It was a good thing he did, because the tunnel opened onto a massive cavern. The bottom of it was many stories below the opening, with no way down without flying, or falling. The ceiling of the cavern was riddled with holes that opened to the sky, and it looked like the cavern had been formed from folds in the rock by the long, proportionately narrow shape of it. Water poured from one of the holes in a rushing waterfall that had been the sound she’d heard in the tunnel.
Below her, a lush green carpet of moss and plants covered much of the bottom of the cavern beside the pool and stream fed by the waterfall. In the darkened corners where the sunlight didn’t reach, more of the shelves of glowing lichen grew, along with occasional clusters of mushrooms, both glowing and not.
She’d never seen anything like this cavern, but it reminded her of the description of a place called Paradise that was in some of the ancient fairy tales her mother used to tell her when she was still young enough to believe in such things.
She gripped Balfor’s arm excitedly, eager to get down there and test the temperature of the pool, then if it was warm enough, she wanted to test her idea about using the soap lichen which appeared to be plentiful here.
He growled some umbrose words in a low tone that raised the hair on her nape. She didn’t know what he was saying, but by the way he was crouching at the mouth of the tunnel, his wings slightly spread and his lip curled into a snarl as he looked below them, it sure seemed like he was wary and warning her.
His growl was low, but there was an answering roar that was much louder. A giant, mottled, scaled, serpent-like nightmare slithered out from the rock beneath their tunnel entrance, which suggested that there was a cave below them. It was so big that there was no way it would it fit within the opening of their tunnel, but it still started crawling up the rock face towards them. Stacia had no idea how it managed to climb straight upwards with no legs, but she wasn’t waiting to find out.
She rushed backwards, tugging on Balfor’s hand to pull him with her. He let her fingers go, then lifted his hand towards her in a universal gesture that pretty much told her to stay put.
Oh hells no! She realized what he meant to do seconds before he jumped from the tunnel mouth. She couldn’t stop the scream from leaving her throat. She had absolute faith that Balfor was strong beyond anything she’d ever seen before, but that was before she’d seen this thing, whatever it was, that was big enough to swallow him whole and had a mouth filled with several circular rows of razor sharp teeth, each as long as a dagger.
The intelligent thing to do would be to stay back away from the mouth of the tunnel as he had told her to do. There was nothing she could do to help him now as she was wingless and buck-naked. At this moment, she would kill for a suit of armor and a blaster, but of course, that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, the love of her life was out there, about to get swallowed by a massive snake monster. She hated feeling helpless and weak. She hated not being able to undo any of this mess that they were in. Even this was her fault. If she hadn’t asked for the lichen, he wouldn’t have brought her here. She had no doubt that he came here for her. After all, he’d been quite content to remain in his geode-cavern until she’d come along.
There were roaring sounds from the beast and growling sounds from Balfor. Then Balfor was roaring and the beast was shrieking. She couldn’t stay away from the mouth of the tunnel. Promising herself she would scoot back immediately if the thing made any move for her, she crept towards it on hands on knees.
Peeking over the edge revealed Balfor standing in the mouth of the thing, bracing it open with his arms and legs. His claws and talons were digging into the scaled hide of its lipless mouth, but there was very little blood from the creature. The rows of teeth gleamed like the mouth of one of the Nine Hells.
It shrieked again as Balfor thrust one hand into the mouth and up into the palate of the creature between the back rows of its teeth. The crests on the sides of the creature’s head were fully spread, shuddering and shaking, revealing every meter of the spiked bones so its head looked wider than a transport cruiser.
Balfor pulled his hand back filled with gory tissue dripping in red blood. The creature was trying to close its mouth and Balfor’s arm and leg muscles strained visibly as he fought to keep the mouth open. He threw the clot of tissue down and dug into the creature’s mouth again. Then she lost sight of him as the monster swung its head away from the tunnel entrance. It flung itself back and forth, battering its body against the cavern walls as it tried to dislodge the umbrose tearing apart its mouth from the inside.
When the monster’s battering shook stalactites free from the ceiling to crash down onto the mossy ground far below, she ducked back into the tunnel.
Then the monster’s shrieking filled the cavern, loud and painful to Stacia’s ears. She scooted further back into the tunnel, holding her hands clapped over her ears, but she still heard it echoing around the cavern. It seemed to go on forever. From Balfor, she heard no more sounds.
Then all was silent. All she could hear were her ears ringing. There was silence for a long time before she pulled herself together and crept back towards the tunnel entrance, afraid of what she was going to see. If Balfor was… she couldn’t even think the word. It hurt too much to consider it. As she peered over the edge, she heard a slithering sound that made her heart break. The monster was moving away from the tunnel entrance, deeper into the shadows of the cavern. It was undoubtedly taking her lover with it, trapped in its stomach.
Stacia gauged the distance to the ground below. There were some trees. They were not up against the side of the cavern as she would have liked but they were close enough that if she aimed right, she could jump into the branches. It wasn’t ideal. She was naked and would get scratched up and maybe even seriously injured by the branches alone. That was if she even managed to hit the trees and not keep going towards the ground. Still, she couldn’t just cower here in the tunnel entrance and do nothing. Balfor might still be alive in that monster’s stomach, though if he really had been swallowed, there was no telling how long that would last.
On the cavern floor there were fallen tree branches. Some might be big enough to make a spear if she broke them off. She’d take that monster on naked and carrying nothing but a branch if it meant saving him. There were no other options for her. Even if she was willing to leave him to his death—which she most certainly was not—she was alone in an underground maze of tunnels. If the umbrose ever came looking for her, there was no telling if they would find her before something else did.
She didn’t allow doubts to cause her to hesitate. She crouched on all fours at the cave entrance and then made the leap for the boughs of the nearest tree.
Her worst case scenario had been missing the tree. She wondered if that would have been less painful than what actually happened. She hit the treetop and managed to catch branches as they slapped and sliced at her naked skin, cutting deep enough to draw blood. For a moment, she lay in the swaying tree bough trying to catch her breath and hissing from the pain of impact.
Once she recovered enough to breath freely, she made her way carefully down the tree, wincing at every loud rustling sound it made with her movements. She hoped the serpent thing would be slowed down by digestion and would not even consider coming back out of the shadows to investigate the sound, though the thought of it digesting also compelled her to greater urgency.
She dropped to the ground in a crouch, staying close to the tree trunk where tall, broad-leafed plants camouflaged her as she scanned the area for some of the branches she’d seen from above.
She’d just closed her hands around a decently thick branch when the plants in front of her parted. Reacting automatically, she swung the heavy branch, leaves and all, in the direction of the sound. Her swing was stopped short so abruptly that her muscles vibrated painfully. The branch was yanked from her hand, and she found herself face to face with Balfor, who glared at her with a ferocious scowl.
Choking back a sob, Stacia t
hrew her arms around him, pressing her face against his chest which she only vaguely noted was covered with ichor from the monster. For a long moment, as her tears dampened his skin, he stood tense in her embrace, his growl rumbling in his chest. Then, cautiously, his arms came around her, pulling her tightly against him. He muttered something in broken umbrose. Then he lifted her into his arms which couldn’t have been easy for him because she still clung to him, afraid to let him go.
He carried her to the shadowed depths of the cavern and then set her on her feet and gently detached her arms from around his neck. Holding her hand in his, he pulled her against his side as he gestured for her to look.
The monster was well and truly dead. Drag marks scarred the foliage where Balfor had pulled it out of the sunlight into the cooler darkness of this part of the cavern. The thing lay on its side, and along the ridge of its belly scales, it had been slit open. A pile of guts had been set neatly to one side.
It looked even bigger up close and smelled worse than her and Balfor combined. She was deeply impressed that he had managed to move the creature’s dead weight as far as he had. She was even more impressed that he’d managed to slay it with his bare claws. She turned her attention from the carcass to him and set her hand against his jaw.
“I love you.” She’d finally said it aloud, because the terror she’d felt that she might have lost him had been too much for her to keep it in now that she was swamped with relief.
He looked at her uncomprehendingly and said something growly.
Stacia smiled at him and shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re saying, sweetheart, but that doesn’t make me love you any less. This primal of yours is a part of you, and I love it as much as I do the rest of you.” She glanced back at the corpse. “Strange that everyone fears you so much, and yet I’ve never felt so safe in my life.”
*****
This new place, which Balfor’s relaxed manner suggested was now free of dangerous wildlife—other than him, of course—turned out to be far more suited to Stacia than his previous caves. Not that the geode cave and star-worm cave weren’t stunning in their own right, but they were rocky and spare. This place had beautiful, lush foliage, plenty of fresh, running water, and a sheltered cave that had belonged to the snake thing. Balfor had already explored the cave apparently, because he led her inside it with sure steps.
The interior of the cave smelled like the musk of the snake thing, which was pretty bad, but it was very large, and there were several off-shoots of the main part of the cave. A fresh breeze whistled from one off-shoot, which suggested that outside air was coming from somewhere and would hopefully sweep away some of the stench. There was also the smell of mineral water.
Stacia discovered where that scent came from when Balfor led her through one of the off-shoots. It was a tight fit for him, though she barely had to duck her head. This smaller cave had apparently not been used by the serpent in a long time because it smelled fresher and lacked the litter of animal bones, probably because it was so small, but there were a few shed skins falling to dust in the corners. In the center of the cave welled a hot-spring, taking up most of the space. It wasn’t milky like the pool in the geode cave, so she could see the rocky bottom. It looked deep enough for both of them to sit in.
She took a few steps towards the spring, but Balfor tugged her hand, urging her to follow him. He said something in umbrose, speaking very slowly and clearly concentrating on his words. She concentrated on them too, but could make nothing out of them, though she really wanted to. His determination to communicate with her despite how difficult it seemed to be for him completely endeared this side of him to her.
She finally shrugged and allowed him to lead her. He took her back through the main cave and into another large cavern that attached to it. Her eyes widened at what she saw there. Chunks of quartz crystal in varying sizes had been piled around the cave. There had to be at least a ton of it, some infested with adura fungus so the spears glowed, but most of it was clear or opaque and sometimes even pink or purple or blue. It was a trove of raw quartz, and it was beautiful.
As much fun as it would have been to pick among the crystals for the exceptionally pretty ones, what she really wanted was a bath. She also wanted to get at Balfor’s back and clean around his wounds. The difficulty was in getting him to understand that. When she pulled on his hand to lead him back to the hot spring, he seemed to think she wanted something else. His expression brightened and he tried to tug her into his arms. She had to shake her head no several times before he frowned in disappointment. To her relief, he released her, which only told her how far he’d come in behaving more civilized.
She pointed to the hot springs, mimed washing her body, then pointed at him and did the same. He grumbled, his frown deepening. After a long moment of her pointing and gesturing, he sighed, then started towards that part of the cavern.
She found a handful of the lichen in the crystal cave and collected it before she followed. Balfor paused in the opening of the cave to watch her with raised eyebrows. When she came to his side, he mimed putting the lichen to his mouth with his eyes narrowed.
She shook her head and mimed washing herself. The baffled look on his face was priceless, but she figured that he’d finally gotten it when he shrugged his heavy shoulders and turned to the mineral spring.
It felt so good to wash, and the lichen made a nice, soapy lather that glowed. It felt divine against her skin, clean and refreshing. He joined her in the hot spring, she suspected just so he could wash her. He seemed to like touching her and she returned the favor. She fought against the heat that his caresses were causing because she knew that he could either sense her arousal or smell it and didn’t want him to get too eager yet, though she could see quite plainly that he was already aroused. Her goal was to wash his back, but she didn’t know whether he would allow it.
She made a motion with her hand, urging him to turn around and then pointed to her back. His eyes narrowed on her, and he studied her face for a long moment, growling something in a low tone that made her hair stand up on her nape. Then he slowly turned his back to her.
Brushing aside his long hair, she touched him hesitantly on his blood-caked back, just above a scabbed welt. When he didn’t flinch, she scooped some warm water over his back, first patting, then gently rubbing as the blood and scabs softened.
He moaned, but it was not a sound of pain. He dropped his head forward onto his chest and spread his tightly folded wings further apart so she could reach all the skin of his back. As she scrubbed, adding some lichen lather, the scabs broke away, revealing perfectly healed skin beneath. There were no scars, although the skin was still lighter than the areas around it. It appeared that he had healed after all. He just hadn’t been able—or cared enough—to remove the scabs that lay over his healed welts. Evidence that he was no longer wounded did nothing to absolve her feelings of guilt. She took her time washing every last bit of blood and grime and broken skin from his back. His occasional moans and sighs of pleasure encouraged her to touch him further.
When he was finally clean, she leaned her cheek against the velvety skin of his back. The iron-hard muscles beneath twitched under her, but he remained still as she inhaled his scent which was now diminished by the stronger antiseptic crispness of the lichen. His wings unfolded slightly, bending back to push her closer against him, and she obliged, wrapping her arms around his waist. For a long moment, she just stood there holding him, her tears further dampening his skin under her cheek.
*****
He couldn’t remember ever being as happy as he was now. There had never been a time before the not-kin that he’d felt this way, even when he was still One with the Other. She touched him all the time like she couldn’t help herself. She murmured things in her soft voice, things he wished he could understand, but not enough to take the risk of disturbing the veil. She curled up against him on the bed he made them of leaves, moss and grasses and fell asleep on him as if there was no other place
she’d rather be.
Much of what she did baffled him. Her desire to rub herself and sometimes him with bitter lichen didn’t make much sense to him. It smelled almost as bad as it tasted. But since she always touched him thoroughly when she did this, he eagerly allowed it. Even though it masked his scent on her body, he could still smell himself on her, and he always made certain he marked her again after each of these washing times.
That she welcomed him rutting her with an eagerness that seemed almost as strong as his own never ceased to amaze him, and he wondered what he had done to be so blessed. Surely, the Mother— who had forsaken him as had the Other—would not have sent him such a prize.
He was beyond contentment in this place he had won for her by slaying the crystal wyrm, the largest of its kind. She thrived in the sunlight, which he thought made sense. The golden color of her hair was so similar to the brilliance of Father’s Eye and sparkled in the beams that filtered through the cavern roof. But though she loved the light, she always came to him in the shadows and held him as if she’d choose him if she was ever forced to make a choice. He would never force that on her because he realized she was too bright to remain in darkness forever, even if that was what he preferred. Unlike the Other, he was not bothered by the light, because the shadows did not live inside him cringing from its glare.
Day passed into night, then back into day, again and again. He did not count the passage of time, because he didn’t care. He was free, but more importantly, he had her. Nothing else mattered to him.
Then a day came when she seemed paler than usual and listless. He didn’t understand why, and she still couldn’t tell him, but she was tired. Far more tired than she usually was after a night of rutting. He left her in their nest and went for food and fresh water, bringing the latter back to her in a large leaf. She ignored the food and when she tried to drink the water that she seemed so thirsty for, a wracking cough shook her body so badly that the leaf spilled most of its contents down her chest.
Balfor's Salvation: Book 2: Shadows in Sanctuary Page 19