Page 37 of Sanctuary

Ore shook his head, a furious frown marring his face. "Impossible."

But there was no denying the rumble around us that was rapidly turning into a terrifying roar. We all kicked our mounts forward as one, racing for the gates at the end of the road. Ore and Bach's mounts could fly out, hopefully dodging the debris that was falling around us. But Balefire didn't have a winged form that was large enough to carry me.

Ore urged his mount ahead of me, while Bach took up the rear in some unspoken attempt to keep me and Balefire cushioned between them as we rushed toward the safety beyond the pass.

A massive boulder crashed down in front of me, cutting me off from Ore. Balefire leapt, landing on top of the rock, then launching himself off it in a display that no actual horse could manage, nearly unseating me in the process. I bent low and wrapped my hands in his black mane, my thighs squeezing his sides as hard as I could. We landed on the other side of the boulder with a jolt that knocked the wind out of me, but I managed to stay seated.

Bach's griffon simply flew over the boulder, but it screamed in anger and pain when a large rock struck one wing, making the beast plunge to the ground in an ungraceful stumble. Maybe the winged mounts couldn't just fly out of here after all.

The rain of stones, dirt, and debris was increasing as we drew near the gates. Ore cleared the pass and whirled to face us from the other side, shouting something I couldn't hear. I glanced up just as another enormous boulder fell, headed straight for me and Balefire.

The world fell out from under me suddenly, and I felt myself plummeting into darkness.

Balefire shifted from horse to crow as we fell, his harsh cries nearly drowned out by the crashing of the rockslide around us. I merely got a glimpse of him before the darkness intensified and I could see nothing, the hole I had fallen through closing up above me. I gasped when I hit icy wetness, sucking in a mouthful of cold water as my head plunged below the surface. Something plunged into the water beside me, the heavy weight causing a shockwave that rocked me as I bobbled to the surface of the water.

I was disoriented. Small rocks had rained down on me as I fell, pelting my head and shoulders, but that all stopped when the ceiling closed in. A strong current tugged at my body. It took me a moment to realize that I was floating in what seemed to be an underground portion of the river that ran through Larkwood. And right about the time I realized that, my face hit solid stone. I threw my hands out and tried to stop the pull of the current below me, too busy with that to wonder if my nose was broken.

I was underground. In the water. And the hole I had just fallen down was apparently only a small pocket of air. I was about to be swept under the mountain. Panic clawed at me as I realized I was about to drown.

Something large bumped into me, and a strong arm banded around my waist. "Kat. Oh, thank fuck, Kat I thought I'd lost you!" Bach's deep voice was rough with emotion. "Hold onto me, sweetheart. I can sense the course of the river. I can get us out of here, if you trust me."

Cold and newfound claustrophobia were clawing at me, making it hard to think straight. But I knew one thing for certain… "I trust you," I gasped, turning in the water to wrap my arms around Bach's solid frame and cling to him. "I trust you, Bach. Please, don't let us die!"

The big fae pressed his lips to mine in the dark, and I felt his magic flow around me. Then he shoved us away from the wall and, still holding me with one arm, plunged us underwater and let the current take us.

My panic intensified. I was going to drown. I was going to die. But Bach had promised he could get us out of here. He squeezed me tighter as he somehow propelled us along, keeping us from getting stuck or banging into rock and knocking ourselves unconscious.

My lungs ached, and I felt faint as I succumbed to lack of oxygen. Everything in me was screaming at me to take a compulsive breath, but there was no air. I tensed every muscle in my body, trying to fight the instinctive need to breathe.

Bach made a strange motion, kind of…shaking me as we floated. He could probably sense how I had tensed up. He shoved us to the side, somehow wedging us against a jutting bit of stone long enough to touch my chest with the hand that wasn't busy holding me. Then he gripped my face. Maybe Bach could hold his breath longer than I could, since he had water fae heritage. But there was no hint of light here. Only the complete blackness that you find deep underground. I couldn't see his face or attempt to communicate what was wrong.

His strong hand pinched my cheeks, forcing my jaw open. I struggled, trying to figure out what the underworld he was doing to me. And then the need to breathe overtook the logic that said I couldn't. It was either breathe, or pass out. Death, either way. I jerked my head away from Bach and sucked in an involuntary lungful of water in the process.

It was cold, icy as only the deepest spring-fed lake could be. But while the cold filled me, I didn't choke. The water didn't burn in my lungs and drown me. The dizziness left me as if I had taken a breath of fresh air.

Only then did I realize what Bach had been trying to tell me. His magic was letting me breathe under water.

Feeling that I had stopped struggling, Bach returned us to the current, maneuvering us through the underground river. It felt like the longest journey I had ever taken, as I clung to him in the utter darkness and icy cold, breathing water like an uncomfortable fish. But it couldn't have been too long before light returned to the world again. We tumbled out of a hole in the mountain's side and down a small waterfall that probably would have caused a lot more damage if we weren't both protected by Fife's spell.

When we bobbled to the surface of the river, the bright sunlight dazzled my eyes and left me momentarily blinded. Bach took my hand and tugged, and I started kicking my legs, helping propel us both toward shore. We collapsed onto the riverbank in a secluded area surrounded by tall trees, far enough downstream that the road, the guard station, and the mountain pass were out of sight.

"What the underhill just happened?!" I demanded, staring up at the blue sky and puffy white clouds overhead.

Bach's magic retreated. I rolled to the side suddenly so I could cough up the water that was still in my lungs. His big hand patted my back until the coughing subsided and I could once again draw in a nice, normal breath of air. "We survived a rockslide," he said dryly in response to my question.

I huffed. "Yes, but how?"

When I glanced at him, I caught sight of gills along the side of his neck, right before they closed up and disappeared.

We sat side by side on the bank and started out at the river. "I can't say for certain," Bach finally replied. "But I think Ore was casting a spell there, at the last. I think he opened up the ground beneath us, made the earth swallow us to avoid that boulder that was about to squash the steward of Larkwood like a bug." He shrugged. "He must have known about the underground river. It would make sense if he was in charge of tunneling the pass through the mountainside."

I slicked my wet brown hair back from my face and shook my head in disbelief. "There was no way he could know we'd survive that."

Back met my eyes, a thoughtful frown marring his face. "Not with any certainty, no. But he knew about my water affinity. And being underwater with a fae who can handle the element is certainly better than being immediately crushed by a boulder." He sighed. “Of course, he could have just been trying to kill us in a way that would hide the bodies and leave no room for rescue or healing.”

It was bizarre, to say the least. But I chose to give Ore credit for his quick thinking in an emergency. He had just saved my life, I was sure of it. Maybe Bach's as well.

"Regardless of Ore’s role in the mess, this wasn't a coincidence," Bach ground out, glaring into the distance.

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