Page 16 of The Delver (The Vrix #2)

They’d dropped into another tunnel, and the rubble was piled to the ceiling, allowing not even a glimpse into the chamber they’d come from. Dully glowing blue crystals were scattered amidst the debris, shedding soft light.

The walls of the crystal garden must’ve collapsed as well. Gods, but it didn’t seem possible that he and Callie had survived relatively unscathed.

Thank the Protector for shielding us.

“Zotahl?” Urkot called, stepping toward the rubble. “Tahlken, Enikor?”

His voice echoed off the walls, becoming a hollow mockery of itself.

Callie slowly approached the rockfall. Her sharp gasp rang through the chamber. She climbed atop a larger boulder, but Urkot thrust his foreleg out, stopping her from going any further.

She whipped her face toward him, pointing at the rubble. “There, Urkot! I see one of them!”

He followed her gesture with his gaze, and his hearts stuttered. An unmoving, dust-coated yellow arm jutted from the stones near the ceiling of the tunnel.

Zotahl.

No. No…

Urkot had witnessed such stillness before.

He was all too familiar with it, but that made it no easier to accept, no easier to bear.

He struggled to draw adequate air into his lungs.

Crackling heat coursed beneath his hide, and his head felt suddenly light, making the tunnel sway and rotate around him.

Callie pushed against his leg, breaking past it and climbing up the rocks. A few came loose, tumbling down, snapping Urkot out of his daze.

“Callie, no!” He strode forward and banded an arm around her waist, lifting her off her feet and pulling her back against his chest.

She wriggled, trying to get free. “We have to help them!”

“Callie—”

“Put me down!” Callie demanded as she tried to pry his arm from her around her middle.

Wrapping his other arms around her to combat her struggles, Urkot carried Callie away from the rocks.

“Urkot, I can help! We can’t just leave them in there!” Clenching his arm, Callie turned her tear-filled eyes up to his. “Why aren’t you helping them?”

A pang of guilt struck his chest, piercing him as surely as any spear could have. His stride faltered. Urkot sank down onto his bent forelegs, keeping Callie clutched against him. He lowered his head, resting his headcrest against the back of her hair as shivers coursed through him.

“Flamebearer, guard their shar’thai , that they may join the spirits of their ancestors,” he said softly in vrix. “May the flames of their spirits burn as brightly in death as they did in life.”

He meant each of those words with all his hearts, but they felt hollow, felt useless. Felt pointless. What comfort could he provide for those who were already gone? Why would they want anything from him when he’d been unable to protect them in life?

“No,” Callie breathed, shaking her head. A sob escaped her. “No, no, no, no. T-They can’t be dead. They’re not dead. We just…we just need to help them, Urkot. We can dig them out. Please.”

“If we dig, more stone will fall…and we will join the others.”

“No!” she cried. “He’s r-right there. We can see him. If we, if we…”

Her shallow breathing, already rapid, quickened and grew more strained. He could feel her heart racing in her chest in an alarming flutter.

Urkot turned Callie to face him. Tears flowed from her eyes, having already carved paths through the dust on her cheeks, and she was trembling. His chest ached; he could not bear to see her this way. She didn’t deserve to experience this pain, this terror.

“Callie…”

Hiccupping, she turned her head as though to look back toward Zotahl. Urkot stopped her by taking her face between his hands and guiding it to his.

“Look at me, female,” he rumbled, voice steady despite his tumultuous emotions.

Her glistening eyes met his. The fear and helplessness in their brown depths were crushing.

Leaning down, he touched his head to hers, keeping their gazes locked. “Breathe, Callie. Breathe with me.”

He took in a slow, deep breath, letting his chest swell with it despite all the pressure inside.

Though it took her a moment with her hiccupping, she did as he instructed.

They exhaled together with the same slowness, pushing through the shakiness of their breath.

As they breathed in and out, they continued staring into each other’s eyes, and he kept his hands on her face, unwilling to let her go.

They existed with each other, for each other, sharing breath, sharing life. It was all they had in that moment, and it had to be enough.

Callie closed her eyes and leaned her head a little more firmly against his as she placed her hands on his chest. She whispered, “I’m okay.”

Urkot crooned and brushed his claws through her curls. “Good, female.”

“I’m sorry for what I said, Urkot. I didn’t mean it. I…I know you would have helped if?—”

“Shh. I know, Callie. I know. It is okay.”

She released another shuddering exhalation before raising her head and turning back toward the rockfall. Her glistening eyes shone in the dim blue light. “Are we trapped here?”

Reluctantly, he stood up again and set Callie on her feet. He strode to the edge of the rubble and gazed over it once more. There was no sign of the chamber above, and no way to tell how much stone was caught in the opening, awaiting an opportunity to fall.

He hummed, low and deep. Something felt wrong here. He’d seen cave-ins before, when tunnel walls and ceilings weren’t properly reinforced, but this had been different. This lower tunnel had weakened the floor of the above chamber, but the shape of this corridor wasn’t natural.

Bending, he plucked a glowing crystal shard from the rubble and stepped to the wall.

His eyes narrowed as he brushed his fingers over the stone. The grooves and chips it bore were unmistakable.

This tunnel had either been expanded or carved out by hand.

His attention caught on another set of marks on the wall. These were different. Four thinner, shallower lines, running parallel to each other, with the bottom one shorter than the rest. They hadn’t been left by any tools.

Unease spread through Urkot.

Raising a hand, he set his fingers over the marks. His claws lined up perfectly with the grooves. Slowly, he traced the lines with his fingers.

They were claw marks…left by a vrix.

His fine hairs stood on end as his foreboding grew. It was at that moment that he felt it—the faintest breeze through those hairs, a barely-perceptible flow of air along the tunnel, leading deeper.

He looked down the tunnel. The crystal glow continued for only a few more segments, leaving gaping darkness ahead. But that darkness was connected to the surface somewhere.

“We cannot go back,” he said, finally returning his attention to Callie. “But we are not trapped.”