Page 95 of The Lost Prince
Swearing under my breath, I took the rear.
BOOM.
A larger rock fell right in front of the Noble’s face. He hesitated.
“RUN!” I screamed, as another rock fell and clipped me on my shoulder. I grit my teeth and ignored the pain. While it was tempting to run ahead of the Noble and leave him behind, I wanted to ensure his survival.
I wanted to study him. I wanted to use him.
“GO!”
So I stubbornly stayed behind him, pushing my torch forward with one hand and him with the other. I grabbed his arm and kept him upright when he fell, and pulled him after me when necessary.
All the while, the roars of the dragons increased and the tunnel walls shook and groaned. Rocks and dirt fell until it was raining debris, making it nearly impossible to see.
“COME ON!” Shava called out from somewhere ahead of me, thankfully not too far.
BOOM. CRASH.
The tunnel collapsed behind me, and I shoved the man forward with all of my strength. Which, considering my blood magick, was considerable. My torch snuffed out and fell somewhere behind me.
“AHHH!”
His screams cut off abruptly. Hopefully not because he was dead.
Rubble clogged the air, choking my lungs and rendering it impossible to breathe. I put my robe over my nose, but it did nothing.
Hold your breath. Get out.
“Z! Are you ok!”
Shava’s voice didn’t sound closer; if anything, it was more muffled than before. The fresh breeze I’d felt before the cave-in had ceased to exist. A pit of dread opened in my stomach.
Trapped. You’re trapped. Not again.
I couldn’t panic. Panic wouldn’t save me.
It’s just like last time. But Shava can’t get in to save you.
Unsheathing my knife, I slashed at my forearm to activate my blood magicks. The glow illuminated the area briefly, but there wasn’t much to see: just rocks behind me, rocks ahead of me, and an unconscious Noble in between both.
I’d been so focused on completing rituals to survive fire and heat that I hadn’t yet done much work on building my strength. If I had, I might have had a shot at moving the rocks.
Hindsight was a bitch.
I pushed and dug and rummaged at them anyway, refusing to give up and die. How much air remained in this cave? Would it be painful to asphyxiate?
The ground rumbled again, and I welcomed it. If I was lucky, the dragons would crash right into our tunnel and smash us to death. It would be quicker than suffocating. At least, I hoped it would be.
Don’t give up.
Why not? Logically, there was no way out. And to think, there were so many experiments and trials left to be done, and so much knowledge wasted inside of my head. Should I have written it down for someone else to one day learn?
It didn’t matter now.
My head pounded, and I was on my knees before I realized it, sharp edges cutting into the flesh of my palms and knees.
It didn’t … matter … now.
