Stealing the Dragon’s Heart by Kiersten Fay

45

Several heartbeats passed. Nothing happened. Onnika was expecting just about anything in this cavernous cell: spears shooting from the walls, or maybe those stalactites dangling dangerously above would loosen and fall on top of them. Or those flowers could emit more poison…

Caryn cocked her head. “Do you hear that?”

Onnika listened. After a moment, she noticed a slight tune playing from hidden speakers. Three simple notes playing over and over again.

“Is that music?” she asked.

Caryn just shrugged.

Then a faint rumbling seemed to come from somewhere beyond their little cavern, building louder and louder until the music was completely drowned out. She and Caryn huddled together. Onnika gazed up warily at the stalactites, subtly swaying above them.

To the right, pebbles and grit tumbled down one section of the cavern, then larger stones began to slide down as well. The rumbling turned menacing, joined by a strange clicking sound.

She hissed in a breath. “Something’s coming through the wall.” As soon as those words left her mouth, stone exploded outward. Through the dust, poking halfway out of the newly created burrow, she spied the face of a creature she could barely describe. She watched in frozen horror as it slowly pulled the rest of its frightening body out of the hole. There were no eyes that she could see on an oblong frame that was every shade of black, with charcoal pincers protruding from a beak-like mouth, onyx antennae, and six thickly furred, spiked, and claw-tipped jet-black legs.

Horrific as it was, its movements were fluid and graceful, sinuous as it stalked them. A creature that had evolved to kill quickly and without mercy. As it closed in, those glistening pincers opened and closed, as though anticipating the meal it was about to enjoy.

Caryn seemed to come out of a stupor and screeched. The creature leapt at them. Onnika shoved Caryn out of its path and then dove in the opposite direction. The creature skidded between them and then turned its head toward Caryn, who was sprawled on the floor in pale-faced terror.

Onnika picked up a stone and threw it with all her might. It bounced off the creature’s back. “Hey, you big ugly thing!” Yes! she thought with satisfaction. Got its attention. Problem was…she’d gotten its attention!

Mister Big Ugly Thing spun to face her, those pincers working. She turned and fled, scurrying up the side of the stony cavern as fast as she could. Maybe if she climbed high enough, the creature couldn’t get her. Unfortunately, she quickly discovered how wrong she was. It appeared the creature was an expert climber, digging those claws into the rock and nipping at her heels with its pincers. Timing her strike, she kicked out with her foot, slamming her heel into what could be construed as its forehead. The creature jerked back, shaking its head, which gave her time to climb a little higher.

She glanced around, trying to spot Caryn. At first she thought Caryn had vanished, maybe found the exit, but then movement along the ceiling caught her eye. Caryn had scaled the wall as well and was now clinging to a precarious stalactite with all her might. The two things Caryn hated most in the world were monsters and bugs, and this thing was the perfect combination.

Oh, gods. Was the exit somewhere on the ceiling?

The creature didn’t remain stunned for long, and soon it was coming after her again, more angry and aggravated that it had to work for its dinner.

Following Caryn’s example, Onnika sucked in a fortifying breath, then launched off the wall and wrapped her arms and legs around the closest stalactite. It was thick; she could barely get her arms around it. Thankfully, the uneven grooves that resembled melted wax made it easy to cling to, though she felt it shudder under her weight…was sure it would break away any second and send her careening into the mouth of Mister Ugly.

Unfortunately, the creature’s legs were long, and after climbing the wall to the spot she’d just vacated, it swiped out at her and struck her with a claw. Hot pain exploded in her bicep. When she recoiled, her stalactite quivered, and she watched a slow crack snake over the surface above her. Seconds before it broke away from the ceiling, she leapt to grip another. This one felt a little sturdier and was far enough from Mister Ugly that those razor-sharp claws couldn’t reach her.

After taking several seconds to catch her breath, she called out to Caryn. “Are you okay?” Her voice echoed through the cavern.

“I can’t do this,” Caryn’s voice echoed back. They couldn’t see each other. Too many stalactites in the way.

“Yes, you can. You have to. Remember that thing that wanted to eat us that time?”

“Yeah?”

“We survived that bastard, and we’ll survive this one, too. It’s just a stupid beast. We only need to outsmart it. I think we’re doing a pretty good job so far.”

“I’m so tired.”

Onnika heard the exhaustion in Caryn’s tone. “I know you are, sweetie. We’re almost done.” She had no idea if that was true or not, but it sounded encouraging, even to herself. “Do you have any idea where the exit is? I don’t see anything that looks like a door.” There had to be a trick to this room, just like the other ones.

“There’s only…one way out.”

The reluctance and dread in Caryn’s voice sent a chill over Onnika’s skin, and her mouth dropped open in shock. That meant… “No.” She glanced down at the tiny opening from where Mister Ugly had emerged. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” The hole was only about two feet wide, if that. They wouldn’t make it two seconds in there before one of them became the appetizer.

Maybe only one of us is going to survive this.

The macabre thought chilled her to the bone. “Caryn,” she said. “Remember that I love you, okay? If I—”

“Stop it,” Caryn interrupted. “Stop it right now. Neither of us is going to die, do you hear me?”

“Just in case,” she persisted, “if I don’t make it, please tell Aidan I love him, too. And tell him I’m sorry…”—she sniffled—“I’m sorry I couldn’t stay out of trouble.”

“No,” Caryn snapped. “I won’t. Because you’re going to tell him yourself.”

Ignoring that, Onnika made her voice strong with authority, the way she did when her mind was made up. “When I tell you to go, I want you to run for that opening. Don’t look back. Don’t stop. Do you understand me?”

“Onnika…don’t.”

“You’ll only get one chance. If you don’t do as I say, we both die. No hesitation. Tell me you understand.”

“I…I understand.”

But Onnika had a plan—a stupid plan, sure, but a plan nonetheless, and there weren’t a whole lot of other options at the moment. And at the center of this plan, at its very core, was Caryn’s survival; it didn’t exactly include her own demise, per se, she just wasn’t sure she could prevent it. All she knew was if Caryn died and she lived, she’d spend the rest of her life wishing it had been the other way around. And now she truly understood Aidan’s pain over the loss of his family. She hated that she might soon cause him more pain. More loss. But there was nothing she could do about it now except fight for her life and the life of her sister…and hope.

Leaping from stalactite to stalactite with delicacy and caution, Onnika took up her position, tightly wrapped around a particularly sturdy-looking protrusion from the ceiling. Her entire body was coated with red, grainy dust; she drew it into her lungs, felt it settle into her scalp and under her fingernails. It mixed with the blood on her arm, turning her wound black and muddy.

Mister Ugly followed her movements with unnerving, chiming, clicking sounds that signaled its growing excitement, sidling along the wall in hopes of finding a more favorable spot with which to snatch her from with those gruesomely long, claw-tipped legs. She was just far enough out of reach, but only just. They were nearly at eye level with one another—if indeed the creature had eyes—and she could see the glossy saliva on its pincers.

Focusing on the stalactite to her left, she took in a dusty breath, then swiped her leg out to kick it just above its center point. Both she and the stalactite shuddered from the impact. Bracing herself, she kicked it again, over and over, until she felt the stalactite begin to give under the force of each strike. Then, finally, a small crack opened up where the stalactite connected with the ceiling.

“Now,Caryn! Go, go, go!”

Without hesitation, Caryn dropped down and made a mad dash for Mister Ugly’s burrow, instantly drawing the insect creature’s attention. Ignoring Onnika to go after the easier meal, it dropped down from its perch, landing deftly on all six legs, and skittered across the cavern floor toward Caryn.

With all her might, Onnika repeatedly kicked at the stalactite as hard as she could. The crack widened, but only a fraction…it wasn’t as ready to fall as she’d assumed. Dear gods, the creature was closing the distance between its hungry pincers and Caryn. Would she be forced to watch it devour her sister? A few more seconds and the creature would be clear of her intended strike zone!

Fueled by a desperate determination, she dug her fingers into the mineral formation, holding on with all her strength, then kicked at the other stalactite with both feet. A sharp snapping sound rang out, like a hundred twigs breaking in half all at once. Dust exploded from the crack, raining down on her. The trembling vibrations quaked through her bones, spreading to the formation that kept her aloft, and suddenly it felt not-so-sturdy. A volley of ominous cracks ricocheted through the room. She looked up just in time to see a fissure slice through the stalactite she clung to, and then whoosh! Both stalactites were falling, her along with them.

She was probably only weightless for mere seconds, but to her, it could have been a lifetime. Caryn was still racing toward the hole, sand kicking up in her wake. The creature lunged for her, going airborne, its pincers opening, ready to tear flesh from bone.

A soul-deep wail of despair tore through her lungs and accosted the cavern walls, bouncing back at her and intensifying.

I’ve failed…

I’ve failed…

I’ve failed…

The words lashed her like a punishment. Caryn would die here and now. Then she would die soon after, eaten alive by some nameless monster in front of the eyes of billions of spectators. It’s a better death than I deserve.

And then she hit the ground, her head bouncing painfully off the hard rocky surface. Nausea churned alongside dizziness. Before she could recover, part of a fallen stalactite toppled over her abdomen, forcing the breath from her lungs. Dazed, yet frantic, she pushed against the crumbling chunks of mineral deposit, shimmying her body in an attempt to free herself, while listening for the dreadful sounds of the creature feasting.

She didn’t hear anything.

Perhaps the fall had disturbed her eardrums. If so, maybe it would be a blessing not to hear the evidence of her life-ending mistake. Soon the creature would come for her, and she’d never hear anything again.

But it didn’t come, even though it took her several more moments to get out from under the stony debris. When she finally did, she scooted back and got to her feet, ready for anything. A thick layer of dust wafted through the room, covering everything to her waist. She couldn’t see the creature. She couldn’t see Caryn. Was it below that murky surface, savoring its catch? She shuddered.

Slowly, the dust began to settle, and she spotted a single black, furry leg angled upward…twitching. By degrees, the rest of the creature was revealed, crumpled and broken, a stalactite sticking straight through its back and nailing it to the floor.

A wide grin split her lips. I did it!

She called for Caryn, but Caryn was nowhere in sight. She must have made it to the tunnel. When the creature twitched again, Onnika decided it would be wise to follow…and quickly.