Clara looked at the two injured men. Though she did not know the healing capabilities of the Draig in their dragon forms, she doubted Vlad and Nolan could last weeks without medical attention.
“Those wounds need to be cleaned,” he said. “With luck, Sven and Matus will make it to the waterfall.”
She nodded in agreement.
“You fought bravely. You bring much honor on your family. You could have very well saved us. For that I thank you.”
“No.” Clara shook her head. “Not bravely. It was instinct. The Redde do not mingle well with the Tyoe.”
“You know that alien race?”
Clara nodded. “They establish profit bases all over the universe—mining, harvesting, whatever profit is to be had in a planet they try to exploit it. Most aliens let them in because they look harmless enough in their docile form, like little balls of jiggly fluid. They’re also backed by the Federation who like the results they produce. They’re good at what they do, highly efficient, but they will drain a planet of its resources before the hosting world knows what happened. They tried landing on Redding to harvest our trees. Our people did not mingle well. We communicate with beasts, and the psychic process, though harmless enough in most cases, boils the Tyoe from the inside out. We saw their methods when we felt into them. We can’t be in the same space with each other.”
“So it is truly the gods blessing that you were sent to marry Vlad,” Tomos concluded. He looked down at Nolan. “I have told my sons not to question or doubt the gods. Foolish boy. He is lucky Trolla did not have him killed for doubting her earlier.”
“You can’t blame him for this,” Clara said.
Tomos didn’t respond.
“I am surprised with your ore that you have not dealt with the Tyoe before now.”
“We’re not Federation,” Tomos said, as if that might explain it.
“Perhaps it took them longer to learn of you,” Clara said.
“We are blessed you are here, my lady. From what I’ve seen, you can protect us.” Tomos sighed heavily. “It will be a hard thing for your husband to understand. He has been raised to believe it is his duty to protect you. I know I had a hard time when I first married and discovered Ari had seen more battles than I had.”
“If I stood with my family, over thirty strong, it would be easy to be rid of the infestation. The Tyoe are rarely alone. However, I am just one. If more Tyoe come for us, I won’t be able to fight them. They’ll drain me with sheer numbers.” Clara stared at Vlad’s hands. She willed them to heal. The crusted blood and charred flesh was too much and she had to close her eyes.
“But you saw their plan?” Tomos asked. “How many are there? Where are they?”
“It’s not clear yet,” Clara said. “I can guarantee there are more of them. You should keep an eye on the river. I should have guessed when I started feeling ill in the tunnels that they were near, but I haven’t seen a Tyoe since I was a girl. I didn’t recognize the signs.”
“Just as I did not instantly know the smell of chemicals,” he said. Strangely, the comparison gave her some comfort.
When they stopped speaking, the silence was deafening and worry started to set in, making it hard for her to breathe. She looked down at Vlad and touched his face with her wrist. Her hands were sore from the Tyoe’s presence. Inside, she felt drained, worse than from the ceffyls, but she did not wish to complain. Seeing her dirty sleeve, she frowned. How had she not noticed her own state? She touched her hair. The tips felt singed on one side. Fate was indeed a strange thing. One moment she sat in the Noblae Portraite Gallery speaking to her noble father, statuesquely portraying the perfect Redde noblewoman, and the next she was trapped in a mine, dirty and singed and talking to a commoner as if he were an equal. She would bet her parents would not have predicted this fate for their daughter.
The low light shielded her dirty attire somewhat, but she found she couldn’t bring herself to care what she looked like. It was possible they would die in this hollow. What if the men did not make it back? What if they were trapped? What would get them first? Injuries? Lack of food and water? The smell of the chemicals coming off the river?
“How dangerous are the chemicals?” she asked, wanting to hear something besides silence. The idea of her body mutating with large head tumors left her trying not to breathe too deeply, which in turn caused the lightheadedness to become worse.
“From what I recall, large holes are drilled into the earth and then fluid is pushed into the holes to fracture the rock. The fluid is filled with chemicals that attracts the ore and helps it float upward. My guess is this river is a fracking stream. When our scientists looked at the fluid we found it to be toxic and dangerous. Without a way to make sure the chemicals are inert after use, you end up leaving active toxins in the ground or floating in these rivers to evaporate their gases into the air. The process may be faster than digging, but why would anyone want to give up the bounties of fresh food grown from the land and clean water? You cannot spray your land with harsh chemicals and not expect there to be a price to pay. No, the gods will provide as they always have.”
“I suppose most people prefer food simulators and use technological water filters,” Clara answered.
Tomos shook his head. He placed his hand on his son, absently checking him. “Food from the ground tastes better. Lord Mirek gave us a food simulator for the village years ago, in case there was ever a shortage. We used to dare each other to taste what was inside after too much drink. I don’t think it was ever repaired after Gront struck it with a pickaxe.” He shook his head. “No, we do not wish to live easy. We will live right. The easy way will lead to laziness and complacency and, in the case of these chemicals, any number of unknown medical and psychological illnesses.”
For a commoner and a miner, he was well spoken. She wondered if her parents had ever spoken to a commoner. They were nothing like she had been led to believe.
“Watch over Nolan?” Tomos asked, standing. Clara nodded. “I want to listen for my sons. I don’t like them being gone for so long.”
Clara focused on her charges. She heard Tomos pacing for what felt like hours. He tried not to worry her further, but she felt his emotions easily enough. Time changed little of their circumstance. Time did, however, help her rebuild a little of her strength. Resting her hand over Vlad and Nolan’s heads, she closed her eyes and tried to connect with them. All she found was pain lingering on the edges of unconsciousness. She jerked her hands back. Her arms ached in sympathy for Vlad and her stomach twinged for Nolan.
Clara was glad they stayed asleep. It was much better they were unaware of what their bodies suffered. Lifting Nolan’s shirt, she examined his stomach.
Tomos was instantly at their side. “What is it?”
“I don’t know.” She revealed the dark bruise she’d found. “I think he might have broken a bone.”
“Ach!”
Clara stood, eagerly watching as Matus appeared through the crack in the rock wall.
“Did you find help?” Tomos asked.
“We found the waterfall,” Matus answered. He held his hand over his mouth.
“It took several wrong turns, but we found a way,” Sven added. He too covered his mouth. “The air is pungent. The ventilation system must not register the chemical smell. Let’s get you out of here.”
Clara had been breathing the chemicals so long she hadn’t noticed their potency. “I don’t know that we should move them. I can stay if you need to go.”
“You can’t keep breathing this contaminated air,” Matus denied. He went to his injured brother and lifted him into his arms. Tomos grabbed Nolan from the other side to help.
“Careful of his chest,” Clara warned.
“Help me with your husband,” Sven said. He picked Vlad up, carrying most of his weight. In the end, he really didn’t need her assistance, but she could tell he wanted to make her feel useful.
Getting the two injured men through the crack in the rock proved dif
ficult. It took some maneuvering, but they finally managed to pull them sideways. The stone walls hit Vlad’s raw hands, making Clara flinch. Tomos handed the torches through. Once on the other side, the air, though stale, was fresher than in the hollow. The men shifted. Tomos helped Sven hook Vlad’s arms over his shoulders. Tomos and Matus carried Nolan between them. Clara held the three torches.
Worry filled her as she watched her husband’s dangling body. She tried to maintain calm but found it difficult when he didn’t wake up. She’d had plenty of time to look at his shifted face as he slept. There was so much strength in him. He’d kept his word. She awoke with him shielding her body. He’d protected her and now paid a steep price for it.
They walked in silence, Matus and Tomos leading the way through the uneven walkways and uncut passages. The light seemed to frighten the small creatures inhabiting the cave. None of the men were concerned with the six-legged insects the size of her fist, or the tiny pale-scaled lizards the insects hunted.
Chapter Twelve
They were trapped.
Natural light shone from behind the constant wall of the thundering waterfall. At first, the fresh air and sunlight had been a blessing…until Clara discovered there was no way past the rushing water. Apparently, they would have to wait out the torrent caused by the recent rainfall. Freedom was so close and yet impossible to reach—and then the light became mocking.
This fact did not keep Tomos from attempting to climb down. He’d tried to pass through the water to the cliff’s edge. The pressure of the waterfall had nearly taken him down the cliff. It was only by some small miracle that Sven and Matus had managed to pull him back inside before the man fell to his death on the rocks below. Clara felt Tomos’s pain at not being able to retrieve medical help for Nolan and Vlad. She’d never felt such depth of emotion from her own father and couldn’t help but wonder if he’d brave a deadly waterfall to try to save her.
A lake of fresh water covered the majority of the cavern. Clara tended the injured men the best she could, cleaning their wounds and trying to get sips of water down their throats. When she felt inside them, she knew the depths of their pain. They needed food and they needed the kind of medical attention she was not equipped to give.
Matus, Sven and Tomos were adept at cave survival. She assumed that fact was due to their livelihood. Matus used the dry moss hanging from the cave ceiling to keep a fire burning. Tomos and Sven hunted for food. Clara tried not to think about what she was putting in her mouth, but the lizard and insect feast was hard to ignore.
“Food simulators aren’t sounding too bad right now,” Tomos joked tiredly at one point when he handed her a cooked lizard.
At night, Clara tried to sleep next to Vlad, but mostly she lay awake staring at his face for a sign of movement. The idea that it could take weeks for the others to come for them worried her. It was hard to track the hours by the constant light, but she estimated nearly three days passed under the waterfall’s prison. She worried it would never end. Only once did she feel the sickness that indicated the presence of the Tyoe somewhere in the mines, but it was a faint nagging and one she did not share with the men. They had enough pressures trying to survive.
“Should we check the hollow?” Clara asked. “Maybe the others will be looking for us.”
“It will be weeks before they can dig us out,” Tomos said. “I checked it this morning. The fumes in there are strong. It might be best if they don’t try to hurry their way in.”
“The water in there burns. We don’t dare carry a fire torch back into that place” Sven said, tapping the artificial light he carried on his waist. They didn’t use it often, trying to conserve its power. “I am not sure what the air will do now that it has filled with the chemical smell. I worry what will happen if rescuers charge in with pickaxes striking metal to stone. What if the sparks create explosion? I need to get down that waterfall to warn them, to tell them where we are.”
“They’ll follow protocol,” Matus assured him. “They will go slowly and test the air.”
“Can we survive that long?” Clara stood over Vlad and Nolan and gestured to her two patients. “Can they?”
“The water is letting up,” Sven said from where he stood in the shallow lake. The water hit his thighs, wetting his clothes. “I’m going to try climbing down. I can bring a medic unit back. Something. I can communicate with the others. We can coordinate efforts.”
“You will never be able to make it back up once you go down. The water is too strong.” Tomos shook his head. “No, son, we must trust that all will be well.”
“Matus?” Sven turned to his brother for support in his decision.
“It’s too risky.” Matus gave a guilty glance to his father. “The water will push you over.”
“It’s better than starving in here.” Sven ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “If the rescuers come too fast, we could die. If they come too slow, Nolan and Vlad might not survive.”
“Wait a bit longer,” Tomos said. “If we are patient, Trolla will provide. The goddess is not ready for us to leave. She would not have threatened to push me over if she had been. Come, Sven, let us hunt for food. You will need your strength when it’s time to go down.”
Clara suspected Tomos didn’t fully believe his words, but spoke to comfort his sons and give them hope.
When they were alone with the two invalids, Matus grumbled to himself, “Trolla will provide? Like she provided for Vlad’s parents? Like she provides for Nolan and Vlad now?”
“What happened to Vlad’s parents?” Clara asked.
Matus frowned. “My apologies. I should not have spoken the thought out loud. I am sure your husband will be fine.”
“What happened?”
“There was a thermal pocket eruption.” The gravelly answer came from near her feet.
She gasped, looking down. “Matus, Vlad’s awake.”
Vlad’s body slowly shifted to human form as he continued groggily, “My father was caught. My mother went in to save him and they both died under a rock slide.”
Clara kneeled beside him as relief flooded her. She’d tried very hard to monitor herself until that moment. Now she didn’t care if everyone saw what she was feeling. She laid the back of her hand to his cheek. “How are you? What hurts? How can I help you?”
“Where are we?” he grumbled, blinking heavily.
Matus quickly explained their situation as Clara helped Vlad to sitting. Finishing, the man added, “Your wife has done great honor to your name. Not once did she cry out hysterically or complain. She has carried herself as well as any Draig.”
“I am blessed with a fine wife.” Vlad glanced at the man still on the floor. “Nolan?”
“He hasn’t moved,” Matus answered. She felt the man’s stress hitting her like a wave and he didn’t try to hide it from his expression.
Clara leaned in and kissed her husband, unable to contain her relief. He groaned at the contact. She pulled away. “My apologies, my lord, I should have waited for permission.”
“Your dress is on my hand,” he explained. Vlad lifted his hands to look at them and flinched. Then, he keeping them up, he leaned in to her with his lips puckered slightly. “Try that again.”
She gave him the kiss he sought, not letting it linger. “I am glad you are awake, my lord. I was very worried. I tried to communicate with you, but I don’t think you heard me.”
“I’ll live,” he told her. “There is no need to worry.”
She felt him trying to be brave, but she knew how much pain he was in. Awake was good. Medical treatment would be better. “You should drink. Tomos and Sven are hunting. You need to eat.”
“Cave spiders,” Matus inserted. Vlad grimaced.
Clara moved to the water, cupped her hands and brought the liquid to her husband to drink. She made several trips, not caring that she spilled it down the front of her bodice in her haste to tend to him. On the last run, she dripped a little water into Nolan’s mouth.
“Then we would be dead. She defeated the Tyoe alien and sent him fleeing,” Matus said. When Vlad glanced at him, he shrugged. “Small cave. Not much to do. I’m going to eavesdrop.”
“Tyoe?” Vlad asked.
Clara explained what she had to the others, and then added, “I’ve been so preoccupied I haven’t been able to sift through my thoughts properly. I know they crave the ore. They want your mines and they’ll do anything to possess them. They have been studying you for some time. They know the noble Draig households. I know they have plans and I know there are more of them.”
“You did not tell us this,” Matus said, slightly accusing.
“It’s been coming to me in pieces,” she defended. “There is nothing solid to tell. I don’t have their full plan and I won’t until I can relax.” She looked at Vlad, still very much relieved that he was looking back at her. “This is why my people don’t let their emotions run so freely. We have to be reserved. It’s not just a noble whim, it’s a necessity. It’s hard to concentrate. I’m sorry, I have been focused on you, my lord, and Nolan. I haven’t pieced together more. I’ve been very tired trying to block all the emotions on this planet since I arrived. Then the ceffyls. I can’t process—”
When her voice choked a little, he cut her off, “No, Clara, you are doing very well.”
She sighed heavily, relieved to hear him say so. The conversation fell into silence. Vlad’s eyelids drifted by small degrees over his eyes. She knew he was tired. Sitting next to him, she motioned that he should put his head on her lap to rest. He did, gratefully, and was almost instantly asleep.
* * *
Vlad ignored his pain as he flexed his fingers. His body was not healing as fast as it should. He could only guess it was from the diet of cave spiders and water. He drifted in and out of sleep, hating himself for not taking better care of his wife. Her pale features were a constant reminder of the danger she was in. His biggest responsibility in the entire world was taking care of her, and he felt as if he’d failed. When she’d been surviving, he’d been unconscious.
The Reluctant Lord (Dragon Lords) Page 14