“A’right there, mate?” the other man asked. Reven groaned, sinking to his knees for a moment. The lights in his hand grew brighter, flickering wildly above Reven without their anchor to keep them steady.
They caught the sparkle of the gem that the bard tried to retrieve and cast wicked shadows across piles of coin that the thief-taker heavily contemplated over the jewel. Not one to leave a good treasure behind, Liam took both, stuffing coin and jewel into his sack before checking on Reven. “Oi - look at me.”
“I’m fine,” Reven said which was a clear indication that he was anything but fine. Reven frowned, squeezing his eyes shut and stumbling in a half circle once he stood upright again. He focused on things further in the dark just to make sure his eyes were still working while Liam continued collecting treasure into his sack. Two large yellow orbs floated in the darkness, their bright light marred by a single dark line down their center. At first, Reven was uncertain what the orbs were, squinting and peering to force more focus out of his blurring vision. Then, the orbs blinked.
“Drake,” he said, eyes widening as his stomach sank to the muddy floor.
“What?” Liam said, looking up from the pile of treasure he was stuffing into his sack.
“RUN!”
He gave Liam no time to argue, adrenaline surging through him so quickly he swore he would start to fly. He grabbed Liam’s wrist and charged back the way they’d come. It did not take long for them to clear the open cave with the blue river and the cave girl - the girl!
Memory caught up to him too quickly, slamming his feet to a halt and then whirling him around to go retrieve the poor thing before she was swallowed whole by a giant, angry lizard.
“Where ya goin’!?” Liam hollered.
“NAKED GIRL!” Reven hollered back. She had not moved, blessedly, watching them with wide eyes. “This is not where you want to stay, I promise!”
He explained as he dragged her along behind him. She squeaked but made no other noise or argument, running with her tangled hair streaming behind her. Liam had already gone ahead, leaving Reven to charge after him.
“Move faster!!” Reven heard, following Liam’s voice in the dark. While falling had not been pleasant, it was certainly faster than fighting their way through narrow tunnels and twisting corridors to where they’d started. Cresting the mouth of the cave felt like breaking free of some terrible force - - that is, until they heard the roar of the drake crashing through the cave behind them.
“We pissed it off! Move, move, move!!” Reven commanded, pushing Liam and dragging the naked girl.
“Maybe ya’d like t‘o somethin’?!” Liam suggested, falling behind as Reven ran.
“Can’t! Need to focus!” Reven hollered, legs practically flying over rock and tree. The stifling heat made it harder to breathe and the air made it seem like they ran through thick mud. Some of that was the actual mud caking onto his boots.
“Then focus!” Liam cursed, grabbing Reven’s free hand. “I don’t wanna be eaten!”
Part of Reven wanted to throw back a smart remark but it would not help. Liam would only sock him in the shoulder or chide him or something equally annoying. He needed to focus. He needed to clear his mind and visualize his destination and not worry about the mauling beast chasing after him.
Focus, focus, focus, FOCUS!
I’m here, Beloved, allow me to help!
GO AWAY! Reven barked to the intruding voice in his mind. Now was not the time for specters to take his attention. He ignored the voice, ignored everything else until his mind was clear and he felt the sharp tug behind his navel that signaled a teleportation. It was a very dangerous thing to do, especially with multiple people and, as far as Reven knew, he was the only one that knew how to do it at any useful distance. There were port stones that did the same thing or Port Circles in the larger cities, but those required months of work to create and were spelled to a single location only. The details were neither here nor there. The spell ripped Reven and, presumably, Liam and the cave girl, from one spot and dumped them face-first into the rocky shoreline of Manau not too far from the pier. Sea water and sand rushed into Reven’s nose as he landed. He rolled and coughed, choking on the tiny grains of sand and droplets of water until he could breathe well enough to speak.
“Well… that was unexpected,” he coughed. “Everyone intact?”
He heard the sound of retching and rolled in that direction, watching the poor girl heave into the ocean.
“Oh… that… that is entirely my fault. I should have given you, uh, some warning…” he said, rolling to his side.
“You should ‘ave,” Liam grumbled. “An’ we left all tha’ beautiful treasure behind. Yer lucky I’ve got deep pockets an’ pay attention t‘all the schite ya drop!”
The poor girl, however only looked at Reven with a pitiful face and promptly passed out onto his chest.
“That’s fair,” Reven said, patting the girl gently before falling onto his back, totally exhausted.
Chapter Three
A tantalizing song echoed through dark, cool hallways to her ears. The crooning tune relaxed her tense muscles, set her mind at ease, even offered peace to a terrible confusion that gripped her like a vice. There was nothing familiar to her. There was no cave, no beautiful neon blue river of Power, no sanctuary; no Malek.
Malek where are you? She thought, eyes closed as she leaned against a wooden door frame. Why are you not here with me?
Even as panic tried to seize the breath in her lungs the crooning song that echoed from further down the hall calmed her. The resonance of it drew her out, her hands holding to the wall as she moved toward the sound of the song. Thin runners lined bamboo floors beneath her feet and a scent of spice
