Page 175 of Wings of Ash & Flame
Her eyes widened as fissures spider-webbed across the stone below. The molten rivers swelled, pressure building beneath the surface.
“Below! Something’s happening!” she warned.
Then, the floor exploded.
Geysers of magma erupted like volcanic fountains, shooting blazing streams hundreds of feet into the air. The molten rock burned holes through solid stone, sending chunks of cavern wall crashing down around them.
“Climb!” she screamed, throwing Solflara into a spiraling ascent as a geyser erupted directly beneath them.
The formation scattered, then snapped back together as the tether caught. Hadrian corkscrewed through the air, the sudden spiral whipping everyone to the left. Alaire’s neck cracked from the violent shift.
A massive geyser erupted directly beneath Dawson and Beck.
Her heart stopped.
“Focus,” Solflara reminded her.
Fixing her gaze forward, they continued dodging falling stone and streams of liquid fire. The air burned thick with sulfur and ash.
She tried covering her nose and mouth with her leathers, but there was no escaping the stench. Nausea rolled in her stomach as the smell of her nightmares came alive around her.
Another geyser erupted directly in their path.
“Reverse roll! Alaire, pay attention!” Dawson shouted. The world spun; the floor became the ceiling, molten rivers appeared above her. Screams rang in her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut against the barrage of sensations, forcing herself to concentrate.
Her vision swam, then snapped back into focus.
Alaire scanned the cavern desperately. In the chaotic light of magma and flames, she searched for the exit. “There has to be something!” she yelled over the roar.
But the ceiling stretched above, an unbroken dome of black stone. No exits. No openings.
They were trapped in a tunnel of endless rock. Panic clawed at her throat as reality sank in: there was no way out.
We’re going to die down here.
“Another volley!” Kaia yelled.
Arrows showered them from every direction, geysers spouting lava as they pushed forward, because that was their only choice. They were flying deeper into a death trap.
Forty
Flaming arrows exploded from the walls. No warning glow this time. Their fiery tips arced through the air.
An arrow hurtled straight toward her. Alaire’s breath quickened, shallow and erratic. Time seemed to slow; sounds around her muffled.
The past crashed over her like a tide, dragging her under in memories of another place and time.Air thick with decay and ash. Aurelia engulfed in flames. Her throat raw from screaming. The last look on her parents’ faces—determination tinged with remorse. Light was needed to defeat the endless shadows. Rage, terror, and grief had consumed her; they still did.
The vampires were not vanquished. She was an orphan with no kingdom and no aether.
The shadows and fire beckoned her forward. It had all been for nothing.
“Alaire,” a voice called to her.
The haze thickened, shadows wrapping tighter, dragging her deeper.
“Alaire,” the voice snarled, desperate now.
Still she remained shrouded, until a clamoring cry screeched through the fog, shattering it. Warm feathers filled her grasp.
