Inherent Fate

by Geanna Culbertson

  By disturbing the bowl of wishing coins I’d set off one of the booby-traps. Now the entire cave and everyone in it were doomed. Affirmation of this came a moment later when a menacing roar pierced the atmosphere and everything began to shake.

  My enemy glanced at his feet where the wishing coins had spilled. The tiny pieces of metal melted into goop then combusted into flames. A thunderous shockwave hit the cavern and threw Arian to the ground. He dropped the lamp and barely avoided rolling into the lava. The quake triggered a ripple effect of more tremors and the cavern started to implode. Stalactites fell like daggers. Lava spewed from the pool and from cracks opening up in the floor. Everything shook with the wrath of a violent beast.

  “What did you do?” Daniel asked as he and I clung on to the edges of our alcove.

  “What Bruce Willis did in Pulp Fiction,” I replied. “Stacked the odds against me, then bet on myself.”

  I raised my fingers to my lips and whistled as loud as possible. If Daniel didn’t think I was crazy before, he definitely must’ve thought so now. And maybe I was ordinarily. But not today. Moments after the whistle, dozens of flying pieces of furniture shot out of the adjacent tunnels into the room and came straight toward me.

  “Get on!” I shouted to Daniel.

  He dove onto a tan loveseat while I leapt onto a lawn chair. It was the pink one from before, and it was all too happy to be of service.

  “Dive!” I yelled.

  The lawn chair was so excited to be included in the game that it practically whinnied. On my command it swooped downwards—avoiding the rocks that fell around us.

  Lacrosse sword.

  My wand transformed. I swung the basket down and scooped up the genie lamp that Arian had dropped.

  I gave the chair a little kick like I would a Pegasus. “Now go, go, go!”

  Daniel and I zoomed over the heads of Arian’s scrambling men and fled through the tunnels. Everything whizzed by in a fiery, dusty blur as we evaded spontaneous spouts of fire, crumbling chunks of cavern, and the massive explosions that erupted each time rocks dropped into the lava.

  Molten ooze was everywhere. By now all the treasure in the treasure rooms had dissipated into it, adding a shimmering gold tint to the tidal waves of lava that pursued us.

  Splashes of gold lava seared the ends of my dress like acid, but I paid them no attention. I had other problems. Some of Arian’s lackeys had managed to hitch rides on their own pieces of furniture. Instead of concentrating on surfing out of here before they were killed, they were continuing to come after me.

  Really? Like they don’t have bigger things to worry about? The cave is collapsing! Perspective, people!

  With my spear, I blocked a futon rider who tried to attack me from the side then parried another man who attempted to stab me from behind with his sword.

  Daniel glanced over his shoulder and saw what was happening. He turned back his loveseat and drew his sword. Together we fended off the attackers for a beat, but we were both so distracted that neither of us noticed the oncoming fork in the path. Without instructions to do otherwise, Daniel’s loveseat took him down the tunnel to the right whereas my lawn chair skidded through a narrow crevice on the left.

  I emerged into another disintegrating cavern. I’d left most of my assailants in the previous room, but I still had one enemy to contend with.

  Somehow Arian and his own lawn chair had caught up with me. He was now hot on my tail. I ordered my lawn chair to turn as he bee-lined toward me. His sword shined maliciously in his hand.

  “Don’t you ever give up?” he shouted, trying to get closer while dodging the falling debris and lava bursts.

  “I could ask you the same thing!” I yelled back.

  Tightening my grip on the chair, I spiraled upwards through a thin opening. Arian followed. I had been holding the lamp, but it was slipping from my fingers. I couldn’t hold onto it and the chair with one hand. And I needed to keep my spear on guard so long as I was being chased by my sword-wielding foe. Something had to give.

  We leveled out in another treasure room consumed almost entirely by lava.

  “Might as well hand over the lamp, Knight!” Arian shouted over the quaking. “You’re going to drop it and I’m going to be there waiting! We both know how this ends!”

  I eyed the lamp.

  “You’re right, Arian! I do know how this ends . . . Right here! In the same exact place it started!”

  Wand.

  I held my wand between my teeth. Using my free hand, I chucked the lamp as hard as I could into the distance. It somersaulted through the air before dropping into the thrashing yellow and orange sea, setting off an explosion that made the entire room resound with rage.

  Arian couldn’t believe it.

  “What have you done?” he shouted as his chair darted to avoid the collapsing ceiling. “That lamp—”

  I grabbed the wand from my teeth as my chair bobbed and weaved.

  “That lamp went back to where it came from!” I called. “Now I suggest you do the same! Because without it and the magic mirror, you won’t be catching me again!”

  Arian signaled his chair to fly toward me. I gave my chair a terse jolt with my foot. “Up!”

  Spear.

  My lawn chair shot straight to the ceiling and I jabbed the edge of my spear into an enormous stalactite that was primed to fall. The impact knocked it loose. As the stalactite plummeted, I dove out of the way and headed for the slight opening at the front of the cavern.

  The stalactite plunged into the lava. Arian had been so concentrated on pursuing me that he didn’t react in time to avoid the devastation that came next. While my chair escaped through the narrow exit, his swerved sideways to evade the eruptions the stalactite caused.

  By the time he managed to gain control of his chair I’d already made it through the fissure, which was immediately sealed off behind me by an avalanche of falling rock.

  Good luck following me through that, Arian.

  Lapellium.

  With Arian taken care of, I clipped my wandpin back to my bra strap and held onto the chair with both hands for the rest of the ride.

  I didn’t know how much time we had before the entire cave came crashing down. Worse still, I had no idea where Daniel was. I tried not to think of all the colorful and violent explanations for what might have happened to him since we’d been separated.

  My lawn chair and I entered the remains of a cavern. After a brief survey, I could see only one tunnel that was still open. We flew toward it as fast as possible. Just before reaching it, the cave roared and released a shower of sharp stones.

  I leapt to the back of my chair as a stalactite slammed onto the front. It created a seesaw effect and I was shot forward into the air. My hands grasped the edge of the tunnel we’d been headed for. Several more stalactites took down the chair and it plunged into the lava.

  I knew the chair would be fine. The Cave of Mysteries was enchanted. Everything in here would reform the next time it rose out of the desert, which—according to legend—was ten years after the last time it’d been sealed shut. I, however, would not reform if I fell into that pool.

  My muscles groaned as I pulled myself onto the ledge of the tunnel.

  The inside of the passage was dark and barely four feet wide. I couldn’t see how far it stretched, but as it was my only available route, I ran into it without hesitating. The entire thing shook, knocking me against the walls like a croquet ball in a drainage pipe. The thick dust and heat slowed me down with each passing step. I turned a corner and crashed into something hard.

  Oh geez, please don’t be a dead end.

  “Knight?”

  “Daniel?” I squinted through the darkness. Joy and relief swept over me in a wave stronger than the lava. “You’re alive!”

  “I wouldn’t be much of hero is I wasn’t.” I knew he was smirking, even if I couldn’t see his face.

  A powerful explosion somewhere close produced an extra large cloud of dust th
at caused us to cough. “What happened to your couch?” I asked between wheezes.

  “Caught on fire. Had to jump. Come on, we’ve got to get out of here!”

  We ran faster as more dust filled our lungs like slow-acting toxin. I was beginning to think we might not make it when the tunnel abruptly opened up. The roof was barely ten feet above our heads. And across the way . . . a miracle.

  We’d found the exit! Seven feet from the ledge where we stood was the entrance we’d originally come through. Or what was left of it anyways.

  The foyer-esque platform still stood. But past that all that remained of the ram’s nasal cavity were three dangling stairs and a few vines that clung to the jagged rock walls beneath them. Everything else was in its final stages of disintegration. A giant pool of lava was filling the cavern fifty feet below.

  Without a moment to lose, Daniel backed up and jumped across the gap between us and the exit. He bridged the distance easily and landed in a crouched position near the stairs. I took several steps back and prepared to do the same. Taking a deep breath, I raced toward the ledge, expecting to cross over the divide just as easily.

  But of course, I didn’t.

  The instant I pushed off the edge, the whole room shook from an explosion. The ill-timed disturbance not only caused the level of lava to rise, it threw off my trajectory—thrusting me away from the intended landing platform.

  I fell through the air. I managed to grab hold of one of the vines drooping beneath the stairs. My hands slipped, causing me to slide down several feet. Thankfully I was able to tighten my grip and keep myself from sinking any lower.

  I hung there for a second—dangling above the rising molten pool that boiled and hissed below. With all the strength I had left, I proceeded to pull myself up the vine, arm over arm. It wasn’t easy. As the cave grumbled the vine swung me around like a pendulum.

  Daniel leaned out over the ledge and stretched his hand so that it was within reach.

  “Knight, give me your hand!”

  I glanced at it, then the lava, then back at him.

  In that moment of hesitation the vine snapped beneath my weight.

  “Knight!”

  I clawed at the wall and was able to clutch onto one of the protruding rocks. I hung on, feet scrabbling furiously until they found a foothold that could bear my weight. The cavern’s vicious trembles increased as I climbed the wall using only cracks and bits of jutting out rock.

  There were no longer any intervals between the cave’s rumblings—it was one constant roar and shake. More and more pieces of ceiling fell loose, splashing into the angry lava below.

  At one point I looked up and saw the tip of a single giant stalactite wobbling above me, still attached to the roof, but not for long. With each vibration it came closer to coming down.

  I was running out of strength and the rock wall was crumbling beneath my fingers, but I struggled on until I made it back to where I’d been before the vine snapped. Daniel’s hand was still outstretched, offering his help. Instead of accepting it, I kept going. I’d already made it this far; scaling a few extra feet on my own was well within my capabilities. At least that’s what I thought until one of my handholds broke loose and for an unbalanced moment I swung out from the wall, holding on by a toe and a hand.

  The lava surged and bubbled beneath me, much closer now. I pulled myself back against the wall and dug my fingers into a crevice in order to keep from falling. A loud cracking noise echoed through the cave, and I glanced up. Like a loose tooth attached only by a sliver of gum tissue, the large stalactite was barely hanging on.

  Daniel, noticing the same thing, called down to me with renewed urgency. “Knight, just give me your hand!”

  I bit my lip but didn’t answer. Instead my eyes darted around for another option while my heart pounded furiously. This was the moment. I had to decide whether I trusted Daniel as much as I trusted myself. I had to make a choice. Could I give up control and surrender to faith that he would come through?

  “Daniel, I—”

  “Crisa.”

  I froze. This was the first time he’d ever used my first name. The shock, and the calm steadiness in his tone—despite the chaos around us—caused me to look up at him.

  “Forget the future. Forget fate. Right here, right now—do you trust me?”

  I looked into his eyes. They were stern but gentle, reassuring yet antagonizing, unyielding and yet so willing to bend for me. And then I knew. I knew like a baby bird knew it could fly when it perched on the edge of its nest. My heart swelled with fire like the lava beneath us.

  I could trust him. Not just right here, not just right now. All the time, completely. Every part of me—head and heart—was suddenly cleansed by the truth. I could trust him. I would trust him. I did trust him.

  With a rapid thrust I boosted myself up as far as I could on the wall and reached out for Daniel. My fingers were about to touch his when my foothold crumbled from the pressure. I started to scream, but Daniel grabbed my hand just in time and heaved me onto the landing.

  “Thanks,” I panted.

  “You’re welcome,” he replied. “Now move!”

  We ran to the exit right as the last stalactite shook free. While I didn’t see it come down, the tidal wave of lava it caused consumed everything behind us like a malevolent belch. Daniel and I slid out of the ram’s nostrils just before they descended beneath the roiling red sand. By the time we reached the bottom of the dune in a sandy heap, everything was calm. The Cave of Mysteries was gone and we were alone.

  Daniel and I lay on the sand, trying to take a normal breath.

  “That was . . .” I panted, then coughed up some sand.

  “Yeah. It was,” Daniel responded.

  I checked the inside of my boot to make sure our prize was still with me. The magical flower remained tucked safely inside, undamaged despite the tight quarters with my calf. Relief flooded through my body before the shock began to sink in.

  For a long minute, Daniel and I lay there staring up at the night. The stars glowed brightly. The reddish tint to the sky made the moon look pinkish but did not diminish its shine. As horrid as the Valley of Strife had been, in that moment everything seemed beautiful.

  Once I caught my breath I sat up, as did Daniel. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, and I saw slight traces of blood from a fresh gash near the crown of his hairline.

  “Hey, are you—”

  “I’m fine.”

  “But you—”

  “Knight.”

  “All right, all right.” I held up my hands in response to his glower. “Changing the subject . . . Daniel, I want to say that I’m . . . Well, what you did in there, I just—”

  “Yeah, you’re welcome.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Someone’s feeling a bit presumptuous. Who says I was about to thank you?”

  “Weren’t you?”

  “Um, no,” I lied.

  But all Daniel had to do was look at me and the truth escaped through the smile in the corners of my eyes.

  He laughed and rose to his feet. “No, I guess you weren’t,” he said, playing along. “You already did that in the cave and getting one thank you out of you per millennia is an accomplishment. There’s no way you could ever do it again. You’re not capable of it.”

  I jumped to my feet, accepting the challenge. “Oh really? Well then, how’s this: Thank you, Daniel. Thank you oh so very much for saving my life, helping me when I needed you, and proving that I could trust you. I truly, deeply, and oh so sincerely appreciate it.”

  He smirked. “You’ll do anything to prove me wrong, won’t you?”

  “Maybe.” I smirked back. “Or maybe I really mean it.”

  A beat passed between us.

  “So you got the flower?” Daniel asked abruptly.

  “Yup.” I nodded. “But I wouldn’t celebrate yet. We have to find the others and I have no idea how. I don’t think it’s wise for us to sit around here anymore. If Arian knew
where we were, so might some of Nadia’s other henchmen. We can’t just wait to see if our friends show up.”

  “Maybe we won’t have to,” Daniel said, pointing to the top of a nearby dune.

  Four silhouettes were framed against the moonlight. My first thought was of our missing friends. But then I did the math.

  Blue, SJ, and Jason—that’s three. Who is the fourth?

  I squinted through the distance, the darkness, and the wishful thinking.

  “Aw, come on!” I groaned when discovery set in. “How did they still make it out? And before us too? Like that’s fair.”

  “It’s time to go, princess,” Arian, with three men at his side, called from atop the dune.

  “Not likely,” I snapped in response. “In fact, you know what, Arian? Get over here. You have no magic mirror, no lamp, and no army. All you have is a sword, three guards, and a persistency that borders on psychotic. So please, come down and try to take me. I’d love nothing more than to tear you a new one.”

  “Tempting offer.” Arian shrugged. “But I grow tired of chasing you, Crisanta Knight. So for a change of pace this time you’re going to come to me.”

  “And why would she do that?” Daniel interjected as he drew his sword.

  Arian gestured to one of his remaining men. “Because, hero, I have this.”

  The lackey vanished behind the dune then returned moments later with something in his hand. He passed it to Arian, who tossed it down to me.

  The fabric tumbled through the air then fell into my grasp. It was a cloak . . . a blue cloak. I narrowed my eyes as hatred and worry twisted within me. Arian had Blue.

  “Where is she?” I growled.

  “I think you mean where are they?” Arian corrected. “Turn yourself in, Knight. Or all three of your little protagonist friends will be slaughtered before sunrise.”

  Daniel leaned in close to me. “When this is over, if you don’t want to kill him yourself, I’d be more than happy to do it for you.”

  “Noted,” I replied. I tilted my head toward him. “You sure you’re up for this, Daniel? It’s not too late to abandon ship.”