Page 120 of The Huntmaster

Together, we followed Sila’s blood trail deeper into the winding eastern passage. The red smear was heavy, dragging along the rock face where she had leaned for support as she bled out from my daggers. But as we crested a steep rise, the trail abruptly ended.

Right at the mouth of a massive, collapsed cavern.

Tons of shattered basalt and crushed ceiling had caved in, blocking the tunnel entirely. The blood trail ran straight beneath a mountain of heavy boulders... and vanished.

There was no body.

A fierce, guttural growl ripped from my throat, my double hearts thumping violently against my ribs as I threw myself forward.

"Kaelen, wait—" Toren started, but I didn't listen.

I shoved my palms against the heavy boulders, my muscles straining as I hurled a massive piece of shattered basalt out of the way, sending it crashing into the dark. I dropped to my knees and frantically dug into the sharp, jagged rubble with my bare hands, searching the dark corners, the cracks, the shadow-drenched crevices of the rockfall. The blood trail was here. My daggers had bitten deep into her flesh. She couldn't just be gone.

"She has to be here!" I snarled, a violent wave of panic and rage surging through our bond like a wild current. "She cannot be alive!"

"Kaelen!"

A firm, solid weight clamped down on my shoulder. I froze, my breathing coming in harsh, ragged gasps as I looked over to see Toren’s left hand holding me in place.

"Kaelen, stop," Toren warned gently, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the massive collapse, trying to anchor me back to reason. "Look at the rockfall. The entire upper vault caved in. She was bleeding heavily from your blades—she could easily be buried ten feet beneath this rubble, or the blast could have thrown her further into the lower abyss before the roof collapsed."

"Or she crawled out before the rocks fell," I growled out, forcing myself to stand, my tail whipping violently behind me as I stared at the impassable wall of stone.

"Kaelen?"

I turned sharply at the sound of Lyra’s voice. She was stepping out of the shadowed corridor, Jarek following close behind her.

"Did you find—" Lyra started, but the words died in her throat as her eyes landed on the tall, battered warrior standing at my side. Her dark eyes went wide. "Toren?!"

Before either of us could react, she sprinted across the uneven floor and threw her arms around Toren’s neck. Toren let out a surprised grunt and carefully wrapped his left arm around her waist to hold her up.

"What are you doing down here?!" Lyra scolded, pulling back to glare at him, though her eyes were shining with unshed tears as she gently avoided touching his wrapped arm. "You are supposed to be in the healers' hut! You nearly died yesterday, you stubborn idiot!"

"It is good to see you too, Ly-ra," Toren chuckled softly, his eyes softening with genuine affection.

Lyra smiled, but as she stepped away from him and turned to me, her expression instantly shifted. She felt the sudden, icy drop in our bond—the dark, suffocating tension radiating off my skin.

"Kaelen?" she asked softly, stepping into my space and resting her hand on my forearm. "What's wrong? What did you find?"

"Nothing," I growled low, my jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached. "That is the problem."

Lyra’s gaze flicked from my face to the wall of collapsed boulders, her face dropping as realisation set in. "Sila... her body isn't here?"

"The blood trail ends at the rockfall," I said, the dark edge in my voice impossible to hide. "There is no corpse."

Lyra swallowed hard, looking at the mountain of stone. She tried to force a small, hopeful tone, much like Toren had. "She... she was severely wounded by your daggers, Kaelen. The ceiling collapsed right on top of this sector. She could easily be under all of that."

I said nothing, staring at the rubble with deep, dark suspicion.

As we turned and began the long journey back up through the cavernous vents toward the ascent ropes, Lyra suddenly checked her stride and placed herself directly between Toren and me.

"Listen to me," she said, her voice quiet but ringing with absolute authority. "When we get back up there... we do not say a word about Sila potentially being alive. Not a single word. Especially not to Tyler."

I stopped, my golden eyes narrowing at her. Why? I demanded straight down our bond, my voice echoing in her mind. He deserves to know if the monster who chained him is still breathing.

"Why keep it hidden?" Toren asked aloud, crossing his broad chest with his left arm. "If Sila survived, the tribe needs to be on high alert."

"Because right now, it's just an assumption!" Lyra countered firmly, looking at both of us with fierce determination. "We don't know for sure if she's alive or buried under ten tons of rock. But what I do know is what everyone up there went through. Tyler, Sora, the freed captives... they are just starting to breathe again. They need peace to heal, not new terror based on a shadow."