Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
“ I f you wish to explore the tunnels, all you have to do is ask . It will be easier if we do it together.”
It was unnerving to be chastised by someone younger than you, but Zariah’s points were valid. And it was preferable to being in the cave where the woman’s sobs loudly echoed through the cave opening as Shava explained to her (yet again) that Zariah had killed her brother on the queen’s orders.
“You didn’t eat him at least, did you?” I asked, half joking, half morbidly fascinated.
The girl gave a loud sob, and Shava glared.
Zariah gave me a stink eye. “Fire is usually easiest. Then I don’t have to look at the bones. Sometimes, though, when I’ve been out there for weeks without shifting back, I forget things. I smell the blood and terror, and I lose myself. When I come to, there are bones everywhere.”
Once again, the world reminded me of just how close I came to being dragon poop.
“Thank the gods you had your wits about you when we met. ”
Zariah shook his head. “I’ve known who you are for a while, and I’ve watched you through the dome.
Even my dragon senses our blood bond. I won’t ever hurt you.
Well, as long as Mother doesn’t directly order it, then it’s harder to disobey.
And I don’t think I can outright lie to her.
If she isn’t specific, I can manage, though. ”
I frowned. “Is it blood magick, of a sort?”
Zariah’s lips turned down, unhappy. “Must be.” He bent his legs and rested his chin on his knees.
A cursed prince who turned into a dragon and was forced to obey the queen’s whims.
We didn’t have a fucking chance.
That’s why I needed to get back to the palace and get back to my research. I had to build upon the magick inside of me, and become stronger. No, invincible.
“It would be easier to explore the tunnels with you,” I finally said, since the silence had stretched on long enough.
“I would like to stay away for a few weeks as it is. She cannot force me to do anything if I’m not physically there.” He sounded so much like a petulant child that it broke me out of my selfish thoughts of research and power.
Zariah was a child, for all the death and fire he’d seen and wrought. I hardened my heart against such thoughts. I’d only been a child like him when my mother had died and I was reaped.
The strong prevailed, and the weak died. It was the way of the world. Adapt or die. Thrive and survive.
“Shall we?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I’d rather begin my adventures with just Zariah and without a trail of girls and a young boy.
He rolled his eyes, shifting back into the dragon. Crouching down on all fours, he lowered his neck in a clear invitation to clamber on .
“What, don’t feel like dangling me from your claws today?”
He huffed, and a trail of embers flew from his nose, smoke wafting up in tight curls.
“Fine,” I relented, climbing up.
His scales were warm underneath my body, and I settled myself up above his wing joints, grabbing onto the large spikes around his neck.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I groaned as Shava emerged from the cave, arms crossed over her chest. “I?—”
Zariah flinched, his dragon ears flattening tight against his skull. His body flattened to the ground.
“What is it?” I asked.
Zariah shook me off, depositing me right in front of the small sliver on the cliff’s side.
Then he flew away.
My shoulders shrugged, but inwardly I was pleased.
“Well, it appears I have no choice but to explore this cave and see where it leads. You can help the … new one settle in,” I offered magnanimously.
Her eyes narrowed further.
“Cerys.”
What? Oh. That must be the woman’s name.
“Just so,” I said. “Not much choice either way, since I can’t get back over until Zariah returns. Might as well explore.”
Her eyes rolled. “Just don’t die.”
Someone didn’t wish me dead; what a novel experience. I gave her a grin that didn’t feel as confident as I would have liked and squeezed my body in through the narrow cave opening.
There’s nothing in here that can harm you. It’s empty, dark space, and nothing more.
It was one thing to say it, quite another, when the stone walls squeezed in on you. My brain spun all the scenarios of my being crushed to death, or asphyxiating.
“Don’t be stupid. Shava wouldn’t be afraid.”
That thought alone propelled me forward, pushing my body through the narrow slits and praying there was a larger chamber up ahead.
The silence played tricks on my brain, the sounds of my body scraping and sliding against stone loud and panicky in my ears.
The path narrowed even further until stone pressed in on me from all sides.
If I went any further, I would risk becoming trapped, unable to turn around and get back out.
The ignominy of dying in a tunnel facedown with my ass in the air made me hesitate.
Until the entire cave shook.
Adrenaline and fear spiked through my body in a potent cocktail as everything rumbled and shook around me.
Rocks tumbled and slide behind me and desperately I tried to stay calm.
The small bit of light that had been at my back reminding me of the way out disappeared, plunging me into complete, inky blackness.
Don’t panic.
It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like hours. Would the walls fall and crush me? Would the cave-in behind me cut off all the air, and I’d greedily suck the last bits down until I hyperventilated, passed out, and died?
The rumbling stopped, and everything was once again still.
Son of a fucking bitch.
My breaths were loud in my ears, and I struggled to keep them calm and measured. If the air was limited, I would need to use it wisely .
Well, at least my choice was made; I had to go forward.
My hands and feet scrambled, taking stock of my surroundings since I could no longer see shit. In a way, it was a blessing; I could forget about the oppressive claustrophobia because I couldn’t see the rock walls pressing in on me.
I pushed hard with my legs to propel myself forward.
Too hard, because my upper body shot out into open air with no rock around it, and I fell down.
My head hit first, the fall happening so fast I couldn’t get my arms up in time.
I slipped into a crevice head first, getting wedged tightly by my shoulders and hanging upside down.
This was it. This was how I died.
Blood rushed to my head as my legs kicked ineffectually in the air, my arms pinned at my side.
It was times like this that I hated being so intelligent, because I was brutally aware of not only how I would die, but how long it would take.
If I couldn’t jiggle myself free somehow, the weight of my body would continue to push me down into the hole, compressing my lungs and my heart.
Without my rituals, it would likely take only two days to die.
Since I had done a few to make myself ‘heartier,’ it could take a week until I succumbed.
Unless there was a bigger chamber below me.
It was a huge risk. Did I try to squeeze myself forward and hope there was a bigger chamber below me, or would I make myself more stuck and unable to back out?
Don’t panic. Don’t panic. This was the perfect time to panic!
No choice. I had to push myself further down, and pray there was a larger opening below me and I’d be able to turn my body around and go back out the way I came.
If I got out of here, I’d never go into another cave alone again. I’d take Shava. Hell, I’d take the damn dragon if I needed to .
The dragon could get me out.
Right. No matter what happened here, there were options.
My body protested as I wiggled down, pushing off the side of a rock wall I could reach with my left leg.
The pressure increased all over my upper body and shoulders.
My ribs protested. My lungs protested. The rock walls pressed in on me, even though I knew that was ridiculous and rock didn’t move inward.
My panicked mind was simply playing tricks on me.
I had to calm down and take back control.
It was difficult because now I was firmly wedged in the tight crevice, unable to move, and only able to take shallow little breaths.
No going back now.
Ignoring the pain and protests of my body, I kept pushing with my legs. Blood pounded in my ears, every heartbeat magnified as my head throbbed.
Just a little further …
My body protested each fraction of space I gained, compressing my organs tighter and tighter. As I continued, I thanked myself for completing the strengthening rituals I’d done. Without them I might have already passed out, or forced to stop due to the demands on my body.
Unbelievably, I kept pushing. The pain wasn’t pleasant, but I wasn’t dead or dying. Yet.
One. More. Push .
I couldn’t breathe. My chest was too compressed.
I was far enough wedged into the rocks that my leg could barely push off from the rock wall.
I had a final choice: commit to pushing through the wedge and get one last final push with my legs, or turn back.
Either the final push would push me through the whole way or I’d be trapped.
And hopefully, Shava and Zariah would figure out a way to rescue me .
A sliver of horror went through me at the very thought of having to be rescued.
Right, one final push.
I took a moment to gather myself, and allow my heart rate the chance to calm down.
The darkness felt more oppressive than the rock shoved up against my internal organs, with the trickling sound of water the only thing audible around me.
If I stayed in my head too long, it felt like the cave walls were closing inward on me.
Ok, that was enough ‘rest.’ I cocked my leg back and prepared for one last, final push.
Here we go .
My leg cocked and bent.
“Zephyr!”