A Star is Born: The Coming Dawn: Book I (2 page)

At first sight, everything around her was dark, except the orange, glowing eels that swam toward her. From what little she could see, she was in a dark cave, and not beneath the stage. Kylie stood, and attempted to catch her breath. Her ribs were making it almost impossible to suck in enough air and she gasped for breath. She must have cracked her bones when she hit the floor.

She noticed that when she moved, the orange eels seemed disoriented. She froze so she could watch their curious nature, and once again they headed toward her. The closer they got, the more uneasy she became, and decided it best not to hold still. They were ugly little creatures with creepy shriveled faces.

“Hello?” she called out. There was no reply. She didn’t see how she’d entered the cave. There was no hole in the ceiling, which was peculiar and perplexing. She screamed louder and shakier than she intended, but in such a strange place it was natural to be frightened. How did she get here if there was no hole?

The next few things that happened were so quick and strange she had difficulty comprehending them. She looked down when she noticed a soft radiance that didn’t come from orange eels or green water. Her skin changed to a glimmering soft pink that was so pale the hue was almost white. The red glittering sequined gown began to shine, too. When she raised her arm closer so she could see, the dress was melting into her skin, but it didn’t hurt. The swirls of the gown etched her skin like winding ivy vines. They curled around her fingertips and simultaneously down her legs and arms. Mesmerized by the beauty of the elaborate, red, curling tattoo, she watched in awe. “How?” she breathed.

Before she could react, her pinkish skin glowed warm with soothing heat. Suddenly, her flesh was scorching. She felt like she would soon burst into flames. Kylie could feel herself heating up from the inside. All her organs were cooking. The light from her skin illuminated the enormous cave. She could see water that stretched for miles, with sprouting short trees that grew sparsely within the vast swamp of the cave. She wasn’t in an underground pipe under the great hall.

The light from her body became brighter. Her eyes weren’t use to the intense glare. She closed them, but to no avail. The light was still blinding her as if the inside of her eyes were beaming out brilliance as intense as the sun. She screamed, unable to withstand the pain; her frightened voice didn’t even sound like hers. She could hear the torture in her desperate call for help. The sound of her ghastly shriek frightened her even more.

Then a burning burst of blinding light exploded from within her before everything went dark and cold. All that was left was her terrified scream in the shadows, but it died away also.

It was the water. She knew the strange water did something to her. She knew it. She had to get out of the water. “Help! I’m down here. Help!”

Kylie took a few steps before realizing she could no longer see the glowing water or eels. She raised her hand, but couldn’t see her fingers even when her palm was touching her nose. “Help!” She screeched when she realized something horrifying—
she couldn’t see
. The blinding light took her eyesight. How it was possible, she had no idea. “Help!” Her shaky voice cracked. “I can’t see.
I can’t see
!”

Kylie groped for the wall, which she knew to be close. The water was getting shallower as she waded toward the barrier of the cave. When she felt the cool, ankle-deep water, she found the rock edge of the cave.

“Anyone? Help! Please!” She continued to shout as she inched along. There had to be an exit; she wasn’t going to give up until she found a way out.

Kylie tried to move faster. She didn’t remembered seeing anyone in the swamp, only miles of short trees, but there was no telling what was beyond the swamp, she hoped people.

The cave floor was rough, and with bare feet, walking was painful. She needed help, desperately. The reality of being blind was making her panic. “Help!”

Determined to find a way out or someone to assist her, Kylie shuffled along. When her feet felt as if they were shredded, and she felt she couldn’t take another step, she wept. Something was very wrong. She wasn’t under the stage anymore. That much was clear. And no one was coming.

Kylie walked on for hours, telling herself she could do this alone. She was a strong, independent woman that had overcome hardship. She could do this.

The farther she walked, pointlessly screaming for help, the worse the air smelled; it was like strong sulfur. The stench was bad enough she was gasping for air while holding her aching ribs. With each step, breathing becoming increasingly harder. “Help!” The disgusting odor was pungent; she kept swallowing instead of taking in air.

She felt huge, sausage-like fingers clinch around her calf. The unexpected grasp startled her; she yelped. But then all of a sudden, she was lifted by one leg and dragged along the cave. Painfully, her head and shoulder blades bounced and scraped along the rock floor. She did her best to raise her head and hoist herself off the ground, but larger stones still clobbered her. She squealed from pain and wailed as she pleaded for help. “Let go,” she screamed when the large hand gripped her tighter.

She supposed her struggling movements made whatever it was stop dragging her, because they froze and a moment later she was released. Terrified and eager to flee, she scrambled backward.

Deep noisy breaths came from the giant creature, as if it were scenting the air. What did it smell? If the animal was clearly nervous, someone small like Kylie was clearly in danger. Not being able to see, she was helpless with nowhere to run. Making a plan of action was impossible, but at the rate she was running into trouble, she would be dead by daybreak. Pretending to be dead seemed like the only halfway decent defense, but Kylie was too panic-stricken to keep her breaths quiet and shallow.

The same big hand clutched her waist. She felt the beast hurl her over its shoulder, and a moment later it ran. She was jostled with every bound the creature took. Her ribs stung with sharp stabs as she bounced and flopped like a rag doll. Kylie knew she was going to die if she continued to let the beast keep her.

Kylie kicked and punched anything she could. The thick skin was like rubber and her efforts didn’t even faze the beast.

“
Aaahhhhh
!” A low rumbling battle cry came from a distance; and the creature tossed Kylie off its shoulder. She hit the wall and slid to the ground. She heard what sounded like a bear and man fighting and roaring. Then there was an unearthly howl that vibrated her entire body. She covered her ears until there was silence. With a thud, the beast fell inches from Kylie. Warm, gushing fluid splattered her.

An enormous limb landed on Kylie’s head, and smacked her against stone, opening a searing gash. The pain was so intense, her air was stolen and her scream was mute.

“Cover it up,” she heard the man urgently growl and was shocked that he was angry at her for getting hurt. His voice was unexpectedly close. He grabbed her hand to force her to put pressure on her wound. The instant her hand touched her fractured skull, her fingers blistered.

She screamed and yanked her hand away. He didn’t understand how badly it hurt. “Cover it up, or you’ll die. Don’t you understand you’re bleeding?”

“Yes,” she whispered, painfully aware that she knew for quite some time that she was going to die that day.

“You need to put pressure on the wound to heal it.” He tried to make her press it again, by clinching her hand tightly. Then he tried forcing her once again to cover it. Kylie screamed, this time her cries echoed in the cave. She tried pulling her hand away, but he wouldn’t release her. She kicked him as hard as she could to get his attention. He needed to know the pain was too intense, and burned her.

“Please no! It hurts.” She struggled as he seized her by both hands. Then he hoisted her up, having her sit, before trying once again to make her cup her skull. With all her strength, she tried freeing herself. He wasn’t listening.

“You
want
to die then?” he asked as she fought him. Their argument was getting her nowhere. He was too strong. His power frightened her, because she felt she had no choice as he held her hand behind her head.

She struck him hard, possibly in the shin, to get his attention. “You’re scaring me! I can’t see! I don’t know what’s going on. It hurts to touch it. Please, there has to be another way! I’ll die if I keep my hand there.” She kicked him again, right where she was sure it would cripple him. He let go, and groaned. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Don’t you get it? You’ll die!” he roared, continuing to boom commands.

She felt lightheaded. Her body was shaky. Her skin felt like it was burning off. One last time she tried to follow his command, and reached back to put pressure on the wound. The blood was so hot she couldn’t come close to touching it. Her hands felt blistered from fingertip to palm. Surely she would cook down to the bone if she attempted healing the wound again. The burning fire slowly trickled down her neck. She could feel her skin bubbling.

“Cover it up. You’re dying. Your light is flickering out!”

She felt tired, so tired. She could barely keep her head up. Odd she would die this way. Falling into a cavern with no hole in the ceiling, seeing glowing water and eels, then being captured by a large beast that walked upright.

Without warning, he grasped the back of her head, and he compressed her injury. He bellowed in pain, but he didn’t let go. She felt the sweltering blood burn back into the skin. The pain decreased. They continued screaming in excruciating pain. She felt her skin cool. The sharp ache in her head lessened and even her hand was rapidly healing. The man’s roar became an angry groan. He didn’t let go of her head until all the pain was gone, and felt completely cool.

If that was all that happened, Kylie would have been grateful, but then something else happened. A blurry figure of the man came into focus. He was very muscular and wide with broad shoulders. His thick black shoulder-length hair was messy.

She blinked, not believing how brawny and wide he was. He was immensely strong. Kylie had never seen anyone that fit. Despite him crouching, she could tell he was impressively tall. He wore a black leather scale skirt, boots that laced up his calves, and thick straps around his arms. He had a decorative swirly tattoo on his left pec, which grew before her very eyes. She couldn’t make out any details, but she definitely saw the tattoo getting bigger. His features were still very blurry as her vision came in and out of focus, but never completely clear. She couldn’t see the color of his eyes or the shape of his lips or nose. She only saw the wide body of pure muscle.

She looked for the beast, but everything was still dark like woods on a moonless night. When she noticed her own body, she vaguely saw her silhouette. Her body was a faint blurry glow, but if she brought a hand up closer, she could see in better detail. When she was looking at her palm that she noticed something very different. Strange markings, which she could somehow read, were etched in her skin. “Cobaaron.”

“That’s because you wouldn’t listen,” he said gruffly. He stood and took a few steps to where she believed the beast to be laying dead. “We need to leave. It’s not safe to linger.”

“What is that thing?” She sounded hoarse from all her screaming.

“It’s a mountain troll,” he stated impatiently and once again told her they needed to leave. “Get up. With all the racket we’ve been making we’re sure to attract more unwanted notice. You should be thankful you only gained the attention of this troll with all your shouting. I could hear you a mile away.”

He made a circle, scanning for something, before he pointed overhead, but at what Kylie couldn’t see. “There. We will hide up in that cave for the night. Troll meat is sure to attract more trolls. They’re cannibals, and the battle over this carcass will be a loud, fierce fight. We need to hurry. Don’t just sit there; I said get up!”

As she stood, she watched him bend and reach for something. She heard grinding and popping. The sight was eerie, seeing him work in the black of her blindness, twisting what she imagined was a limb of the troll. She heard a loud snap, and then tearing flesh. The sound was nauseating.

“Come on,” he barked, and then marched away. His long strides put a large gap between them within a few steps. She was wobbly on her sore feet, and she couldn’t see where she was going. She trusted if she walked directly behind him she would be okay, but when she released the wall she fell, tripping over the troll.

“Please wait,” she begged, and got back up. “I can’t see. You’re disappearing.”

“Well, keep up. We don’t have much time. And I’m
not
touching you.”

“Okay.” Kylie shrugged. That suited her fine, if he would only slow down.

Kylie hurried along, keeping one hand on the stone for support and following his blurry shadow. He would pause every once in awhile to wait and each time he complained about her lollygagging. Kylie thought she was moving rather fast. Her heavy breathing made her ribs twinge and cramp. Every gasp was torture. She was practically jogging to keep up.

“Why aren’t you moving? I gave you a command. Now hurry.” He swore under his breath then grumbled as he walked. The minute his back was to her, Kylie rolled her eyes. She would put up with rudeness because she had to, but she hoped he would get her to safety before her patience ran out and she retaliated.

The fact that Kylie was grateful that he was helping her did make it easier to hold her tongue, but his tone was too harsh and intimidating. For such an exceedingly beefy and burly stature he should know better than to talk to a woman like that. He would easily frighten her and no woman wanted to be afraid or spoken to like that by a man.

Again and again, he growled when he halted. “I can’t see,” Kylie finally croaked, trying to make him understand. “I’m scared, and you’re not helping! I can’t even see the cave rock. I’m walking in pitch black!”

“So now you want me to carry you? I told you, I’m not touching you,” he growled.

“That’s fine. I’ve no desire to be that close,” she said defensively. His assumption she wished to be carried was absurd. “I want compassion. Slow down!”