Dane stood in the stillness and looked down at Ethan as Lyssa couldn’t take her eyes off the Drake she just killed. She wasn’t sure if she should approach him or stay put. She looked at the still body. She’d never killed anyone before.
Lyssa wrapped her arms around herself. What would her father, Zoey, Gwen and Sean think of her? She did it in self-defense. Something inside of her had suddenly sparked, an instinct that she never had before.
Lyssa didn’t realize Dane was near her until she felt his hand on her arm. He looked down at her.
“We have better leave here. Someone will be looking for him.” Dane’s words were barely above a whisper. Somehow, just the tone of his voice, comforted Lyssa in the serene landscape.
Flying was the least of Lyssa’s fears now. The scene of Ethan falling with blood trickling down his cheek kept running through her head. She closed her eyes, and tried to wash it away with the cool wind that flowed over them in the eerie darkness.
Lyssa woke as they began to descend taking a sharp veer to the right and into a spiral. She didn’t realize she had fallen asleep. The ground came closer and shapes of trees seemed to form out of the darkness.
Dane landed softly at the edge of a thick forest. He released Lyssa and wrapped the extra strap around his waist as his webbed wings folded behind him. He then gazed over the land. Lyssa looked as well. In the blackness she could only see the abstract shadows of tall trees, tiny stars in the sky and Dane’s silhouette framed in a small sliver of the fiery orange horizon. The sun was coming up.
“Can you travel well by foot?” Dane asked suddenly.
“Yes.” Lyssa replied. “I think I can.”
Dane turned and headed to the forest. “We need to take cover.”
“Where are we at anyhow?” Lyssa asked.
“The southern edge of the Shimmerick Forest.”
The forest stood like a curtain of trees to the barren land. The massive trees with twisted and gnarled bark looked to be hundreds of years old. They reminded Lyssa of redwood trees, but instead the bark was a greyish color. Even though the wind was still, the tree’s long needles picked up what little breeze there was. The air hummed above them like a gentle lullaby.
Dane led Lyssa on a pathless maze of trees until the ground took a steep incline to a basin of barren ground and steep cliffs surrounding it. He stopped in the center looked around.
“Come this way.” He looked back at her as she followed him to a small opening along the rock wall.
It was a cave. The opening was low and Dane had to duck his head to get inside. Lyssa didn’t like small spaces and she took a deep breath hoping it would open up to something larger. She stumbled a few times trying to keep up and then felt the slip of Dane’s warm hand in hers. It sent a wave through her like someone lighting off a bottle rocket that whistled through the air, popped and then dissolve. She gasped as Dane stop and look back at her. Her eyes meet his for a moment and then looked down at the uneven ground.
“The ground is slippery…I don’t want to have to carry you if you get hurt. Hold onto my hand.” It was like he could look right through her and see that bottle rocket go off. Lyssa was glad it was dark so Dane couldn’t see her red face.
The sound of dripping water echoed in the moist air and a light from Dane’s free hand filled the scene in front of them. Tall stalagmites stood like towers to a tiny city, while stalactites hung delicately like ornaments from the darkness above.
Dane whispered something as he began to touch the cave formations. His hands glided over several of them until Lyssa stood in a ring of dimly glowing light. Dane looked at her over his shoulder, and then sat in the center of the cool light. Lyssa watched him as he took something from his side pouch wrapped in a white cloth. He took out what looked like small crackers cupped in his hand. He ate one then lifted his hand offering some to her. Lyssa shook her head and then sat down across from him.
“You’ve never killed anyone have you?” Dane asked bluntly.
The question nearly took Lyssa’s breath away as she thought of Ethan. “No.” She could barely reply. “Not before…”
“I could tell.” He cut her off and ate another cracker. “You know you should eat something anyhow.”
Dane pinched a cracker between his fingers in front of her. She ate the bland cracker. Dane watched her barely blinking his eyes. Lyssa tightened her arms around herself feeling uncomfortable.
“How did you make them glow?” Lyssa asked to break his stare.
“The land towers?” His eyes finally left Lyssa to the glowing formations.
“You mean stalagmites.” Lyssa smiled at him as he shook his head.
“No, land towers. They’re earth’s energy. That’s why they are found in caves.” Dane looked at her blankly. “I don’t expect you to understand that though.” Dane ate another cracker and raised his eyebrows at her.
“What is there to understand?” Lyssa felt agitated at him.
“There are lots of things the Faes don’t understand anymore. And as far as I am concerned, you don’t understand either.” Dane brushed his hands together flicking crumbs to the ground.
“What’s that supposed to mean, and why are you treating me like that? Only a few weeks ago, I didn’t know this whole place existed!” Her voice echoed, to Lyssa’s surprise, off the cave walls. She didn’t realize that she had spoken loudly, and glance over the darkness wondering if she disturbed some terrible cave dwelling creature. Her eyes then met Dane’s who snickered at her aware of her trembling.
“I made them glow by connecting with them.” Dane’s voice was soft and his dark eyes seemed to flicker picking up different colors. “Here.”
He grabbed Lyssa’s wrist, gently raised her to her feet to an unlit land tower as Dane called them. They stood in front of it as Dane glided behind her wrapping his strong arms around her and placed his hands on top of hers. His skin was warm, like someone with a fever, but different, like it was internal. His hands easily engulfed hers as he pressed them to the cool, slimy formation. They stood there for a moment Lyssa’s hands pressed between the heat of Dane and the coolness of the land tower.
“Wha….” Lyssa started to say before Dane shushed her as his breath flicked some of her hair into her eyes.
“I’m starting to ground.” Dane whispered in her ear and she could only guess what that meant.
She wasn’t sure what was going to happen and thought of pulling away and telling him to stop when something crept into and through her. A force, like rushing water, started at her feet and moved through to her legs then her torso and finally her arms and then where Lyssa’s hands connected with Dane’s. She felt strong and weak at the same time. Her body felt like it was being held up by some invisible force and she was its puppet.
Lyssa opened her eyes that she didn’t even know where shut. From under Dane’s hands came a faint glow that grew stronger until it glowed like the ones Dane lit before. Slowly the force began to leave her, extracted from her body back to the earth below. Dane lifted his hands from hers which was like someone ripping a band aid from a healed would only to rip the skin next to it. Her body was not strong, but filled with a false strength. Her legs felt like rubber and her head spun slightly.
“No bad for a beginner,” Dane said behind her.
Suddenly, Lyssa felt his arm around her that guided her back to the circle of lights. He look at her with the same concerned eyes that she had seen when she was escaping from the Muses’. Lyssa felt her face flush with embarrassment.
“Are you alright?” He asked.
“Yes, I’m fine.” Lyssa suddenly didn’t know why, but felt like crying. Maybe it was her weakness or lack of understanding.
“For a first time you did really good.” Dane searched his pouch for something and then put it away. “I would give you something to eat, but I ate all of the crackers.” His eyes met hers as if to say
sorry.
Lyssa smiled and then shook her head. “That’s alright. We’ll be with the Rebels soon, right?”
Dane’s face dropped slightly as he looked away. “Tonight.”
The echoing sound of water dripping filled the cave. It almost sounded like disorganized music to Lyssa, the earth’s music. She looked at the land towers that glowed. They were beautiful and Lyssa never felt anything like that. She felt the ground beneath her—a true connection to it, and as she looked back at Dane, she had connected with him. Uneasiness filled her.
“So, what do you call those?” Lyssa broke through the sound of dripping water and pointed to the pointed stalactites.
“Sky towers,” he replied not even looking up at them.
“What do you call them?” He asked.
“Stalactites,” Lyssa replied. “Do they light up too?”
“Only if you can connect with the air above,” Dane replied getting up. “Not many can do that, and it takes a lot of training and understanding to do that.”
Lyssa gazed a little longer at the dagger like formations that precariously dangled above them.
“Ethan,” Lyssa started to say when she noticed Dane’s eyes grew darker. “He called you his brother.” She probably shouldn’t have asked, and looked away wondering if asking personal questions was an after-affect of the grounding.
“That’s something we call each other. We are not bonded, but come from the same father.” Dane for the first time, looked down at the ground tracing an invisible picture with his finger. “The King is our father. He takes many wives hoping to produce a son worthy of his kingdom. We are all tested and compete all the time.” Dane’s voice had a distant ring to it.
“And he was going to kill you? Ethan…even though he’s your brother?” Lyssa pressed him as he continued his picture.
“Probably. You beat him to that.” His eyes briefly met hers. “We are sent do tasks and since my mother can scry, she saw you and you were my task.”
Lyssa felt a burning sensation inside of her. Dane kept tracing through his intricate picture that Lyssa couldn’t see.
“And what were you to do with me?” Lyssa watched Dane’s graceful movements of his long finger.
“Kill you, and take the Everspell.” Dane’s eyes flooded with blackness as Lyssa froze with fear.