Outcasts of Aquila (Aquila's Originals 2)

Chapter 19: Water's Edge, Part 1

POWER WAS RISING. Rhiddyl could feel it approaching. That was what drew her out of the darkness, back to daylight, cold and lapping water. She tried to open her eyes, but couldn't. Her whole body was weighed down by frozen fatigue, bruised and aching.

Oh, Family, how she ached. Her head was throbbing, her muscles were wrenched, her whole body limp and crumpled like a wrung out sheet. She tried to ignore all of that and listen.

Wind, water and the soft pad of something moving nearby. Rhiddyl's heart beat loudly in her ears, muffling the details, but she knew something was coming. Cold water lapped around her back legs, lifting and dropping her limp tail. She needed to get out of the water.

Gritting her teeth against a whine, Rhiddyl forced her right front talons to unclench. It took a pathetically long time and left her panting, but she managed to open her claws and extend her arm, digging into snow-covered ground. Sibling Water, no wonder she was cold.

Rhiddyl clenched her claws and heaved, grunting as she hefted the top of her body up, along and down with a sodden thump.

The footsteps paused.

Panting, Rhiddyl forced her aching eyes to open on a blurry world of white and brown. She was too cold to focus, her body more than half shut down towards hibernation already. She couldn't hibernate here, she couldn't stop now. She needed to get out of the water.

She wrenched her left arm from where it was tucked against her chest and flung it outwards. Rolling from her sideways sprawl onto her belly, she lay like a stunned fish for a long moment, before inching her left hand along the snow, searching for something to grip onto.

The footsteps resumed more cautiously as Rhiddyl dragged her useless body further up the shore, whimpering, her wings deadweight along her sides. Her shaking arms gave out, dropping her into the snow with a wheezing grunt.

The footsteps picked up, light and fast, bounding closer.

Rhiddyl braced, baring her teeth, pulling her claws back under her chest so she looked like she was crouching, ready to pounce, instead of floundering, ready to collapse. With great effort she hauled her tail, dripping, from the water and swung it around, aiming for menace, but mostly lacking in control. She thumped her own wing and didn't even have the energy to wince.

A flash of red crossed her blurry vision and claws scraped on stone as her assailant skidded to a startled stop.

"Rhiddyl?" a soft, crackling voice asked, before the blur bounded forward.

Rhiddyl twitched, then sighed as warmth brushed along her cheek and neck, purring before diving down to curl up against her chest. Her nostrils fluttered, drawing in the scent of ash, flame and crackling embers. It was a scent she had been looking for almost as long as she'd been in Aquila and she'd never expected to find it now. Closing her eyes in quiet relief, she savoured the warmth spreading through her and sighed.

"Emberbright."

The young Dragongift chirruped against her chest as power pulsed through the trees in a magical call. "Jaymes, I need you."

* * *

IT WAS COLD inside the mountain. Hardly surprising considering how cold it was outside the mountain. What did surprise Orla, however, was that the chill didn't come from the cave mouth at their backs. Instead it seeped up from the yawning darkness ahead, deepening and spreading with every downward step they took. Feeling inadequately dressed and wishing Caelo had warned them all to put on more layers before launching this latest expedition, Orla cradled the warm glow of her red-gold globe against her chest and hugged herself with her other arm, trying to stop her teeth from chattering.

"How much further?" Vhen grumbled through gritted teeth, his footsteps falling practically on Orla's heels as the group drew closer together for warmth as much as safety.

"Not far," Caelo assured him, sounding not the least bit discomforted. "It's just along here somewhere. We'll know it when we find it."

Which was not the least bit reassuring. Taryn snorted sceptically at Orla's side and she shared a wry smile with her friend.

They trudged on through the dark and the cold, until Orla lost all sense of time or direction, while her feet turned numb inside her boots. Just as she was beginning to wonder if the darkness would ever end, a light appeared in the distance. It flickered and danced like only firelight could, and she pressed forward with renewed eagerness, she and her friends quickly overtaking Caelo in their rush to reach the promised warmth.

Long legs carrying him into an easy lead, Vhen dropped suddenly out of sight with a yelp, his boots skidding on loose rock as the sloping path turned into a steep descent. Orla grabbed Taryn's belt barely in time to prevent her from following, and they crowded at the top of the drop with Zett and Caelo, waiting for Vhen to stop.

He hit the flatter ground of the cavern below with a curse and a trip, rolling over his shoulder to sprawl on the hard floor.

"Are you all right?" a voice called from the cavern, as Zett and Taryn shouted similar enquiries from above.

Vhen groaned but sat up easily enough, so Orla and the others began a more cautious descent behind him. Turning sideways, Orla inched her way down the slope in Taryn's skidding wake, while Zett copied Orla's careful approach and Caelo jittered impatiently at the top.

"You won't break if you slide," their erstwhile guide grumbled.

"And you won't combust if you have to wait for us to get down safely first," Zett said, as Taryn reached the bottom and stumbled forwards. Vhen yelped again, rolling sideways to avoid being trampled and groaning at the effort.

"Are you trying to kill me?" he complained.

"Not very hard," Taryn joked, dropping to her knees beside him as a figure limped across the cavern to join them.

While Orla and Zett cleared the slope without any major mishaps, Healer Haelle eyed their group with confusion.

"Not that it's not nice to have company, students, but what on the Overworld are you doing here?"