Page 109 of The Scars Within
“Just a little further…” I mumbled.
Suddenly, three figures emerged from the shadows ahead, their steps unnervingly calm.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” The man in front mused, his voice dripping with mockery.
We froze, too shocked to respond. We weren’t sure what we had expected to find, but it certainly wasn’t three grown men lurking this deep within the cave.
“Whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with today?” the leader asked, his tone almost polite.
Shayde stepped in front of me, pushing me back with his arm protectively. “We mean no harm,” he said evenly, though I could hear the tension in his voice. “We were looking for a team of cadets for a practice mission. Obviously, we ventured too far. We’ll be on our way.” He began to step backward but froze when the flames we’d conjured were snuffed out, plunging us into darkness.
“Nuh uh uh, not so fast,” one of the other men whistled, amusement evident in his tone.
Suddenly, black flames ignited above our heads, casting an eerie glow that revealed the men had circled us. The three of us stood back-to-back instinctively, my heart pounding in my chest. The sound of our dragons trilling from outside echoed faintly through the cavern, but it was distant, too far to be of help. The filthy man in front of me grinned, his teeth yellowed and menacing.
“Better hurry,” he laughed darkly.
A chill shivered down my spine.
Before I could react, all three men lunged. Hands grabbed me roughly, yanking me deeper into the cave. I kicked and thrashed, my screams tearing through the air as they tried to drag me away.
“Let go of her!” Davis roared, his voice filled with rage as he struggled to pry me free from their grasp.
I kicked out, my foot connecting with one of their legs, but it barely slowed them down. My heart raced as I clawed at their hands, panic taking over. The darkness seemed to close in around me, and all I could think was that we were in way over our heads.
But then, one of the men lost his grip on my arm as Shayde lunged forward, striking him squarely in the jaw with a sickening crack. Withouthesitation, Shayde lifted his boot and delivered a swift kick to the man’s abdomen, doubling him over as he clutched his ribs, which, judging by the sound, had likely cracked.
Shayde then reared back with his left elbow, nailing the middle man in the nose, causing him to drop his hold on me. My body fell to the ground, but one arm was still being dragged into the cave. Seizing the opportunity, Shayde grabbed the first man by the front of his shirt and hurled him into the third attacker, sending both crashing to the ground.
“Get her out of here!” Shayde shouted, urgency lacing his voice.
Davis rushed to help me up from the dirt, but we were both so stunned that we barely moved.
One of the men regained his footing and reached for a knife at his belt, but Shayde was quicker. He stepped inside the man’s reach, deflecting the blade with his forearm before sweeping the man’s legs out from under him. The attacker hit the ground with a grunt, and before he could recover, Shayde delivered a swift kick to his temple, stunning him.
Davis and I watched in awe as Shayde seamlessly took on two attackers, moving like someone who had trained in hand-to-hand combat for years.
The first man, still dazed from Shayde’s earlier strike, stumbled toward him, desperate to regain the upper hand. Shayde whipped around just in time, ducking under a wild swing. In one fluid motion, he grabbed the man by his shirt and slammed him into the stone wall with a deafening thud.
“Behind you!” I screamed, but my warning came too late. One of the remaining men locked Shayde in a chokehold.
Shayde clawed at the arm tightening around his throat, his wide eyes locking onto ours as he silently mouthed one word—run.But there was no way in all the elements I would leave him behind.
Davis felt the same way because, without hesitation, we threw ourselves into the chaos. Our movements were clumsy, our inexperience glaringly obvious. Our fight was over before it even began. Withinmoments, Davis was slammed face-first into the dirt, a knee digging mercilessly into his back, while I was yanked backward, strong arms coiling around my waist like a vice.
I kicked and kicked until my foot found purchase on the cavern wall. I pushed back hard, causing both me and my captor to tumble to the ground. In a surge of panic, I wielded a flame in his face, and he yelped in surprise.
Then, the ground began to shake.
The rest was a blur.
“Scar!” Shayde screamed.
The dirt floor collapsed beneath us, sending me rolling down with it. Small rocks fell from the walls alongside me, and I landed hard on my back with a loud thud, knocking the air from my lungs. I managed to blink my eyes open just in time to see the three attackers scrambling up the crumbling edge, desperately trying to reach the top before the entire structure fell away.
I gasped, struggling to breathe as dust filled the air and my lungs protested from the impact. Rolling over, I caught sight of Shayde crawling toward me.
“Are you two alright? Anything broken? Other than our egos?” Davis called from above, peering down from the unbroken side of the collapse.
