Page 49 of Spellcast
Instantly I’m beset with the memory of these dragons destroying my village. Bile surges through me like rotten egg in my mouth. I press the heels of my hands into my eyes against the sight of them. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Make this all go away. Make them go away. Make none of this real.
Unfortunately, a deep voice intrudes on my internal entreaties and my attempt to hide from reality.
“Uncover your eyes, human.” I recognize the hated voice from earlier.
Tage.
“My name,” I snap because I cannot stand for him to call mehumanagain like it is the lowest of things. I have an identity, a name...even if I had not heard it uttered in a long time. “Is Arden.”
“Look at me.”
Gradually, I lower my hands and lift my chin to find him looming over me, blocking out the moon above.
Gone is the dragon. He’s a man again, and this offers some relief. Only a little, though, because both versions of him—human and dragon—are frightening to behold. The man with his big, imposing body naked and on full display frightens me only slightly less than the terrible dragon.
Gone areallthe dragons. They’re human once again, standing behind him, peering at me with expressions that range from pity to contempt. I’m not certain which I prefer. The contempt emanating from Danhy feels decidedly dangerous, and I’m convinced if she were to get a moment alone with me, I would be truly dead.
He reaches for me and hauls me to my feet. I look from the hand wrapped around my arm to his face, careful not to let my gaze stray anywhere else. It’s a novel experience—to restrict where I look for fear of the other person noticing.
I arch away from him, struggling to break free, repelled by his bigger body, even if it radiates heat like a welcoming fire, and it’s cold enough for my teeth chatter.
“Come,” he commands, and then he pulls me after him.
I hear the crunch of footsteps and realize the others are accompanying us. I fight to stay on my feet while trying to break free of him. Still, he walks on, dragging me without mercy, my efforts as pitiful as a kitten’s against his overwhelming strength.
“Stop!” I ball up my hand and strike him in the back. Pain radiates up my arm, but I punch him again and again. “I said stop! Let me go, you beast!”
Turning, he glowers down at me, his eyes scouring me like a blade scraping across my flesh and I resist the urge to shrink away—as though I can conceal from him that I am completely terrified.
“There is nowhere for youtogo.” He speaks in such grim, matter-of-fact tones, his face expressionless, as brutally ruthless as the mountains surrounding us.
He pulls me through a dense overgrowth of foliage. I would become hopelessly lost within the bramble were I to try to navigate it alone, but he seems to know exactly where to step, the path to take when there seems to be none. He ducks and sidesteps and maneuvers, hauling me after him until he finds the way. We barely clear the clawing brush before plunging directly into a dark, yawning chasm.
I gasp at the sudden and instantaneous darkness—at the openness, at the sense of stepping into a windless void.
It’s a dark I’ve never known, not even walking the woods on a moonless night, not even behind my closed eyelids. It swallows me whole like a tar pit, and my body trembles as we make our way through a narrow passageway that smells of damp and loam. Water drips from some unknown source, and I wonder if these creatures possess superior vision that permits them to see into the blackness.
The darkness breaks.
We emerge into a vast cavern. He finally lets me go. I stagger back, catching myself before falling. A quick survey around reveals the sky is no longer above us. We’ve moved somewhere inside, butit’s not abuildingof wood or stone or wattle and daub. Natural rock walls and a high domed ceiling riddled with stalactites enclose us.
For a moment I admire the icicle-shaped formations that resemble giant dripping candles overhead. I’ve never seen the like.
Then I look away, back to my captors. As far as natural wonders,theyare far more remarkable.
“Where are we?” I choke out.
“This is our home.” The words roll around in my head like pebbles looking for a place to settle and land. “And yours, too, for the time being.”
Home...for the time being.
The impermanence of that, with its latent threat, chills me.
The one called Danhy lets out a petulant huff.
I ignore her and sputter, “Home? But it’s a...cave.”
