“You’re insane!”
The angry shout echoing around the cave startled Iris awake. She shrank back against the cavern wall, unable to see in the pitch black left behind by the burned-out fire. Every sound seemed amplified in her sudden terror. The approaching footsteps could have belonged to an army or a single person. She fumbled for the amulet hidden under her dress, pulling it out and clutching it with white-knuckled fingers as she hugged her knees to her chest. Maybe it would hide her. Maybe not. She didn’t know.
“We’ve gone over this already.”
She knew that voice. That was the stranger—the dragon. He sounded tired and exasperated.
“Yeah, well, we’ll keep going over it until you get some sense through your thick skull,” the first voice replied.
“Shut up.”
“Don’t tell me to shut up!”
“Someone’s here, you idiot.”
Iris buried her face in her skirt, trembling all over. There was nowhere to run. They could see, but she couldn’t, and although she knew the waterfall’s general direction, trying to escape that way would probably end with her slipping and falling into the lake.
“They’re not here now,” the unknown voice said sullenly. “You’re just trying to change the subject.”
The footsteps and voices were getting louder. Any second now, they would see her.
“This is recent,” the familiar deep voice said. He’d stopped right in front of her. Booted feet scuffed across the stone, and the faint whiff of smoke from the dead fire grew stronger. He must have kicked the ashes. “It wasn’t here last night.”
Iris held her breath. They didn’t see her. Somehow, they didn’t see her.
“Still warm, too,” the other man muttered. His voice was on Iris’ level. He had to be mere inches from her.
“They can’t have gone far.”
“We don’t have time for this. Thanks to somebody delaying our attack, we’re behind schedule.”
“Fine. You go. Tell everybody what a mess I made. I’ll check this out so our position here isn’t compromised,” the stranger said, his voice thick with sarcasm.
There was a snort of derision, rising above Iris as the other man stood. “And let you get yourself killed? No way. You’ve taken enough risks lately. Sooner or later, that luck of yours will run out.”
“That’s rich, coming from you. Let’s check outside.”
The footsteps faded away. Iris listened, her heart pounding in her ears, louder than the crashing of the waterfall, until she couldn’t hear them anymore.
She had to get out of here. But where could she go? Deeper into the cave, into the darkness that hid a dragon’s lair? Or outside the waterfall, where the two dragons were looking for her?
No. The only thing she could do was sit still, gripping the amulet so hard that the metal bit into her skin, hoping it kept her hidden until…
Until what?
Until they came back? Until daybreak?
She very carefully, very slowly exhaled and lifted her head from the skirt. The dragons’ examination of the fire had exposed a single ember, its faint red glow too dim to illuminate anything. She rested her chin on her knees, staring at that ember.
The amulet had protected her again, but she had little faith it would continue to do so, especially since she didn’t know how to use it. Maybe it wasn’t even hiding her anymore. The thought made her stomach lurch. If the dragons came back and saw her, she didn’t have a chance.
But if she could sneak out to the forest without falling into the lake, without being seen, she could hide within the trees.
There were no good options.
She stood cautiously, hyper-aware of every breath she took. The soft padding of her bare feet was too loud as she crept toward the waterfall. Just a few more steps, and then she could peek around the curtain of water to the starlit world outside.
An arm snaked around her waist. She screamed, but a hand had clamped over her mouth, muffling the sound. Her captor lifted her easily off the cave floor as she struggled against him.
“Got you.”
She knew that voice. The recognition did not comfort her in the slightest. She released the amulet and tore at his arms, kicking and flailing in a blind panic.
“Stop fighting me,” he hissed in her ear. “I’m trying to help you.”
She didn’t believe that for a second, and she didn’t stop fighting. For a split second, she thought she felt his grip loosen slightly, and she thrashed even harder to break free. Then he grunted and slammed her into the cave wall, pinning her between his body and solid rock.
“Nothing I could find,” the other man called through the roar of the waterfall.
Both of them were here.
She thrashed and squirmed even more, but the one holding her used his weight to crush her against the cavern wall. His arm dug into her stomach. She could barely breathe.
“That’s because she never left,” he called back with some effort. He lowered his voice again and added, “If you don’t stop, I will hurt you, and I don’t want to do that.”
“Wait, it’s a girl?”
“Stop!” he shouted in her ear.
His hand was smothering her mouth and her nose now; she was getting lightheaded, her strength nearly spent. She squeezed her eyes shut, and a single tear slipped down her cheek. There was no point. There was never any point.
She gave up.
“That’s better,” he muttered when she fell limp. He held her there a few more seconds before taking a step back. “Do not scream. Got it?”
She nodded. His hand left her mouth and nose, and she gasped for air, resting her sweaty forehead against the cool stone. His arm was still around her waist, his chest still against her back, but she could breathe unrestricted again.
“Who is she?” the other man demanded.
“She’s a mage. I recognized her signature, but I couldn’t see her until she moved. She’s been right here the whole time.”
“I’m…not…”
He stepped back and grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around and shoving her back against the wall. “Then what’s this?” he growled, plucking the amulet from her chest.
Her eyes were wide open again, but she couldn’t see a thing. She shook her head. “I…I don’t know.”
“She’s the girl from the battle,” the other man said. “What is she doing here?”
“Good question.” Her captor dropped the amulet and grabbed her arm. “Come on.”
She stumbled after him, pulled along at an unforgiving pace, with the other man following behind her. Silence fell, broken only by their footsteps and her panting as she caught her breath. She closed her eyes and hung her head. Her choices were to walk, trusting the path remained smooth and even, or fall to her knees and probably get dragged.
She walked.
After a few minutes, the hand on her arm jerked upwards. “Stairs.”
She felt with her toe and took a tentative step up. Another, and another. He’d slowed his pace for this, at least, although the irritated sigh behind her said the other man didn’t approve.
“This is taking too long.”
He grabbed her waist and yanked her back from the man who was holding her arm, throwing her unceremoniously over his shoulder. If she hadn’t been so despondent, she would have shrieked or protested. But she’d already given in. Whatever was going to happen would happen, whether she liked it or not.
They climbed the stairs for a while before they were on level ground again. Then the man carrying her tossed her onto something soft, and she was scrambling backwards before she even opened her eyes, trying to get as far from both of them as possible.
To her surprise, she could see now.
The stone room was brightly lit, although she couldn’t see a light source in her cursory scan. It was plainly a cave, but also plainly a living room. She’d seen furniture like the sofa where he’d dumped her in the homes of the well-to-do.
But she dared not look away from the two men standing over her for long.
She recognized the stranger immediately. His tall build, black hair, and sharp green eyes were as intimidating as ever. The other man looked very similar, except his razor-like eyes were blue. Both men wore hard expressions; both had their arms crossed over their chests.
She wedged herself as far back into the corner of the sofa as she could and hugged her knees to her chest.
The blue-eyed man sighed and turned his glare on the green-eyed man. “You have some explaining to do.”
She wasn’t expecting that. She darted a look at green eyes and saw a muscle pulse in his jaw.
“Her name is Iris. I delayed the attack because the mage was looking for something, and I thought we should know what it was.” He gestured toward her. “She’s it.”
Blue eyes looked her over appraisingly. “So why didn’t you kill her?”
The breath caught in her throat. She looked frantically from one to the other. Both were deadly serious.
“If he can use her, so can we,” green eyes replied coolly.
She couldn’t take much more of this. Her heart would surely stop from the fear and pressure any minute now. She buried her face in her skirt, wishing this would all just disappear, that she would wake up in that wretched cave and find it had all been a horrible nightmare.
Blue eyes snorted a derisive laugh. “Yeah. Right. That’ll be really useful in a war. I need a drink.”
“Bring three glasses.”
One set of footsteps walked away, and the sofa shifted beside her. She hugged herself even tighter.
“My name is Char,” green eyes said quietly. “I promise I’ll figure this out, but the drink will help you relax in the meantime.”
She didn’t respond. He wasn’t trustworthy, and she didn’t want to know what he meant by ‘figuring this out.’ If she hadn’t listened to him and gone to the river, she wouldn’t be here. Every day since Sunday had been a new adventure in misery because of him.
“So, where’s she going to sleep?” blue eyes asked upon his return. Glasses clinked against each other, a cork popped, and liquid sloshed from a bottle. “We don’t exactly have any dungeon cells here.”
“Are you really worried she’s going anywhere?” Cold glass touched her arm. “Here.”
She wiped her tears on her skirt and lifted her face reluctantly, taking the glass with a shaky hand. The red liquid within smelled like some kind of wine. She focused on it, refusing to look past it at the two men.
“No, I guess not,” blue eyes said. “You sure the mage was after her?”
She forced the bitter liquid down all at once. It burned her throat and made her cough, but the warmth that settled in her stomach was actually kind of pleasant.
“Yeah, I’m sure. Don’t chug that,” Char reprimanded her.
She coughed again and handed the empty glass back to him. “I’d rather get it over with,” she said in a quiet, hoarse voice.
“Get what over with?” blue eyes asked.
She just shook her head and tucked her face in her skirt again. Anything. All of it.
“This jerk is Rath.”
“Who’re you calling a jerk?”
The warmth in her stomach gradually entered her veins as the two bickered. It felt nice. And this sofa was softer than anything she’d ever slept on before. She eventually released her knees and lifted her face so she could yawn comfortably, covering her mouth with her hand, and then she rolled onto her side, resting her forehead against the back of the sofa.
“Hey, you can’t sleep there!” Rath exclaimed.
“I don’t think she’s listening to you.”
The sofa shifted again as Char left. Instead of stretching her legs out, she tucked them closer to her chest. A blanket settled over her.
“Still think I should have killed her?"35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2CdGNBnXZ
