AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A thin, almost transparent bubble formed at her lips. She pinched it with her fingertips, pulling here and there until it was big enough to completely cover her head. With a satisfied smile, she placed it over her head and settled it down to her shoulders. He’d seen a variety of underwater breathing spells cast by the mages when they wanted to do some diving off the coast, but this was a new one.
With her own personal air pocket in place, Evora dove into the water, disappearing under the surface with practiced ease. Vasily followed a heartbeat later and caught her slender form in a firm but gentle grip. He tucked her close and sped away, powered by the whip of his tail. Luka fell into position next to him and Evora, protecting the mage, even though there was zero threat under the water. The constant lightning strikes made sure no predators wandered here.
Less than a minute later, they were treading water outside of a cave opening that could have fit at least two dragons. He still couldn’t begin to read the symbols carved into the middle archway, but he was hoping Evora could make some kind of sense of it. She had prepared an underwater camera to take pictures so Sam could decipher it if she could not.
Evora spent a painstaking two minutes examining the entrance from nearly every conceivable angle. Vasily was close to coming out of his skin with impatience to get inside. Luka was no better. The dragon was swimming back and forth as if pacing. They were both almost out of air when the mage motioned for them to proceed.
Oh? They could go inside? He had not attempted it before, fearing what would happen if the ward threw him back. But if Evora was confident they could enter, then he certainly would not question her.
Vasily caught the mage by her waist again and darted inside. The water quickly grew shallow to the point where he could walk on the bottom and stick his head above the water’s surface.
The interior of the cave was pitch black, but as his eyes adjusted he picked out the faint glow of magic along the left side of the cave. It was just enough to lead them forward around the curve of the rocky path.
“Lift me onto your back,” Evora requested. Vasily raised the mage so she could scramble out of the water and onto his back, where she sat. The plastic bag rattled a few times as if she were digging in her supplies. He cautiously walked forward as she worked her magic since he could see enough to move. Besides, the small tunnel they were in did not have much length to it. It only took a dozen strides to enter a much larger space. A few seconds later, little balls of light rose into the air one after another. They floated gracefully deeper into the vast cavern, shoving back the shadows to reveal…people. Hundreds and hundreds of people.
“Yebena mat’!” Luka said in a harsh whisper, as if he was afraid of waking the slumbering souls.
Holy shit indeed. God, please let them be sleeping. He didn’t want to think they’d stumbled upon a graveyard for the entire Sousa Clan, their bodies perfectly preserved for all time. That would crush Sam.
Fuck, that would crush the guy who’d been calling out to them in their dreams.
“This…this is more than I was expecting,” Evora murmured. “Move close to those stairs over there leading out of the water.”
Vasily half swam, half walked over to the stairs that had been carved into the rock, trying to disturb the water as little as possible. “Be careful,” he reminded her as he let her down.
“I can see the wards crisscrossing the cavern. Basic protections wards. Nothing to worry about. They’re not designed to harm a person, just convince them to leave with no memory of the place,” she replied, already reaching into her bag of tricks. “You and Luka remain in the water until I clear them.”
A low growl rumbled from Luka’s throat, but he settled with his dragon chin on the top step next to Vasily, waiting as commanded but ready to snatch the mage back in a heartbeat if anything looked bad.
They watched Evora work. The mage made every spell she worked look both elegant and simple, no matter what she was doing. Every sweep of her arm and flick of her fingers were almost a dance. The air sparked and tingled. An electric scent of burned ozone filled the air, overpowering the heavy dankness from the centuries of rotting plant life and water.
After a few minutes, she released a breath of relief and dropped her arms back to her sides. “The protective wards over the cave are gone. You both get your human butts up here. The wards remain on those platforms over there. Don’t touch them or get too close.”
