Page 162 of Of Serpents and Ruins
Hurry, Kine. Hurry!
Kine reached into his robe. His hand shaking, he pulled the last of the reagents, an indigo root wrapped in grey feathers with a small grey bag tied to the palm-sized stone.
The Babadon groaned. "Something—something isn’t right. I can’t—" He tried to move away from the center of the heart, but his movements became heavier—sluggish. His body sunk lower. "I feel it."
"Feel what? Tell me what’s wrong! Tell me what to do!" The Gola Resh tried to grab hold of his shoulders, but her clawed hands passed through him.
Kine flung the last of the reagents into the circle. The root and feathers skimmed past the blue sulfur lava and landed in the heart, reagents first. The rock turned red almost at once. Fire flared along the side for a breath, then vanished. He slapped his hand up once more to grab my arm. I gripped him tight, fighting for breath.
The Babadon held up his hands as if to clasp her face. "I missed you." Though he whispered, his voice echoed throughout the chamber. It filled my ears and clogged my mind.
I tightened my hold on Kine, feeling as if I were about to be torn in two. Brandt’s hand at my throat and the stones in my back made it hard for me to breathe.
The Gola Resh twisted her head back and forth. "All of this—all of this was to gain eternity together. None of this matters without you." She screamed. The stalactites above trembled like melting icicles. "There has to be something. Something!"
"I am little more than shadow, my love. My essence is fading now." He leaned closer to her. Half his arm passed through her. Then his forehead rested near hers, as close as possible without touching. A low moan shuddered from him. "Don’t leave me again, light of my soul."
"There has to be something." She clutched at him. Her fingers passed through the smoke and fog of his form. The panic in her voice intensified. "I am cured. I could live on. I could live on with endless power. Twice the power that I need. These wretches! These fools! Because of them, you are dying. I’ll kill them all!" She turned on us, her eyes blazing.
"I am dead already, beautiful Gola," he whispered. "Centuries of wandering between the realms with you. Slidingbetween the chasms of the worlds. Drinking the life of the universe. And it ends here."
She turned back to him with a broken sob. Her entire body heaved, rising and falling in wrenching grief.
They both drifted lower and lower to the lava. The glow intensified the darkness of their shadows and highlighted the wisps of the Babadon’s form. With each breath, less and less of him was solid.
He shuddered. "I can…I have just a little more strength to do one more thing," he murmured. A pulse of red-blue energy pulsed over him. His form grew heavier but more solid. He caught her into his arms then, clasping her close. "Now I can hold you again."
The Gola Resh continued to wail, her face buried in his shoulder. The cavern trembled. Rocks broke free from the ceiling and pelted down. "You can’t die!"
The Babadon held her close, his hand against the back of her head. "Don’t make me pass alone."
"Don’t leave me," she sobbed. "You can’t leave. Not again."
A great wind rushed through the cavern, pulling at Kine. My fingers tightened around his hand as I screamed, the pain in my arm and back almost unbearable. Brandt’s arm around my waist trapped me, his mouth pressed hard against my neck.
The wind tore around us and spun about the Gola Resh and Babadon.
"Don’t leave me," he murmured.
"Don’t go," she sobbed.
And they sank, smoke-blackened forms pressed tight to one another. The molten rock bubbled and hissed. Piercing wails echoed off the walls as their shadowy forms melted together, charred, and vanished into the seething lava.
Orange-green and red-blue light shot out, melding and twisting as it pulsed in waves. Like their eyes, the colorsremained distinct at the farthest points and then melted together until they vanished in muddled hues.
The cavern shook, and the lava churned. Gases and steam erupted. The barriers the Gola Resh had formed fell away. Brandt’s body went slack against mine as he gasped.
STELLA
Idangled there, barely able to breathe.
Kine clung to my hand and arm. "They’re dead. They’re gone! We’ve won." He muttered the words shakily, almost as if he feared that speaking them might make something contradict them.
"Brandt?" I whispered weakly, unable to move against the piercing knots of stone against my back. "Brandt, are you still with me?"
His fingers weren’t clutching at my throat. But his grip on my waist had remained steady.
"I’m here." His voice rasped low and dry. His left arm reached down around me as well, easing some of the strain on my body.
