Page 35 of Hope Forged
“I can’t see,” she said, coming to a halt.
He slammed into her, spinning in midair as they tumbled, then slid across the sand until they stopped.
“Sorry,” she muttered, sprawled on top of him and crushed in his embrace.
“I dropped the flare,” he said, his voice rough, strained. His chest rose and fell as if he’d run farther than she had. “The water lapping the shores sounds more distant. Perhaps it cannot follow?”
“One less attack to worry about,” she said, trying to break free. When he let her, she slipped off him. “Now what?”
She raised her nose; they were closer to the source of the breeze, but she couldn’t find it in the pitch black pressing against her eyes.
“Foolhardy?” She sniffed. “Yes, I’m the fool. We should’ve left with Coll,” she said. “His med-E.D. is magic, but I still need to know Padya is healing. He should’ve been my priority.”
“You would not leave Seba behind.”
“You’re right.” She slumped and flicked aside a tear. “This is my fault.” She dug the heels of her palms into her eyes, willing the tears to stay back.
Illan’s breath hitched, loud in the silence. She threw out a hand, found him, and gave his belly a pat.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “Stay here. I will fetch the flare.”
He staggered to his feet and headed the way they’d come.
In an instant, his body heat was gone. She angled her head, listening for his footsteps. Silence engulfed her, along with the darkness. She opened her mouth to call to him, desperate to not be alone, but she pinched her lips to stop herself. Making a noise might bring back the creature or lure another.
Time ticked by, measured by the steady drip-drip of water. She pressed a hand over her eyes, then removed it, praying there was a difference. Her ears were honed for his approach and anything else thinking of making a meal out of her. She lifted her chin to the cave’s ceiling, wondering what was above it. Had they ventured under the lake or the ucdeas territory? Elorach, she hoped not for either.
If something happened to Illan, she’d be trapped.No. She couldn’t think like that. If he didn’t return, she’d head back and find him.
Her lungs seized when a drag-stomp across the sand reached her.
“It is me,” Illan said, bringing with him a blinding spot of light.
She stared despite her eyes burning. “Why are you limping?”
“The great creature—”
“You’re hurt?” She fumbled with her pocket and yanked out a med-gun. “Sit. Let me see.”
“I am…fine.”
She snorted. “A lie.”
He scowled and sank to his knees. “Very well.”
He thumped his chest. His armor parted, but when he tried to shrug, he struggled. Pain twisted his features.
She gasped. “Idiot,” she snapped, grabbing the armor’s collar and peeling it off with a gentleness she was far from feeling.
As breathtaking as she found his chest, she couldn’t take the time to admire it. His hiss reminded her of his pain, and she shuffled around him, palming the med-gun.
She froze at the lacerations across his back. Blood and a familiar brown ooze coated the edges of his wounds.
“The creature did this?” she whispered.
So Seba must have encountered it, as well. At least she knew the med-gun could heal the wounds. In the meager light, the jagged edges of his skin knitted shut. She didn’t blink, not wanting to miss this marvel.
