Page 61 of Forged By Heart and Claws
"Myantha!" Thalen shouted.
She’d lost her footing and fallen sideways into a tight bend in the wall. It looked like her shoulder and thigh were wedged firmly. Her efforts to free herself shook dust loose from above.
"Don’t move!" Quen called from above. “Everyone hold!”
The entire line went still.
The stone groaned above us, a low grinding echo, like the cave was warning us not to push our luck.
Myantha’s breath came in quick gasps. “I-I’m stuck.”
“I’ve got her.” Thalen braced a shoulder against one side of the rock while reaching for her. “It’s just a bad angle. I’ll get you out.”
“Thalen, be careful.” Vad squeezed my hand more tightly. “You could easily fall and get stuck, too.”
A lump formed in my throat, and I wondered if we were even going to make it out of this cave alive.
“No one else move!” Elias hissed. “We don’t know how stable this area is.”
I hated the thought of Elias reliving his time in prison. This tight space was impacting me, too, but I hadn’t crawled into such small spaces to hide like he had.
Vad turned slightly, voice tight. “Can she be pulled or pushed?”
Thalen grunted. “Only one side’s open. I’ll have to wedge behind and shift her forward.”
A beat of silence passed with only the sound of water dripping as dust settled around us and in our eyes and mouths.
Then a soft scrape of boots, Thalen squeezing into place. “You’re okay, I’ve got you. On three, I’ll shift, and you push with your leg a little.”
He counted down calmly as Myantha closed her eyes. Then they moved together.
Her leg slid free with a pop and a pained gasp, her shoulder following a second later. Another cloud of dust rained from above, but nothing collapsed.
“You’re safe,” Thalen breathed, catching her with one arm as she slumped forward.
My throat dried so much that I needed water quickly.
Vad exhaled. “Keep moving. Slowly. Carefully. Everyone else, watch your footing there.”
The line moved again, quieter than before, the tension building until Veralt made it through the space with a fair amount of grunting and huffing.
We were all too aware now of how narrow this space was, how little room we had if anything went wrong. Every scrape of stone sounded louder. Every heartbeat felt closer to the surface.
Vad’s bandage snagged again on an outcrop of stone, and he winced, pain flashing down the bond. I squeezed his hand gently in response. He didn’t speak—just pressed forward.
From the back, Veralt cursed while forcing his way through a narrow curve. Dust fell from the ceiling as he pressed forward, his shoulders scraping.
We moved hand over foot, the stone cold and unyielding. My muscles ached. My lungs burned. The farther we climbed, the more the closeness of the space pressed in on me. But stopping wasn’t an option. Not when the water was rising behind us. Not when we had no other way forward.
Our breaths echoed off the stone, shallow and strained. The tunnel walls were slick with condensation. Beads of moisture dripped from above, pattering against my arms, but the steadygurgle of the river below chilled me more than the air ever could. Every pause stretched time thin, every breath a reminder we couldn’t afford to stop.
Then the air shifted, and something electric brushed my skin, making me freeze.
A prickling sensation started at my ribs and raced down my legs like a warning. The wall in front of me shuddered just enough to make me doubt my senses as shadows pulsed across it, snaking tendrils like living veins. My stomach dropped.
Red eyes blinked open by my thigh.
“No—” I rasped.
