Demitri approached the clam, circling it to assess the problem. Finally, he took his favored approach, drawing his dagger and lodging it into its jaws.
“Demitri!” Galene moaned.
He heaved downward on it, but merely managed to propel himself upward. Grabbing the edge of the column, he pulled himself back down and braced himself with his knees to try again.
“Stop that!” Galene cried, unable to watch anymore.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you have a better idea?”
She bit her tongue to stop the insult that flew to her lips. “Actually…” She scowled.
He let go, the dagger wobbling in the clam’s mouth.
She swam up to him, and he moved aside, motioning for her to proceed. Taking hold of the blade’s hilt, she teased it out, handed it back to its owner, and placed her right hand on the clam’s crown.
“I am Galene, Daughter of Poseidon.” To prove it, she called for a gentle current to rush around them. “I have been sent by my father to relieve you of your duty. We thank you, earnestly, for your diligent protection of the avyssos.” She held her breath.
There was a moment of tense silence. Nothing happened, and her heart began to sink. Demitri grunted. “Did you expect it to ans—”
There was a deep creaking sound, and Galene’s hand flew backward to silence him. The wavy jaws began to open. A shimmery pink cushion could be seen through the rising jaws, then upon it … a glow of something …
Demitri drifted forward and stretched out a hand. The clam froze half-open, and Galene shot him a look that was all daggers. He retreated, eyes dark.
The clam resumed its opening, light spilling from within. A small, perfect globe swirled with a hypnotizing array of silver and gold, glowing brightly. The luster dimmed, and Galene, filled with awe, reached out and picked it up. The avyssos rolled into the palm of her hand, smoother than glass, winking innocently and sending beautiful colors dancing across her face and arms.
“Don’t look at it too long, Galene!” Kostas called.
Hearing the wisdom in his words, Galene tore her eyes away and curled her fingers around it.
The obsidian walls began to tremble, cracking. A couple loose stones fell down into the passage they had come through.
Kronos. She moved, but Demitri moved faster, diving and seizing Iyana’s wrist, pulling her toward it.
Crack!
Iyana shrieked as a line splintered through the wall above the opening. With an ear-splitting groan, it widened, and the rocks above the entrance fell harder.
Galene stopped, watching in horror. “It’s caving in!”
Iyana started to pull back as Demitri towed her along. “It’s our only way out!” He shoved the smaller rocks out of his way, starting in. “Hurry!”
“Stop!” Galene screamed, but Braxtus came barreling in. Shield out, he rammed into Demitri and Iyana, sending them careening out of the way.
The ceiling in the chasm collapsed.
Rocks thundered down, plummeting around Braxtus. Galene heard his shout but quickly lost sight of him in the whirling dust and cascading stones.
“No!” Before everything had finished falling, Iyana threw herself at the rocks and tried to pull them loose. Kostas rushed to her aid, knocking the final tumbling rocks aside before dragging out what stones he could.
Galene pulled herself out of her shock and swam down to help. By the time she got there, she heard a distinct groan.
“Get this boulder off me.”
Iyana let out a choked sob of relief, and Kostas and Demitri both shoved one of the largest rocks until it tumbled free and sank. Beneath it was Braxtus’s shield. “Stand back,” Braxtus commanded, voice muffled.
He shoved hard, sending more rocks rolling, then emerged from the wreckage. “Ow,” he complained, slinging his shield on his back and rubbing his arm.
“Congratulations,” Demitri spat. “You successfully prevented any of us from getting out.” He gestured at the crevice, which was still solidly blocked from top to bottom.
Galene groaned silently as Braxtus rounded on him. “I think you mean thank you! You never would have made it.”
“We were so close. We might have.”
“You know, I just might have let you kill yourself, but when you’re dragging Iyana with you—” Braxtus fumed.
A soft red glow caught Galene’s eye, and she turned to look into a split that the tremors had opened in the obsidian. She blinked, apprehension crawling up her spine.
“Stop it!” Iyana pushed in front of Demitri so he couldn’t get to Braxtus.
“Look!” Galene tried to claim their attention, but no one listened. Seriously? Now?
“It doesn’t matter what would have happened!” Kostas glared between the two of them. “We’re all stuck here together, so let’s just find a way out, all right?”
The red glow brightened.
Braxtus seethed. “Fine. So was that all that was intended? To trap whoever got the avyssos in here?”
“‘A prisoner may remain,’” Demitri quoted darkly. “I think that was the intent, yes.”
Galene couldn’t believe they hadn’t noticed the blaze yet. With a jolt of frustration, she sent a wave rippling through the cavern. “Listen to me!” They all looked at her. She pointed to the crack.
“What on Gaia now?” Iyana muttered, kicking upward to become level with it.
“It’s hot in here.” Kostas’s voice grew tense.
Galene blinked at him, realizing the truth of his words. The temperature of the water had indeed risen. They exchanged glances. There couldn’t be fire underwater, but … her eyes rested on the shining black walls. Obsidian.
“Um”—Iyana stared into the glowing crevice—“I know what it is. I can see it.”
But Galene didn’t need Iyana to tell her what it was. She had just understood, dread squeezing her heart.
“What is it?” Demitri and Braxtus moved to join her, but before they could reach her, she backtracked to put distance between herself and the glow.
“Lava.”
As soon as she said the word, a glob of thick, red liquid pushed itself through the gap, crusting over and fading to a dusty gray as it slid down the wall.
27
BRAXTUS
A searing torrent of bubbles hissed to the cavern ceiling as lava crusted over and sank through the water. The crack widened from the heat and pressure until it was bigger than him, and the seething flow steadily increased.
Braxtus turned to see his friends backing up, looking for a way to escape the building temperature. Kostas and Galene moved against the cool obsidian on the opposite wall. Demitri put himself in front of Iyana, trying to block her from the heat that didn’t remotely bother Braxtus.
“We have to get out of here!” Galene choked. “That lava is going to heat this cavern to boiling point.”
“Can you, I don’t know, blow the rocks aside with the currents?” Iyana asked Galene, pointing at the caved-in entrance.
Galene glanced doubtfully at the rocks, then closed her eyes. A moment later she opened them again, shaking her head. “Maybe if it was open water, but I can’t get that strong of a hold all the way in here.”
“There has to be a way out,” Kostas muttered, scanning the ceiling for an exit.
Braxtus swallowed as he saw their panic, then swam toward the flow of lava that was starting to waterfall over the rocks below.
“Braxtus, what are you doing? It’s too hot over—” Galene stopped herself mid-sentence as she realized her mistake. He grabbed the edge of the crack in the wall to pull himself closer and investigate.
The fiery liquid piped up a vertical shaft from a chamber far below and blazed through the tear in the wall, already filling half the crack. Bubbles lifted from the surface of the lava, careening upward through the water and higher along the tube. He stuck his head in and looked up to see how far the shaft climbed, but couldn’t see much with the bubbles and dim light.
He withdre
w, frowning in fierce thought.
“There’s no way out,” Demitri said flatly. Everyone looked at him. He had given up a search for escape shortly after starting one.
“Don’t say that,” Kostas growled, still looking.
“There’s no point, Kostas!” Demitri snapped. “The walls are too thick. I’m telling you, there’s no way out except the way we came in.”
“So you’d have us give up?” Iyana rounded on him, fire catching her eyes that Braxtus hadn’t seen in a while.
“No, just…” He trailed off, pressing his fingers to his forehead.
“‘A prisoner may remain.’” Galene turned in a circle. “There has to be a way out—we just have to use our heads. Block the lava, wait out the eruption, dig our way back out…” Her words were unconvincing, and Braxtus shook his head.
“You won’t survive this heat,” he said. “I guarantee it.”
“How would you know?” Demitri scoffed.
“Heat may not bother me, but I’m an expert in it.” He looked back at the glowing lava pouring from the shaft, cooling and collecting as rough gray rock on the ground below them. “There’s too much lava. There have to be shafts filled with it. This volcano was rigged to blow the moment we got the avyssos, and this cavern is the target. You’ll boil within the hour.”
No one, not even Kostas, argued with his logic.
“But,” he continued, heart thumping, “I might be able to find a way out.”
“How?” Demitri asked.
Iyana’s beautiful eyes went wide. “You want to go through there.” She pointed to the shaft.
Galene’s mouth opened. “Are you crazy? You can’t go through the lava tube! Even if you don’t die, we can’t follow.”
“There’s no other way out of this cavern. Who knows where that shaft could lead?”
“How will you get us out?” Kostas’s dark eyes locked on him, and Braxtus looked back helplessly.
“I’ll break in to you somehow. Through the thinnest wall I can find.”
“Braxtus, you can’t breathe lava.” Iyana sounded strained. “It could go over your head.” When he didn’t answer, she whirled on Kostas. “You’re not going to support this, are you? It’s almost impossible! He could die!”
“Almost impossible is our best chance,” Kostas said. Even Demitri nodded, watching Braxtus. “We’ll all be dead if he doesn’t try.”
Braxtus looked between them, noting in alarm how quickly the ichor had risen to their faces, flushing them gold. “I’m not going to stay here and watch my friends boil, Iyana. Not if there’s a chance.”
“You know…” Kostas faltered, face tightening, then tried again. “You know we’re going to have to try to block up the entrance behind you. To give ourselves as much time as possible.”
Braxtus understood. Once he was through, there was no coming back that direction. He nodded once, and Kostas returned the silent note of fellowship.
“Braxtus.” Galene swam toward him. “In case you can’t get back to us”—she extended her hand and revealed the shining avyssos—“you should take this. If the rest of us don’t make it … well, you probably can’t capture Poinê on your own, but maybe the Olympians will listen to you.”
He stared at the gold-and-silver orb. Cursing the sudden tremor that ran through him, he reached out and took the avyssos.
“I’ll do my best.” He sucked in a breath and tucked the orb away into a pouch at his belt.
Galene smiled and nodded in gratitude.
If he couldn’t get back to them, it would be entirely up to him to save Olympus. And if I don’t make it … A rush of feelings he couldn’t quite name rose. Kostas paused, watching him, clearly reading his churning emotions.
Come on, Kostas. Please understand what I need. Braxtus let his eyes flick to Iyana, and Kostas followed his gaze for an instant before turning away.
“Demitri,” Kostas jerked his head. “Help me gather some rocks so we can fill the hole.”
Demitri nodded, swimming off with Kostas. Braxtus released a breath, and in that brief moment of freedom, turned to Iyana. Her eyes caught his, bright blue and shining. He wanted to pull her into an embrace, but resisted.
Tell her. Before he could change his mind, he made himself speak.
“I’m in love with you.”
Her lips parted.
“I have been for a long time. I should have told you before.” He paused, searching her face, afraid of what he’d find. “I just needed you to know.”
Iyana just stared at him, cheeks flushed, chest heaving. “Be safe,” she whispered.
“Time, Braxtus,” Galene murmured, sounding desperate.
He tore himself away from Iyana and grabbed the jagged edges of the crack in the wall, kicking his feet into the mounting lava to propel himself into the shaft.
The thick liquid sucked at his legs, dragging him down the tube. Braxtus threw his hands out to either side to brace himself on the obsidian walls. He stopped sinking, but bubbles swarmed around him, making it hard to see, and …
He choked. Hard to breathe. The mixture of water and bubbles was exactly like the maelstrom, where he’d nearly drowned. The bubbles left a foul taste in his throat, stinging his lungs. He held his breath.
Using the wall as leverage, he pulled himself up until his feet were free of the lava, then struck out, swimming upward with the rising bubbles. He swam for several long seconds, pressure building in his chest and anxiety mounting, before his head burst through the surface of the water.
He tried to suck in a breath, then burst into a coughing fit, gagging until his lungs were clear, breathing in something thinner, but still humid. Something natural.
Air.
Braxtus laughed weakly as he paddled to stay afloat. This volcanic air pocket wasn’t the reunion with air he’d been hoping for. Heavy steam rose around him, and below the bubbling water, the lava blazed red, lighting up the otherwise dark shaft and obsidian walls with a harsh and bloody light. Looks like Hades’s realm.
He moved to the side of the shaft closest to the cavern and felt along the side of the wall. The obsidian was cracked in places, making for tiny handholds. It took him a few tries, but painfully, he lifted himself from the water and began to scale the wall.
Water poured off him, his water-logged clothes weighing him down even more than his armor and weapons already did. He gritted his teeth, squinting to see the wall through the steam. Droplets stung his eyes. He kept climbing. Swimming would have been a whole lot easier.
As he moved, the lava rose beneath him. The water level seemed to stay the same, evaporating faster as the lava caught up to it.
The wall he scaled began to slant, easing his climb. He picked up speed, until all at once it flattened enough for him to stand. He straightened, head brushing the top of the tunnel, and his heart leapt.
The tunnel kept going, curving as though it followed the outline of the cavern where his friends were waiting. The soft glow of lava barely illuminated the dark shaft.
He called to his element, and sweet, blessed fire raced up his hands like gloves. “Hello, my friend.” The comforting light flickered against the obsidian, showing him the way.
He scrambled up the slope, almost putting out the flames on his hands as he occasionally pushed off the floor. It leveled as he climbed, but he still gasped for breath, knees trembling with every step in the effort to propel himself upward.
He looked behind him at the soft red blaze where the lava was climbing after him. Falling to his knees, he pressed his toes against a crack to stop himself from slipping. This has to be above them. He begged silently to the Fates that he was right, swung his shield off his shoulder, and slammed it into the ground with a loud crack.
He threw it again.
And again.
The floor shuddered at the impact, black chips flying as they caved to his blows. He continued for a minute, but the progress was slow, so he threw his hands to the floor and searched the cracks frantically, his fin
gernails splitting. He dug his fingers in and tore at them, switching to push with his palms, deepening them.
The lava came back into view, lapping at the obsidian as it crested the hill. Braxtus retrieved his shield, turning it on its edge this time before he brought it back down.
He smashed it at his knees again and again. The walls shook, the floor shook, and his shield vibrated his entire arm and back. The ground chipped away like shards of glass, and he increased his vigor. Somewhere in the back of his mind he registered pain, but ignored it.
There was a hollow sound of breaking rock, and a surge of hope pulsed through him.
Crack!
He almost fell through the hole that split under his final blow. Water came through, sloshing over his knees, and his heart stopped beating when it steamed.
Dropping his shield, he dove straight into the water.
His lungs protested at the transition again, and it took him a moment to orient himself, twisting in the glowing water as he tried to get a view of his friends.
There they were. His heart lurched. “Kostas! Iyana!”
They didn’t respond. Stripped of armor, they drifted in just their tunics, weapons, and sandals, skin golden. They didn’t even look up as Braxtus shouted their names.
They’re overheated.
Heart pounding, he propelled himself toward them and seized Kostas’s arm. Kostas turned to look at him, and utter relief shone in his black eyes a moment before they rolled to the back of his head.
“Braxtus,” Galene panted. She seemed the most alert, holding Iyana’s arm. Iyana struggled to stay conscious. Demitri’s eyes were closed, and he didn’t move.
Braxtus threw his best friend on his shoulder, turning to kick to their escape. “Follow if you can!” With enormous effort, Braxtus hoisted Kostas through the hole, then pulled himself up after. He held his breath as he emerged, not wanting to make the transition. Below him, Galene and Iyana moved lethargically, Galene supporting her best friend. He reached down and hauled them up through the hole by their arms, one at a time.
The Immortal Game Page 18