The Elementals - The Ice Princess

Chapter 49

I am on all fours, trying to catch my breath. The earth is hard, the air is thick and barely breathable and it is nearly complete darkness. I am having trouble catching my breath. The air here is so thick and heavy that every time I try to take in a breath, I can feel my lungs burn. I don't know if it's a result of the air or the amount of smoke that I inhaled. I imagine that this is what it feels like when you're suffocating. Where are we?

My eyes struggle to adapt to the darkness as they strain to find any kind of light source that may help me get my bearings of where we could be. One of things that I can surmise is that we are out of danger for the time being. I can't believe that almost everything that I have known is now gone. My dad is dead, my latest school is in shambles completely destroyed by the Achlys and the dragon that was nearly set to burn me and my friends alive. The only thing that I have left in my life right now is Alexander. Alexander! I think to myself. Where is he? And where is Laney?

I begin to reach out into to the darkness, feeling around for any signs of him. The nausea, builds in my stomach and it takes a lot of effort not to throw up. Wherever we jumped to, it's certainly a long way away from Snowspell. The nausea that I feel is unlike any of the nausea I've previously felt after a jump. It's much stronger.

The ground is warm and as a result sweat begins to re-roll down my face. I am unsure if it's because of what I've just been through, the sudden change of temperature or the slight panic that I have in my stomach not being able to find Alexander. Normally when we've jumped, he's been right beside me but I have woken up completely alone.

From somewhere in the distance, I hear Laney groan. It's a weak muffled groan, but I am glad that she is beginning to come around. The last image I have of her is lying sprawled out like my father on the gymnasium floor. Whatever the dragon did to her, could not have been pleasant. I ignore her, thinking that she must be alright if I can hear her. Alexander on the other hand is nowhere to be found and he becomes my priority for the time being. So as quickly as I can, I begin to feel around in the darkness for any sign of him.

I am afraid to call out because I have no idea where we are and none of us are in any shape to fight. My hand passes over large and small rocks. Some of the rocks are sharp and I can feel them bite into my hand as I run my hand across them.

I am not sure how much time has passed, or how much ground I've blindly covered but my hand finally makes contact with a large object. It feels human but it is not moving. The body lays almost perfectly still. Dead still. I place my head on its chest and can feel the rise and fall of slow breathing. I try to listen to a heart beat and discover that the heartbeat is weak. Alexander must be alive, but barely the way it seems. With whatever strength I had left now gone from frantically trying to find Alexander in the darkness, I collapse beside him. I purposely touch my forearm to his just to let him know I am here if he needs me.

I feel weak and will need time to recover and it makes me wonder what Alexander must be going through if I feel this bad. I roll over on to my back and notice that there are no stars above us, which means that we must be inside something. A cave or a cavern?

Suddenly a flicker of light appears in the not too far distance which is quickly followed by another. They look like eyes in the darkness and they are moving toward Alexander and I. They are eyes unlike anything I have ever seen before as they seem to shimmer in the darkness, keeping a constant vigil on our location.

I try to think of an elemental power to use to protect myself and Alex, just in case but find I am too weak and utterly exhausted to do anything. All I can do is watch as the eyes get ever closer and closer. The closer they get the more fearful they become, because they haven't blinked since they materialized. Whatever is coming closer, knows we are here. About 10 feet away, my eyes finally adjust to darkness and I begin to realize that what approaches us aren't eyes at all. They are two balls of fire and they are at the end of someone's hand and those hands are aimed right at us.