Return to Caer Lon (28 page)

Sebastian smiled as Ylianor caressed the cover gently.

“I was about to start with
B
ook 21.”

“H
m
m, Penelope’s last challenge to the lordly wooers. Do you want me to read for you?”

“Would you?”

Ylianor grinned at the boyish glint in the young man’s stare and ruffled through the pages until she found the delicate lace of the bookmark.

“
And then Athena, the goddess with the bright eyes, inspired the daughter of Icarius, the wise Penelope, to present the wooers with the gray iron and the bow in the halls of Odysseus, weapons of her challenge and carriers of death
.”

Sebastian backed in the pillows to listen, eyelids half-closed. It seemed everything talk
ed
about bows and arrows lately. He played with a fold in the sheets.

“Thank you for staying, Lady Ylianor.”

Ylianor offered a warm smile and read on, the book open on her lap.

Chapter 29

By
the time they reached the crossing, Derek felt stronger on his legs; or at least he was steady enough to stagger in
to
the main corridor and l
ur
ch over
to
the wall without Sacha’s help. The young woman searched their bag for the shirt she had already torn apart, handing him a sugar
cane in passing. He opened his mouth but the glare she shot him at the same time
made
him gulp back any form of protest about the food, or the tending.

Derek
scarcely
picked at his treat while she untied the ruined dressing from his left hand to replace it. She
poured
water on the wound to wash away the blood with another daring look and he was relieved to see the flesh was healing, if still raw.

“I don’t know how it reopened. I didn’t hurt my hand. I think.”

He recalled
testing the sharpness of
the strange crystals on the rock face and bearing on the roughly cut altar for leverage
, nothing major
. Derek nibbled
at the
s
weet
more out of habit than anything else.
He used to heal quicker than that.
The s
ugar
made him thirsty.

Sacha didn’t answer, p
ay
ing more attention than strictly necessary to put away the soiled fabric and arranging their goods. Derek took a swig, leaning back against the wall.

“Do you understand what happened?”

The trouble was gone
'
that crystalline cocoon around him so everything seemed to move slowly. It had passed, just like it had in the forest. Sacha shook her head, still avoiding his stare. Derek waited.

“What this place does to you, it scares me to death.”

Not really the answer he would have liked to hear, especially when a good part of him squirmed in agreement. Her green eyes finally met his, blocking the wheels turning in his head.

“Derek… The sword is yours. It’s your birthright. It calls for your blood and
-
”

The blue eyes on her widened then narrowed, almost silver in eagerness
.
S
he felt him jitter under her hand, muscles tensing to get up and go retrieve what was his. Sacha gripped hi
s forearm
harder.

“You must not take it. Derek, it’s important. Please, this one time, listen to me. Don’t go for that sword. The Source must remain sealed.”

She hammered the last words,
eyes blazing
. She couldn’t explain why
,
she just knew. She was ready to beg him if she had to. The strange words in a language she didn’t speak were branded in her mind.

Narijt drole Forra. Akilten emen Forra arkanic Drakor kiomlot
...
The Source is revealed. The Source shall be unsealed by the Dragon’s blood revealed.
The sword was made for him
;
it was his, by all means. Yet
,
its time had not come yet, and if he took it… She
had seen
the world shrunk
en
into blackness.

Derek swallowed. Her face was too serious
. N
o smile brightened her pale eyes and damned him if he didn’t understand why. Suddenly, he wanted everything to go back to normal, back to the way they were, before they embarked together on this mad journey and he began to be so aware of her; more than he already
was
,
anyway.

“Now you sound like a true prophetess.”

Her stare darkened drastically.

“Your wit
is
returning so I take it you are strong enough to walk?”

The ice in her voice sliced through the pleasure of teasing her. Derek groaned internally. He should have wished for normality minus the constant disdain. Her defiant stare accompanied him as he pushed away from the wall, testing his legs.

“So it seems-”

A long screech interrupte
d him. Derek f
lashed
his sword at once
. The noise flew past them, reverberating on the rock which glow flickered softly.

Derek didn’t wait for the noise to cease and started down the corridor, gesturing to Sacha to follow. When she failed to obey, he grasped her arm harder, u
sherin
g her up. He walked briskly, stopping every few steps to crush against the wall, covering
them
from the potential enemy waiting ahead. The ground became rougher the further they went. Soon she had the feeling of stepping onto fragile needles, which broke under her boots. One particular crack made her wince; it reminded her of the sound of bones crumbling into dust, but she refused to look down at her feet.

The unnatural cry seemed to go on forever then it finally stopped. Derek pressed against the wall once more. She nestled against his back.

“What was that?”

“Shush.”

For once, she obeyed, her arms wrapping around h
is
waist. In the renewed silence, their hard breathing
echoed
indefinitely against the now glooming walls
. Protecting her with one arm
-
or maybe preventing her
from
mov
ing
forward before he ordered her
to do
so
-
Derek peered at the empty space in front of him.

The corridor ended abruptly, the rock cut into a hard staircase. From the bottom, he could merely see a platform about two or three hundred steps above, then more steps. The walls on each side were flat, without a turn or a curve to hide and take a safe rest. A long climb, completely devoid of cover
-
the perfect trap. Instinct
screamed
inside Derek’s head to backtrack and forget it all
:
Caer Lon, Elwyn
;
run back to the waterfall, dive and run some more. He breathed in deeply.

Sacha’s murmur almost made him jump out of his skin.

“Are we going up?”

Derek swallowed his fear and nodded before he secured his grip
around
the hilt of his sword.

oOo

Elwyn eyed the blonde lurking outside of his cage, suspicious. She had been turning around in circles for God knew how long. Her concentrated look could only mean trouble. He snorted, ready to harangue her, when suddenly the stone started screaming.

The sound poured silver liquid in his bones, exquisitely cold until it caught fire and threatened to burn him into ashes.

“What are you do- AAaaarghh! Stop it, stop!”

Elwyn tumbled down to the floor like a rag doll, twisting while the magic Fillin had unleashed gnawed at his magical link with Earth, biting, chewing, trying to tear it apart with teeth not sharp enough for a clean cut. He screamed and screamed for what seemed an eternity
,
and then the agonizing ripping stopped.

Exhausted, he toiled to push up on one elbow, just long enough to see Fillin licking her lips with a smug on her face which reminded him of an animal ready to feast. Elwyn rolled on his back, and let darkness engulfed him.

oOo

Her heart was trying to punch its way out of her chest and the feeling was excruciating. Every breath she took added pressure to her stomach. The lack of oxygen made her dizzy. Or it was the terror
of
hear
ing
that terrible howl again
.
Derek squeezed her hand lightly.

“We’re nearly there, Sacha, just another flight of steps.”

She had no idea what he meant.
The stairs in front of her nose went on forever.
She could barely breathe. Her lungs
felt
as if they had been severed and the cut splashed with salt. The light from the walls was nearly a souvenir
. S
he couldn’t make out the tunnel they came from, let alone the top of her current nightmare. Sacha sucked in air with difficulty and forced her legs to obey, putting one foot on the next uneven step and pushing up. Then another. And another. Pull, press, push. And again. Her knees threatened to break.

Her foot slipped on a particularly high step
. H
er back protested when she twisted to keep her balance
,
only ceasing its grouch
ing
when Derek put one arm around her to help her onto a surface which seemed wider than the others. She offered a smile though she feared it might look
like a grimace
. The hole inside her
was still growing, wider by the minute; so painful.
Then it
disappeared
.

Sacha leaned against the wall, breathing through her open mouth, uncaring how unladylike it might look.

“Water?” asked Derek.

To her satisfaction, he too sounded a little breathless. She took the jug, finding it uncomfortably light in her hand. She restrained herself to a small sip, barely enough when her throat was so parched...

“I think…” he breathed in deeply to settle his voice “I don’t like stairs.”

She chuckled and whined instantly as her abdomen squeezed painfully in the effort
.
Sacha swallowed her complain
t
, awfully conscious
that
Derek had put away the water without drinking when he was probably just as thirsty as she was. Keeping her head up sucked at her strength, dragging her toward the abyss.

“We’ll have to make you exercise more when we get home…”

In the semi-darkness, she nearly missed the smirk flashing in his stare. Sacha pulled a face
at
him; the short pause had steadied her sufficiently that she could look up
. She saw
nothing but the shadows of uneven shapes cut into the dark rock.

“How long do you think we need to climb?”

“I counted 284 so far, but I think I missed a couple.”

Sweet
L
ord, he had managed to
keep tabs through the torture?

“… about a hundred feet, maybe more.”

Sacha struggled to push off
of
the wall, unsure if he meant they had climbed that distance, or it was still to come.

“Elwyn will ow
e
me for this, and I assure you he is going to pay every penny.”

Derek hauled the bag higher up
on
his shoulder.

“Take a number.”

They stared at each other for an instant before resuming their climb, silently sharing their thoughts. Both hoped Elwyn was al
l
right and would be fit to go down the stairs after they found him
.
I
f they found him. Derek nodded with a lopsided grin, and gestured her to move first.

Her heart skipped a beat, strangely puffing with gratitude. In his own clumsy overprotective way, Derek had offered more than the initial help she asked
for
. Sacha stopped on the first step to turn. With the difference of height, their faces were nearly at the same level.

The hug took him by surprise, yet it ended before he could react.

“Thank you.”

“My pleasu-“

Unwilling to hear what his ego had to say, Sacha silenced him with a kiss.

Surprised, he did not move until the soft pressure of her lips against his lightened. Then his free hand shot up to her hair to bring her closer, kissing her back passionately until her reserve melted. Sacha barely registered the sound of metal hitting the stone when he dropped his sword to press her against the wall as he abandoned her mouth to favour her neck and pressed devouring kisses just above her collar.

His tongue brushed on a particularly sensitive spot and her knees buckled. Derek steadied her somehow, pinning her harder to the stone with his lower body while his hands… Sacha refused to acknowledge what his hands were doing, except they were moving agonizingly slow
ly
.

The danger they were in, the strange lights, the cavern, the sword, the magic which affected both of them, everything dissolved, pulsing in the back of her mind. She had never imagined
that
kissing him would turn into this ravaging fire that consumed her from within. She had pictured light brushes of her mouth, her inexperience blooming in hesitation and timidity, not
such
… hunger.
The cold in her back contrasted with the heat blooming inside her, forcing some sense into her.