The Rosewood Prophecy

Chapter 29

"Earthquake?" I called out to Indigo who was a few paces ahead. She whipped back with round, frantic eyes.

"I think the cliff is falling apart!" She pointed at something behind me. I turned around to look. Sure enough, the crack that my sword had caused had widened, and large, boulder-sized chunks of the chasm were falling into the gorge below. I picked up my pace, not wanting to fall to my death amid the trembling earth.

A war horn sounded, far above us, followed by the movement of a considerable size of people—or monsters. The Evils have been alerted. We were now practically running down the steep slope, which was probably not a very good idea.

Sure enough, just as we reached the bottom, Indigo slipped on something and toppled forward. Not stopping myself in time, I tripped over her and fell face first into the dirt. Ignoring the bruises and scraped skin I pushed myself up and reached out to help Indigo up. "Come on! We have to move!"

Indigo seemed oddly pale as she wobbled to her feet. A fleeting thought in my mind said that she's probably still recovering from the shock of almost falling off a cliff. A pang of guilt stabbed me in the gut, and I grabbed her hand, supporting her as we hurried along. The mist had thinned a bit, and soon I could make out the figures of Jason and Rachel running towards us.

"Where were you guys? What happened?" Jason asked breathlessly.

"Long story. But we have to move. The cliff is breaking apart and there are Evils above, alerted to our presence. We need to find a different way out." I spoke rapidly as we made our way to our cave.

"What?! Evils? They're really here?" Rachel exchanged a look with Jason, who cursed under his breath.

"What's wrong?" Indigo asked, picking up the subtle expressions.

"It's Katherine," Jason said grimly. "She went outside to stretch and just suddenly collapsed. She was feverish when we got to her, and she started screaming, just like that day in the inn. Said Lord Victor was trying to get into her brain again."

"She's stable now, but just really weak and pale," Rachel added. "We suspected that the Evils must be near, just not right above us and awakened. How are we supposed to fight with our best warrior gone?"

"The rest of us still have our powers. We can do this, guys." Indigo, a true leader, was trying to instill confidence into ourselves.

We came within sight of the cave. Lucian was supporting Katherine, one of her arms slung over his shoulder. Ashley rushed out of the cave, carrying our satchels and whistling to the untied horses. They trotted over, neighing nervously.

"Aaron! Indigo! Thank the gods, they found you two." Ashley caught sight of the four of us. She frowned slightly as she took in the battered sights of Indigo and me. "Oh dear, more injuries. Anything serious?"

"Um, I don't think so." I shook my head.

Indigo straightened, pulling her hand from mine. I didn't realize that I was still holding her hand in my grasp. "We need to move out. The Evils know we're here."

"Back the way we came?" Ashley questioned. Indigo shook her head.

"That path is destroyed." Rachel answered. "We need to find a new way out."

A rumble above us showered us with small pebbles and dirt. We scrambled for cover. "Everyone, get on your horses! We need to move!" Indigo yelled.