Chapter 681: Escaping the Depths
The walls of the slave quarters blurred past us as Fable raced down the hallway. Lava dribbled from cracks in the ceiling or bubbled up from fissures in the floor, hissing beneath Fable’s paws. His silver darkened with ash and flecked with small glowing cinders, like stars in the night sky.
Tremors of pain wracked my soul, keeping me bent over his shoulders, whimpering softly. Bursts of hostile auras, accompanied by piercing shrieks, caused me to huddle closer, but Fable trampled any lava elementals in our path with impunity.
As Fable slowed to a trot, I mustered my strength and lifted my head, staring around. The dull black walls of the slave quarters were fractured, the floor buried under chunks of rubble. A gaping hole in the ceiling continued through the next several floors, ending with the red-pained ceiling found only in the servant’s quarters.
I tightened my grip as Fable tensed and squeezed my eyes shut as he launched himself up the tunnel he’d burrowed through the spire. His paws touched down, and before I could gather myself, we were racing down another corridor.
The servant quarter crackled with orange flames, smoke drifting in a thick haze. I kept my head low, coughing into my sleeve. My wards filtered the harmful particulates and intense heat, but I hadn’t yet found a ward to keep the dry air from sucking every molecule of moisture from my throat, leaving it cracked and raw. The itch worsened the longer we stayed, and now blood flecked every cough.
I swooned, growing lightheaded as another problem became apparent. The lower floors had nothing to burn, but in the upper levels, furniture, carpet, and fabric smoldered in every corner. The fires were voracious, sucking the oxygen from the enclosed tunnels. Yet another danger I’d never anticipated nor prepared for.
My coughing grew weaker, and I laid my head back on Fable’s shoulders, gasping erratically. Every breath was empty, my lungs burning as hot as the embers kicked up in Fable’s wake.
A bright light pierced the gloom, extending like a sunbeam toward me. I raised my hand toward it, groping empty air. Was it Luke? Had he come to save me?
His face played across the shadows clouding my vision, and I tried to smile, only to wince as my lips split into bloody cracks. Water. I needed water but couldn’t focus enough to cast a spell.
The light grew brighter, enveloping me. My next breath stung, causing me to gasp. My eyes fluttered open, and I stared up dazedly. The sun? But the sun was outside. We were...also outside?
A deafening roar shook the earth, and the light disappeared. I saw a dragon wheeling above us, cutting off the late evening sun with its massive coils. The sunlight dyed red as it filtered through the sheets of fire cascading from its body.