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He was dead—and his soul fully devoured—before he even hit the cavern’s floor.
I half turned to see if Azriel was okay, but a powerful explosion rocked the cavern and blew me off my feet. I hit the ground hard and tumbled ass over tit several times before coming to a halt on my back.
But as I stared up at the ceiling, fighting to catch my breath and desperate to know whether Azriel was okay, I realized the ceiling was moving.
This whole place was collapsing, just as Mike had promised.
Chapter 13
“Azriel?” I screamed, both physically and mentally. “Are you okay?”
There was no answer. And though I could no longer feel the barrier that had prevented us from communicating before, I couldn’t feel him, either. Either he was out cold or he was dead.
Fear surged and I scrambled to my feet. The air was thick with dust and debris, making it almost impossible to see. Damn it, he couldn’t be dead! Not now. Not before we’d had some chance of a life together.
Amaya, can you sense him or Valdis?
I didn’t actually wait for her answer, but dashed across the cavern, heading for the place where the cage had been. Stones began to shudder around me, the chunks getting bigger and bigger.
Something, she said. Her flames flared to life again, this time forming an umbrella that protected my head from everything that was crashing down around us. Right go.
I swerved that way, leapt over a boulder that landed heavily enough to make the ground quiver, and ran on. Somewhere ahead in the dust and the confusion, blue glimmered. It was little more than a flicker, feeble and not bright, but it had hope surging. If Valdis was still aflame, then surely Azriel was alive.
The rain of dirt and stone was getting heavier, and overhead, huge fissures were forming. The whole place was getting ready to collapse. We had to be out of here before that happened. I scrambled over rocks, my gaze not leaving the flickering flame, hoping against hope that he wasn’t hurt, that he’d just been knocked unconscious.
Finally, I saw him. He was lying on his side, his face bloody and bruised, and a myriad of cuts over his torso. Thankfully, none of the wounds appeared particularly deep, and his limbs—though covered by dirt and rubble—didn’t look to be injured in any way.
I dropped to my knees beside him and roughly pinched his grimy cheek. We had no time for finesse; we had to get out of here before we were buried.
“Azriel,” I shouted. “You have to wake up!”
There was no response. Frustration and fear swirled through me. I took a shuddery breath, then brushed the hair and dust from his eyes with a bloody hand and saw the large lump on his forehead. He’d been knocked out cold.
Something cracked high overhead. I glanced up sharply and watched a fissure form in the stone overhead, then move, with ever-increasing speed, toward the center of the cavern. The ragged fingers of several other fissures were also reaching toward the center; when they all met, the whole place would cave in.
I swore and grabbed Valdis, then dragged Azriel into a sitting position and hugged him close. We couldn’t wait for him to wake; we had to get out of here. Now.
I called to the Aedh. The magic surged around us, thick and fast, tearing us apart even as the rain of dirt and stone grew fiercer.
In particle form, I arrowed for the archway and tunnel Mike had pointed out. Though I desperately wanted to get out of here as fast as I could, the dust cut visibility down to practically zero, and the stones—while they couldn’t actually hurt me in particle form—could and did impact, and it made moving through them fucking unpleasant.
Another crack echoed loudly, and a heartbeat later there was a huge whoomph of noise as half the cavern disintegrated. It fell with such force that the wind of it battered me, sending my particles tumbling for several yards. I eventually controlled it, but the air was now so thick with dust I literally couldn’t see.
I spun around, uncertain where I was in relation to the door. Panic surged, but I forced it down. Amaya, have you any idea where the fucking exit is?
Left, she said. Can feel fresh air.
I was glad she could, because I couldn’t. I went left, as fast as I was able. But carrying Azriel was taking its toll on my body and my strength, and I didn’t have a whole lot of it to spare in the first place.
Bigger chunks of ceiling were beginning to rain all around us, and the nearby walls were beginning to crack as well. I swore and tried to go faster. But it felt as if I were swimming through a sea of molasses, and any sort of speed was just impossible.
Close, Amaya said. Try harder.
Like I wasn’t already giving it all I had? There was nothing left in the tank. There really wasn’t. Every particle was burning, and I very much suspected that if I didn’t get out of this cavern and find somewhere safe to shift shape, instinct would kick in and the choice would be taken out of my hands.
An archway appeared out of the gloom, but its sides were cracked and beginning to fall apart, and the whole upper section of the arch looked in imminent danger of collapse—and, in fact, did, just as I went through it.
The falling stones tore through me, and pain was a wave that threatened to overwhelm me. I kept going, needing to put as much space between me and the fragmenting cavern as was possible before my strength inevitably gave out.
