Page 27 of Fractured
The mountain shook at its foundation when the magic made impact.
Dust and pieces of rock, small and big, fell upon us like rain. The dogs barked and howled like it was the world’s end, and my God, it felt like it. As I struggled to keep my balance and not fall to the ground, I was thrown back to that underground tunnel all over again, and I experienced it as if I was still there. I saw the ground shaking and the ceiling caving in, falling on us, trying to catch us under.
Then my name on Rune’s lips pulled me back to the present, and I saw him reaching out his hand for me while the others were already on their feet and running—back where we came from, deeper into the cave. The dogs and the people, bloody and wounded, were following Merenith who had a big ball of golden light floating right over her head.
Meanwhile, the entrance of the cave was gone. Rocks, big and small, had closed it completely, and they’d fallen over the bodies of the fae soldiers, too, burying them underneath.
I didn’t have it in me to even feel bad. They were here to kill us, and if Lyall had come himself, he was most likely very close, too.
Now was not the time to feel bad. Now was the time to run.
I grabbed Rune’s hand and I moved, my legs carrying me forward though every inch of me felt numb from both the shock and the cold that had frozen over each one of my bones—yet I still moved. I moved fast and my step didn’t falter, and the dogs ran ahead with Merenith. Hessa was right behind her, turning to look at us every few seconds, as if to make sure we were still there.
But we were.
The ground was still shaking and the ceiling was still threatening to fall apart on our heads, but Rune’s shadows had spread over us like a giant umbrella, and none of the rocks falling down could get to us.
I have no idea how long we ran, how many rocks we passed, and how many narrow passages that barely fit us we went through, but my hand was in Rune’s the whole time, and as long as I could see him, see that he was okay, I had no trouble keeping up. We were going to make it out of this mountain together, and it didn’t even matter how we’d been found.
Then…
“Rune!”
Merenith’s voice filled my ears and suddenly everyone stopped moving. We were in a tunnel that was just wide enough to fit us both comfortably, but the light that was constantly moving with Merenith ahead had stopped, and so had she.
The others who were in front of us stepped to the sides and she raised her hand toward us. “I need you,” she told Rune. “I don’t have much energy left.”
Rune didn’t hesitate.
With my hand in his, he shot forward in between the people bleeding and breathing like we’d been running for hours—and then Merenith stepped aside, too, and waved at what looked like a pile of rocks at the very end of the tunnel. A dead end.
My stomach fell. A voice whispered in my ear that maybe this was a trap. Rune said before wecouldn’t be found,unless someone knew exactly where to look—and who could have told Lyall and those soldiers where we were except the people who were here with us?
I turned to look at them just once—eighteen of themstanding by the walls, watching Rune with hope and fear in their wide eyes.
But Rune was already unleashing his magic, and he never once let go of my hand as his shadows extended from his fingers like living things, slithered their ways between the rocks, big and small, and disappeared somewhere behind them for a heartbeat.
“Step back,” Rune said, then pulled me behind himself.
The rocks moved at the same time,flewfrom the pile on all sides and hit the walls like something had pushed them inward from the other side. Rune’s shadows.
Dust in the air, more visible because of the bright light slipping in through the giant hole where that pile of rocks had been. I held onto Rune’s arm as I watched the dust settle and the small rocks fall from the low ceiling, thinking it was fae light that was coming through to us from the other side.
It wasn’t, though. It was sunlight.
“Move!” Hessa shouted, and with a hand on my back she pushed me and Rune forward, straight for the hole that was twice the size of the one we’d come through last night.
My heart hammered, but the cold had retreated and my hands didn’t quite feel so numb anymore. Rune led the way and took us through a short tunnel where small pieces of rock were still falling down, settling on the ground—and then we were outside.
The air was warmer, saltier, and the sunlight was soft against my skin. The trees started not ten feet away from the edge of the mountain, down a steep slope, and they were dense and colorful, perfect for hiding, I thought.
Rune stopped by the edge of the slope and looked at me as the otherspouredout of the hole in the wall, continuing to jump and run toward the trees.
“Run?” I said breathlessly, and he nodded.
“Run.”
So, we did.
