What Lies Beyond the Veil (Of Flesh & Bone, #1)(59)
Caelum veered toward the rocky cliff face we’d been paralleling and looked for something through the darkness. “Here,” he said, taking my hand and pulling me to follow him. The narrow cave entrance we approached was almost too small for him to fit through, as well as opening at my eye level.
He grasped me around the waist, lifting me up to it while I fought back the urge to squeal. I grasped the ledge, pulling myself in and hugging one side of the entrance so that he could hoist himself up and in smoothly. He pulled his short dagger from the sheath on his thigh, rising to his feet as he hunched forward to fit through the tunnel and pass by me. I stood up behind him, letting my body unfold to full height in the enclosed space. Following close behind, I tried to remember to give him enough room to maneuver in the event that something attacked us.
It didn’t seem likely in such a small passage, but who knew what it connected to within the mountains. Cave beasts were a very real concern in the Hollow Mountains, and not something I ever wanted to encounter. I’d rather the Mist Guard ran me through than face the ordeal of being eaten alive while foot-long claws shredded me into ribbons.
We made our way down the small tunnel until it widened and the cave got tall enough for Caelum to stand to his full height in front of me. With the increase in size, my worry over beasts increased. Oblivious to my misgivings, he stepped out of the tunnel, dropping down a few steps into a cavern that resembled a room. Across from the tunnel where I lingered, another, wider tunnel threatened, as if an ominous being in itself. It was big enough for the cave beasts to come charging through, I thought. I’d never seen one, but one would have to be enormous not to fit.
“Wait here,” Caelum said, hauling himself back up into the tunnel alongside me.
“Wait, no!” I protested, spinning to follow him.
“Stay right here, and you’ll be safe. I’m just gathering a few pieces of wood for a fire to keep you warm,” he said, touching his lips to my forehead briefly before he darted off, leaving me gaping after him until I spun to stare down into the cave opening.
Without the light of the moon and stars above my head, the only hint of light came through the tunnel at my back and from the glowing rocks down the tunnel on the opposite side of me. I couldn’t see anything aside from those two spaces, feeling the vast size of the mouth of the cave more than I saw it.
Anything could be lurking down there, waiting for us to walk right into a trap. I counted the seconds as they passed, waiting with bated breath for Caelum to return.
What if he left me?
I couldn’t stand the thought of being on my own, completely alone as I tried to evade the Wild Hunt. I didn’t stand a chance without him, and we both knew it.
“Caelum?” I hissed, my voice echoing down the silence in the tunnel.
“Miss me, my star?” he asked, the shadow of his broad form finally reappearing at the entrance of the cave. He hurried through it, wood piled in his arms as he passed me and dropped down into the large space without hesitation.
“What if it isn’t safe?” I asked, staying in my little enclosed tunnel.
“Nothing has been here for a long while,” he said, striding toward the wall between the two tunnels. He dropped the wood on the ground, the clatter of pieces striking against the stone beneath his feet echoing through the space.
Nothing moved in the moments that followed the noise, nothing struck him or ate him while I waited.
I dropped down, bending my knees to absorb the impact as my boots slapped against the rock. I stumbled toward him, squinting to see through the darkness, until I felt him at my side. The sound of metal scraping against metal erupted through the room, the sparks from his flint glowing against the wood as he tried to get a fire going.
“Where did you manage to find dry wood?” I asked, thinking of the snow outside. The thought of an entire cold season without a store of fire wood made me shiver, knowing that even though we’d been lucky tonight, the nights in our future probably wouldn’t be so fortunate.
“The snow hasn’t had time to soak into the ground or the fallen trees just yet. We’ll be warm tonight, at least,” he answered as the sparks caught on the wood. Light filled the space, giving me my first glance at the cave we would call our home for the night.
Whatever Caelum had felt about this cave, he was right. There were no signs of life or any indication that anything had so much as twitched within it recently. He nurtured the fire until it was crackling happily in front of us, the tunnels providing an escape for the smoke.
As soon as that was finished, he leaned back against the cave wall and sighed as the warmth sank into his chilled frame. I moved to sit near him, letting the flames chase away the worst of the chill. Hunger made my stomach pang, but it was far too dark and the weather too cold for us to do anything about it until the morning.
Caelum heard my stomach growl, chuckling as he let his eyes drift closed. “I’ll set some traps first thing in the morning and see if we can catch some breakfast before we get moving for the day.”
“Okay,” I murmured, watching as he readjusted his frame to try to get more comfortable.
“Get some sleep, Estrella,” Caelum murmured, laying on his back on the cave floor. He tossed his arms over his head, forming a pillow with his forearms. I lay on my side and huddled in on myself, facing the cave opening with the fire between me and whatever might come for me.