Page 80 of Whispers of the Starlit Sea
Rona’s song shifted.
The cavern trembled.
A rumble shook the walls, and a shower of stones fell from the ceiling. Arick halted just short of the pool, sword poised, when a great crack of stone drew his eyes upward.
A slab of stone the size of a man hung suspended.
Right above Sorcha.
No.
He spun, driving himself back through the rising water. It dragged at him like hands trying to hold him back. He pushed harder.
She didn’t see it.
She was still looking at him.
He reached her just as the stone broke free.
He hurled himself forward, catching her around the waist.
“Down!” he shouted, and flung her clear with every last ounce of strength.
The boulder struck.
The force of the impact lifted him off his feet.
Stone and water exploded around him.
He slammed into the far wall with a sickening crack and crumpled to the ground as blackness swallowed him.
“Arick!”
Her scream tore from her throat as the rocks slammed him across the cavern.
His body hit the wall, then he slumped to the ground, motionless.
Sorcha staggered forward, but agony ripped through her legs.
She screamed, crumpling as fire shot up through her bones. Something in her chest snapped.
Her vision swam. Her breath caught.
And then…
The pain vanished.
She lay panting on the cold stone, chest heaving.
Why couldn’t she breathe?
Something wasn’t right.
Her dress clung strangely to her skin. Her limbs felt wrong. Heavy.
A hand grabbed her leg and jerked her into the deeper water of the pool.
No. Not her leg.
