Page 74 of Savage Devotion
When the immediate roar fades, I'm lying on stone that's too warm and breathing air that tastes like copper and smoke. My vision swims, ears ringing from the blast pressure. Everything hurts, but I'm alive, which means the water barrels disrupted enough of the chemical reaction to prevent complete tunnel incineration.
But the structural damage from the explosion is already cascading through the ceiling supports. Cracks spider across the stone overhead, and dust rains down in increasing amounts. The tunnel is coming down, with or without additional charges.
I force myself to my feet, every movement sending fresh waves of pain through my abused body. Fallen stone partially blocked the passage back to, but still navigable if I'm fast and careful.
Fast and careful.Two concepts that rarely go together.
I stumble through the debris field, following the sound of falling rock and distant shouting. Someone survived the blast in the main chamber, which means Kaelgor is alive and mobile, or...
No, not going there. He survived. He has to have survived.
I find him pressed against the far wall of the chamber, blood streaming from a head wound but still conscious and moving. Relief floods through me with enough force to weaken my knees. He's alive. Hurt, but alive.
"Ressa!" He pushes away from the wall, reaching for me as I stumble into the chamber. "What the hell happened?"
"Chemical fire. Explosion. Tunnel's coming down." The words come out in gasps as I try to process immediate tactical needs through pain and exhaustion. "We need to move. Now."
"The other tunnels?—"
"Probably compromised. But maybe not all of them."
Another section of ceiling collapses behind us, sealing off the passage I just navigated. Whatever escape route we find, it won't be the way we came.
Kaelgor's arm comes around my waist, supporting weight I didn't realize I couldn't carry alone. His strength is steady and warm and completely focused on getting us both out alive.
"Where to?" he asks.
"North. The soldiers mentioned northern support columns, which means there's a northern passage they needed to block."
"And if they already blocked it?"
"Then we dig."
We move together through the crumbling tunnel system, his strength covering my tactical knowledge, my reconnaissance supporting his physical capability. Partnership born of necessity and sustained by something deeper than tactical convenience.
Trust, maybe. Or at least the beginning of it.
Behind us, the rest of the tunnel network collapses with a roar that shakes the mountain. Ahead, somewhere in the darkness, lies the possibility of survival.
The northern passage opens into something impossible.
Ember-stone. Walls of it, ceiling of it, flowing in veins through the natural rock like frozen fire. The stone pulses with inner light, warm amber that shifts to deep crimson with each breath I take. The air here doesn't taste of dust and collapse. It hums with energy, ancient and alive.
"What is this place?" Kaelgor asks with wonder beneath the wariness.
"Vaelmark legend." I step deeper into the chamber, drawn by a recognition that sits in my bones rather than my memory. "The Heart of the Mountain. Where the first forges were lit."
The ember-stone responds to my presence, brightening as I move closer to the central formation. Heat radiates from the walls, not the scorching burn of the chemical fire but somethingdeeper, more fundamental. Like standing near a hearth that's been burning for centuries.
"Legend?"
"The stories say House Vaelmark was founded here. That our ancestors discovered these chambers and learned to forge with living flame." I reach toward the nearest wall, stopping just short of contact. "I thought they were just stories."
"Stories have power in the mountains."
The ember-stone flares brighter at his words, casting our shadows long and strange across the chamber floor. Power, yes. I can feel it singing in the stone, in the air, in their heartbeats. But power without purpose is just destruction waiting to happen.
Kaelgor moves closer, studying the formations with tactical eyes. "There's air flow from somewhere. Fresh air."
