The ground shuddered. Not the deep, patient thrum of the Stone beneath, but a violent, localized convulsion that sent rubble skittering across the dirt floor. A jagged crack split the wall behind Elara, dust raining down. Outside, the rhythmic chanting of Valerius's sorcerers swelled, a dissonant counterpoint to the groaning earth.
"Down!" Kael roared, throwing himself over Elara just as a chunk of masonry the size of a wagon wheel crashed down where she'd been crouching. It shattered on impact, spraying shards of rock. The air filled with choking dust.
The world dissolved into chaos. The sorcerers weren't aiming arrows; they were dismantling the ruins from beneath their feet. The ancient stones, already weakened by centuries and the canyon's tremors, groaned like dying giants. More cracks spiderwebbed across the remaining walls. The ground tilted violently, throwing Elara against Kael. His grunt of pain was lost in the cacophony of splitting stone.
"Out!" Kael gasped, shoving her towards the crumbling doorway. "Get out before it all comes down!"
The makeshift barricade was already half-buried under falling debris. Beyond the choking dust, Elara glimpsed the soldiers scrambling back down the gully slope, seeking cover from their masters' indiscriminate destruction. Valerius stood silhouetted against the dawn light at the gully's edge, arms raised, directing the sorcerers' power, his expression one of cold, focused fury. He cared little for the ruins, or the soldiers in the way. He wanted them flushed out, vulnerable.
Elara scrambled over the rubble choking the entrance, Kael limping heavily behind her. They stumbled out onto the steep slope just as a large section of the tower base collapsed inward with a thunderous roar, sending a fresh plume of dust billowing into the air. The ground still trembled under the sorcerers' assault.
"This way!" Elara grabbed Kael's arm, pulling him along the slope, away from the gully and the ruins, towards denser forest higher up. Running was agony. Kael's leg buckled with every step, the makeshift bandage already soaked through with dark blood. His breathing was ragged, his face ashen beneath the grime.
Behind them, the tremors lessened as the ruins finished collapsing. Valerius's voice cut through the settling dust. "After them! Do not let them reach the trees! Archers!"
Arrows hissed past, seeking targets in the dawn gloom. One thudded into a tree trunk inches from Elara's head. She ducked, pulling Kael behind a thick pine. He leaned against it, gasping, pressing a hand to his thigh.
"Can't… run much further…" he managed, sweat beading on his forehead.
Elara's heart hammered. The Stone's hum vibrated up through her boots – the soldiers reforming, the archers nocking fresh arrows, Valerius's cold energy radiating impatience and a fresh, terrifying intent. He was done playing. She felt the subtle shift in the sorcerers' focus, gathering power not for earth-shaking, but for something more precise, more deadly.
"They're going to try and pin us," she whispered, terror icing her veins. "Or… or worse." She remembered the crushing grip of his telekinesis at the waterfall. He could simply pluck them from cover.
Kael pushed himself off the tree, grim determination replacing some of the pain in his eyes. "Then we don't give them a target. Move!"
They staggered onwards, weaving between trees, using every scrap of cover the slope offered. The forest here was thicker, older, the pines giving way to massive oaks and tangled undergrowth. The slope steepened dramatically, forcing them to climb as much as run. Every step was a battle for Kael. Elara supported as much of his weight as she could, her own legs burning.
The Stone sang of pursuit closing in. The soldiers, unencumbered by injury, were gaining, spreading out through the trees below. Arrows continued to fly, snapping branches, embedding in mossy logs. And then, Elara felt it – the chilling focus of Valerius's will, a cold finger probing the forest, searching for them. It brushed past their hiding place behind a giant, moss-draped boulder, a sensation like icy water trickling down her spine. She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp. Kael felt it too, his body tensing.
The probing will paused. Focused. Intensified. He'd found them.
"Down!" Kael yelled, shoving Elara flat behind the boulder.
Invisible force slammed into the massive rock like a battering ram. The impact reverberated through the ground, shaking loose moss and small stones. The ancient boulder shifted, groaning in protest. Cracks appeared in its mossy surface.
"He's trying to crush us!" Elara cried.
Another telekinetic blow hammered the boulder. It rocked violently. Kael pulled Elara back just as a large chunk sheared off the top, crashing down where they'd been crouching.
"Run!" Kael urged, desperation in his voice. "Leave me! Get to the trees!"
"No!" Elara's refusal was instant, fierce. She wouldn't abandon him. She hauled him up, ignoring his groan of pain. They stumbled away from the trembling boulder, deeper into the thick undergrowth, climbing higher. Valerius's will lashed out again, tearing a young tree from the earth nearby, sending it crashing across their path. They scrambled over it, thorns tearing at their clothes and skin.
The slope became treacherous, a tangle of roots and loose shale. Kael's leg gave out completely. He fell heavily, dragging Elara down with him. They slid several feet before catching themselves on a gnarled root.
"Go, Elara," Kael panted, his eyes pleading. Blood seeped steadily through the bandage, staining the ground beneath him. "It's me he wants slowed down. You can still get away."
"Never," Elara whispered, her voice thick with tears and defiance. She looked around wildly. The soldiers' shouts were close now, maybe thirty yards downslope. Valerius's cold presence felt like frostbite on her skin. Above them, the slope vanished into a near-vertical cliff face, thick with ivy and ferns. A dead end.
The Stone hummed. It vibrated with the soldiers' heavy tread, the scrape of metal, their eager anticipation. It vibrated with Valerius's gathering power, preparing another strike. And beneath it all, vibrating with a different kind of intensity, Elara felt… emptiness. A void in the resonance just ahead, behind the thick curtain of ivy clinging to the cliff face.
Not solid rock. A space.
"There!" she hissed, pointing at the dense ivy. "Behind it! A cave? Or a crevice!"
Kael followed her gaze, hope flickering in his exhausted eyes. "Help me up."
With a monumental effort, Elara hauled Kael to his feet. He leaned on her heavily, hopping on his good leg. They stumbled the last few yards towards the ivy-covered cliff. Elara tore at the thick vines with her bare hands, revealing not a cave entrance, but a narrow, dark fissure in the rock, barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through sideways.
"In!" Kael urged, pushing her towards it. "Quickly!"
Elara squeezed into the dank, pitch-black fissure. The air was cool and smelled of damp earth and stone. Kael followed, grunting with pain as he forced his broad shoulders through the tight space, his injured leg dragging. Behind them, the first soldier burst through the undergrowth, his sword raised, his shout of discovery echoing off the cliff face.
"In here! They're trapped!"
Kael shoved Elara deeper into the fissure just as the soldier lunged. The man's sword scraped against the rock where Kael had been a split-second before. More soldiers arrived, crowding the narrow space before the crevice entrance, trying to peer into the gloom.
"Smoke them out!" someone yelled.
"No!" Valerius's voice, cold and commanding, cut through the din. He strode into view, his sorcerers flanking him. He looked at the fissure, his expression calculating. "A bolt-hole. How… quaint." He raised a hand, fingers splayed towards the opening. "But no matter. Bring torches. We flush the vermin."
Inside the fissure, pressed against cold, wet rock, Elara and Kael exchanged a terrified glance in the near-total darkness. Torchlight flickered at the entrance, casting long, distorted shadows on the rough walls. The fissure seemed to go back only a dozen feet before ending in a solid rock wall. A dead end after all.
"Trapped like rats," Kael murmured, his voice tight with pain and resignation. He slumped against the wall, sliding down to sit on the damp floor, clutching his leg.
Elara pressed her hands against the rock, seeking the Stone's resonance. It hummed with the soldiers outside, with Valerius's cold power, with the flickering heat of the approaching torches. And it hummed with… something else. A faint, cool draft, coming from the seemingly solid rock wall at the back. She pressed her ear to it. Faintly, ever so faintly, she could hear the sound of dripping water echoing from beyond.
"It's not solid!" she whispered urgently. "There's a way through! Listen!"
Kael strained his hearing. After a moment, his eyes widened. "You're right. But how?"
Elara ran her hands over the rough surface. It felt seamless. But the Stone's resonance sang of a weakness here, a fracture line, a place where the rock was thinner, perhaps undermined by water over centuries. It felt… resonant. Like a drum skin stretched tight.
An idea, born of desperation and the memory of the Heartwood's song, sparked in her mind. The Deep Folk had sung to the Stone. Could she… ask it?
She placed both palms flat against the cool rock where the draft seemed strongest. She closed her eyes, shutting out the approaching torchlight, the soldiers' murmurs, Valerius's impatient command. She focused inward, on the deep, grounding hum of the Stone beneath her. Not trying to command it. Not even trying to channel it. Trying to… harmonize. To resonate *with* it. To find the frequency of the weakness.
She poured her fear, her desperation, her need into that focus. She imagined the deep, calming song of the Deep Folk, the resonance that had bound the Shadow. She hummed, softly, almost inaudibly, not a melody, but a single, pure note, vibrating in her chest, trying to match the deep thrum of the earth.
For a moment, nothing happened. The rock remained stubbornly solid beneath her hands. Doubt gnawed at her. Outside, torchlight flooded the entrance of the fissure. A soldier peered in, his face a grotesque mask of shadow and flame.
"See them! Back there!"
Then, Elara felt it. A subtle shift. A sympathetic vibration. The rock beneath her palms began to hum in tune with her own desperate note. A faint tremor ran through it. A shower of grit fell from the ceiling.
"What was that?" a soldier outside muttered.
"Doesn't matter," Valerius snapped. "Send in the hounds. Or smoke. I tire of this."
Elara poured every ounce of her will, her fading strength, into the resonance. She visualized the rock fracturing along its hidden fault line. She *sang* to it, a silent plea vibrating through her bones and into the stone. *Open. Please. Open.*
The hum intensified. The tremor grew stronger. Kael stared, wide-eyed, as a network of hairline cracks appeared on the rock face where Elara's hands rested, glowing faintly with a soft, earth-brown light. A low grinding sound filled the fissure.
Outside, Valerius's head snapped up. "What is that? Sorcery? From the *girl*?" His voice held a note of disbelief mixed with dawning, predatory interest.
With a sound like a mountain sighing, the section of rock wall crumbled inward. Not explosively, but as if dissolving into gravel and dust, revealing a jagged, dark opening just large enough to crawl through. Cool, damp air, smelling of deep earth and running water, flowed out.
"Go!" Elara gasped, her voice raw, her strength spent by the effort. She stumbled back from the collapsing rock.
Kael didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, scrambling through the newly opened hole on hands and knees, dragging his injured leg. Elara followed immediately, squeezing through the narrow gap just as the first soldier, emboldened by the strange light and sound, thrust his torch into the fissure.
He saw only a cloud of settling dust and the dark maw of a new passage. "They're gone! They broke through!"
Valerius shoved past the soldier, staring into the darkness. His face was a mask of fury and intense curiosity. "Impossible…" he breathed. Then his expression hardened. "After them! Now! This changes nothing!"
Inside the new passage, it was pitch black. The air was cold and damp, the sound of dripping water loud in the confined space. Elara could hear Kael crawling ahead, his breathing labored. She followed the sound, feeling her way along the rough, wet walls. The passage sloped downwards, twisting and turning. The sounds of pursuit – shouts, the clatter of armor trying to navigate the narrow fissure entrance – faded quickly behind them, muffled by the rock.
They crawled for what felt like an eternity. Elara's knees and palms were scraped raw, her borrowed clothes soaked through by the dampness seeping from the walls and floor. The only sounds were their ragged breathing, the scrape of their bodies against stone, and the constant drip, drip, drip of water. The air grew colder still.
Finally, the passage widened slightly. Elara bumped into Kael, who had stopped.
"Can't… go further…" he whispered, his voice weak. "Leg's… done."
Elara felt around in the darkness. They were in a slightly larger space, perhaps a small cavern chamber. She could feel Kael slumped against the wall. His skin was clammy. The bleeding hadn't stopped; she could feel the sticky warmth soaking his trouser leg.
Panic threatened to rise again. They were out of immediate pursuit, but lost in total darkness, Kael badly injured, no supplies, no light, no idea where they were or how to get out.
Think. Use the Stone.
Elara pressed her hands against the cold, wet floor. She focused, pushing aside her fear and exhaustion. The Stone hummed, deep and steady. It sang of the passage they'd crawled through, winding back towards the surface. It sang of deeper caverns below, filled with water. And it sang of… an opening. Not far. Downhill. Where the dripping water flowed. An exit.
"Water," she whispered. "I hear water flowing nearby. And I feel… an opening downstream. We need to get to the water."
"Can't crawl…" Kael murmured. His voice was alarmingly faint.
"Then I'll carry you," Elara said, injecting a strength she didn't feel into her voice. "Help me get you onto my back."
It was a struggle in the absolute darkness. Kael was heavy, and moving his injured leg caused him to cry out, biting back the sound. Finally, with him draped over her back, his arms around her neck, his good leg helping to push, Elara managed to stagger to her feet. She swayed under his weight, her own legs trembling. She could feel the warmth of his blood seeping into her back.
Using one hand on the wall for guidance, and the Stone's subtle resonance as a compass pointing towards the flow of water, she began to shuffle forward, bent almost double under Kael's weight. The passage continued to slope downwards, becoming damper, the sound of flowing water growing louder. The air smelled strongly of minerals and moss.
After an agonizingly slow progress, the darkness ahead seemed… less absolute. Not light, but a faint greyness. And the sound of water was a constant rush now, not just drips. The passage opened into a larger cavern. Faint light filtered in from somewhere high above, reflecting off a swift-flowing underground stream that cut through the cavern floor. The stream emerged from a low tunnel in one wall and vanished into another dark opening downstream.
The light was meagre, seeping through cracks in the cavern roof far above, but after the absolute blackness of the tunnel, it was like sunshine. Elara staggered towards the stream's edge and carefully lowered Kael onto a relatively flat, dry rock. He slumped against it, his eyes closed, his face deathly pale.
"Water…" he rasped.
Elara scooped handfuls of the cold, clear stream water, helping him drink. She then tore another strip from the bottom of her overdress, soaked it in the water, and carefully cleaned the wound on his thigh. It was deep, the arrowhead having torn muscle. The bleeding was still oozing steadily. She applied pressure with the wet cloth, then used the dry part of the strip to bind it tightly again, hoping to slow the flow.
Kael watched her through slitted eyes, his breathing shallow. "The Stone… guided you?" he asked weakly.
Elara nodded, rinsing her own hands in the stream, the icy water shocking her back to alertness. "It showed me the weakness in the rock… and the way to this water." She looked around the cavern. The faint light revealed glistening stalactites hanging like stone teeth, and flowstone formations on the walls. The stream was their only path. "The exit… the Stone hums that way." She pointed downstream, where the stream vanished into darkness. "We have to follow it."
Kael tried to push himself up, but fell back with a groan. "Go… scout… see if it's passable. I'll… wait here." His voice was fading.
Elara hesitated, terrified to leave him alone, even for a moment. But they needed to know what lay ahead. The cavern offered no other exit she could see. Taking a deep breath, she waded into the icy stream. It came up to her knees, tugging at her legs. She moved carefully downstream, towards the dark opening.
The tunnel was low. She had to crouch as she entered. The water deepened to her waist, flowing faster. The light from the cavern faded quickly. After only a few yards, she was in near-darkness again, the only sound the rushing water echoing off the close rock walls. The Stone's resonance told her the tunnel continued, winding slightly, but generally sloping downwards. It felt… open at the other end. But how far?
She waded back to Kael. "It's a water tunnel. Low ceiling. Deep water. But it leads out. I can feel it. Maybe… maybe half a mile? Less?" It was hard to gauge through the resonance.
Kael nodded weakly. "No choice then." He tried to stand, swaying dangerously.
"I'll help you," Elara said, moving to support him. "We'll go together. Slowly."
Getting Kael into the water and keeping him upright in the current was another ordeal. He leaned heavily on her, his teeth chattering from the cold and shock. The icy water bit deep, stealing their breath. They inched into the dark tunnel, the current pushing against them. Elara guided them, one hand braced against the slimy rock wall, the other holding Kael, her senses attuned to the Stone's guidance and the treacherous footing beneath the rushing water.
The darkness was absolute, oppressive. The roar of the water filled their ears, a constant, deafening presence. Time lost meaning. They shuffled forward, step by agonizing step, the cold leaching their strength, the darkness playing tricks on their minds. Elara focused solely on the Stone's steady hum, the lifeline in the void, pulling them towards the promise of light and air.
Just as Elara felt her own strength beginning to fail, the cold and the strain of supporting Kael becoming too much, she saw it. Or rather, she sensed it first through the Stone – a widening, a change in the air pressure. Then, a faint greyness ahead. Not daylight, but the filtered gloom of deep forest shade.
"Light!" she croaked, her voice raw. "Kael, light!"
He lifted his head, a flicker of hope in his glazed eyes. "Where?"
"Ahead! Just a little further!"
The greyness grew brighter. The tunnel widened. The water shallowed slightly. They rounded a bend, and there it was – the exit. A low archway, thickly curtained with hanging vines and ferns, opening onto a forest glade. Daylight, real daylight, streamed through the greenery.
With the last of their strength, they stumbled out of the icy water and collapsed onto a mossy bank beside the stream, gasping for air, shivering violently. They were out.