Page 103 of Cursed Shadows 2

He’s safe enough—for now.

Seems he landed far away, since he’s one of the very few who have a backdrop of thin and wispy trees, the kind that look like their trunks will crack and snap like honey bark in a strong wind.

He treks the sparse, dead woods with another, one I recognize as Taroh’s friend,Boil…or whatever his true name is. I doubt Ronan is friendly with the male, they just landed near each other and safety in numbers is the obvious strategy when trekking the woods into a battlefield.

Then they are gone. The tar shimmers like a wave pulses through it, and the reflection warps for a beat before it settles on someone else.

Another face I recognize.

Ridge.

A gentle squeeze of Eamon’s dark, slender hand brings his attention to me. I jerk my chin in the direction of Ridge.

Eamon traces my gaze, and in thanks, runs his thumb overthe smooth flesh of my hand.

Together, we watch as Ridge grabs the arm of another—and my mouth pushes out with a pout as I recognize Luna—then drags her to the rocky cliffside. More are with them, some half-dozen litalves, and with all the frantic pointing, shoving and bared teeth, I know an argument when I see one.

No sound comes from them, not here on the other side of the portal. But Ridge keeps pointing with his white chalky dagger, aiming it up the cliffside where the entrances to the dragon caves are.

They have to climb.

Like all others, they need to climb up there. But it’s the urgency and the violence in how they shout and shove at each other that has my attention.

That battlefield didn’t provide. Daxeel, Caius—they weren’t in it.

It springs a bud of hope into my chest.

“You think he’s up there already?” I whisper and, among the low hum of conversations and observations from the military leaders, my softly spoken question is nearly drowned out.

Still, Eamon hears it.

Aleana too, and she leans in closer, fatigue weighing her down.

“They look panicked,” I add, watching as Ridge jumps to grab a bulged rock on the cliffside. Grip firmed, he swings himself up for another, and the others follow him.

“They’re certainly in a rush,” Aleana adds in a wispy, tired voice.

“Dax might have climbed already,” Eamon agrees with a faint nod. “Caius, too. I haven’t seen them yet.”

And the more I watch the corners of the black pool, the closer I pay attention, the quicker I realize—

It’s only showing the ground level. The spots where the contenders landed. And now that Ridge and the others have climbed a decent height, the window has forgotten them entirely.

“It’s not showing the caves,” I say, breathless.

Aleana’s hand tightens on mine.

Her fears follow mine.

If we don’t see the caves, we don’t see what happens to our loved ones who make it that far. And we won’t find out if they survive until after the passage is complete.

Daxeel could be dead already and I wouldn’t know.

22

DAXEEL

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