I related how I’d shown Lia’ina and her group the route to the escape tunnel, about Ramu’eno killing the traitor, finding my weapons and the guards’ search for me as I hid in the storage closet.
Finishing my narrative I said, “I’m sure you heard the explosive results of the rest of my story.”
I turned and walked backwards a few paces. “Now, I believe it’s your story.”
King Ansel took up his account. “As I mentioned, I feared something was amiss this morning. Now I understand it was because of your capture that they doubled my guard and moved me more frequently throughout the day.”
He hesitated before he went on. “They had just unchained me from one location and were about to slap on another set of irons to transport me to a different site. That’s when you ignited the first blast. I’ll have to admit it took me by surprise, even though Sovann had warned me to expect it. The explosion proved a perfectly-timed distraction. You couldn’t have chosen a more fitting instant.”
I smiled.
He continued his tale. “I grabbed the closest guard’s sword and had him dispatched before any of the others could make a move. The second man barely had his halberd at the ready when I finished him. It was hard to believe from seasoned soldiers, but the last two stood staring at me in shock. They went down without a fight.
“I headed toward where Avano waited, as planned, but at the first corridor, I heard the sound of boots around the corner. I had to duck into a dark alcove — narrowly missing getting caught.
“After they passed, there was no other option but to change direction and try the escape tunnel. I hoped you hadn’t already latched it behind you, but I was prepared to break my way in. That’s when I heard that unearthly wail. Then you screamed, and shortly after, I heard a horrible screech.”
After several steps in silence, I said, “Your Majesty? King Ansel?”
I stopped, half-expecting him to bump into me again. Turning around, I could see him in the torchlight a number of paces behind me.
His voice full of emotion, he continued, “When I came around that door and saw you standing there ready to kill me, I was never more happy to see anyone in my life.” He forced a smile. “I apologize for startling you. I didn’t know what to expect. Just seeing you alive ...”
His sincere strength of feeling caught me by surprise. My eyes stung. I swiped at a tear that escaped down my cheek, hoping he didn’t notice.
“I want to thank you for trading your freedom for mine, Sir King, although I’ll never understand how the life of a commoner would be equal exchange for the life of a king. It makes no sense.”
“What makes you so sure you’re a commoner?”
“I might not know who I am, but deep down ... in my heart I know I was born without rank or title.”
He shrugged.
“If you know otherwise, then please tell me,” I said.
He shook his head. “I can’t debate your birth.”
A loud sigh of frustration forced its way from deep within my chest. I turned on my heels and continued on toward our destination.
I chewed at the inside of my cheek for a moment, then opened my mouth to voice one more query. Before I could utter a word, a low rumble, like a stampede of hoofed animals shook the ground. The rumble increased. The floor of the tunnel rocked violently. A rain of dirt sifted down from above.
The sound of my heartbeat thrashed in my ears. I groped for the walls — something to steady myself.
Buried alive. No!
I threw my arms around King Ansel. He pulled me close.
“Braonán told me there’s another exit that lets out into the jungle,” I said in a rush. “I don’t know if we’ve already passed it. I haven’t been paying attention.”
“Sovann says it’s ahead of us. We’re close. Let’s go.”
“What’s happening out there?”
“He says the volcano is erupting.”
“Oh, so now we’ll roast alive before we’re buried alive?”
He shook his head, then grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the jungle exit. The tremors intensified, making our footing unsteady. Bouncing off the walls and stumbling, we searched for the escape shaft.
“It’s here somewhere,” King Ansel said.
My torchlight revealed an opening to our right. We turned, and in a few paces found the stairs we hoped would lead up to the exit. Reaching the overhead hatch, I prayed King Ansel had the strength necessary to open it. My energy had waned. I squeezed to the side of the stairwell, my back pressed to the wall for him to pass and access the trapdoor.
It was locked.
I started to pull Aperio’s key out of my sleeve. He had already drawn his and whispered the dragon’s name.
As he unlocked the hatch, another jolt shook the ground. My foot slipped. Grappling for something to hang on to, I found only air. With a cry, I tumbled back down the stairs. The tunnel collapsed around me.
I couldn’t breathe. The dirt pressed in against my chest. It closed over my head. The sound of the king’s shouting became muffled.
Panic won’t save me. I will not let this be my end.
“Eshshah,” I shouted in my head.
Her strength and comfort filled me. I worked my arm up through the dirt that covered me. Pushing with all I had, my hand emerged from my shallow grave. A firm grip closed around my wrist and pulled. Nearly out of breath, I struggled to claw my way out. My world spun. With a final yank from the king, my head broke the surface. I gasped in a lung full of air. King Ansel’s terrified face hovered above.
He frantically dug around me. My shoulders and arms were freed. Locking his hands under my arms, I latched mine around the back of his neck. He must have called on his dragon’s strength. With a powerful pull, the rest of my body emerged from my earthy prison. He fell backwards. I landed on top. My lungs exhaled with a huff.
I sputtered and coughed. The king held me tight and whispered my name.
My panic overcame any thought of rational behavior. I tightened my arms around him, and pressed my cheek against his.
“You’re never so alive as when you’re that close to death”—a quote I’d heard somewhere suddenly had great meaning.
We remained locked in each other’s embrace for only a few breaths. I needed him for that brief moment. One final inhale, I closed my eyes and took control of my weakness.
Unlatching my arms, I pushed myself off of him. “King Ansel ... er ... thank you. We need to go.”
The tremors continued. We scrambled to our feet, and charged up the stairs. King Ansel pushed on the unlocked hatch. It didn’t budge. He put his shoulders to it and barely got it to move. I climbed to a higher step and hunched over, putting my back to the trapdoor.
“On the count of three, push,” said the king.
Using my legs I shoved with all my strength.
“Come on, Sovann,” he grunted.
Eshshah must have been in on that request, because I felt her increased strength.
“One more time, push.”
With the dragons’ help we felt the door move. Roots that had grown around the trapdoor ripped loose above us. Dirt spilled in along the edges. One more powerful effort and the ground overhead gave. The door flew open. We clambered out.
I fell to my hands and knees. Expecting to inhale fresh air, the rotten-egg smell of sulfur assaulted me. Stifling heat surrounded us. Hot winds whipped at our clothes.
“Get up, Amáne. We can’t stay here.” King Ansel had to shout over the howling wind and the approaching noise of trees igniting and falling. “Sovann says we’re in the path of the lava flow. The dragons can’t get in to us here through the thick jungle.”
The king reached down and helped me to my feet.
“They’ve found a less dense area in that direction.” He pointed ahead and to the right. “They’re ripping out the foliage to clear it enough for Sovann to land. We have to go there.”
Steadying myself, I looked over my shoulder. The jungle was thi
ck, but through the vegetation I could see a red luminescence in the distant sky. The volcano. And another glow, closer. I turned and we bolted toward where the dragons worked.
Palm fronds and low branches lashed out at us. Thorny bushes caught on our clothes and exposed skin. The pain barely felt, we ran on.
Adding to the noise of the trees exploding in our wake, animals of every kind raced past. Monkeys screeched above as they swung from tree to tree, forest deer vocalized as they ran alongside of panthers — all in a panic to escape the approaching lava.
The jungle around us seemed to side against me. Roots caught my foot and I stumbled. Head over heels, I rolled down the embankment we’d kept to our right.
“Amáne!” King Ansel shouted.
The ground flew past me as I tumbled down the hill. I shot my hand out, grabbed onto a root and jerked to a stop. Pulling myself to my hands and knees, I looked up. My heart sank. I’d fallen too far. There would be no time to climb back up the steep incline before the area would be overtaken by the lava flow.
King Ansel began to pick his way down toward me.
“No, Ansel! I mean King Ansel. Go back. Please, save yourself.”
I glanced behind me and scanned the bottom of the hill. A small stream reflected what little light filtered through the canopy. The rest of the way down didn’t appear quite as steep as the slope from which I’d already fallen.
I shouted up at him. “Go back! I’ll get to the stream and see if I can make my way to the dragons from there.”
He continued down the embankment. “I’m coming, Amáne. Stay where you are.”
Stubborn man.
The king slipped and skidded a short distance before regaining his footing. He cursed. Now he was as stuck as I.
I couldn’t stay there and watch while he broke his neck trying to get to me. Clawing my way, I struggled to make it back up the hill.
This makes no sense. I’m not getting anywhere. And besides, I could no more catch his fall than he could pull me back to the top. We’d both break our necks or burst into flame, whichever comes first.
I shook my head, muttering under my breath, but kept trying.
Traversing a ways to his left, the young king drew his sword and hacked at a vine. Sheathing his blade, he worked his way back across to a tree straight up from my position. He tugged at the plant, pulling hand over hand. It loosened its hold from the jungle floor and he gathered it into a coil.
I nodded and smiled.
As clever as he is handsome.
Using the vine as a rope, he moved backwards down the steep hill, reaching me quickly. One hand holding the trailing plant, his other grabbed me and pulled me close. He kissed my forehead. Together, we stumbled the rest of the way down, using the vine until its length ran out. The last section of slope down to the stream was quite manageable.
The water felt good as we splashed into the middle of the shallow river. We took deep thirst-quenching drafts. I closed my eyes in relief as it went down my parched throat. We splashed the sweat and dirt off our faces, then turning left, we started upstream.
“Sovann says this leads further south from the area they’ve already cleared. They’ll have to find a closer place for a landing zone.”
“I told you to go on without me. Again, I’m responsible for endangering your life.” A hitch in my voice betrayed my anguish.
He squeezed my hand.
“It would be faster if we didn’t have to trudge through the water,” I said.
“I’ve been looking, but haven’t seen a path, yet. The brush is too thick on either side.”
I bit back my frustration.
We struggled up through the river until we came to more level ground. A pathway revealed itself to our right — probably an animal track that led to the water’s edge. Making our way to the trail, I had to stop to catch my breath.
Ash rained down upon us. Gasping for air, I looked to my left. Crackling sounds echoed close by. Sulfur and smoke burned my eyes.
“M’lord, we’ve run into the path of another lava flow. Do you think it can cross the river?”
“It would likely slow it, but I doubt the river can stop it.”
My shoulders dropped. I moaned.
King Ansel stood before me. Grabbing my arms, he gently shook me and said between heavy breaths, “Amáne, pull yourself together. We will make it. It’s not like you to give up.”
He knows more about me than I know of myself.
I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my face with both hands.
His chest heaving, he bent over and grabbed his knees. “We’ll make it.”
He already said that. Is he trying to convince me or himself?
“We’re racing the flow front,” he said. “It’s slow enough. We can outrun it.” After several breaths, he added, “If only we had a vial of the Healer’s potion.”
“A vial?”
“Yes.”
“Potion?”
“Yes,” he said, losing patience.
“An awful tasting dark liquid?”
His head snapped up.
A bit taken aback at his angry look, I reached for a pouch that hung on my belt. Extracting a small vial of the Healer’s concoction, I handed it to him. “Avano hooked it on my belt just before I left the inn. I’d forgotten about it.”
King Ansel scowled at me then grabbed it from my hand. He pulled out the cork with his teeth and handed me the tiny glass container. “Drink it.”
I tipped my head back and poured half the contents in my mouth. My face scrunched up at the horrible taste. I forced myself to swallow and then bent over in a coughing fit as I shoved the remainder at him.
“No, Amáne, you need —”
My eyes teared, my throat burned. “Take it,” I growled.
The king shrugged, took the vial and downed the remainder. He must have been accustomed to the burn. He finished it without choking. Not even a cough.
I glared at him, an eyebrow cocked.
“You get used to it,” he said.
I felt the warmth of the liquid as it traveled downward. A wave of alertness surged through me. I stood up straight, refreshed. “That’s horrible stuff, but truthfully, it works.”
“Remind me to give the Healer a big hug,” he said smiling. “Now, let’s go.”
The king took my hand and we ran along the animal path with renewed strength and a restored perspective.
The lava gained on us as we neared where the dragons worked. I hesitated at the sound of crashing trees ahead of us. King Ansel urged me on. I picked up speed, realizing it was the sound of the dragons ripping at the vegetation to clear a spot for our rescue.
“We’re nearly there,” the king said. Relief sounded in his hoarse voice.
The heat followed us more closely. Fumes from the sulfur nearly overcame me. But I persevered. We reached the clearing. My stomach turned. I groaned. They hadn’t cleared a large enough area for a dragon to land. Time had run out. The scorching heat singed the trees at the edge of the small opening in the jungle.
“We’ve made it,” the young king said as he looked up to the dragons who hovered above the treetops.
“Are you mad, Ansel — King Ansel? Are we supposed to fly up to meet them?”
“You’re not far from the truth. They’re dropping an extraction line. Here it comes, look out.”
I dodged as a rope fell from the air. Jerking my head in the king’s direction, my eyes went wide. He swooped me up and placed his foot in one of the loops tied along the line. Shoving his hand through a higher loop, he held on. We rose into the air. I let out a squeal. A roar sounded behind us as a nearby tree burst into flames, toppling in our direction. The blaze seared my clothing as the tree crashed to the ground. Sparks flew high into the air.
I held tightly to King Ansel as Avano, on his grey dragon, Arai, lifted us out of the jungle.
“King Ansel, the rope!” I said.
Above us and out of reach, a red glow smoldered on the line.
> “Avano, lift faster. Let Sovann get below us,” the king shouted.
The sudden jerk strained the fraying line. I looked up in terror as the spark grew into a flame that crept up the rope.
Arai climbed to a height that sent my head reeling. The treetops receded below. Sovann’s great wings pumped the air as he moved into position under us. He lifted smoothly, closing the distance. I stretched my foot out until it touched the saddle. He hovered closer, still.
“Grab the saddle bar, Amáne.”
My heart raced as my hand clasped the bar at the front of the saddle. Trying to ignore the dizzying height at which we hovered, I slid my leg over the seat. Safely in, I reached to steady the line for the king to do the same.
At that instant, the rope burned through. King Ansel dropped. He grasped for the saddle, but missed. The king slipped past me. I screamed and grappled for him. My fingers closed around his wrist. I cringed in pain as I hung on, gripping the saddle bar with my other hand to keep myself from slipping off. My arms strained with his weight.
I can’t hold him much longer.
Reaching with his free hand, King Ansel took hold of a metal ring attached to the side of the saddle. I let out a jagged sigh and sang a silent song of thanks. He hoisted himself up and latched on to the saddle bar.
Sovann spiraled up as the king pulled himself behind me onto the seat. He wrapped his arms around me. Leaning forward, he rested his head against the back of my neck.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The view from high above the volcano’s angry eruption was frighteningly awesome. As dawn lightened the sky in the east, the mountaintop glowed red in the north. A massive cloud of ash rose above its crater. Wide ribbons of lava oozed into the sea, creating spouts of steam. The mountain’s south-facing bowl spilled over with more flows making their way toward the black castle. The thought overwhelmed me that moments ago we’d been trying to outrun the glowing mass of molten rock, and now from high above, I took in its ferocious beauty.
Adding to my wonderment, the ecstasy of flying filled my heart. Several dragon riders soared alongside of us, and one dragon without a rider. Eshshah. She flew wing-to-wing with the golden dragon upon which I rode with King Ansel.
Amáne of Teravinea - Black Castle (The Teravinea Series Book 4) Page 17