God of Fyre Mountain by Renee Wildes

Author:Renee Wildes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2013-01-22T00:00:00+00:00

As if he barely heard her, Dax drew his knife. It glinted in the dim light. “Stand back.”

Apprehension prickled the back of her neck. “You’ll break the blade.”

“Naught can break elven toshi metal.” Dax tried to wedge the tip betwixt the light and dark rocks. It wouldn’t go. The fit was too tight, too perfect. “Incredible.”

He sheathed the useless knife and handed the glowing amulet to her. “Hold this whilst I attempt a time-honored technique.”

She took the crystal from him gingerly. “What’s that?”

“Pushing really hard.”

She sputtered in a burst of startled laughter. The laughter died a distracted death as Dax braced himself against the wall. Muscles bunched and rippled in his back and shoulders, and her mouth went dry. Dax certainly was…fit. He groaned with the strain; sweat glistened in the magical faerie light. She tingled and shivered even as she cursed herself for noticing.

Naught happened at first. Dax muttered something rude-sounding, dug in and heaved. Surely he’d injure himself if he didn’t ease up?

Then, with a horrific grinding, scraping sound, the paler rock began to move. Away from Dax’s hands, sliding deeper into that mysterious space behind the tunnel wall, behind the antechamber where the image of Afu presided over the altar. Bit by bit, until with an abrupt crash it dropped onto the floor on the other side. Dax hit the wall with a soft “oof.”

Darkness reigned beyond the new opening. A dry, musty smell wafted out. Maili couldn’t see anything. Dax was closer.

“What do you see?” she whispered.

“A black hole.” He spun along the wall to face her.

Maili rolled her eyes at his caustic retort. “Aren’t you going in?”

He bent over, hands on his knees, panting, but shook his head. “Been sealed up for ages. Wise to let some air in there afore I climb over and start gasping like a fish out of water.”

No air? She hadn’t considered that possibility.

“Places sealed up over great periods of time go foul. The air trapped within dies, becomes unbreathable.” He straightened and turned to her. “A few more marks won’t kill me, but rushing in just might.”

“We don’t have to wait. We needn’t go in—we can still look in.” Maili strode over to the opening and tossed in the crystal butterfly. Light flooded the chamber…revealing New Moon perched atop a small, headless statue of a female figure. Silver feathers glowed in the amethyst light. Maili screamed, catching but a single brief glimpse of rounded thighs and pendulous stone breasts afore the world vanished in a thick black cloud.

She awoke to find herself flat on her back on the warm hard floor, Dax’s arm beneath her neck. “Wha-What happened?”

“You swooned, again,” came his droll reply.

She’d never hear the end of it. “New Moon, she’s—”

“In the chamber.”

Her eyes widened, and she struggled to sit up. “But how?”

“Easy.” He helped her to sit up. “I told you, New Moon’s not a bird. She’s a spirit-raven, a guide to the otherworld. She’s flesh and spirit both, to exist in both this life and the next.

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