Page 72 of Song of Her Siren

Helian dropped his shield and the hilt of his sword when the shield and shaft melted into a pool at his feet. The demon blood had turned them into liquid! Helian grappled for the dagger strapped to his belt, holding it in front of him with a trembling hand.

The bull took one look at Helian’s meager dagger and let out a dark, demonic laugh that turned my gut to water. Great Goddess, we were going to die. When the bull’s hoof hit the ground like flint striking stone and he bent low, aiming his massive horns at Helian’s chest, I knew we were out of time.

I threw out my hands with a violent scream, smoke curling from my fingers like arrows twisting through the air, striking the demon’s shoulders. The creature flew back against the wall with an anguished cry before disintegrating into a plume of dust. Helian lunged for me, pushing me down the tunnel, as if we were being chased by dragon fire.

“Get away from the dust!” he hollered.

We ran and ran, every muscle in my body burning from the tension, down one tunnel and then another until we ended up in a chamber that I didn’t recognize with wet stone walls. The smell of Confunderis weeds was thankfully gone as my head slowly cleared. We walked until the walls dipped and slanted, thick slabs of pale gray rock starting where the thunderstone walls ended and creating a new tunnel so shallow, we’d have to hunch over to traverse it. I cringed at the thought.

It took me a moment to realize that I’d dropped the torch long ago and that we could still see because pale light poured from my fingers. My heart beating erratically, panic set in when the light thrumming from my fingers began to fade.

Helian snatched another torch off the wall and grabbed the flint rocks from his satchel, striking the stones until he lit the torch. It took a few moments of him blowing on the its dried and cracked rags before they began to burn. By this time, the glow in my fingers had all but faded. No telling how old the torch was. I prayed the flames lasted.

He nodded toward my hands. “New magic trick?”

I peered at my fingers as if they were foreign objects. “I guess so.”

Then he nudged my side, pointing to the smoke wafting from the torch. “Look.”

I swallowed back my unease when I watched the smoke curl and twist, disappearing into that shallow tunnel.

“Follow the smoke,” Helian whispered.

I gritted my teeth, tempted to give up and turn back, but I remembered that demon in Drae’s body and forced myself to press onward.

Helian and I moved like crabs through the winding tunnels, some so narrow, I feared we’d get stuck in them. We followed the torch’s smoke until we finally arrived at a dark cavern with slate walls that looked like they’d been painted in diamond dust. At the back of the cavern was a stone altar that held a pale box.

Helian handed me the torch. “I’ll get the box, just in case it’s a trap.”

I swallowed bile while holding up the torch, scanning the walls for any signs of danger.

Helian tiptoed across the cavern, turning to me as he dug a stone from his satchel. “Duck,” he said to me before throwing the stone at the altar.

I ducked just before several blades shot out of holes in the wall, my teeth chattering with fear when they sliced through the air with a deadly twang. They smashed against the opposite walls, rendered inert while clanging to the ground.

Helian threw another stone at the pale box, knocking it to the ground. He slid across the floor, kicking the box toward me. Then he slithered back toward me on his stomach and grasped the box.

“We’re crawling out of here,” he whispered.

“Why?” I asked.

“Some of the blades didn’t set off,” he answered.

My stomach roiled. I hadn’t noticed. Elements, I would’ve made a terrible spy. No wonder Helian had survived these past five years while being hunted by Fachnan’s and Malvolia’s mercenaries.

As slow as slugs, we crawled out of the cavern, then through the low, winding tunnel. By the time we emerged into the Thunderstone tunnel, the rough ground had chafed my hands and arms, and my torchlight had faded into a pale flicker.

Helian held a hand down to me, helping me up, just as the flame went out, leaving us in complete darkness.

“Can you summon your light?” Helian whispered.

Throwing down the torch, I tried to summon that light in my fingers, but I didn’t remember how I’d done it the first time.

I tried and tried, even using my siren voice to force my fingers to comply, but I realized my siren didn’t work on myself.

“Never mind,” Helian said through a sigh. “Hold on to me. We’ll feel our way out of here.”

He grasped my hand in the dark, his fingers cold and clammy, the opposite to my firemage mates. Had they been here, they could’ve led us out with their flames. Damn, I missed them so much. How were we supposed to navigate our way out in the dark, when I doubted Helian remembered the way? Not to mention, if we managed to get anywhere close to the entrance, there were Confunderis weeds that would probably disorient us. We were so hexed.

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