"How much farther?" she panted.
"Tired already?" he replied, four rocks ahead of her. "Ready to turn around yet?"
"No, I'm just wondering," Lauren said, sliding down the side of the boulder and walking over to the next one. She grabbed the top of the rock and pulled, but her body didn't move an inch. She tried jumping and pulling herself over, but her fingers slipped and she landed in a heap on the ground. Brushing her hair out of her face, she searched for an alternative means of climbing around the rock.
"It will take some hours," Cefin replied, his voice carrying over the path as she couldn't see his face. "We are going much slower than anticipated."
"Well," Lauren grunted, wriggling her way on top of the boulder and sitting on top of it. "Perhaps if someone wasn't being such a jackass and offered to help me, this would go easier."
"As I said, I don't want to cause you any—"
"Oh, go to hell," Lauren hissed, as she tackled the next boulder.
She was now quite sure that Cefin was mad at her for dragging him all the way up here, which she didn't understand at all. He didn't have to come with her; he wasn't much help anyway.
The sky was turning pink as sunrise fast approached, and Lauren was grateful for the additional light. The ground was even now, with low bushes scratching them on either side of the non-existent trail. Lauren's dress was covered with the small bristles, but she said nothing, not wanting to give Cefin the satisfaction of knowing she was uncomfortable.
Movement nearby brought both of them to a halt. Cefin was concerned enough to throw his arm out, preventing Lauren from going forward. She almost ran into him, but stopped mere inches from his skin, preventing another empath intrusion.
"Stay back," Cefin said, unsheathing his sword. With a voice that oozed authority, he bellowed into the early morning, "Come out and show yourself!"
The bushes rattled again, and Lauren held her breath.
A ball of leaves and twigs emerged from the bushes. Dead, soulless eyes looked out into nothing behind heavy lids, and Lauren realized she was staring at an old woman, mumbling wildly to herself and glancing at nothing.
"Owena," Cefin hissed, sheathing his sword again. "How did you get up here?"
The woman simply grunted, stumbling around like a child.
"What's wrong with her?" Lauren asked. The woman reminded her of a man on the streets near her office back in California. He always muttered to himself, talking to someone in the far off distance that no one else could see.
"She arrived in the village this way," Cefin said. "Crazy as they come. Baltes has her tending to the sheep sometimes, but sometimes she wanders. This is the fifth time this month I've caught her in the mountain."
Owena looked at Lauren and for the briefest of moments, Lauren saw a flash of recognition. But Lauren thought perhaps she had imagined it, as the woman began humming to herself and picking the leaves.
"Come on. She never causes any trouble. She'll venture back down to the village when she's hungry."
Lauren paused, staring at the woman. "How did she get all the way up here? We've been walking for hours over rocks and boulders."
"Who knows? Shall we get a move on?"
"No," Lauren said, walking over to Owena. "How did you get up here?"
"You. Empath," the woman muttered, stepping back from her.
"Where's the village?" Lauren asked.
"Village." Owena pointed to her left—the completely opposite way she and Cefin had come.
"That way, huh?" Lauren said, turning on her heel and glowering at Cefin. "That way?"
"She's insane." Cefin shook his head. "I wouldn't—"
"And you are an unbelievable asshole," Lauren seethed. "You've been dragging me around the mountain, but not towards the caves where you found me!"
"That's not true," Cefin said unconvincingly.
"Oh yeah? Then tell me this: you said you carried me all the way down the mountain when you found me? How did you climb over rocks and boulders and all the other crap you've pulled me through?"
Cefin swallowed.
"For that matter," Lauren continued, her voice rising in anger. "You said you were chasing a goat up the mountain? How the hell did a goat get all the way up the mountain?"
"Goats are—"
"I've got a pretty good lie detector right here," Lauren hissed, holding up her hand. "But I don't need to touch you to know that you, my friend, are full of shit."
"You think this is some kind of a lark?" he growled, realizing that she had him. "You have no idea what you're asking for by going up there."
"You didn't have to come with me—"
"And when you wake the Anghenfil and are devoured, who will protect the village? Don't misunderstand me: I am only here to keep the monster out of Rhianu."
"It's gonna be hard to wake it up if you never take me there, now isn't it? Now you have a choice, spear-boy: either you take me up there right now or get out of my way."
Cefin grunted in frustration, tearing his eyes away from her. Without speaking, he turned and marched into the forest. Lauren turned to follow him, but stopped when the old woman was babbling to a nearby rock. Lauren felt guilty leaving the poor dear up here all alone.
"Hey, go back to the village," Lauren whispered to her.
Owena looked up at her and pointed at Lauren's necklace. "Empath."
"Yes," Lauren nodded, watching Cefin's disappearing form. "Look, I gotta go. But get back to the village, okay?"
"Empath," Owena mumbled, grasping at her own chest.
"Get back to the village," Lauren repeated, turning to run after Cefin, who had stopped to wait for her with a sour look on his face.
"There's no use in talking with her; she's insane," he snapped.
"Pardon me for being a decent human being," Lauren growled back. "You could take a lesson, you know?"
They spent the next hour in silence, climbing over rocks as the forest thinned around them. It was difficult, but not nearly as difficult as the pre-dawn jaunt Cefin had taken her on. The air was thinner, and her legs were screaming in pain, but she was determined. And she didn't want to give Cefin the satisfaction of knowing she was miserable.
"We're getting close," he muttered, pointing to a rock on the ground that seemed to have tumbled there recently. They crested another hill and Cefin stopped.
"There," he said, pointing to a pile of rocks that leaned against the side of the mountain. "That is where I found you."
"I was under there?" Lauren breathed. It was obviously a cave-in, and the boulders were thick and heavy. If any of them had fallen in the wrong place, she would have been crushed.
It was a miracle she wasn't crushed.
She approached the pile and saw where Cefin must have dug her out. Seeing the size of the rocks, knowing how close she had come to almost certain death, she felt a little sorry for being so angry with him.
"Hey," Lauren said, tossing him a sideways glance. "Thanks for digging me out."
"Just hurry up," he huffed, pulling his spear off of his back. "The Anghenfil could be in any one of these caves."
"The right response is 'you're welcome'…"
She walked up to the pile and began pushing aside smaller rocks, looking for anything strange. To be honest, she wasn't quite sure what she was looking for, but she hoped she'd know when she saw it.
She pushed aside a rather large rock, revealing the darkness of a cave, and her heartbeat quickened.
"Hey Cefin," she said. "There's something here."
She began digging faster, pushing rocks into the cave to widen the hole. She covered the tops of her eyes and peered inside, but couldn't see anything other than blackness. She tossed a look back to Cefin, who was standing with his spear in his hand and not helping her whatsoever.
She began tugging at a big rock, hoping that if she could move it a little bit, it would dislodge other ones and create a hole big enough for her to crawl through. She pulled and pushed at it, feeling it move just a little bit.
With a mighty heave, it broke free, tumbling down into the blackness and taking Lauren with it.
She landed in a heap in the dark, cool cave, coughing up dust and other particles. A small halo of light formed a circle on the ground but didn't offer any other illumination. Pushing herself to her feet, she walked over to the hole and peered out, spying Cefin standing at attention on the other side.
"I'm fine. Thanks for asking."
"Hurry up," Cefin snapped, his eyes glued to the skies.
"Yeah, yeah." Lauren rolled her eyes and disappeared into the darkness.
She stumbled around for a moment, feeling at the floor with her feet for anything that would give her a clue as to how she got here. Maybe she just needed to walk to the end of the cave and she'd wake up back in her own bed. She kicked the ground until she found the wall, placing her hands on the chilly stone to guide her.
Her foot caught on something and she fell, but not onto the hard ground, onto something firm…
And scaly.
Alarm bells went off in her head.
"Oh shit," she whispered, scrambling backwards.
In the darkness, a gigantic red eye opened.
"Fuck me," she gasped, fear gripping her as she scrambled for the small pinhole in the distance that was the edge of the cave. "CEFIN!" she screamed, her voice echoing in the cave.
The monster was moving, and Lauren saw a flash of bright fire, illuminating a black body the size of an elephant.
She screamed and ran faster, hating herself for ever coming up here. She flung herself at the small hole, wriggling out as fast as she could. Cefin's spear was out, concern on his face.
"Lauren, quiet down, you'll wake the—"
"TOO LATE!" she screamed, pulling herself out of the cave and running past him as fast as her feet could carry her. "RUN!"
BOOM.
The rocks in front of the cave exploded around them, spewing rocks and dust. Cefin grabbed Lauren by the dress sleeve and yanked her forward, putting on a burst of speed as they clattered down the rocky pathway. A loud screeching roar echoed between the mountains, and a beating of wings thumped above them.
It landed in their path and Lauren's heart stopped as she took in the sight of the living, breathing dragon before her. The Anghenfil was the biggest living thing she'd ever seen in her life, scarier than any painting in any book. Its body was a deep red, with a orangish, scaled belly. Black hair-looking scales lined the back of its head. Fangs that looked longer than her legs gleamed in the sunlight, and the eyes—ruby red eyes that somehow looked familiar, were trained on her and Cefin.
She whimpered and stepped behind Cefin, careful not to touch him. She needed to keep all of her wits about her when facing this monster.
"Stay back," Cefin growled, facing the monster with all of the strength and courage expected of him.
Lauren, who had never thought in her entire adult life she would ever face a dragon, happily complied and wilted behind him.
"Go back to your cave, beast," Cefin bellowed, pulling the spear from behind his back. "Leave us in peace!"
The Anghenfil lifted its huge head to the sky and roared so loud the rocks shook.
Lauren prayed that maybe she'd finally wake up from this dream, and be back in her bed, safe and sound, and not about to be eaten by a dragon. As Cefin lunged at the beast with a roar, she pressed herself against the side of the mountain, crouching down low and hoping that the monster would forget she was there.
She saw the tail, much less like a dragon's tail and more like a snake's, wriggling and curling behind it.
"Cefin, look out!" she cried, as he jumped out of the way mere moments before the tail whipped by.
The dragon opened its mouth, and a fire-laced roar echoed across the land. Cefin adjusted the sword in his hand, his eyes moving between her and the Anghenfil.
"Lauren, go back to the village," he called to her. She heard the fear in his voice, even as he turned to face the dragon again. "I'll deal with the beast now."
"No way!" Lauren shook her head.
"Go!"
The Anghenfil tilted its head back and roared, flapping its great big wings and sending bursts of wind towards the two of them. Lauren lost her footing and fell to the ground, looking over to see Cefin on the ground as well.
"CEFIN!" she called.
"LAUREN LOOK OUT!" Cefin screamed back at her.
Lauren looked up just as the black serpentine tail landed on top of her. It wrapped around her body. And then everything went black.
***
She sat beside him in the car, filled with trepidation and anxiety. Somehow, she'd woken up this morning and just knew that today was the day.
To be honest, she'd known for months that this was inevitable, but she'd tried to convince herself that she was wrong. She'd spent weeks on edge, wondering when he was going to surprise her with a diamond ring. She knew there would be parades and fireworks, and all would be right in the world just as soon as he figured out what he had. And she'd done a good job of shoving any thoughts about leaving him deep down into the section of her mind reserved for forbidden thoughts, the things she was afraid to even think.
But it had broken free that morning, and during a particularly teary shower, anxious resolution was all she felt.
Today was the day.
He pulled into her driveway and her heartbeat raced. He asked if he could come inside to hang out, but she heard herself say the dreaded words as if someone else were controlling her.
"We should talk…"
"Ugh," he said, sitting back. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Do you even want to marry me?"
He was silent, and she saw the wheels turning in his head. She had known him long enough to know what he was thinking. When he didn't speak, her heart began to break.
"I think…I think it's just time for us to cut our losses and move on," she whispered.
Tears fell down her face, and she looked out the car window. It was a gorgeous day, everything was green and bright in the late spring around them. She felt like it should be dark and gloomy, that the world should come to an end right then and there.
The memory became hazy, as their relationship dissolved right before their eyes.
"You're the best person I've ever known," he said.
She nodded, unable to look at him. She went to get out of the car, but he stopped her.
"Can I at least get a kiss goodbye?" he asked, his voice thick.
She turned to look at him and gently pressed her lips to his. As the full weight of the situation fell down on her—this was their last kiss—she sobbed harder, needing to get free of him and get inside the house.
She tore out of the car and ran into the house. She stood in her living room with wet cheeks, and watched him sit in his car.
And she waited.
Waited for him to get out of the car and come tell her it wasn't true and he wanted her.
Waited for herself to wake up from this nightmare.
But he put his car in reverse and drove away.
She sat down on the couch, in shock.
Did that just happen? Did they just break up?
Five years up in smoke, like that?
Lauren and Josh, they were inseparable.
And now separated.
She felt sick and ran upstairs to empty the contents of her stomach in the toilet. She sat against the toilet, and her first instinct was to text Josh and tell him she'd just thrown up, wanting him to text back, "Aw, poor puppy."
But he wasn't hers anymore. He no longer cared about her.
The reality crashed down on her and she collapsed on the floor, curling into a ball.
She couldn't breathe; she couldn't think; she couldn't even move.
Hurting. She was hurting so badly.
Everything was just painful now.
Why was everyone happy except for her?
When the hell was she going to feel normal again?
"Would you like it to go away?"
/>
"Yes," she whispered.
A black tail slithered tighter around her—maybe that was why she couldn't breathe—and she saw the tip of the tail slip inside of her chest, tightening around her heart.
***
She heard a roar in the distance and took a large gulp of precious, sweet air. She opened her eyes for a moment, spotting nothing but Cefin and his sword covered in green blood. She saw the great beast take flight, the stub of a tail dripping behind it.
Cefin's face was in her line of sight, but his voice was far away. She was sinking lower and lower into the darkness.
"LAUREN!"
CHAPTER SIX
Lauren awoke, and for a moment, she was terrified she was back in the monster's thoughts—or worse, the monster had taken her. But she was in the quiet darkness, leaning against a very uncomfortable tree. She sat up and looked around, groggy and despondent, until she realized Cefin was nowhere to be found.
Fear shot through her. Had he been killed?
"Cefin?" she called, noticing the feeble sound of her own voice.
"I'm here," he said, appearing in the darkness next to her. Relief was immediate at the sight of his uninjured face, and she sunk back into the tree.
"Thank God," she whispered into her hands as she rubbed her face. She paused in her movements and looked around. "Where is here?"
"Outside of town, at the watcher's post," Cefin replied, looking around them before settling his eyes on her again. "Are you hurt?"
"I feel like death. I remember…"
The fear was back, a sharp coldness that settled in her chest. The Anghenfil had put her back in the worst moment of her short life—the day that she and Josh ended things. When she first fell into the deep darkness that had lasted the past four months.
She was at her lowest, miserable and hurting, and she had told the monster to take her pain.
The monster wanted her miserable, sad heart. That's why it brought her here.
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