CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE DEMON KING WHO WAITED FOR HER
by C.G.
The fire roared like a living beast, swallowing the mouth of the cave in red fury.
Smoke filled the air, choking and blinding, and panic rippled through Linah's people as heat pressed in from all sides. The flames crawled across stone and shadow, hungry and merciless. Lyold's laughter echoed faintly from outside, cruel and victorious, already celebrating their deaths.
But the ancestors had not abandoned them.
As the fire closed in, the ground beneath their feet trembled. Ancient symbols carved into the cave walls began to glow with a soft blue light. The njuzu spirits whispered through the smoke, their voices calm and commanding.
This way.
The stone wall behind them cracked open, slowly, painfully, revealing a narrow passage bathed in cold, silver light. Wind rushed through it like a breath from another world.
"Move!" Mako shouted.
Mako's uncles ushered the wounded through first. Lisah called upon the spirits, holding the passage open as the flames clawed closer.
Linah took one step forward—and then her strength failed her.
The power she had unleashed, the healing, the battle, the fire… it was too much.
Her body crumpled.
"LINAH!"
Mako caught her before she hit the ground.
Her skin was burning hot, her breathing shallow, her eyes already closed. Fear unlike anything he had ever known tore through him. He gathered her into his arms, holding her as if letting go would shatter her forever.
"I've got you," he whispered desperately. "Stay with me."
With Linah unconscious in his arms, Mako ran through the passage just as the wall sealed itself behind them, cutting off the fire and Lyold's screams. The cave collapsed inward, burying the flames and sealing their escape.
They had survived.
But Linah lay still.
They hid deep within the forest, far from Lyold's reach. Three days passed.
Three long, torturous days.
Linah did not wake.
Mako refused to leave her side. He laid her gently on a bed of animal skins and soft leaves, keeping her warm through the cold nights. He cleaned the soot from her skin, wiped the blood from her lips, and spoke to her even when she could not answer.
He fed her drops of enchanted water. He prayed to ancestors he had once cursed. He begged.
"I'm here," he whispered over and over. "You didn't cross worlds to die here. Not now. Not again."
Sometimes he held her hand for hours, pressing his forehead against her palm, breathing in her scent as if it were the only thing anchoring him to life.
He had faced war without fear. He had ruled kingdoms stained with blood.
But losing her terrified him more than death ever could.
While Mako watched over her body, Linah drifted somewhere else.
She stood barefoot in a place that felt both warm and sorrowful.
The air smelled of river water and wildflowers. Mist curled around her ankles as soft singing filled the space—low, mournful, familiar.
"Mother?"
The word left her lips before she realized it.
Ahead of her, through the fog, stood a woman with gentle eyes and long dark hair flowing like water. Her presence was soothing, powerful, and unbearably sad. She wore white cloth that shimmered faintly, as if woven from moonlight.
Linah's heart ached.
"I know you," Linah whispered. "I've always known you."
The woman smiled, tears glistening in her eyes.
"My child," she said softly. "You have grown strong."
Linah took a step forward, but the ground beneath her shimmered, unstable.
"Why do I feel like I've lost you my whole life?" Linah asked. "Why does my heart hurt when I think of you?"
The woman reached out but did not touch her.
"Because blood remembers," she replied. "And love never truly dies."
Images flickered around them—water flowing over stones, a river at dusk, hands reaching for each other and being torn apart. Linah clutched her chest as fragments of memory tried to surface, sharp and painful.
"Tell me who I am," Linah begged. "Tell me why everyone fears my power."
The woman's expression changed. Fear crossed her face—not for herself, but for Linah.
"There are truths you are not ready to carry," she said urgently. "And enemies who would kill you for knowing them."
"Mother—"
"Listen to me," the woman interrupted, her voice firm now. "You must wake up. He needs you."
Linah felt herself being pulled backward, away from the warmth, away from her mother.
"Wait!" Linah cried.
"Don't leave me!"
The woman's voice echoed as the mist swallowed her whole.
"When the river calls your name, you will remember everything."
Darkness rushed in.
On the third night, as the moon climbed high, Mako felt it.
Linah's fingers twitched in his grasp.
He froze, afraid to breathe.
"Linah?" he whispered.
Her brow furrowed, lips parting as if she were trying to speak. A faint sound escaped her throat—a breath, a name, a memory.
"M… Mako…"
His heart nearly stopped.
Tears burned his eyes as he leaned closer, hope and terror warring inside him.
"Wake up," he pleaded softly. "Please."
But Linah's eyes did not open.
Instead, the bracelet on her wrist began to glow—brighter than it ever had before.
And far away, beyond forest and cave, Lyold lifted his head suddenly, sensing the shift in power.
He smiled.
End of Chapter Fifteen