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I approached the cave mouth. Outside, several strides away, lay all the stones we’d thrown onto the sand. The beast was either out there, or it wasn’t. The standoff ended now.
I took a step, and Draven grabbed my wrist. Hot grit cut into my skin. “What are you doing?”
“Testing it.”
“Itwillswallow you.”
“It didn’t swallow those.” I gestured at the stones. “Maybe if we step lightly, we can sneak by it.”
“Those are rocks. You’re a living, breathing meal. Itwillnotice, Lark.”
“Do you have a better idea, besides glowering for several more hours until the thirst does what you could not?”
His eyes went wide with shock. Yes, I knew he’d been contemplating his own end. Did he think me a true fool that I wouldn’t recognize his pain for what it was?
“Lark’s not going out there.” Arin emerged from the shadows. The sparkle in his silvery eyes had dulled. His cracked lips bled a little. “If one goes, we all go.”
Draven finally freed my wrist. “If the sandworm is out there, we’ll never make it.”
“I’ll distract it,” I offered. “I’ll run left first. When it comes for me, you both run right.”
“No.” Now it was Arin’s turn to glower.
“If I can lure it far enough away it won’t notice you both escaping.”
“Lark, no.” Arin’s expression further darkened, but Draven’s contemplated expression suggested he was warming to the idea.
“Lark is the fastest runner,” Draven agreed. “Circle back around to the cave,” he said to me. “When we find the caravan, I’ll send someone back for you.”
Arin’s beautiful silver-blue eyes narrowed to razor slits. “No, Draven. I won’t use Lark as bait.”
“It’s all right, I’m well acquainted with being used,” I quipped.
Arin’s face crumpled with worry, concern, and maybe even guilt. I shouldn’t have said it. I hadn’t meanthim, although, he had used me as bait with the ultimate goal of slitting my throat in front of my brother. I was right, though. Used as a tool or bait, it all came down to the same thing.
“Lark—”
No, I couldn’t face the pity on his face again. I took four steps out of the cave, onto the sand, and stopped. “Oops, here I am, outside the cave.”
Nothing happened.
The wind hissed sand around my boots and teased my matted hair, but there were no rumblings, no shifting sands. Maybe the worm had gone? I strode to where our pebbles had landed. Still nothing. Spreading my arms, I turned on the spot. “We’ve been holed up in a cave for no reason.”
“Damn it.” Arin took a single step before Draven’s arm shot out, blocking him.
“It’s fine, see? Lark is—”
The ground trembled.
“Run!” Draven dragged Arin against his chest.
The sand underfoot shifted, suddenly lifting, then dropping with a jolt. I bolted; glancing over my shoulder, I saw sand rise and spill off the heaving mass of the worm erupting with a great wave. Its vast head swung around—it was coming for me.
Draven would make sure Arin ran, and ran now.
Whether they sent someone back or not, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Arin got free, and Draven made sure he was safe.
I ducked my head and ran, knowing Arin’s life depended on it.
