Page 79 of Deadwood
As we rounded the last corner, we found the top half of the wall had been taken down already, flickering lantern light illuminating the men at work removing rocks from the other side.
“Ah, Vulcanwastelling the truth,” Flynt announced over the sound of the wind as he hefted a rock off to the side. It landed with a crash, blistering into multiple pieces, and I flinched.
Bowen stepped to the side of me, his arm brushing mine. “I wouldn’t let him know you thought he was lying if I was you.”
Flynt snorted. “As if I’d ever do that.”
“He’s dumb enough that he would,” Raiden piped in. I hadn’t noticed him there until he moved the rock blocking his view from us. He was taller than Flynt by a few inches. His arms had to be bigger than my thigh, and he moved the rocks like they were little more than a piece of parchment.
From somewhere behind the two of them, a low thud sounded, and the ground shook again. I grabbed Bowen’s arm, fearing the cave would collapse.
He looked down at me, concern in his gaze, until he realized why I was scared. He turned to face me completely, blocking me from Flynt and Raiden’s view. His hands moved to my neck, and I realized he was readjusting my bandana before fixing it back over my mouth and nose.
“You don’t have to be afraid anymore. And don’t be fooled by them,” Bowen muttered to me. “They’re using strength magic.” He did the same to his own mask after he spoke.
“He’s just trying to make up for the fact that he couldn’t move a few pebbles,” Flynt teased, clearly having heard Bowen speak. He and Raiden both had their masks in place, and it seemed the storm was only growing stronger, if that was even possible. It was foolish of me to come out in this, and now they were all dealing with the fallout.
Bowen stood by my side again, keeping us a safe distance back in case any rocks rolled.
“They have been complaining about the task for over an hour,” a deep, rough voice said, but it sounded far away. My body tensed with the knowledge that I now recognized it being a dragon that spoke.
Bowen’s finger grazed my wrist, but he didn’t look my way.
Flynt wiped sweat from his brow, turning toward where the voice came from. “Don’t you have anything better to do, like find some poor sheep to eat?”
“I’m hungry for a different flavor tonight,” he said casually, as if he was insinuating that one of us was on his menu.
“He won’t hurt you,” Bowen murmured to me.
“Don’t be so sure,” the dragon purred back.
“Why don’t you go relax until the storm passes? The winds will only get stronger, making it harder to fly,” Bowen said, having to raise his voice so the dragon could hear him over the howl.
Something like a chuckle echoed through the cave. “A small breeze has never been a problem for me.” Then the sound of wings beating flowed through the tunnel, and I assumed the dragon had taken Bowen’s advice.
Bowen left me where I stood to help with the rocks, moving them one by one until we could step over the mound safely. All the while, I watched his back flex under his shirt, his arms straining with each boulder he moved after using the strength vial on himself. He was already strong on his own, but the magic only emphasized it.
Though it seemed as if he disliked me, he’d protected me tonight—covered me with his own body so that I wouldn’t be injured by the earthquake, and distracted a dragon dozens of times his size from eating me alive. All of that combined, I wondered why he would do such things. As far as I could tell, making sure I was unharmed wasn’t on the top of his to-do list, and yet, he’d shown up here himself, asking me to return to the town. In addition to all of that, he hadn’t commanded it. He’d simplyrecommendedit.
I had had a choice in the matter. And sure, I’d chosen wrong, but Bowen had given to me what no one ever had before.
A say in what I did.
And I couldn’t help but wonder why.
CHAPTER 26
BOWEN
The entire walk back to Deadwood, Auria had insisted she was fine, but I wasn’t risking it. Not only had rocks fallen all around us, one or two surely hitting her in the chaos, but the bones dragon had sprayed its toxic gas directly in front of her. She hadn’t seemed affected in the cave, but it could still be dormant in her lungs, slowly poisoning her blood if she breathed enough in.
“So it just hit a wall you couldn’t see?” Siara asked, reiterating what I’d told her, Flynt, and Raiden multiple times now. We were in the corner of the infirmary, far from any listening ears. I hadn’t wanted to leave Auria alone while she was checked out by Doctor Quinn. The citizens of Deadwood listened to me, but I didn’t trust they wouldn’t try anything with her. She was the daughter of a loathed king, and the people in this town had a liking for vengeance.
I nodded, peeling my gaze away from where Auria sat perched on the edge of a table. Quinn had a finger on her wrist, checking her vitals. She’d already examined her eyes, along with her balance—which was presumably bad due to her already injured ankle—and I assumed her lungs were next. There were two rows of twelve tables each, only a few occupied with patients that had gotten into fights at the saloon or those that had gone out in the dust storm without a face covering and were now suffering the consequences.
“It was chasing us one second, and bashing its skull against some sort of invisible wall the next,” I said. My hands were fisted, my palms burning with the memory of Auria in my arms. I hadn’t meant to touch her so many times in that cave, but I’d had no choice.
Flynt bit the inside of his cheek in thought. “Do you think the earthquake had anything to do with it being unable to go further? It was a pretty strong one. We felt the aftershock of it down here.”
