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That was not reassuring in the least, but Caelan had to let it go for now. They needed to continue, and he needed to be sure his friends were as safe as he could make them. Reaching his hand forward, he laid it on the top of Eno’s head directly in front of him. Eno sucked in a harsh breath and shivered under his touch.
“What—” he started.
“Okay?” Caelan asked, lifting his hand away. He could see a small green halo appear around Eno’s head and then disappear.
“Yeah. I—” he broke off and sniffed the air. “The smell is gone. It’s just dank air again.”
“Good. Move to the side. I need to do the same to Adrian and Drayce.” Eno pressed to the concrete wall on his right, allowing Caelan to carefully slide past him on the too-narrow stairs.
“Cael?” Rayne called after him.
“Some added protection from the God of Wisdom. Just a precaution,” he replied as he reached Adrian and touched his head. The Royal Guard shivered and the halo appeared only to dissipate a couple of seconds later.
When he touched Drayce, the man yelped in pain while Tula snickered.
Bitch, Caris snarled in his mind.
You promised to behave, Caelan snapped at her.
Tula sighed loud enough that it felt like everyone outside of his head could hear her. It was a little pinch. Nothing to make such a fuss about.
Caelan cupped both of Drayce’s cheeks and tipped his head so he could look in the man’s bright emerald-green eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s passing. Felt like you drove a metal spike into my brain for a second.”
Caelan pulled Drayce’s head forward and pressed a kiss to his brow while pushing more of Tula’s healing gift into his body, soothing all remnants of the pain, but there was nothing to be found except for the new shimmering green barrier circling Drayce’s mind.
“Should I be concerned that you didn’t bother with me?” Rayne called out.
“No. Tula says she’s got you covered already.”
“I’m not reassured,” Rayne muttered.
Neither was Caelan, but he kept that to himself. He stepped in front of Drayce and took over the lead. “Just give a shout if you smell books or something feels off.”
They continued only another flight before Caelan managed to nearly fall down the stairs. Drayce snagged the back of his shirt, holding him in place. The evenness of the stairs had shifted from smooth concrete to ragged rocks.
Regaining his balance, Caelan grabbed his flashlight and shined it around. The concrete walls were gone, replaced with uneven stone and impossibly high ceilings. They were in a cave. An enormous, underground cave.
“Is it just me or does anyone else hear water? Like a lot of it,” Adrian asked.
“I hear it too,” Rayne immediately said. “It’s faint. Must have been covered up by the sound of our footsteps.”
Caelan resumed the trek, but the stairs ended after one more flight and they were left in what appeared to be a large antechamber that became wider and wider the farther they walked. They fanned out a little more as they continued forward. The air was growing colder and wetter, while the sound of the water as it lapped on stone grew louder.
“Man, I’m really starting to not like this place. It reminds me too much of Mount Langbo,” Drayce muttered.
“And if you’ll recall, you were the scariest thing in that mountain,” Eno replied.
Caelan bumped his arm into Drayce’s. “I’m sure you’re the scariest thing in this cave too.”
Drayce’s face whipped around, his eyes narrowed against Caelan’s flashlight and his eyebrows drawn together over his nose. “Does that mean toaster is a possibility down here?”
Caelan glanced up at the ceiling that was lost to the darkness. They certainly had the room for Drayce to shift into his dragon form without crushing them or collapsing the cave on top of them. “I see it as a distinct possibility, but let’s wait for now.”
His lover exhaled and nodded, seeming to relax a bit more now that he knew he could shift if the danger grew too great.
They continued to walk on for another half hour by Caelan’s best guess. No one was talking other than to occasionally warn each other about some uneven footing. The sound of the water grew louder until they were at last forced to stop as they were blocked by what appeared to be an underground river.
