Page 8 of Cerban
Helpless. If I thought about it too much, the panic would rise again. Instead, I fixed my gaze on him. The finman. My unlikely lifeline. He shifted his shoulders against the crack, testing the stones, and I felt the pressure change as he tried to widen the gap. Every scrape echoed through the water, but the boulders refused to yield.
This was pointless. We were trapped in a moment, a continuous rhythm that couldn't go on for much longer. At some point, he would realise that he couldn't both give me the air I needed and free me at the same time. We couldn't stay like this forever. Would he give up on me?
I was human. I wasn't the same species as him. If he was anything like Kelon, his former leader, he'd run.
His lips met mine again and I sucked in the offered air greedily.
Then I noticed it. The bubbles. The same ones that had lured me down here in the first place. Some weren’t vanishing into the water – they were gathering above, trapped against the jagged ceiling of the cave.
An air pocket.
I jabbed my finger upward, desperate for him to understand. He frowned, then followed my gaze. His eyes widened in understanding. Then he nodded. He gave me another kiss of air.
With the last of my strength, I kicked upward, wriggling past the rubble until my head broke the surface.
Air. Stale, sour, tinged with minerals. But I wasn't going to complain. I could breathe.
This bubble wouldn't last long, but it was enough to keep me breathing for a moment. Hopefully, it would be enough time for him to create a larger hole.
"Do you have enough oxygen up there?" he called through the water. His voice sounded like it was coming through a long tunnel.
"Yes." I was amazed I could speak. "I think so."
In truth, I didn't know the oxygen concentration of this air bubble. But my lungs weren't straining, which was a good sign. I hoped.
I turned, heart pounding, to the shadow in the crack. He’d wedged his head and shoulders through, gills flaring in the gloom.
He smiled at me. “You are safe. For now.”
My laugh came out broken. “Not exactly the pep talk I wanted.”
He tilted his head, teeth flashing. “Then tell me what you need to hear, human.”
“My name’s Maelis,” I said hoarsely. “And I’m not giving up. Tell me you're not giving up on me. Tell me you won't leave me down here.”
Something flared in his eyes. "Never."
I believed him.
And for the first time since the collapse, I believed that I might yet return to the surface. Alive.
6
Cerban
Every muscle in my body burned as I wrenched at the rocks blocking the cave mouth. The sea fought me with every surge of the storm, trying to drive me back, but I refused. I was not leaving her behind.
Piece by piece, I shifted the smaller stones, letting them tumble into the abyss. Each time I moved one, more silt bled into the water, blinding me. My gills stung from the grit, my shoulders scraped raw where the jagged rock tore at them. Still, I pushed on.
Inside, I caught the faint sound of her fists striking the stone in rhythm with me. She was helping – weak, but stubborn. The thought filled me with a savage pride. This human was no helpless prey. She was fighting for her life, and I would match her strike for strike.
At last, the biggest boulder shifted. I jammed my shoulder against it, wedging my body in the gap. My spine screamed, but slowly, agonisingly, the stone moved. The opening widened enough for her small frame to squeeze through.
"Do you think you'll fit through this?" I called out.
"I believe so. I can't believe you actually did it. I thought I'd be trapped here forever - well, until my air ran out."
I shuddered at the thought. Finfolk couldn't drown, but I imagined it as a horrible death.
