind me, and I grab her as I run in the opposite direction. The rest of the women follow us, and now we’re leading. Aelia barks direction after direction.
That is, until Lyra croaks next to me, “Her directions are wrong. We’re going in circles.”
We reach another dead end. I turn to Aelia. “We haven’t even reached the second circle yet. I think one of us should climb the wall and see if we can make a path out.”
“Oh? And who do you propose that will be?” Willow challenges.
“Me.”
Lyra pulls at my sleeve, eyes desperate and pleading. “You can’t. If you die—”
“I won’t die,” I promise her. Then address the rest of the women, “I’ll go, as long as you can all promise that you’ll watch my back. And if I fall, you catch me.”
Wide-eyed, they all tilt their heads back to look up at the top of the wall.
Fine. It might be unrealistic for me to expect them to save me from a fall if it were from the top. But at least I know I won’t do it alone. Willow looks at me with a nod. “Alright, go quick.”
Squeezing Lyra’s shoulder, I race over to the wall and sink my fingers into the thorned ivy.
Swallowing the pain blistering my skin, I grab hold and begin to pull myself up.
Inch by inch I ascend, and after a few minutes blood trickles down my fingers.
Silently, I thank the dragon scales for covering the rest of my body.
As I maneuver up, other overgrown thorns scratch my cheek, my neck.
Once I’m at the top, I slide up enough that only my eyes peek over the edge.
The maze stretches beyond us, and the fire dragon is at the other circle. Dipping down into a path and returning back up with someone held in its hind claws.
Not a fire dragon—a fire wyvern.
My heart drops as the beast releases the woman and she plunges to the ground. Then it circles around, perching on a wall and flapping its wings to stay upright. Stirring leaves around it in a flurry, it roars down into the path, echoing out across the valley we’re in.
“Well?” Willow calls from below. “What do you see? How close are we to the second circle?”
Tearing my attention off the fire wyvern, I assess the maze.
Calling down as I make a pathway out, instructing lefts and rights over my shoulder.
I pause when the wyvern belts a shower of flame into the second circle.
Then I quickly map out the second circle, blurting out directions as quickly as I can and praying they’re remembering them.
The wyvern lifts up off the wall with its beating wings and swings its attention to our circle. I swear that even across the long distance between us, it’s eyes zero in on me.
I drop down beneath the ledge. “We have to go!”
I begin to descend quickly, knuckles white beneath the blood as I attempt to balance moving fast with moving cautiously.
“You’re close enough, jump!” Lyra calls.
I shake my head, trying to descend faster.
“Jump!” Lyra calls. “It’s coming!”
I rip my attention off the ivy in front of me and look down below. My heart spirals at the space between me and the rest of the women. All of them crowd together, linking their arms in some makeshift netting of hands on wrists. Sucking in a breath, I push off the wall and leap.
The fall is quick. Their arms brace me as I bounce into them, Lyra stumbling before she regains her balance. They all help me to my feet, and we run. Turn after turn, just as I saw it. We make it to the outer ring. We run harder, faster, with whatever energy we have left.
We get to the second circle, making our way past four turns, some crackling with flame, until we arrive at a fifth. Then turn again.
We stop at a dead end, where a woman’s limp body is bent at unnatural angles, her eyes wide and unblinking.
Willow turns to face me. “Now what?”
The screech of the wyvern is loud enough that we all buckle underneath it, covering our ears. Three women race down a path behind us, and we have barely enough time to hide behind a wall when the wyvern dips down into it and blasts another barrel of flame.
When the beating of wings fade, we all peek out from the wall. Flame cuts us off from backtracking.
“Here,” Aelia whispers, pointing down a bend around the corner of the wall. “There’s another pool I saw when we ran in here.”
We follow her to it, and she takes no extra time for explanations. She wades into the water until she’s forced to swim the rest of the way to the wall, then dips beneath and disappears.
A roar shakes the air behind us.
As we turn to assess the distance, its molten gaze peeks over the wall behind us before it crests completely.
Landing on the wall with a force that shakes the leaves free, it splays its mighty wings to either side.
Its yellow-scaled chest inflating as daggered jaws open wide to expose an orb of glowing orange creeping up its throat.
The women all dive in, disappearing beneath the surface as I reach for Lyra again. Not giving her another chance to be fearful, I shove her headfirst beneath the water and dive in after her.
The water above us explodes into an array of orange and yellow color, bubbling and boiling the surface of the water as I force us lower away from it.
She faces me, cheeks puffed and eyes wide as she shakes her head.
Her hands claw at me, panicked and screaming in her mouth.
With a flick of her chin toward the surface, her throat bulges.
She needs air.
I didn’t give her a proper warning to fill her lungs first.
I pull her with me away from the fire and toward the wall, tugging her with what strength I have left. Her movements are becoming sluggish, eyes fighting to stay open.
I yank her close to me, her dark lashes slowly fluttering open to look at me. Grabbing either side of her face, I draw her to my mouth and press my lips against hers.
Take it. Take it from me, Lyra.
Nudging open her mouth until she gives in, I release half a breath into her mouth, pressing against her hard to keep the seal.
I snap my mouth shut as she does hers, and there’s a slight life to her now. But my own lungs scream in protest.
We don’t have much time.
Several shadows shift in the water, and hands grab us. We’re pulled beneath the wall and dragged through the depths until we break through the surface on the other side. Not able to thank the other women just yet for their assistance, I’m panting heavily. Grateful for fresh air.
As I lift Lyra, her weight is suddenly far too heavy.
I look to find her eyes are still closed, face relaxed.
“Lyra?” I shout. But she doesn’t open her eyes.
“Quick, pull them out!” Aelia barks.
Several of the women help me drag Lyra out just enough to lay her on her back. I move my ear near her mouth, searching for a breath. Not finding one, I stop wasting precious seconds looking. I straddle her, placing one hand over the other and firmly pounding them against her chest.
“Come on, come on,” I grunt through each thrust. Her body accepts each push limply. “Don’t die on me, Lyra. Don’t die!”
I lurch forward, checking for a breath that doesn’t come.
Grabbing her head, I tilt it back to open her throat.
Pinching her nose with one hand, I grab her chin with the other and open her mouth.
Then I lower my face to hers, giving her a slow, steady breath.
I pull away and inhale, then press my palms back into her chest.
I may need to use that dragonsblood. There will be consequences for using it around these other women, but—I can't let her die.
I can’t.
And the Gods wouldn’t waste the magic of a Seer on someone meant to die so young. Right?
I need her—she’s my best bet at setting my brother free.
As I pump her chest with my hands, finally on the fifth time her chest inflates. Her eyes flutter open, and she curls in on herself, coughing up water.
I nearly laugh in relief, cupping her cheek and lifting her face so I can see her eyes.
They’re half-lidded and heavy when they rise to mine. But blue.
And alive.