Scorched Treachery (16 page)

The silence stretched through the cave
; it stretched between us until Joclyn moaned, her voice soft. Everyone’s attention pulled to her as she twitched, blood seeping through the shirt over her shoulder. A quick check revealed that besides the scratches, she had a small skull fracture. I winced. I needed to help her, and being stuck in this cave was not going to give me that opportunity.

“Who knows, maybe feeding the Silnỳ some of that poison will cure her.” Thom let his words linger in the air, no one saying anything as Thom and Dramin each held their breath, waiting for a response.

It was the one thing we hadn’t tried. The one thing we couldn’t here. The pool in the hall of sight had drained with the collapse of the cave, leaving Dramin as starved as everyone else. I couldn’t ignore the desperate need I felt. I needed to try it. I would try anything for her.

I leaned down to encompass her with my arms, my cheek pressing against hers as I mended and braced the new break in her skull. Her body was so broken. So many of her bones were covered with the heavy magical casings I had been applying, so many tendons were still trying to join back together. If we were in the mortal world, she would be in a full body cast by now.

I only nodded once, knowing they were waiting for my approval, also knowing there was no way I could say no. It may not have been the best decision, but for the people around me, it was the right one, and I couldn’t lead them astray. Those were the requirements of my position.

My inheritance.

We
walked down the large stone tunnel slowly, my ears perking up toward any sound. My fear of another cave-in was strong, much higher than it should be to attempt something like this. This area wasn’t like the training room; this small, claustrophobic space could collapse at any time. We could be crushed to death in an instant.

I straightened my back as I walked, Joclyn held in my arms like an infant, my magic peeking into the rock as I monitored it. Although I couldn’t do much with such a weak connection
, I could at least give us warning if something was coming.

The light from the glowing orb that Dramin held in his hand flickered around the walls of the tunnel as we walked, the shadows moving and swaying like living hands coming to tear the rock down around us. I watched them for a moment before looking away, placing my gaze ahead of Dramin and toward the task at hand.

“I heard what you said back there,” Thom said from beside me, his voice calm. I looked toward him, but he wasn’t looking at me, obviously uncomfortable about what he was going to say.

So I said nothing. I just waited for him to continue. I was fairly sure he was going to be overstepping his bounds with what he was going to say, but I wasn’t going to pull out any haughty orders, not right now.

“You really aren’t going to force Ryland and the Silnỳ apart?”

“No.” I kept my answer short, my voice making it clear I wasn’t going to elaborate. He had already heard what I said. I saw no reason to continue.

“I always wondered why you didn’t after you discovered Cail was controlling her nightmares.” Thom stated, and I tensed.

“I would never break her bond with another without her permission.” I raised my voice a bit, letting my tone set the end of the conversation. If only Thom had picked up on it.

“Did you even ask?”

I tried not to fume at his off-hand comment. I kept my eyes ahead, and my fingers curled around Joclyn as my magic pulsed through her.

No, I had not asked. I was afraid to hear what she would say, afraid that she would get the wrong idea and think my intentions impure. Asking her to break the bond was the equivalent of sentencing Ryland to death. I could not ask that of her. I could not ask that of myself. My time with Joclyn would come.

I chose not to respond to Thom, instead hoping, once again in vain, that he would understand that our conversation had ended.

“What if the bond is what is keeping her in the Tȍuha?” He paused and I felt my muscles tighten. This wasn’t a new thought. I had felt this line of thinking cross over my mind several times before. I had maintained my opinion on the matter. It was not my place to break their sacred bond and doom Ryland to a painful death. The Tȍuha was caused by the connection between Ryland and Joclyn. You destroy the bond you destroy the Tȍuha.

“What if by breaking the bond you would release her?” Thom continued when I didn’t respond. “She couldn’t be hurt anymore. You could save her.”

“I have thought of it,” I said, willing to give him some insight. “But what happens if you break the bond and her mind is still trapped… Co se stane potom?”

I looked to him, waiting for an answer, but he said nothing. He hadn’t experienced a bonding, as I had not, but at least I was more aware of how a bonding occurred and what the Tȍ
uhas were.

“She would be gone,” Thom sighed after a moment, his own desperation showing in his voice.

Dramin’s light bounced off the rock that surrounded us, casting flickering shadows on the boulders that had begun to obstruct our path. We weaved our way around them, the path becoming more of a single file labyrinth full of jagged stones and loose rocks.

We had been working in this tunnel for the past few days after exhausting all other outlets of escape. This was our only chance. Thom and I had shifted, melted, and moved the rock to make the narrow path we now traveled down, but it wasn’t enough.

“There,” Thom announced when we had reached the solid wall of rock that covered the exit. He pointed toward a small space between two large boulders near the upper left side and a small gap that could be seen between them. The space was large enough for no more than a mouse to go through, but big enough to let in some of the fresh air from outside.

“Tight fit,” Dramin said with a chuckle.

I looked at him curiously, only to see him smiling widely. Leave it to Dramin to find humor and joy in any situation.

“We aren’t going to crawl through there, Dramin,” Thom said. “The crack is a start. If we work from there outward
, we should be able to shift the rock enough to escape.”

Light from outside flickered through the tiny crack, the fresh air swirling pleasantly out of it. I could smell the snow and feel a million different energies carried on the wind. My muscles tensed at the sensation, stretching tight over my chest. I could sense the crack through my connection with the mountain, but what I was sure Thom could not feel was the instability of the large boulder above it. As large as a house, the mass rested on the crack, but the majority of its weight covered the roof above us. One wrong move and the rock would shift, crushing us in an instant.

“I am beginning to doubt if this is a good idea.” I kept my voice low, suddenly aware of the danger this cave had now become to us. Chances were high that we would never make it out of here, not with the instability of the boulder directly over our heads.

Only Thom had
returned yesterday after the collapse to assess the damage. If I had known the instability of this space was so bad, I would have never consented to bring us back here. I held Joclyn’s body against mine, terrified we would have to run at any time.

“It’s the only idea, Ilyan,” Thom said quietly. “What would you have us do, sit in a cave until we all waste away?”

I narrowed my eyes at him, watching him as he pleaded with me. I didn’t know what to say.

“What other option do we have? This is our chance
; if we don’t take it, then you have doomed us to death already,” Dramin whispered. I knew what he was feeling. I felt it too. Thom was right, as much as I hated to admit it.

I said nothing as I laid Joclyn’s body down against the smooth rock next to me, her body
settling into an unnatural position. I moved past them, their focus on me as I approached the opening, Dramin moving to stand next to Joclyn.

Neither of them questioned my motivation. Neither spoke or asked for clarification, they just watched as I placed my hands against the stone. I held my kouzlo there, ignoring my heartbeat that was racing in a desperate plea for me to stop.

The energies of the three bodies behind me thrummed through my blood stream. A keen awareness of Joclyn’s weak pulse reminded me of everything else she was facing. This decision, to move the final rock, was dangerous. The selfish part of me begged to just stay, to find another way, but the leader I had been raised to become could not deny the needs of those with me and all those who still lived on the other side of our stone prison, few though they may be.

I needed to do right by them as well.

My magic surged into the rock, the powerful energy flowing away from me as I surveyed the rock more carefully. I tried to formulate a plan for the highest chance of success. The rock shifted and moved at my touch, the living elements within the stone responding to my very thoughts.

The shifting mass felt like a part of me, an extension of my own mind, thanks to the powerful magic that flowed through my veins.

Minutes ticked by as the rock obeyed my commands, as it yielded to my power. And then I felt it, the tiny shift, the start of what I had feared, what I had known was going to happen.

The mountain was coming down on top of us.

The large rock just above our heads, the one I had been fearful of since the beginning, began to shift away from the larger mass of the mountain that it was attached to. I grunted as I released more of my energy into the rock, hoping that I could shift it enough to fuse it more securely to the mountain it nestled against.

A large groan echoed through the cave, the sound loud enough to drown out the loud profanity that had spewed unbidden from my mouth.

I felt Thom and Dramin run from where they had been standing to either side of the cave, their hands flying to the rock as they too moved to assess the damage. Now that the rock had shifted, it only took a moment for them to find the weakness and for their magic to move alongside mine as the three of us worked to heave the giant boulder back into position.

My voice echoed around the cave as I yelled out, my strained magic weakening my body enough to cause me physical pain. I could feel the muscles in my shoulders knit together as I pressed against the rock. I pushed as if I alone
was holding up the rock, attempting to make it move, my heart thunking in my chest in fear and panic.

Without having asked me, my eyes fled from the rock to Joclyn’s still body that I had nestled into the rock.

She looked so peaceful. For one moment, her body didn’t twitch, and her shoulder didn’t bleed. Although I was sure the horrors she was trapped within were still a terrifying prison, right then she was peaceful, beautiful. Just looking at her set the beat of my heart into a steadier rhythm.

I needed to get her out of here.

I knew what needed to be done. I always did, from the moment I sensed the boulder above our heads, I knew. But as with all right decisions, there was a sacrifice to be made, wrong steps to take first. There always was. Making the right choice was never easy. But making it was required, and it was what I was raised to be.

A
King, a leader to my people.

“I am going to blow the rest of the cave open,” I announced, my voice loud above the incessant growling of the cave. I could see Thom and Dramin’s heads turn to me in a panic, but I didn’t acknowledge them. “I will be able to hold the ceiling for enough time for us to get out of the
jeskyně.”

“Ilyan...
I,” I stopped Dramin’s words with one stern look, the old man shrinking into the side of the cave as the unbidden power in me escaped ever so slightly.

I knew what Dramin was going to say. I could hear the words on his tongue
; feel the doubt in him. But doubt wasn’t going to help us. I had run all other options through my head, each one enacted within my mind’s eye as I watched Joclyn’s sleeping body curled up against the rock.

“When I say go,
létat, and don’t stop until you get to Rioseco. No matter what happens, do not stop.” I kept my voice deep, the tones laced with the magic I always attempted to restrain within me.

Each man nodded in agreement, although I could tell that they doubted me. I could see the fear that lined their faces.

“And, Joclyn?” Thom asked, his voice soft.

“I will carry her. She is my responsibility.” I turned to her, sending one small strand of magic toward her, lifting her body into the air and bringing her right into my arms. What would normally only take less than a thought, drained me. So much of my concentration and magic was focused on keeping the boulder, and in turn the mountain,
off our backs that the smallest magic use could be felt deep in my bones.

I shook my head, sending my blonde hair swinging, as I focused back on the rock in front of me. I forced my mind
off the people I was surrounded by, the people who were now fully relying on me to save their lives. I let the feeling of Joclyn’s skin on mine move into me, the power of her touch lighting my soul on fire as it had always done. The contact increased my energy, the fire within me burning bright enough to take away the aches I had begun to feel.

I couldn’t help the smile th
at spread across my face at the sensation. The light of the fire spread through my soul, ignited the rest of me, and I couldn’t wait. I replaced one hand on the wall, wrapping the other carefully around Joclyn’s head as I cradled her against me. I hovered my hand over her mark, the dark dragon shape staring at me through the dim light of the cave.

“
Nyní!” I yelled the word a second before I let my finger touch the raised skin on her neck, the magical connection between us supercharging what remained of my magic.

I took the surge of power and sent it out in an explosion so great I felt the floor underneath us rock with the energy.