I lurch to my feet andrun.
My aching legs give way.
I stumble. Catch myself against a jagged rock and collapse into its meager shelter.
Working to steady my breath, I ball my frozen hands against my mouth so they absorb my hot exhales.
Finally sure I’m not about to pass out, I look toward the huge cave ahead—barely visible, were it not for the odd blade of moonlight now slitting through the clouds.
I cup my mouth and make the whirring sound of a bundle-bush bird. The sound amplifies off sharp edges before it’s eventually swallowed up.
And I count.
One … Two … Three … Four … Five—
The world continues to split and sway as I pick apart the darkness, waiting. My insides twist into tighter knots with each passing moment.
We agreed on sixty counts. That if there’s no response, something’s wrong.
Fifty-four … Fifty-five …
Come on. Come on. Come on—
who whooooot
I almost cry out with relief.
Blowing a quiet prayer to the Creators, I flip the lid on Kaan’s copper weald, using the small flame to light my way down the trembling burrow, barely dodging bits of falling rock.
We need to get out of here. Fast.
I round a corner that opens into the large nesting chamber. “Rasha?” I whisper, stepping over pale branches and chunks of obsidian, the cave rumbling again.
Shaking. Almost like it’s angry.
There’s a sharpcrack. The only warning I get before a wedge of stone plummets before me, so close it almost crushes my toes.
I stumble backward over a log and land on my tailbone, a jolt of pain lashing up my spine as Kaan’s weald skitters across the floor—though the flame continues to burn.
What’s Bulder’s problem?
I open myself—
His song thumps into me with such vengeance I hiss a breath, his tonedense and guttural. A grinding mix of anger and sadness so unlike the sturdy god.
The melody splinters through my skull, many of his words unfamiliar—abrupt and jagged.
I press my hands against my head—an attempt to stop my skull from cracking like an egg—then pause at the smell of blood. At the wetness smeared all over my left palm.
Snatching Kaan’s weald, I wave it over the glossy red puddle on the ground, pushing up to get a better view of its large scope.
Toolarge.
“Rasha?”
My voice cracks.
I step through the blood and move deeper into the den. Gasp as a huge shape comes into horrific, devastating view.
