Norsuk

My heart raced as I followed Agatha into the next room, transfixed by the newfound confidence in her stride. The adorable, fuzzy mirea in my lap had just revealed her fangs, and I found myself utterly captivated.

But I couldn"t give in to these feelings. She was property. Not mine to claim. With each passing moment, the thought of handing her over to slavers grew more unbearable, twisting like a knife in my gut. When had I become the villain in this story?

Agatha was right—we needed a plan. I was too tangled up in her, in the unwanted emotions threatening to drag me under. And that kiss... It lingered on my lips, a bittersweet echo that made my heart ache with longing.

Strange sensations rippled through my shoulder blades, an insistent swelling and itching that seemed to have no cause. How could a simple kiss affect me so deeply?

Shrugging off the peculiar feeling, I trailed after Agatha, barely registering the decaying meeting tables and endless rows of moldering seats. We had to be getting close to a command center. But I couldn"t tear my gaze away from the sway of her hips, the determined set of her shoulders.

An unfamiliar sensation crept over me, cold and heavy. Guilt. Could I really deliver this resourceful woman to a life of servitude for mere credits?

The very idea made bile rise in my throat. When had I started valuing her more than winning some asinine bet with my brothers?

At last, we reached the nerve center of the mining operation. Dust motes swirled, dancing across a circular room dominated by a bank of control stations. Time had ravaged the organic components, but metal endured.

"Is that a blinking light?" Agatha"s excited voice cut through my reverie as she hurried to investigate.

I frowned at the anomaly. "There"s still some power."

"How is that possible? This place has been abandoned for ages." Her brow furrowed, fingers hovering over the alien controls.

"Korun is immensely powerful," I explained. "Enough to enable faster-than-light travel. If released gradually, it can linger for eons."

Agatha studied the bewildering array of gauges, screens, switches, and dials. "I"m not familiar with this kind of technology," she admitted, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.

The sight sent a jolt of desire straight to my core. Ruthlessly suppressing it, I joined her at the console. "Should be a big yellow button. Ah, here."

She pressed it without hesitation. A low whoop sounded as the central screen flickered to life, illuminating a blocky diagram of the mine. I watched her eyes widen, reflecting the crimson pinpricks of flashing indicators.

"Is that the mine?" She pointed to the glowing schematic, leaning closer. Her scent filled my nostrils, achingly familiar after spending so long in these dank tunnels together.

Swallowing hard, I focused on the flashing zones of red. Some system failure we couldn"t begin to understand. "You"d better copy this quickly," I warned. "No telling how long the power will hold."

"There!" Agatha jabbed a finger at the screen. "That circle. Stairs? Or an elevator shaft, maybe?"

I nodded slowly. It did resemble an exit point, positioned at the terminus of a long shaft. But one of those ominous red signals blocked the path. Foreboding settled like a stone in my stomach.

"Oh no! It"s fading." Desperation tinged her voice as the screen dimmed.

Blurring into action, I moved behind the console and wrenched off an access panel. Sure enough, several dull korun crystals were wired into the circuitry. With precision, I disconnected extraneous leads, diverting every last drop of energy to the main display.

"It"s back!" Agatha crowed triumphantly.

But even the lifeforce of those crystals guttered out before our eyes. "Hurry," I gritted, "this won"t last. The korun"s nearly spent."

Her voice turned desperate. "There"s glowing rocks everywhere! Can"t we use a fresh one?"

Regret curdled in my throat. "These are refined power stones. Unless we find more..." I let the implication hang.

Agatha swore colorfully under her breath, attacking her makeshift map with renewed fervor. "Okay, that circle is pretty much where we"ve been heading, but there"s a jog to the left—no, west. Damn it, I don"t even know which way is up anymore!"

I could only watch helplessly as she sketched, the anemic light fading with each second. Acrid smoke stung my nostrils, the burnt-ozone stench of dying electronics. With a final, petulant flare, the screen went dark.

Agatha held up her incomplete map, awaiting my appraisal. I took it gingerly, tracing the configuration of rooms and passageways. Those angry red lights taunted me from the page, harbingers of what, I couldn"t say. But her cartography skills were impressive.

"Guess we keep walking," I said with more confidence than I felt.

And so we forged ahead.

The inky blackness seemed to magnify our breathing, the scuff of Agatha"s ill-fitting boots. Every so often, I caught sight of parallel grooves worn into the stone underfoot. Probably from service carts, ferrying workers and equipment through these warrens...

Her sigh was explosively loud in the tomb-like silence. "How much farther can this go on? The map showed mine shafts running right alongside the living quarters, but where are the cross-tunnels?"

"If it keeps up like this, we"ll be looking for another place to bunk down." I couldn"t quite keep the suggestive note from my voice. Damn it, now was not the time. Not with freedom so close—if Agatha"s map proved correct.

She turned to face me, a question in her bottomless eyes. I felt flayed open, stripped bare by her searching gaze. Vulnerable.

What was this power she had over me?

Then a sudden, almost imperceptible tremor rippled through the soles of my boots, the barest whisper of shifting rock. Around us, pebbles and dust sifted from the ceiling, tickling my scales as they fell.

From far off in the twisted bowels of the mine, I thought I heard an ominous crack.

Agatha"s eyes went wide. "What was that?"

"A tremor," I said grimly. "Like the one that trapped us before, but not as strong."

"Then we should probably hurry," she said, voice wavering only slightly.

I began to jog, my longer strides forcing her to break into a run. "Agreed. We really should."

One ill-timed quake could seal our fate...

I refused to finish that thought. But scarcely two chambers later, the close-hewn walls fell away, revealing the soaring heights of what could only be the central mine shaft. To our left, rough-cut stone vanished into shadow. To the right, a boneyard of rusted machinery and desiccated rubber littered the uneven floor.

We"d reached the junction at last. Surely, that meant...

"The exit!" Agatha crowed, nearly dancing in place. "It won"t be far now. Just let me update the?—"

"Stop," I heard myself saying. "Please."

She froze mid-scribble, slowly lifting her eyes to mine.

"I need you to know something. Before we go any further." I reached for her.

Movement flickered at the corner of my eye, setting all my senses on high alert. The stealthy patter of pebbles on stone. A dry, rasping susurrus of inhuman origin.

Agatha gasped. "Oh, god, Norsuk—we"re surrounded!"

Clarity crashed over me like ice water. How did I let myself get so distracted? I shifted her behind me, reaching for the knife sheathed at my back. Dozens of yellow eyes glowed from the inky recesses of the cave, growing bolder as they stalked closer.

Not just the creature I"d killed earlier. These were far bigger, hungrier, more vicious.

"The stairs," Agatha hissed, "should be close. Ten yards, maybe."

I hesitated, torn between fight and flight. There had to be a hundred of them, sleek muscles rippling beneath white fur as they skulked ever nearer. My knives, even my speed, couldn"t win against those odds.

But if the exit on her map didn"t exist after all... I wouldn"t let my need endanger her now. Not after I"d finally found something real.

As if scenting my indecision, the lead beast lunged. I whipped my throwing knife from its sheath on pure reflex, the blade sinking to the hilt in its throat with a wet squelch.

It fell writhing, inky blood stippling my face as its shrieks rose to a crescendo. For a heartbeat, I dared hope its death might send the others scattering in fear.

Then the pack tore into their fallen comrade in a feeding frenzy straight from the deepest hells.

My gorge rose as I backed Agatha toward the hypothetical staircase, unwilling to turn my back on the spectacle. The moment"s reprieve wouldn"t last.

"There!" She pointed, her map fluttering forgotten to the dirt. "An archway in the stone. It has to be?—"

A fresh tremor rocked the chamber, far stronger than the last. Cracks shot through the walls, raining debris on our heads. Clumps of stone tumbled from above, crushing beasts as they fell.

Squeals of pain echoed off the rock, chilling my blood. If these tunnels gave way entirely...

Agatha seemed to read my mind, gravel crunching under her boots as she bolted for the exit. I whirled to follow, leaping over felled creatures, the scent of blood and bowels thick in my nose.

Behind us, the beasts gave a collective shriek of fury. Of hunger. Then they charged, an unstoppable tide of teeth and claws.

I urged my burning legs faster, Agatha"s terrified panting drowning out all else. It didn"t matter if we found the stairs now. This whole section was coming down.

We just had to make it far enough not to be buried alive.

The yawning archway loomed blessedly close. Ten feet. Five.

Three—

With an earsplitting crack, the world fell in on itself.