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Zoran tore it to shreds before it took more than a handful of steps.
A third monster snaked over the ceiling rapidly, its long, thin arms spreading out like vines or tentacles above us, growing insanely fast. Zoran didn’t see that one—and I cried out a warning just before it crashed down on us.
The other water fae shouted warnings as the thing ripped me away from my king. Water sliced through the air, cutting tentacles and making the monster scream in anger.
But it didn’t release me.
It threw me down a narrow cave, toward another creature like it, but darker so it blended into the stone more completely.
Before I could scream, one of its vines wrapped around my mouth, silencing me.
I kicked, and writhed, and fought against its grip, but it carried me further and further into the cave so quickly that there was nothing I could do.
It was trapped on land, though—I knew that.
Because if it went into the water, Zoran would find it and end it in a heartbeat.
The monster must’ve realized the same thing because it continued carrying me deeper into the cave without touching any of the water. And the further it carried me, the more panicked I became.
If it knew how to protect itself from Zoran, it wasn’t just some mindless beast.
It was a living, thinking creature.
And that meant it probably knew how to kill me.
The monster carried me further,keeping my mouth covered. I wasn’t sure what it knew about Zoran being able to hear me, but it must’ve known something.
I supposed the king had killed dozens of monsters to protect me while we were in the Aboa the first time, though. And when he killed them, there could’ve been others watching.
It wouldn’t take much observation to realize that Zoran was deaf, or that he could hear me even when we were apart. The water carried my words to him, and there was water everywhere.
Which reminded me… he could find me, even if the monsters didn’t touch the water. With enough time, he could flood the air with enough humidity to let him see into all of the tunnels.
I just had to buy us both that time.
A few hourshad passed when the monster finally reached the back of yet another cave, stopping in a spot that was filled with dirty, old fabric. Some sick part of me was fascinated by the fact that the fabric was all blue and silver, which marked it as water fae clothing.
The creature pulled its vine-tentacles in, shrinking them back down as it got comfortable. It still held me securely, keeping all of my limbs trapped. I wasn’t sure why it had brought me to its home, or why it had captured me without killing me in the first place.
Ending my life would end Zoran’s too, after all. Maybe the creature didn’t know that, though?
Using his magic to hunt me down would exhaust my king. If that was the goal, I was pretty sure the monster would succeed.
But there was no way to know what it was planning, if anything. So I waited, letting my mind spin and twist as I tried to come up with a way out.
My magic was the only real answer.
If I could use it to change the form of some stone touching a body of water nearby, I could let Zoran know where to look for me. Assuming he was watching the water closely enough to feel my magic, it would still take him time to find me. But it seemed like my best chance, and one of the only things I could do in the situation.
Closing my eyes, I let out a slow breath and focused on the cave beneath me.
Its walls were thick and strong, which made them more difficult to follow with my mind. I could only see so far with my power.
I stretched my magic out, until I finally found the edge of a pool with it.
The vine thing holding me wiggled and writhed, dragging my focus back to my body. Its grip was painfully tight on my mouth, arms, legs, and torso.
Breathing had just gotten much more difficult.
