Chapter nine
Noxlin’s marched on Dallethas, crumpling my city to ash as they charged for the palace.
When they broke through the palace gates, I was face to face with them.
I forced my power to the surface. I had to protect my race.
Suddenly, their features changed. The evil faded, and the vile monsters morphed into faces and bodies not too unlike my own kind, except for the dark hair.
Shadows swirled around them until my eyes fixed on a familiar face in the middle of them.
Darce. “We mean you no harm,” he insisted.
“Alora, I’m not your enemy. Stand down.”
“Go to Holy Ether! She will judge you!” Xavier spat from behind me, throwing all his light power towards Darce and destroying him in seconds.
“NO!” I screamed. I tried to reach for Darce, but it was too late.
Bolting awake, I adjusted to the light inside the cave. The wildest dreams had taken over my mind last night.
“Nightmare?” Darce questioned when my eyes found him warming near the fire. “You’ve been tossing and turning all night.”
“It’s the noc beast,” I lied. “He’s been haunting my dreams since I lost Raiden.” I took a moment to stretch before I reached for my gold armour and boots to put on over my undergarments. Darce was dressed and ready to go. “You could have woken me if you were ready to leave.”
“We have a long, two day hike. I’m not sure how much rest we’ll get. It made sense to let you sleep as long as you could.”
“These caves we’ll be travelling through...are they safe?” I questioned, standing to roll up my sleep mat.
Shaking the rock dust off my cloak, Darce moved towards me.
“This land is always dangerous. Hopefully nothing too deadly has wandered deep into the caves.” He handed me some smoked meat from the wild boar I’d shot yesterday.
“Here, eat some of this and put the rest in your bag. If we get separated for any reason, I need to know you have food to keep yourself alive.” At my alarmed expression, he chuckled softly.
“Relax, Alora. I’m not saying we’ll get separated. ”
“But you’re giving me a fighting chance if we do.”
“Exactly!” Looking me over in a non-predatory way, he picked up his packed bag. “Are you ready to go?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be going on my pilgrimage with a Noxlin,” I snorted with a smirk. His returning smile took the breath out of me.
“Alora, you hardly had any venom in your tone. Are you feeling alright?”
“Don’t push your luck. Lead the damn way.” Rolling my eyes at the pleased look on his face, I followed him out of the cave.
****
WE WALKED FOR A FEW hours in silence. His skin looked sun kissed while we were outside. Very different from my healthy, snow coloured skin. It made me wonder if all his kind had that colouring, or if it was because he’d been roaming the mountains for so long.
“The entrance to the cave is over there.” Darce pointed to a ledge on the side of a mountain. “Can you climb?”
“You saw me in that tree, right?”
“Rock climbing is a little different. I’m not dragging your skinny ass up there.”
“I’m more than capable,” I snapped, pushing past him.
I stubbornly started the climb without him.
It didn’t shock me that Darce had so little faith in me.
It was my need to prove him wrong that confused me.
I reached the entrance swiftly. Darce wasn’t too far behind. “See! I’m not completely useless.”
“Did I ever state that? Why are you always so uptight?” I didn’t have an answer for that. Wind whistled into the tunnel that lay ahead. “Did you want to go first?”
“I’m paying you to guide me!”
“It was worth a try. If you want to use a little of that light power of yours, it might be useful. I can see the way through the blackness, but I’m not sure how a Dylin will cope in the mountains with so much darkness.”
Forcing a flicker to my fingertips was easier this time. “Will this do? I’m not sure I can pull much more for a long period of time.”
“It’s only a day’s travel through the tunnel. If you trust me, I can guide you with my hand. Once we get out on the other side, you’ll set eyes on your sacred mountain. Climbing that is another day’s walk.”
When Darce offered his hand, I searched his eyes for any sign of conflict or treachery.
If there was an army of Noxlin waiting for me on the other side, I couldn’t see it.
Everything in his universe-speckled eyes told me to trust him.
“I’m trusting you, Darce. Please don’t let me down,” I whispered with sincerity, taking his hand.
A surge of energy prickled down my hand as our skin touched. Where was the heat coming from?
“I’ve got you, Alora. I’ve told you this before. Out here, we are allies that simply want to survive. If you have my back, I have yours. It’s that simple.” His thumb made small circles across my fingers as he spoke. Swallowing hard, I allowed him to lead me into the tunnel.
****
I’D NEVER FELT DARKNESS like this. I couldn’t even make out the hand that was in front of my face.
We hadn’t needed to use any of my light yet.
Darce assured me it was safer to travel in darkness the first part of the way.
He kept reassuring me with hand squeezes and gentle strokes of his thumb.
If there was anything hiding in this mountain, we didn’t want to awaken it with our voices.
We had been walking for hours. I’d lost count of the number of times I tripped over rocks that were scattered on the floor.
Darce had steadied me each time. The closeness of his body in the darkness was clouding my senses.
His fresh, midnight scent was making my body react in ways I never had before.
“A few more hours and we’ll reach a place to rest for a bit.
Moonlight trickles in from the breaks in the mountain, so you’ll be able to see for a little while,” he whispered, close against my ear.
His breath tickled across my collarbone.
“You can use a little of your light if you want. I can’t see or hear anything ahead. ”
“No. If you think it’s safer, I can cope a little longer.”
Darce paused for a long second. The heat of his body told me that he was still extremely close. “For a Dylin, you are quite wondrous.”
“You should stop paying me compliments,” I muttered, stilling with a strange feeling that our lips were inches apart.
If I stood on my tiptoes would I feel his lips against mine?
Was I attracted to this male? Was that what was happening?
Did I desire him? Having nothing to compare it to, I couldn’t answer that.
“You should stop talking,” he whispered as I felt a gentle caress against the side of my face.
I closed my eyes—a ridiculous thing to do when I was already in pure darkness—and concentrated on the feel of his fingers against my face.
In a few short days, I had succumbed to this Noxlin male.
Darce mesmerised me; I couldn’t deny it.
Of course, I’d never let him know, either.
It was far easier to insult him and keep him at a distance.
Deep down, though, the impure thoughts were surfacing.
If I didn’t break the hold the thoughts had on me, I would be tainted and doomed.
Dylin females weren’t meant to become attracted to Noxlin.
For all I knew, Darce could have put a spell on me.
What if he was a monster, but had glamoured me into seeing something beautiful? What if this was all a trap?
“Take your hand off me, please,” I ordered deadly into the abyss. “You have already admitted that you find me plain. Touching me that way would suggest you may have lied. I’m paying you well to keep your hands to yourself and get me safely home.”
“Apologies. You had a few rock bugs on your face. I was simply removing them.” Oh.
Now I felt a little stupid. I had thought the tickle was my hair.
“They can cause quite a nasty rash. I can assure you, Alora, that having spent the last three days with you, I now find you even more plain than when we first met. It’s a relief to be in darkness.
I don’t have to look at your uninteresting face. ”
My blood boiled at his harsh insult. “You...”
“Keep quiet now,” he interrupted, putting his finger against my mouth. “I’m trying to gauge the tunnel ahead.” I scowled into the darkness as he tightened his hold on my hand, pulling me along behind him. This male was insufferable!
****
IT TOOK MY EYES A WHILE to adjust to the moonlight that trickled into the cave. Darce was right; there was a small archway carved into the side of the mountain with light cascading from above. “How far through are we?” I asked, sitting on my bag for comfort.
“We’re over half way. You did well. We’ll rest here for a few hours before completing the route.” He handed me some food and water we had collected for our hike. “Eat this for energy even if you’re not hungry.” Luckily, I was famished.
The moonlight caressed his features as he leaned against the wall, watching me.
“I’m sorry you have to stare at my uninteresting face again,” I sneered, biting into my food.
“Males from my race happen to find me quite attractive!” It had been hours since that conversation, but I was still bitter about it.
“You really do think highly of yourself, don’t you?
Do all Dylin males fall over themselves for a tiny thing like you?
Is that why you have this immature attitude?
We Noxlin males like a female with meat on her bones.
Our females are warriors, too. There is nothing more attractive than a female Noxlin dressed in her battle armour. ”
“That sounds very...feminine and flattering.”
“It is to my race. Let me guess...you Dylin females walk around in small scraps of material that leave nothing to the imagination.” That was true, but sexualising our bodies wasn’t the reason.
“We are constantly drenched in sunlight. Of course we wear items like that!”