Page 28 of The Dark Rises
“Cormal!” I yell, pointing to it. “I don’t know what it is, but I wouldn’t step in it.”
Brixton roars in disbelief. “No! Somehow you’ve woken the island.” He scrambles backward. The serpents appear beside him, heads swaying like a snake eyeing a snack.
“Fuck!” In a flash of wings and fire, Brixton flies out of the cave, leaving the island and us behind.
Hyne curses. “Bastard escaped. Damn it. I was this fucking close to ending him for good.”
Cormal waves a hand in Hyne’s direction immediately clothing him. “Another time. We need to find Rivan and get out of here.” He eyes the small boat beyond the serpents. “Can you control them?”
Hyne scoffs. “Only the island controls the creatures around here. I’m thankful they respected me enough to leave me alone while I got out of the cuffs. Took me a while. Dropped the damn key.” He looks at Madoc. “Thanks, quick thinking.”
Madoc joins us. “I knew you wouldn’t drown. Better than letting Brixton kill you.”
Cormal steps over the silver stream of magic or whatever it is. “There’s a couple of ships berthed at the harbor. We’ll have to grab one of them. First, Rivan.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
MERI
All of the rooms in the dungeon are empty. Forced to search floor by floor, our progress is slow as we make our way up to the top. Cormal and Madoc send their magic ahead of us to search for any remaining Phoenix, but they’ve all fled. Brixton must have warned them. Cormal swears the island looks the same as earlier, so we can’t be sure if he spoke the truth.
Top floor. “This is it. If he’s not here, he isn’t in the castle.” But where could he be? I refuse to leave without him.
Rivan.
Hurry.
Where?
Hurry.
Every room is empty. There are no more floors above us. I step out onto the balcony to look out across the land. A harbor with a couple of newer ships that must have belonged to the Phoenix and a few rickety ships bobbing gently in the water.A small, deserted town with a crumbling well and small, worn houses. Drab and dreary-looking bushes, trees, and flowers. The only interesting thing is the roaring waterfall on the mountain behind the castle.
Absolutely no sign of Rivan or any life for that matter.
“There!” Madoc shouts, pointing to the waterfall.
With a frown, I turn and look. White water pours down the side of the mountain from the top. Confused, I turn to look at Madoc again, and see a flash in the corner of my eye. Pivoting, I stare at the water, waiting. High up the mountain, close to where the waterfall starts its descent, red light flares brightly behind the curtain of water.
For a second, I stare at it, not understanding, but then it hits me, and I scream, “Rivan!”
Hyne lifts his hands, parting the waterfall like a curtain, until we can see behind it.
Loud curses fill the air from all three men, but tears slip down my face as I stare at Rivan. Suspended upside down from the mouth of a cave, his ankles and wrists bound by gold cuffs, is Rivan. Naked with no runes left on his body. How many times did he drown and regenerate? A hundred? A thousand?
“Get him down,” I demand hoarsely, my voice full of pain and anger.
Cormal’s magic holds him up as Madoc’s magic releases him from the metal cuffs binding him to the mountain. Carefully, they dress and dry him. Then float him softly down to the outer courtyard. Once I see him pass the balcony, I take off running.
Madoc spits out a curse. “Hyne, follow her.”
Racing down the steps and out of the castle with the kraken behind me, I hit the dirt beside Rivan’s body. “Rivan. It’s me. Meri. Open your eyes.”
“Hurry,” he whispers over and over. “Hurry.”
“You’re safe,” I reassure him, stroking my hand across his rune-free body. Regenerating strips him of all his protections. I pick up his hand and clasp it tightly in mine. “Open your eyes. Look at me.”
“Not here,” he mumbles, turning his head to the side as if he can’t bear to look.
