Page 101 of The Shrouded Queen
Then we jumped into the lake.
FORTYSAMIRA
The water was like ice. Instinct alone prevented me from sucking in a huge gulp. And it was instinct that made my legs paddle back up to the surface.
My head slammed into a wall.
I looked up, very easily making out the sky above, could even see the Seven peering down at us. But when I touched the surface, my hand pressed flat. Not ice. The lake’s surface had become a barrier.
One way in and one way out.
Something touched my arm, and I whipped around, little bubbles bursting out of my mouth in what would have been a yelp. But it was just Rade. He held up his hands in a placating gesture.Relax, his serene brown eyes seemed to say.It’s just me. Then he waved me to follow as he swam deeper. My wounded shoulders throbbed as I paddled after him.
From the shore, the lake had seemed dark, but the sun managed to shine a spotlight straight through. We hovered atop a sandy cliff, and beyond that was a nearly fifty-foot drop.
At the bottom was an archway.
The way out.
I’d hoped we wouldn’t really need the Behemoth, but we definitely couldn’t swim all that way on one breath.
Pressure was already building in my chest as we swam toward it. A mass of seaweed stretched out of the sandy wall. Its inky leaves waved as if there were a current—but there wasn’t. It felt like swimming through molasses.
I winced as my shoulders gave an angry pulse. A glance toward them showed red billowing out like twirling ribbons. My wounds had reopened, and the salt in the water was sharpening their burn.
Rade stopped suddenly and looked to the left, where an enormous shadow disappeared around a corner. I couldn’t make out any distinct features other than fins and a large tail.
A very large tail.
Rade’s runes glowed a deep red, and his hands twitched in front of him, fingers curling in, like he was pulling on a thread.
The shadow reappeared, drawing closer and closer, swimming into the sun’s beam.
I slapped a hand over my mouth.
The Behemoth was a cross between a shark and a whale. Large black eyes on an enormous ivory body, its puffy mouth gaping open and showing off razor-sharp teeth. Nostrils were cut under each eye, and they flared as it scented us. It blew out an angry string of bubbles when it caught the manure.
But still, Rade’s fingers curled, and it drew closer…
The Behemoth dwarfed us to practically the size of ants. I watched with horror as the ribbon of my blood made its way through the water to the monster. Its nostrils flared as it inhaled, and its pupils dilated. Adrenaline flooded my system when its mouth gaped open—
Rade’s runes pulsed, and then a bright red light shot out of his hands, slicing through the thick water and crashing into the Behemoth’s eye.
It roared viciously, the sound slamming into me with a wave of fury. Another blast of Rade’s runes, and light was shooting toward the other eye. Rade’s lips formed the wordNow!
My lungs constricted painfully, demanding oxygen. Stars popped up across my vision, and my feet tried to kick me back up to the surface—the surface that was a ceiling over our heads.
Instinct was driving my every move, filling me with panic.
I had to do something, I had to—but there was nothing I could do—I had no magic—I couldn’t stop—couldn’t kill—I needed air—needed it now!
A nick. That was all. A nick, and then there would be air in that monster’s blood.
Ignoring the call of the surface, I swam down, deeper, straight for the Behemoth. It hardly even noticed me as it struggled to open its eyes against Rade’s assault. I reached its dorsal fin, grabbed it.
Opening my mouth, I dug my teeth into its scales. Hard. It was like biting into leather.
The Behemoth spasmed in pain, its powerful body trying to thrust me away. But I kept my hold and clenched my jaw tighter, teeth groaning in protest. Tighter. Until I felt the scales give way and a metallic taste flooded my mouth. My mind balked, but I swallowed.
