Page 43 of Season of Naga: Volume 2
My heart leaps painfully against my ribs. I push myself up. My body sways and protests. The glow grows stronger, lighting rough stone walls with gentle pulses that match the rhythm of a heartbeat.
Heartglass.
Lurok!
He emerges from the tunnel like something from a forgotten myth: massive and gleaming, every scale defined by theheartglass's light. Ash dusts his shoulders and clings to his hair, turning pale strands the color of smoke. But it's his face that stops my breath.
He's smiling.
Not the fierce baring of fangs that passes for satisfaction among the naga. Not just a grim acknowledgment of a job done. This is a genuine smile. It softens the severe angles of his face and reaches his eyes, warming their colorless depths.
"You're back," I whisper, the words inadequate for the relief flooding through me.
"Did you think I would leave you?" His voice rumbles through the cave, though he keeps it low, intimate. The smile fades slightly as he studies my face, reading the fear I've tried to hide.
"I woke up, and you were gone." I aim for casual and miss by miles.
He moves closer, heartglass raised to better illuminate my face. Ash sifts from his scales with each movement, falling to the cave floor like dirty snow. This close, I can smell mineral dust and something wilder clinging to him, as though he's brought a piece of the ruined world with him.
“The sun rises, but the storm rages on, so I explored while you slept," he explains, his vertical pupils widening in the dim light. "Tried to find another tunnel that would lead us toward Vessan-Kar. I did not mean to frighten you."
Heat rises to my cheeks. "I wasn't frightened," I lie. "Just... concerned."
The smile returns, smaller but knowing. "Of course." He extends his free hand, enormous and scaled and impossibly gentle as one claw brushes a strand of hair from my face. "But you need not be concerned any longer. I have found something you will like."
Suspicion flickers through me. What could he possibly have found in this dead place, this cave at the edge of a wasteland, that I would like? Curiosity quickly overwhelms doubt. He holds an almost boyish eagerness beneath his warrior's control. It is as though he's discovered a secret he can't wait to share.
"What is it?" I ask, finding myself leaning toward him without conscious intent.
"Follow me," he says, turning back toward the tunnel he emerged from. "The tunnel narrows ahead. Stay close."
I follow without hesitation, drawn by the gentle pulse of heartglass and the massive silhouette of the naga warrior leading the way. The silver length of his tail whispers against stone. Each scale catches the light, forming hypnotic patterns as he moves. He glances back occasionally to ensure I'm keeping pace. In his eyes, I see something new. Anticipation. Perhaps even excitement.
The passage narrows with each turn, forcing us to move sideways while Lurok can still move forward. Stone scrapes my shoulders, catching on my tattered clothing. Ahead, heartglass throws Lurok’s shadow into something mythic. He moves with surprising grace, his coils navigating the tight space easily. He pauses often, turning to ensure I follow, his eyes flashing with pale fire in the light.
"How much farther?" I ask, wincing as my recently bandaged palm scrapes against a jutting edge of stone.
"Not far now." His voice reverberates in the narrow space, wrapping around me like a physical touch. "The passage becomes challenging ahead.”
He studies me, then nods. "We must pass through there." He gestures to what seems a solid wall until the heartglass reveals a crack running from floor to ceiling. It's barely wide enough for a child, let alone a human or naga.
"Through that?" I can't keep the doubt from my voice.
"It widens slightly once you enter," he explains. "The opening is deceptive."
I approach the crack skeptically, peering into darkness that seems absolute beyond the heartglass's reach. "You fit through this?"
The low rumble that escapes him might be a laugh. "With difficulty. I left markings of scales along both walls." He moves beside me, his massive form dwarfing mine. "I will guide you through. Trust me.”
The word hangs between us, weighted with meaning beyond this moment.Trust.What a fragile, dangerous thing to place in the hands of a creature who could crush me without effort. Yet I've already given it to him, haven't I? Given it freely, without reservation.
"I trust you," I say simply.
Something flickers across his face, surprise perhaps, or something deeper. He inclines his head and hands me the heartglass. "Hold this. I will go first and help you navigate the narrowest section."
The heartglass warms my palm, its blue-green glow pulsing like a second heartbeat. Lurok turns sideways, sliding into the fissure. His broad shoulders scrape stone. Scales rasp against rock, filling the passage with a dry whisper that raises the fine hairs on my neck.
When he's halfway through, he extends a hand back toward me. "Now you. Keep the heartglass ahead of you."
