Page 71 of Wings of Ebony
We keep on going.
Everything’s hard to see the darker it gets. Light glimmers on the edge of Aasim’s frame hunched over ahead of me. The tunnel narrows even more and I bend deeper, my back aching. My hair grazes the top of the cave and Aasim reaches back for my hand to lead the way. I don’t take it, but I stay on his six.
My pulsetap tap tapsfaster in my veins. I ease out a breathhoping to slow my heart rate. How much deeper? What’s back here?
Several more steps and my neck aches from being stuck sideways.
Crash.
I yelp, my heart punching my chest.
My lungs burn.
I’m coughing.
Everything’s a cloud of dust and a portion of the ceiling is a heap of rubble at my feet.
“It’s okay,” he says, coughing. “Come on. Not much farther.”
Behind us the entrance to the cave is small in the distance. I squint through the haze, another cough tugging at my throat.
“Where…” The rest of my words come out a squeak when a ray of sun cuts through the darkness. Someone’s opened Yiyo’s doors.
Footsteps.
Shit, we’re being followed.
Backtracking a few steps, I crane around the twisted tunnel for a glimpse at Yiyo’s entrance. There is a tall frame, rigid in stature, looking both ways. A wisp of light sweeps over his face. I’d know that steel mug anywhere.
The General.
My heart lodges in my throat. “Aasim,” I whisper.
He turns back and sees what I see.
“With me,now,” he whispers back, but his words ripple like waves and the General’s head turns our way.Shit!
Bang.Streaks of light dart past my face like an arrow, shattering the rubble at my feet. I scramble up and stumble forward, faintlyaware of the back of Aasim’s shirt up ahead.Run.Another bang and more rock crumbles.
“Hurry, come on,” Aasim says. My steps are clunky over the craggy tunnel floor.
“Run all you want, Aasim, Rue,” the General’s voice echoes off the walls, turning my blood to ice. “There’s no way out of here.”
The General’s steps are louder. He’s so close I can hear his raspy breath. A dagger of light, as lethal as a live wire, swooshes past. I press the stinging spot on my face and blood trickles between my fingers.He hit me!
I urge my feet faster.
Don’t think. Don’t breathe. Just run.
I’m hunched over so much I’m practically crawling, grabbing, pulling, shoving myself forward any way I can. My foot catches and I’m on the ground, my knee pulsing with pain.
“I…” Aching rips through me. The walls close in around me and I’m dizzy.It’s no use. I can’t—
“Rue!” Aasim’s high pitch slaps me to my senses.
I have to keep going.
His hand wiggles for my reach.
