Her Cinder Throne (Completed)

Chapter 66

Our Master does not believe you, the voices hissed. You are tryingggg to capture the Master. You cannot take our Master for your own selfish gaaaaaains.

The voice grew in intensity as they spoke, until they boomed inside Cole's head and jangled against her skull. She winced, grabbing her head and squeezing it tight as the noise hit its crescendo.

"Cole, run!" Tanwyn shouted over the monster's now unintelligible screeching. Cole turned toward the direction of the exit, ready to deal with soldiers more than she was monsters in the pitch black, but as she took a step forward she felt Tanwyn's hand on her wrist yanking her backward. He dragged her further into the tunnel, racing blindly into the depths of the mountain, the monsters screeching following them.

Tanwyn must have kept his arm extended to feel for the side of the tunnel, because they never ran into it as they catapulted away from the approaching monsters. Though Cole wasn't even sure they had physical bodies, she still felt a heavy presence just behind her. It was the feeling of someone's eyes on you, that heavy pressure on the back of your neck, but increased by tenfold. It felt almost as if someone was resting on her back, holding a knife to her neck.

The monsters made no more sounds as they followed Tanwyn and Cole down the tunnels except for screeching and growling that echoed in their skulls. It was a cacophony of noise, terrible and disorienting with its volume and pitch. Cole's teeth burned and her eyes vibrated. It was torture just listening to them, and she feared what they would do if they caught them. If the report from Baerghast to Thijs was any indication, she wouldn't want to find out.

After a few minutes of running Cole was gasping for breath and covered in sweat. The further down the inclined path they ran, the hotter the air got until it was scorching as the sun in the city. Cole's clothes stuck to her, chafing her and tangling her legs as she struggled to keep up with Tanwyn and stay away from the monsters. Her tongue was as dry as cotton and she choked as she struggled to down the scorching lungfuls of hot air. Her hand slid around in Tanwyn's from their sweat and she nearly lost him a few times as they stumbled on rocks. If her hand left his, she knew that she would never be able to find him in the darkness fast enough.

Another few minutes passed, though it felt like an eternity, and suddenly a light came into view over the decline. It was fuzzy and orange, but blessedly there. Cole felt her heart surge as her eyes finally had something to focus on, though she never dared to look behind her and try to see what pursued them. She knew if she saw them she would not have the strength to make it the last hundred yards.

As they drew closer, the light revealed a small entrance at the end of the tunnel. It was little more than a slit in the cave wall, leading into a room that looked larger but was mostly obscured by the source of the light. They could see little beyond a glowing orange orb, before Tanwyn reached the slit and slammed into the rocks. Cole felt the force of his impact in her own hands and ribs and winced. But she had no time to scold him for hurting himself, and in turn her, because he was already squeezing through and pulling her with him.

As she pressed through the slit sideways, the rocks caught onto her clothes, yanking and pulling at her, and her cheek scraped against a sharp edge. It was a tight squeeze, barely big enough for a human, and hopefully too small for a monster.

Tanwyn pulled her out and they stumbled together into the middle of a small cave that signalled the end of the tunnels. Cole spun to look at the slit and only saw darkness on the other side. The voices were quieter, though she could still hear them quietly growling on the other side, getting louder and softer as they seemingly paced up and down the tunnel. The hair on Cole's arms stood up as she stared into the inky black on the other side of the slit, trying to see any movement or sign of the monsters who had chased them.

Why did you come here? How did you get past my brotherrrssssss.

Cole whipped around to face the direction this voice had come from. Before her was a glowing orange stone floating in the air with no supports to keep it there. It was a familiar jagged piece of earth that she had seen more than enough of in her own Sparkstone mines, yet this one was different in that it pulsed with its own light and was traced through with red veins as if it had its own blood pulsing through it. But what caught her attention even more than the Sparkstone was what stood next to it. The monster that had just spoken.