The two didn't dare utter a word as they trekked through the emptiness. With the wards down, Caval was eventually able to see the terrain for what it truly was - a barren area of desolation. The air was dry and arid - completely at odds with the humid warmth that Blayre had come to detest so much in the forest that was still visible from where they stood.
Blayre wanted the two mage-men a good distance ahead to avoid detection. She wasn't sure how favorably they would react to finding out they were being followed. It was easy enough for her to walk straight through the wards, but it was less work for Caval if he didn't have to disarm the magical trips and traps and could allow the strange men to do the heavy lifting. The seeker and the sorcerer would use the unexpected company to whatever advantage they could - until they became a disadvantage.
The ancient magic that Blayre could Sense grew stronger and stronger, and she soon realized that the mages ahead of them were so focused on dismantling the wards that they were not taking the most direct route. Well, they couldn't know how indirect of a route they were taking. She only knew by the ebb and flow of ancient power that assaulted her senses, a lure line cast to pull her toward some massive and powerful ship.
"We can get there ahead of them," She murmured softly to Caval, "But you will have to follow very carefully behind me to avoid the wards. Do you think you can dismantle them?"
"I suspect I can," Caval said rather haughtily. "At least, that had been my original plan. I had better be able to if I don't want to be burnt to a crisp."
"Is that what the wards will do?" Blayre asked softly.
Caval shrugged and grinned crookedly, "Not sure, but that's just what I've imagined since they're guarding a dragon fossil yard."
And so they continued on, Blayre taking them around whatever wards she could, and Caval using incantations from the old book that had the maps, to nullify the wards and enabling him to pass. It looked like a lot of effort, from what Blayre could see of the sweat that dotted his brow. And Caval was a very powerful sorcerer. The other two must be powerful magic wielders as well, and Blayre wondered if they were taking turns. Either way, she suspected they would be rather weakened by the time they reached the caverns.
The area was so dry that Blayre's previously grimy complexion was turning cracked and dust-covered. The stone and loose dirt all around them had a slight lavender hue, like a cloud just before sunrise. She was standing, waiting for Caval to finish dismantling a ward and absentmindedly wondering what type of rock it was when he stood, took one step and then began to fall over a precipice that she hadn't noticed until just then. "You idiot!!!" She screeched at him, rushing toward him.
She reached him falling to her stomach as his fingers scrabbling for purchase on the rocks and dirt, and tried grabbing his hands. She realized too late how stupid a decision that was as she began sliding forward, their hands clasped together, pulled by his weight and the momentum of her sliding forward. The dusty surface provided little traction to stay up and the toes of her boots skittered along the ground like a carriage rolling down a hill. Caval was much heavier than her, and they were both going to tumble over the edge of the bluff.
And tumble they did, Blayre didn't even have the wherewithal to scream as she felt Caval push off with his feet so that he began to fall back-first into the dark maw of nothingness that awaited them. She dimly felt him wrap his arms around her waist and pull her against him. Moon and Sun, he was going to take the full force of the fall.
"Nooooooo!" She managed to yell as they plummeted. Caval roared with effort and she suddenly felt his magic shudder into activation. Instead of an abrupt and violent landing, it felt as though they had landed atop one of the soft and cloud-like palace mattresses, with a groan Caval slowly reigned in his magic, and they fell ever so slowly to the ground which Blayre determined to be perfectly flat and smooth, and hard a granite. A layer of dirt or dust came off on her fingers as she slid a hand across it.
Caval was panting underneath her, but still holding her tightly, and it was so pitch black that as she lifted her head from his shoulder, she could only see the sparkle of his eyes in the darkness.
"We could have... Did you know?... Moon and Sun." She gasped out, slowly regaining her ability to talk, and promptly losing it again when Caval's hands firmly gripped her face and he kissed her quickly but fiercely. His lips were full and hot, and she was rendered thoughtless from the adrenaline rush that had resulted from the free-fall, she even felt herself returning the kiss. She pressed her lips just as forcefully to his, a laugh escaping her tightened airway. At the fierce contact, his magic tingled against her lips, her face, her hands - a kiss that she could feel on more levels than just physical touch. It was as though she was drinking in his magic, the power coursing through her and then filtering back into him. She had never kissed a mage before. And in some distant part of her mind, she wondered if she could ever kiss anyone who didn't have magic now.
"I can't believe I could have died before doing that," Caval intoned, the rise and fall of his chest coming rapidly beneath her, and his heartbeat steadily keeping pace with her own - a fast pace, but a beautifully, wonderfully alive pace nonetheless.
But the kiss.
Caval had kissed her. And as the adrenaline wore off, guilt and Rory's face lit up her mind. She scrambled with limbs that were not yet fully cooperative, to clamber off of Caval and stand swaying in the incredibly dim lighting that her eyes were gradually adjusting to. But they would only adjust so much. They would need light if they were to get very far. She reached for her pack, and felt around, finding one of the light producing orbs that he'd charmed before their journey. She activated by slowly drawing out her thumb and index finger and a soft glow enveloped them.
Caval was blinking up at her in the sudden light, and she reached down a hand offering to help him stand. He took it, though really, he stood mostly on his own. His magic, flickered against her hand, and she felt warmth rise in her cheeks.
"Should we really have that much light? Perhaps turn it down to it's lowest level." Caval suggested in a whisper.
Blayre drew her finger and thumb together this time, until it gradually dimmed to a soft incandescent glow.
"These are going to need to be charmed again," She whispered to him. "Or at least mine is." She had noticed the magic level had dropped from her frequent use - she had not wanted to pee in the pitch black of night when they were sleeping out in the woods.
Caval groaned slightly. "Mine should have more light. Hopefully it lasts. After all that work to reduce the wards I'm going to need to conserve my energy."
It was strange for her to think of Caval, whose magic always seemed to contain such strength, could possibly be running out. She picked up his hand and pressed her palm to his, the magic was still steady as it licked against her, but instead of a loud roar against her palm, it was a low rumble. Before it had been a river in early spring, swelling with runoff. Now it was a river in late summer - low and lazy, lapping at the edges of the riverbank but never quite reaching the top.
"I should have absorbed some of the magic from those wards. I could have helped." Blayre said. Why hadn't she? Similarly to the time she had tried to absorb the cursed magic that had infected Rory those few months ago. It wouldn't have bothered her.
"I'm not entirely sure it would have worked, being clan magic and all." Caval said, touching her arm. "In fact it could have been completely incompatible with my magic. There is something very different about the clan magic. But to be honest, the thought never crossed my mind."
Blayre shook her head, guilt squeezing her insides to mush. Thoughtless.
"We have a lot on our minds." Caval said, and Blayre whipped her head to him.
"What?" He asked, his grin making the dim mage-light seem brighter. "Did I 'read your mind' again?"
Blayre snorted. "Honestly, if I wasn't resistant to magic, I'd think so." She placed her hands on her hips and glanced around the space they had ended up in. "Perhaps we should get moving."
Caval nodded, "I wish I had time to replenish, but that could take hours. Hours that we don't have."
Blayre swallowed, "Okay. I'll keep my feelers out for anything - or anyone - else. I wonder where those other two even are.
"Something tells me they were smart enough not to fall head over ass into the cavern. I'm sure they took a more scenic route."
****
The ancient feel of magic was so constant down in the cavern, that Blayre was beginning to become accustomed to it as one would a perfume. Where the scent is at first strong and potent to the nose, but fades as the perfume wearer becomes used to the smell, the mind deciding that it is no longer worth noting.
She was partially grateful that the lighting was so dim and that Caval was so visibly exhausted. It made it easier to avoid eye contact with him. Her thoughts kept retracing back to the moment of that kiss. Her feelings were so conflicting over it that she didn't want him to bring it up. And apparently his exhaustion prevented him from noting her discomfort - normally she couldn't hide her emotions from him even if she tried.
The cavern was not what she expected. The floors were smooth like polished granite or marble. She had expected the walls to be craggy and the whole thing to be a mess of stalactites and stalagmites. But even the walls and ceiling looked polished and smooth under the dim magelight.
"Dragonsbreath carved these into what they now are."
Blayre jumped at Caval's voice which was uncharacteristically scratchy and cracked. So he was still observing her intently.
"That's quite impressive." She said, imagining what it must have been like when the stone was melted into polished smoothness from floor to ceiling. Legends said that dragonsbreath could melt a person completely - bones and all. She shivered at the thought.
The cavernous tunnel continued straight for a while but appeared to take a sudden turn ahead. Was that a soft glow up ahead? Blayre stopped abruptly as multiple feelings began to gradually build upon her sense. The ever-present ancient power was still there, though she thought it seemed a bit stronger. And something else was tickling on the edges of it.
"I think those mage are up ahead," She more mouthed than whispered - afraid of how easily her voice might carry through the empty space. They would have to be careful of their footfalls as well - she touched Caval, and was relieved to feel that his magical energy had increased since they had been walking. But it still might not be worth it to risk him using noise dampening spells. They would have to hide their presence the old fashioned way.
"Let me scout ahead," She mouthed, pointing to herself and then the curved tunnel ahead. Caval shook his head, but she only shot him a look that dared him to try to prevent her. She moved closer to him so she could whisper softly in his ear, "They can't hurt me. I'll be right back."
Caval closed his eyes but nodded, accepting the magelight when she offered it to him. She unslung her pack - she wanted to make as little noise as possible and carrying her pack and bedroll wouldnt help. She also unclasped the shortsword at her side - she didnt need it clanking against the stone. Knives would have to be enough. Knives and claws.
You are a wolf. She thought, as she crouched low and began moving toward the eerie blue glow that blossomed at the other end of the tunnels.