Orc’s Forbidden Claim (Red Planet Dragons of Tajss #33)

36. Khiara

36

KHIARA

T he quake continues. I strike the ground repeatedly like dried makki thrown into hot oil, bouncing up and down as it fries. My head strikes hard enough that stars dance through my head. Unable to get up, I roll onto my stomach. It’s a struggle but at last, I’m able to push onto my hands and knees.

Dirt is raining down around me then there is a loud pop overhead. A sick feeling hits my stomach as I roll to the side, acting on instinct. A large chunk of the ceiling crashes where I was.

The bells of the city are clanging. Loud enough to be heard over the rumblings and the screams of people. I keep rolling until I come up against a wall. The wall gives me the stability I need to get to my feet. Pressing against the wall, I watch as the tunnel twists and turns in ways that should be impossible.

Muda.

Muda was on his way to me. He will be in trouble. I scoot along the wall. The rumbling slows, but new cracks form in the walls and ceiling.

Right as the quake stops, I hear something else. At first, I’m not sure what it is because the sound is buried inside the general noise of the quaking but as that reaches its end, the sound continues. A rumbling that continues unaccompanied by the quake. The bells continue to clang as the grumble rises in volume.

Screams and shouts from the city are almost enough to drown it out, but not quite. Something about that sound makes my blood run as cold as one of the lizards. It draws me in. Curiosity, yes, but beneath that is fear. Fear of what could cause that sound.

I need to get Saylor out of here. The mountain will not be our home for much longer.

A thought that has never occurred to me before. The mountain has been home for generations. All my life and all the lives of dozens if not more generations before me have lived beneath the surface. Ever since our people were driven underground by the Star people bringing the Second born, the Zmaj.

Worried about that sound, I ease my way back to the opening and look out on the city. The low roar settles and stops, but there is something about it that I will never forget. Unlike anything I have ever heard before nor want to hear again.

A smell grows stronger the closer I come to the opening. It burns in my nostrils, clear into my sinuses, giving me a headache even as it makes my eyes water. The bells are ringing but now they sound with intention, not in reaction the bucking of the ground.

The city was already damaged from the last quake, but now an open wound runs through the middle of what was the marketplace. The ground has split. The newly formed crevasse glows yellow-orange with the lifeblood of Tajss. I cannot help but wonder how many lost their lives, falling into that liquid fire.

“Khiara?” Muda’s voice is muted.

I tear myself away from the wreckage that was my home and return down the tunnel looking for Muda. He’s not far. Blood runs from a cut on his scalp and he wipes it away with a furious gesture.

“Are you okay?” I ask, kneeling to inspect his wound.

“It is you,” he says, eyes wide and shaking his head. “I can’t believe it’s you.”

“Yes, young one, I am here,” I say.

I pull a piece of cloth out of my pouch and dab at the blood. I try to be gentle, but he winces and jerks back.

“There’s no time for that,” he says, slashing his hand down between us. He talks fast, so fast it’s almost hard to follow the words. “They’ll find you. They’re all looking for you. The Maulavi are so pissed. They said you were dead already, but no one believed them because they couldn’t show your body. I didn’t believe them. I knew you were still alive. You had to be?—”

“Muda,” I cut him off when it becomes clear he’s not going to run down on his own. “You said there’s no time and you’re right. I need your help.”

His eyes widen so big that for a moment I almost expect them to fall out of his head. His mouth forms an o-shape around his growing tusks then his lips twist into a wide grin.

“What can I do?” he asks, eagerly.

“Here’s what I need,” I say, explaining the rough outline of my plan.