Page 20 of Dragonbound

‘Run!’ she shouted. But there was nowhere to go – nothing but steep-sided mountains and the threat of the glacier’s heart surrounded them. Regardless, she ran towards the edge of the glacier, Arrow racing along beside her. She could hear Erann’s pounding feet just behind her. Arrow streaked ahead, moving faster than Sereh could manage.

‘Please, by the Gods, let there be a cave to shelter in,’ she panted, forcing her legs to move even faster. Around her, chunks of dirty snow and ice-encrusted rock rained down. She swerved to avoid a huge rock that landed just in front of her.

With the flood of snow nearly upon her, she ran faster than she ever had, lungs burning, legs screaming. Up ahead, she spotted the yawning mouth of a black cave. Breath scorching her throat, she lunged towards it. Better trapped than buried. If they made it inside maybe they’d be able to dig themselves out.

She didn’t slow, didn’t think. She just ran.

Her foot caught. Pain exploded as she landed hard, the wind knocked out of her, arms and legs in an untidy tangle, snowshoes crossed at the ankles, facing upwards. Panic surged as she lay there, unable to move, watching the snow above her come closer, closer.

Then hands grabbed her. She was yanked upright and thrown towards the cave entrance. She felt Arrow’s mouth around her arm, dragging her the rest of the way, into safety.

She scrambled to her feet, one snowshoe coming free in the hurry, and spun round, searching.

‘Erann,’ she screamed.

‘Sereh!’

He was nearly there, just outside the cave. He looked at her with anguished jade eyes, and something else she couldn’t quite place. She reached for him⁠—

And then, right in front of her, he disappeared, swallowed in a surge of snow, ice and rocks.

The Long Day light was abruptly cut off.

She screamed again, ‘Erann,’ knowing it was pointless, but unable to stop herself.

There was no one to hear her. No one at all.

13

SEREH

The blackness was complete. Not even Arrow’s glowing yellow eyes penetrated the gloom of the cave.

It felt like she’d stepped into the darkest day of the Long Night. Her every sense was straining. She could smell and hear nothing. The only thing she could feel was Arrow’s fur beneath her fingers and the rocky surface underneath her. The air was stale. She dared not move in case she tripped over an upturned rock or spear of ice.

She was trapped and had no idea how large or small the cave was. Her breathing was ragged. She needed to calm down, or she’d use up what precious air there was. She needed to focus. She needed to rescue Erann. She needed help.

‘Oh, Erann,’ she whispered over and over again. She relived the moment he’d been devoured by the snow. She could hear his final, terrified cry on endless repeat.

She couldn’t think about that. She needed to think about getting out of the cave.

She felt Arrow begin to walk away from under her hand. She made a grab for her fur, but Arrow was too fast. Sereh was left clutching nothing.

She screamed.

She was alone.

She was terrified.

PART II

14

ERANN

Erann woke to a strangely soft, blue light, irreconcilable with anything he knew, his eyes tearing from the glow. He lay on his back, backpack underneath him. A vague worry that he was crushing all the precious scripts he’d removed from his steading infiltrated his mind, and he tried to lie still.

His eyes closed. He was unable to move his legs, but he was warm. Was this a dream? Where was he? He didn’t truly know.