by Eden Ashley
Sometime during the extraordinary barrage of moving images, the torches had died out. Or maybe War and York had deliberately snuffed them to limit any possible interference. Kali was pondering the thought when a strange fluttering sound reached her ears. It was like the noise of a bird’s feathers beating the air but amplified times a thousand. And it was growing louder. And closer. Kali looked up. And screamed.
A goliath had descended upon them, carried upon enormous wings that touched either side of the cavern walls. Red and black scales patterned its skin. Yellow eyes, as big as a compact car, were split in horizontal halves by black slits. The monster opened its mouth. A spark ignited, and fire materialized in its jaws. Kali screamed again and staggered backward.
Thunder rumbled. The ground began to shift, the quaking intense enough to make the walls and earth blur in sight. She lost her footing, thrown by the force of the disturbance. Something solid stopped her from falling, but then the floor itself gave way, crumbling from beneath her feet, leaving only air to support her. Kali started to free fall into darkness, and then was abruptly jerked to a midair stop. A chaos of rocks and dirt rained down into the gaping hole that had been the ground only seconds before.
She looked up. The walls were glowing again, but the moving images had stopped. The goliath was gone. Did I imagine it? If she didn’t stop having crazy hallucinations, Kali was going to commit herself to the loony bin.
Past the hand holding on to her, she met York’s affable grin. “Don’t worry. I won’t let go.”
How he could be so cavalier in the present circumstances was beyond her. As she was about to breathe her thanks, the situation got way worse.
Unseen water announced its presence, rushing in like it had breached a flooded levee. A moment later, thousands of gallons poured into the cavern. Unstoppable in force, the torrent pummeled everything in its path. It rose rapidly, too rapidly. Even a skilled swimmer like Kali would not survive. She would be ultimately crushed beneath the surging weight. She looked down at the dark, angry waters and then back up at the only person standing between her and certain death. “Please, don’t let go.”
“Get ready.”
“What?” Fear squeezed her chest. No way was he thinking about dropping her into that. Upward momentum followed, erasing the premature panic she felt, as York pulled her up. Suddenly at eye level with the big man, she scrambled against the rock in search of solid footholds. His grip was steadfast until she found them. “You saved my life.”
York looked down and cringed. “Not…yet.”
Kali’s eyes widened in confusion and then dread. Ice cold water encircled her feet, and showed no signs of stopping. The level reached her hips. Pretty soon, her shoulders were submerged. Kali gasped from the shock of the freezing temperature. Then her body promptly acclimated and warmth filled her. From her head and down to her toes, she was protected against even the slightest chill. She let go of the wall. The water had slowed enough to make treading in it barely a danger. But the cavern was still filling. The ceiling was only ten feet away from her head. If something didn’t happen fast, they were going to drown.
Chapter 44
“York!”
“I know.”
“What do we do?”
“Don’t freak out.”
“Too late!”
Reaching up, Kali could have touched the cavern roof. She was trying very hard not to hyperventilate. Even York looked worried.
Maybe there’s a way out. I can swim to the bottom and find it. This water has to be coming from somewhere.
When she barely had room enough to hold her mouth above the water, it finally stopped rising. York floated on his back to keep breathing air. “Well…that was intense,” he said.
With the immediate danger diminished, Kali’s mind could stretch beyond thoughts of self-preservation. She looked around. Only their two heads floated above the rippled surface. “Where’s Rhane?”
“That’s a good question.” York’s mouth quirked. “Maybe you’ve noticed that Rhane hates being underground. He doesn’t care much for large quantities of water either.” He actually laughed. “This must be one helluva combo for him.”
She thought back to their date at Ridge Lake and realized York was right. Though he’d hidden it well, Rhane hadn’t been very excited to swim in the lake, and was almost relieved when they’d left. “But he’s okay, right? He has to be okay.”
“Shhh--”
“Why?”
York turned on his side, bringing an ear out of the water. Flipping over again, he shouted, “Kalista, go now! Swim!”
Responding to the urgency in his tone, she dived beneath the water and kicked as hard as her legs knew how. Large pieces of rock hurtled past as the ceiling buckled, and then collapsed into a thousand deadly projectiles. She cut her speed in order to dodge the debris. Even a graze by one of the larger chunks could have broken a bone. She had done so well thus far surviving the night. She didn’t want things to end with her drowning while in excruciating pain.
From the corner of her eye, she saw a huge rock careening directly toward her. There wasn’t enough time to move from its course. Kali tensed, waiting for the painful impact—but York was suddenly there, shoving her clear, placing himself in the path of the boulder. The muffled thud reached her ears even underwater. His body jerked. He swam a few more strokes and then went limp.
Training from two summers as a lifeguard made Kali react without thinking. She kicked hard. Reaching York, she grabbed his collar and pulled at his sinking form. The boulder’s tow was strong, but Kali’s will was as powerful as her swimming.
York was safe, but she didn’t know where to go next. To surface was not an option. Going down wasn’t a great idea either. The cavern was massive; she might swim in circles for an hour without knowing it and never find the way out.
Some detail nudged for attention. She was missing something. Think.
Kali swam to avoid more chunks of falling rock. Holding onto to York was getting tougher. And fear was setting in, trying to paralyze. What am I missing? Think!
Then she understood why holding York had become so difficult. His body was being tugged by a current. The current meant the water was escaping somewhere. She could have sobbed in relief.
She swam into the current, keeping a sure grip on York. The deeper she went, the darker it got. But there was less rock and therefore, less danger. They were drawn into a conduit of some sort where the walls were much closer, forming a narrow passage. Kali felt her shoes scrape the bottom more than once. She hoped the exit wasn’t much further.
Her heart sank when she caught site of the canal’s source. What used to be the large entrance to a tunnel had caved in with the quake. Only a small opening remained. It was big enough for her to squeeze around, but no way could she maneuver a man of York’s size through. She shoved at the blockage with her free hand, hoping some part of it would dislodge. Her lungs started to feel the strain for air. She was running out of time.
Kicking the rock in frustration, Kali kept pushing, praying for something to give. She wanted to cry. She couldn’t leave York. She just couldn’t.
She closed her eyes, and was startled when something cold grazed her cheek and then grabbed her wrist, yanking her to the side. Kali opened her eyes. It was Rhane. Bracing himself with invisible footholds, he latched onto the large rock blocking the opening. Gradually, the stone moved like the slowest gears on a turning clock. And the tunnel was opened!
Kali swam through and pulled York with her, guessing the direction to reach the surface. Her need for air was reaching critical. York had to be near drowned. Her head broke free of the water, letting the night air caress her face. The moon and stars twinkled, winking as if they knew how glad she was to see them. Smiling up at the sky, she looked around. Her refuge was a small pool no more than six feet in circumference. A tiny waterhole in a barren desert, it gave no hint of the labyrinth over a hundred feet below.
&
nbsp; The pool was actually more like a well. There were no shallow borders. Climbing out was going to be a problem. Then Kali spied Warren at the edge of the shore, waiting with an outstretched hand. The red ball cap somehow still rested snugly on his head. After hauling York out of the water, he reached for Kali. She shook her head.
“Rhane,” she gasped.
“He’s coming. Take my hand.”
“How can you know that?”
“I can hear him.”
She eyed the young man suspiciously, making no move to exit the water. Yeah, the night had been a weird one, but Kali wasn’t ready to believe that Warren could hear someone swimming fifty to a hundred feet below the surface. Rhane had been under way too long. If he didn’t come up soon, it would mean he had passed out, possibly drowned. And if she got out of the water, she knew Warren would not let her go back to help.
“Kali, trust me.”
Trust. It was such a simple word loaded with nuances of meaning. Rhane had asked her to trust him and to trust his friends. But what if Rhane was counting on her to come back for him? Kali treaded water, unsure of what to do.
“The more we argue about this, the longer I can’t pound the water out of York’s chest. And I really like hitting him.”
Kali decided to go back. She opened her mouth to apologize before ducking under, but then Rhane’s head bobbed up. Water poured from his hair into a pair of eyes that were a little too wide. Shoving his hair aside, he glided toward the shore. Kali shivered when his hand pressed into the small of her back, pushing her forward with him. Warren reached for her again, and this time, she took his hand. He lifted her as if she weighed as much as a feather. Rhane followed, climbing out on his own. Warren redirected his focus to York.
Rhane stumbled a few feet away and dropped slowly to kneel on all fours. Kali went to him. He had yet to make a sound and it worried her. Panting or profuse coughing was expected after a swim like that. It was the first step to breathing normally. But Rhane wasn’t doing any of that. He was silent. Sitting next to him, Kali rested a hand on his back. She was surprised when her hand began to shake. His entire body was seized with tremors. She lowered her face to his and looked closer. His eyes were squeezed shut. Every line of his face was tense. His fingers dug into the sand spasmodically.
“Breathe,” she whispered into his ear. Rhane obediently dragged in that first gasp of air. “Breathe,” she repeated again and again, until the rise and fall of his chest came at regular intervals. Kali relaxed, releasing a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.
Oxygen flow restored, Rhane finished recovering speedily. He pushed back to rest on his heels, and offered Kali a tight smile. “Thanks.” Behind them, York made a sputtering return to the land of the living. Rhane glanced in his direction but didn’t move.
Kali touched the sleeve of his drenched jacket. “Are you okay? York told me that you…” She stopped, not sure if continuing would embarrass him.
“He did, huh?”
Rhane’s tone was casual, but Kali didn’t miss the way his face closed. She bit her lip and waited.
“Bad stuff always happens near water. I drowned as a kid. Twice.” He shook his head at the memory. “I wasn’t expecting this here. Didn’t have time to adapt.”
Kali mustered a tentative smile. “A raging underground river in the middle of the Gobi desert, that’s a new one.”
Rhane didn’t exactly smile. But his expression became less severe. He pushed to his feet. “It’s just an excuse.”
Kali stood as well. Staying close to him and his friends felt like the safest bet. So, until she was out of this god-forsaken desert, she was going to do precisely that, even if it meant being glued to Rhane’s elbow. There would be time later to freak out about her hallucinations of fire breathing monsters and the boy traveling with them who possibly led a double life as a disturbingly large wolf. And to be fair, Kali wasn’t the poster child for normal herself.
She slipped her hand into Rhane’s, surprised by how good it felt when his fingers curled around hers. She responded in kind, gently squeezing his hand. “Hey, it’s nice to know that something scares you. I was beginning to think you weren’t human.”
Chapter 45
“You know what I don’t get?” It was a rhetorical question, one York was ready to answer. “I got hit in the back with a rock the size of a Volvo. So why is my chest the only thing that’s bruised?”
Rhane sat at the edge of the king-sized bed, watching Kalista while listening to the conversation between War and York hastily deteriorate into an argument. The hotel room in Beijing had a lot to offer after their arduous trek in the desert—hot water, soft beds, coffee, and food. But after taking a shower and changing clothes, Rhane still smelled the stench of Reapers and their blood on him.
The walk out of the desert was a long one. Kalista had been completely spent two hours in. She was out cold but still on her feet when Rhane lifted her into his arms. For the next several miles, he and York alternated turns carrying her. War, in wolf skin, traveled alongside them, battle ready for trouble that never came. Once they’d reached a trading outpost, Rhane hired a driver smart enough to not ask questions. Twelve hours later, it was well into morning, he hadn’t slept in three nights, and the end of this day was nowhere in sight.
“Don’t sell yourself short.” War smirked, making no attempt to hide the satisfaction he got out of being the cause of the big guy’s discomfort. “I think your ego may have gotten bruised too, being that Kalista had to save your butt and all.”
“Hey, I’m a real man. I got no problem with being rescued by a hot girl.”
“Hotness would be relevant had you sealed the deal on the resuscitation part. And that’s why you’re bruised, by the way. My mouth wasn’t about to touch your ugly mug. So I pounded on your chest until you breathed again. It worked. You’re welcome.”
York growled in annoyance. His ego had suffered a hit, having to be saved first by Kalista, a teenage girl, and then by War who wasn’t even half his age. And from the smug grin plastered on his face, War also knew how much it bothered him. “Don’t be sore,” he said.
“The next time we train, I’ll show you who’s sore.”
“Bring it on, old man.”
Rhane decided it was a good time to step in. Those two could go at it all day. “We need to get out of here.”
York swallowed the insult he’d been about to toss at War and gave his full attention to Rhane. “I agree.”
“Call the jet. We can’t risk flying commercial. More human servants could be there.”
“Rhane, those Reapers have been trapped in beast form for centuries. Do you think something has changed? Humans don’t serve without some kind of reward.”
“Maybe they’re giving them protection,” War offered. “The people in the rangelands have herds that would be vulnerable.”
York scoffed. “Reapers are probably eating more of their camels than any other predator out there.”
“The bus driver was there to deliver Kalista to Gabriel.” Rhane had come to several conclusions about the implications of that fact. By design he said nothing of them. He waited, wanting to see how the puzzle fit together from an outside perspective.
York was looking down at the floor, sharp mind busy putting everything in order. He and Rhane had spent a lot of time together training, fighting, and surviving. Each man knew how the other thought. Rhane could practically visualize York’s brain lining up the evidence. He looked up at Rhane and nodded grimly.
War followed the look between them. “Am I missing something?”
The young kin hadn’t been alive during the Great War. And being cut off from their civilization since early childhood had afforded him little opportunity to learn from oral history. Rhane had done what he could to teach War to survive in a world not designed for beings of their sort. Consumed by the desperate search for Kalista, Rhane admitted that somewhere along the way he had maybe fallen short.
Not that War would ever divulge this. Since youth, the boy had seen Rhane as some sort of savior, practically worshipping the ground he walked on. Someday Rhane hoped he could explain the truth.
He finished lacing his boots and stood. “Remember your lessons, War. Who is Gabriel?”
“He was a traitor.” War said confidently. “He masterminded a coup that fostered the Great War between tribes. Many lives were lost before his final defeat by our Primes.”
“How was he punished?”
“The Primes captured him and then entombed the beast in Greater Khingan.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself. Think. How did a leader of our kin become that ugly thing you saw in the desert?”
“He was cursed, stripped of his human form.”
“Primes do not have that power.” Rhane moved closer, green eyes darkening.
War looked at York uncertainly. No help there. “I—I don’t know.”
“Forget what they taught you. What do you know?”
War pushed the formal lessons aside, searching his mind for the whispers he’d heard as a youngling. “Despite pursuit by the best of the hunters, Gabriel repeatedly evaded capture. Then he disappeared.”
“Go on.”
“A hunting party discovered him in some type of strange hibernation. He was chained for two cycles but never awakened. The Primes ordered his entombment deep in the mountains.”
Rhane was inches away now, waiting intently for War to put the picture together. “The Primes didn’t punish Gabriel, so who did? Who has that power?”
War hesitated. The man before him was smart, a great leader, and the most skilled fighter he’d ever seen. But what Rhane implied wasn’t possible.
“They are the reason you remember nothing from the day of the massacre.”
“I’m sorry I can’t remember. You know how many times we’ve tried.” War swallowed. “But the ones you speak of are only a legend.” He regretted the words as soon as they left his lips, dropping his head to avoid the cold disappointment dripping from Rhane’s gaze.
Rhane turned away and addressed his orders solely to York. “Stay here with Kalista. If I’m not back within two hours, take the jet and get her out of here. Don’t risk waiting around.” He left the room abruptly.