-How much farther to this gorge...
Lira said it almost slumping in the saddle. Her voice was weak, almost plaintive, and she didn't even open her eyes when she spoke.
Verd stayed silent, but he was thinking the same thing. The heat had become unbearable with the risen sun. It hung directly overhead, and the sand under the lizards' claws had heated so much that the air above it trembled, creating mirages. In the distance, at the very horizon, lakes seemed to appear, but Verd knew. The wasteland plays with them like a cat with a mouse.
Over these few days, he had noticed how his skin, always pale from life in the mines, from eternal darkness, from the absence of sun, had darkened. It had peeled on his shoulders, on his forearms, and even on his nose. His hands were flaking, his lips cracked, and every sip of water seemed insufficient.
'I think I'm going to die soon. Feel like a snake shedding its skin...'
Arktia, however, hadn't changed at all. Her skin remained as pale as on the first day of their meeting, as if the sun didn't even dare touch her.
-Just a little further! - Raine shouted.
His voice sounded cheerful, but Verd noticed that even his lizard was walking slower than in the morning.
Lira drew level with Verd. Her lizard walked easily, almost silently, its paws stepping softly on the sand, not even raising dust. Verd noticed that Lira wasn't holding the reins. She only placed her hands on the animal's neck, and it obeyed. Her fingers were relaxed, as if she wasn't controlling, but simply touching.
-Aren't you afraid she'll throw you off? - Verd asked, watching her hands slide over the scales.
-You better worry about yourself, - she said tiredly. Her voice was quiet, lifeless, and she didn't even open her eyes.
They rode in silence. The silence was broken only by the creak of sand under the lizards' claws and the occasional clatter of stones that got in their way. The sun rose higher, and the heat became heavier. The air was thick as syrup. Verd felt sweat streaming down his back.
-Hey... talk to me...
Lira was already lying on the lizard in an unnatural pose, her body stretched along the animal's neck, her arms hanging down, her fingers almost touching the sand. Her voice was weak, as if she were falling asleep on the move.
-You better worry about yourself.
Lira clicked her tongue displeased and turned her head toward Verd.
-If this keeps up, I'll just fall asleep... - She paused to take a breath. - Don't you know that elves have a very hard time waking up?
-How would I know that? Do you think I see elves every day? - he answered, feeling his own fatigue beginning to press on his shoulders.
The guy looked into the distance. Raine and Brun were gradually moving away from them, their figures becoming smaller, merging with the haze over the sand. Two dark dots on an endless yellow canvas. At the same time, Lira was gradually falling behind Verd, her lizard, which had apparently known her for a long time, understood that its mistress was sleeping and slowed down. The animal now walked slowly, trying not to disturb her sleep.
'What a loyal monster...' - Verd smirked.
He looked over his shoulder at Arktia. Her eyes were closed, and she was still lying on his back, her head resting between his shoulder blades. Her breathing was even, almost imperceptible, and she didn't even notice that he was soaked with sweat.
'Did she fall asleep?' - Verd was surprised.
He was surprised. In his memory, this was the first time she had slept. In all the days of their journey, he had never once seen her sleeping. Never once seen her breathing falter, never once seen her allow herself even a second of weakness. She was always on guard. Always ready to stand between him and the world.
But a few seconds later he returned to reality. Sweat streamed down his face, flooding his eyes, leaving salty trails on his cheeks.
'Something tells me if she keeps lying on me, I'll just turn into a puddle...' - the first thing he thought, imagining how Arktia would be angry when she woke up.
***
Finally reaching the gorge, the sun was tilting toward the horizon.
'Seriously? We spent the whole day getting to the gorge?'
The gorge opened before them suddenly. The ground simply dropped away, descending into a deep crack whose edges were lost in a bluish haze. The walls of the gorge were almost vertical, dark, with veins of quartz that glimmered faintly even in the weak daylight. The wind blowing from below was cold, sharp, and unexpected, contrasting with the scorching air of the wasteland.
Verd stood at the edge and looked down. Somewhere there, in the depths of the walls, that same blue light pulsed that he had seen in the morning. Now, in the evening, it was barely noticeable, but no less beautiful.
'Well, that's deep.'
-Damn, now I'm all wet...
Arktia slowly approached and stood beside him, looking at her wet clothes. She ran her hand over her sleeve, and the fabric stuck to her fingers. Her face was calm, as always, but Verd noticed how the corners of her lips dropped displeased.
-Um... sorry... - Verd said, looking away.
The guy looked into the gorge once more. Somewhere at its bottom, two small monsters were fighting. Their silhouettes were blurred by distance, but he saw them lunging at each other, raising clouds of dust.
-By the way, why are we going this way? - he asked.
Arktia stretched as if after sleep, and her spine cracked. The sound was sharp, loud, as if something had broken.
-There's an old dwarven tunnel down there. The only safe path through this part of the wasteland. At least, that's what Raine said.
-Wouldn't it be faster to go over the top than to look for this tunnel?
-Because of the recent spiritual energy discharge, there's a high chance of running into that same Fiend, - Raine approached from behind, holding the reins of his lizard. - Despite the fact that your teacher is at the Guardian level, we won't make it. Even if we run.
'Guardian?' - Verd thought pensively. - 'Did she lie to them about her rank too?'
Verd froze for a moment, looking into Arktia's eyes. He clearly understood her motives and understood why she was lying to Raine and the others. Why she was hiding her rank and why she kept a trump card up her sleeve, not pulling it out until the last moment. It was cold and correct, like everything she did. But there was a question he couldn't find an answer to. Had she lied to him too, or was he the only one allowed to see the edge of this mask. Or maybe he was just like everyone else, just another who believed and relaxed and at the right moment would turn away and not have time to turn back.
-What about the lizards? I don't think the tunnel will be that huge, - Verd said, pushing the intrusive thoughts aside.
-They're smarter than they seem, - Brun grumbled something under his breath, adjusting the harness.
-Smarter?
-Sand lizards can easily move under the sand, - Raine began. - As Brun said, they're quite intelligent, so they know the way.
'I don't understand. Doesn't the fact that they have intelligence make them dangerous?' - Verd fixed his gaze on the lizard near him. Soon he just sighed. - 'A monster is a monster. Or am I wrong about something?'
-Okay. But how do we get to the bottom of the gorge?
-We just jump, - Arktia said.
At that moment, Verd felt her sharply grab him and, as if nothing had happened, jump into the gorge. The cold wind burned his face and made him squint, even without seeing the light.
-What are you doing?! - Verd shouted, gripping her neck tightly.
The wind whistled in his ears, the ground flew from under his feet, and he felt his stomach rising somewhere to his throat. Seeing Arktia's calm face through the veil over his eyes, he once again confirmed one thought.
'I'll get stronger and immediately ditch her!'
-Relax. I won't drop you, - the girl said.
She extended her hand. Slowly, as if dipping her fingers into invisible water. Verd felt the air around them thicken, become denser, as if they were falling not into emptiness, but into thick syrup. The wind still whistled in his ears, but the ground was no longer approaching with that terrifying speed.
Arktia didn't look down. Her eyes were half-closed, and her lips barely moved.
Verd felt it as pressure on his skin and bones. As if reality itself resisted for a moment, and then yielded.
The world didn't want to slow them down. Verd understood this intuitively, with his whole body. As if an invisible hand was trying to unclench Arktia's grip, throw them off and return the fall to its former speed.
The pair landed softly and almost weightlessly. Arktia's boots touched the stone first, and only then did she lower Verd.
-You... - he began, searching for words. - What was that?
Arktia removed her hand from his back. Slowly, as if checking that he was standing firmly. Making sure Verd wouldn't fall, she turned away and adjusted her cloak, as if nothing special had happened.
-The fall, - she said. - We were falling and I just slowed it down.
-No. - Verd stepped toward her, still feeling the trembling in his knees. - The air became dense. I felt like the world... like something didn't want to let us through.
At that moment, the others jumped down after them. Brun descended using his axe, embedded in the walls of the gorge. Each strike echoed, ricocheting between the walls like a cornered beast. Raine and Lira jumped like Arktia. At the very last moment, before falling, Lira's bow glowed, and a stream of wind formed beneath them, stopping the fall. It caught them like a palm catches a falling leaf and lowered them to the ground.
Arktia sat on a stone, took a flask from her ring, and took a sip.
-We'll talk about this later, - she threw out quickly.
It was barely noticeable, but Verd noticed drops of sweat on her forehead.
-You could have warned me, - he said.
-I don't like warning. People start to fear. And when they fear, they do stupid things.
Verd clicked his tongue, crossing his arms over his chest.
-One more sound like that and you'll train without sleep, - she said through her teeth. - If I had told you, you would have grabbed onto me and screamed.
She said it calmly, as if describing the weather. Verd wanted to object that that was exactly what had just happened, but he couldn't find what to say.
The air at the bottom of the gorge was heavy. It pressed on his shoulders, on his chest, on his lungs, as if an invisible hand were squeezing them from inside. Verd breathed raggedly, frequently, but every breath came with difficulty. As if the air were too thick, too dense, too alien. Arktia stood beside him, her face calm, she looked at him. Soon she placed her hand on his back, and the pressure began to ease. Slowly, gradually, as if she were taking part of his weight onto herself.
-Try not to go far from me.
The walls of the canyon rose high, almost vertical, dark, with veins of blue light that pulsed in time with his heartbeat. The stones underfoot were sharp, covered with a thin layer of dust that rose with every step and slowly settled back. Somewhere in the distance, water dripped, rare, heavy drops that fell from an invisible height and shattered on the stone, leaving dark wet spots. The sound was rhythmic, hypnotic, like a metronome counting down time to something Verd didn't want to know.
Raine stood slightly to the side, his sword at the ready, but he didn't draw it from its sheath. Just placed his hand on the hilt and looked into the darkness. Brun was fussing with his axe, checking the blade without even looking around. Lira sat on her haunches, hugging her knees, and looked at the blue veins on the ground. Her bow lay beside her, arrows scattered on the ground, and she was sorting through them, but doing it slowly, as if reluctantly. As if her thoughts were somewhere far away.
-You don't look well, - Verd said, looking away.
Lira slowly turned to him and gathered the lying arrows.
-I told you, elves have a very hard time waking up, - her voice was very quiet. - And just... some kind of bad premonition.
Verd looked at her long ears, which twitched slightly when she turned her head. And at her light hair, escaped from the ponytail and fallen on her face. He tried not to pay attention to her words, attributing it all to ordinary drowsiness.
-How long will the path through the tunnel take? - Verd asked.
-I don't know, - Raine answered without turning around. - Arktia?
She stood by the wall, touching the blue veins with her fingers. Her hand moved slowly, as if she were reading something written on the stone.
'Can you really learn something by touching stone?'
The light pulsed under her fingers, responding to the touch like a living being that recognized a foreign hand. Verd watched this and felt a chill run down his spine. Not from the cold, but from the feeling that someone was watching him. In his head, Lira's fleeting words immediately surfaced.
'Don't think about it. If you dwell on it, it will definitely come true.'
Finally, Arktia gave an answer:
-An hour, - she said. - Maybe two.
She removed her hand and turned to the group. The light on the wall slowly faded, as if regretting that she was leaving.
-All we can do is hope.
She turned and walked toward the exit of the crevice, where the tunnel began.
-Hope? - Brun asked.
Verd watched her go, at her back, at her hands, which she had finally pulled out of her pockets, and thought one thing: if only Lira's fears wouldn't come true.
-That we'll be faster than the monsters.