Heroes' Fate (Shadow Over Shandahar Book 6)

Looking off into the distance, Adrianna surveyed the landscape as Servial and Mokut talked, keeping their voices low so as to decrease the chance of being overheard. “It won't be much longer now, maybe another couple days before we reach Bright's Cavern,” said Mokut.

“Yes, we are close to the Daemon's Bowel. The cavern only two days brisk travel from there,” agreed Servial.

Mokut grinned. “Your memory rivals my own. For only being here once before, it is astounding.”

Servial chuckled. “Well, I made sure to pay close attention.”

Adrianna breathed deeply, shaking herself free of their conversation. She no longer cared when would be in the Underdark. It was just another hardship she would endure until she met whatever end was in store for her. Again, she looked skyward, taking in the light, wispy clouds floating by, the...

Her eyes widened when she saw him. She blinked to be certain it was not a trick of her vision, then looked again.

She would recognize that shape anywhere. It was the way his wings caught the air currents, the way he held his head in flight. It was his color, a perfect shade of gold that caught the rays of the midday sun.

It was her Bondmate. Even after all these days, the dragon searched for her still.

The dark veil shrouding her parted and her heart leapt with joy. How could she have doubted Xebrinarth? How could she have doubted the dragon who had waited over one hundred years to once more be in her presence, the one who had trusted her with his life during all that time?

Adrianna quickly looked this way and that. Servial and Mokut were still engrossed in conversation, and the other group kept their eyes on the trail before them. She felt her power stirring, gathering at a pull she didn't realize she exuded. Her breaths came faster as she looked back up and saw Xebrinarth still in the distance. He was searching... ever searching for the one he had lost.

Once again, the anger swelled within her, anger that no longer felt walls or boundaries. It was wild, battering at the shackles that bound her. Adrianna brought her wrists before her eyes, her mind watching the dark shackles fall free to land on the ground beneath the larian's feet as she began her incantation.

She was already halfway through her spell before those sensitive to magic began to notice a disturbance in the surrounding energy. Moments later, she vaguely heard a wemic howl in the distance behind them as Mokut reached her side. She discharged the spell just as he grabbed her...

She cupped her hands and placed them before her. A pillar of flame rose, reaching high into the air, so high that it became lost in the sea of blue of the sky. Adrianna was jerked off her larian and thrust upon the ground. In that moment, she heard yet another howl...

Sirion had come for her after all.

The pillar dispersed into a sprinkle of flaming embers that flew in all directions, trickling downward. From the distance high above, Xebrinarth's trumpeting roar could be heard for miles in every direction. “You bitch!” Servial grabbed her arm, hoisting her off of the ground. His voice shifted from anger, sounded almost desperate as he pitched it towards Mokut. “Run. Run!”

Leaving their possessions behind, they moved quickly among the scattered trees, weaving in and out among the brush littering the ground. Servial dragged her along at his side, setting a blistering pace to which she could scarcely keep up. It wasn't long before she was flagging, the broken hills hardly noticing their passage but for whatever was displaced in the wake of her stumbling. Finally, they crested a rise and saw a giant, fanged wound that led into the earth. The terrain here was not so much broken as shattered, as if gargantuan beings had once wrestled here, and at the very bottom, protected by an overhang of rock, was a sizable pond, dark and quiet.

They careened to a stop, Servial looking over the area and then looking back at his comrade. Mokut frowned. “No.”

Adrianna started. Both men were usually uplifted to see water sources of any kind. Servial spoke through teeth gnashed together. “It will get us away. We will be free of them; they cannot follow.”

Mokut pressed his lips into a thin line. “We may get trapped in the Daemon’s Bowel with no way out.”

Somewhere behind them, closer than before, was yet another howl. Adrianna knew it... knew it like the sound of her own heart. It was the howl of a beast she'd known once, many years ago.

Servial shook his head. “There is a way out, I have been there. I...” There was an answering howl. This one was rougher, deeper. It was Sydonnia. “No choice now. We will probably win a fight, but one of us will likely die. My brother is a fool, but a brute, and he will kill one of us.”

Adrianna looked from one man to the other. A way out? A way out from what?

Servial jerked her forward and started down the grade without further word. She stumbled over loose stones until they came to the water’s edge. It was placid and black, without a hint of movement.

Servial smiled malevolently without a hint of humor. “I am glad you insisted on leaving your babe behind, or else this might be a touch more difficult.”

Her heart drummed against her ribs as she looked from Servial to the water, her eyes sweeping the shallow cave nearby. She saw no escape.

“How far you think?” Mokut asked.

Servial was thoughtful as he pulled her into the water. “Twenty down. Then it will be fast. In the end we will be only a few days from Yirondis. Just stay alert.”

Adrianna dug her heels into the soft substrate underfoot. Servial growled and turned back to glare at her, jerking her so hard she almost fell. She splashed forward, the waters first closing over her ankles, then her calves, then her knees. Her heart beat a staccato rhythm, and her hand shook as she tried to free herself from Servial's grip.

Then she heard another splash from behind them. She turned back and saw someone she hadn't seen in far, far too long. It was like a maned jungle cat, a hound, and a bear all at once. It locked onto her with fierce, amber eyes, and her heart stuttered in her chest.

It was Cortath.

All of a sudden, she felt Servial envelop her in his arms, a mockery of a lover’s embrace. “Don’t worry, my dear,” he said into her ear. “I will save you from that frightful beast.”

Adrianna reached out a hand towards her friend just as Servial leapt backward...