Free Dead Silence by T.G. Ayer Page B

pain into my hands. I studied my knuckles, skin broken and red and raw. And bloody.
    I sighed. I was being selfish,
    Even if Joshua didn't need me, up above the world was in turmoil and people needed help. I would find another time, later on, to lick my wounds.
    I thrust my wings and moved upward, beginning to gain speed as the chasm widened. As I went, I scanned the ravine left, then right, and just as I turned my head to look up something strange glinted in the corner of my vision.
    A sword, stuck between the two sides of the chasm, like a bridge going from one side to the other. A sword still within the solid leather of its scabbard, a scabbard still buckled to the waist of a warrior who was suspended in the air, saved only by the hand-woven leather of his belt.
    And though he had his back to me, I recognized him even from this distance.
    Joshua.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     
    "Joshua?" I called tentatively, hoping he'd turn to me and answer with some smart-ass comment. But he didn't move.
    I glided toward him, flying underneath to gauge his position, then rising up in front of him. His gorgeous green eyes were shut, his beautiful face bruised, skin raw and purple with broken vessels. He'd probably smacked into the sides as he fell and I didn't dare to imagine how many broken bones he'd sustained.
    The side of his face and his head gleamed with fresh blood and I could make out broken tissue and a gash in his scalp revealing the white of his skull. He wasn't bleeding badly but a knock on the head that would bust the skin open could have also caused a concussion.
    I moved toward him, scanning the rest of his body but with the way he was hanging limply, head and arms dangling, pulled down by gravity, it was hard to tell if more bones weren't broken.
    I'd have to risk moving him. Otherwise I'd be waiting here, doubting my next move until the ravine decided to close in on us. If the quake hit again we were both screwed.
    With that thought, I wrapped my arms around his waist, allowing his head to fall on my shoulder, then began to glide upward slowly. I didn't want to move too fast and end up jarring him. The sword followed him, simply lifting off the cracks it had been wedged in, and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the irony.
    Glancing up I wondered how he was still alive after such a long fall. So many warriors had died and yet he survived. Above him the chasm was wide from the surge, all the way to just above our heads. He must have fallen straight down, his descent stopped only when the chasm narrowed enough for his sword to stop his fall.
    The trip to the surface seemed to take forever but the only thing keeping me going was the comforting thud of Joshua's heartbeat against my chest. Tears sprang into my eyes again as relief flooded my veins, giving me the push to get to the surface. I was slowly losing energy what with all flying around for the last couple hours, not to mention being drained of my blood, and being poisoned. I had to push my wings, thrust harder to move upward.
    And then the walls of the cavern began to tremble. Rocks and sand began fell, sending clouds of dust billowing out around me. The earth groaned and a low roar emanated from beneath me, as if the center of the earth was howling in agony.
    Or in fury.
    Worse, I felt a strange pull, as if gravity had increased tenfold, attracting me more to the depths of the cavern that to the surface. But I fought against it.
    I flapped my wings, forcing them to move harder, to work against the pull. Perspiration dripped down my back and beaded my forehead and neck. And still I thrust upward, slowly gaining momentum, slowly pulling away from the strange force that worked to drag me down.
    The strange noise echoed around us, so unearthly that the hair on the back of my head rose pin-straight, while the skin on my entire body pebbled with goosebumps. It sounded like some kind of beast lurked within the depths of the ravine, crying out his anger