As my unseen rescuer dragged me by the hand through the now-still water, my body collapsed from exhaustion. I no longer even had the energy to shiver. All I could feel was the cold and the pain. The few parts of my body that had not been either cut by rocks or badly bruised hurt from just the tension. Even the trauma balloon in my head seemed deflated by how tired and worn I felt. Fortunately for the yet-unseen person pulling me along, I was still in the water to be carried easily.
After a few minutes, I felt myself being pushed from the water—onto a stone platform. The way I was rolled left me facing the water. So I saw when a glow brightened under the water. It was a soft, aquamarine color that gradually outlined the shape of a person with her torso now over the surface.
The woman was tall and particularly slender. Straight, brown hair cascaded down the front of her face—partially covering her small breasts. Her facial features were narrow and sharp. Most prominent on it, however, were bone ridges. One curved over each eye--parallel with and over her spiked eyebrows. Then an even greater bone crest that rose from her forehead like a crown. What was more, there were fragile-looking fins that went from right below her earlobe to her neck. It took me a moment to also notice the glowing patterns on her skin, horizontal rings of textureless light that went all the way down her body.
I half-expected to look down at the water and see a fish-tail. Instead, however, the bottom half of her body dangled with a long, thick appendage that seemed to wrap around some rocks beneath us. She was ... like a half-seahorse!
At any other time, I would have found myself in awe of her. But, at that moment, I had gone through too much for my body to feel any kind of excitement. I tried to whisper my thanks to her, lifelessly and only because I knew how much I owed her. But even my jaw refused to move. Before I could do or say anything, I had lost consciousness.
-O-
I awoke to a hand gently running through my hair. I found that my head was on a surface that was warm, humid, and smooth. It took me a moment to realize that I was resting on the lap of the woman who had saved me. As I stirred, she darted her attention down at me—seeming a little uneasy. I didn't know if she expected me to scream or flea or even fight. But, fortunately or unfortunately, I still had vivid memories of what had happened.
"Thank you," I whispered, meaning the words even as they came out clearly weighed by my exhaustion.
"You did most of the work,"
she replied, her lips not moving to make the sounds.
"I just waited at the weak spot of the current to pull you free."
I thought about this for a moment, and then shook my head. "I don't think I could have ... by myself."
The woman bit her lower lip, clearly a little uncomfortable.
As much as it would have made me feel more comfortable to continue thanking her, the last thing I wanted was to make her feel awkward after all she'd done. Not just for saving my life, but for being there when I had felt so alone and like I was going to die. So I continued to rest in her lap, hoping at least that small amount of trust and comfort with her could communicate a bit of what I wanted to say. "I'm Lilly," I said, trying to change the subject.
"I am Zolreya,"
she replied, regaining a bit more confidence with this change of subject.
"You are the first creature to have fallen down here who can speak. Most have been simpler creatures, like fish but with legs and fur."
That reminded me of our original mission ... and of Daava who doubtlessly thought I was dead. I tested my body a bit by moving my leg but doing so felt like fire. There was no way I would be able to meet back up with the group for a while, much less find whatever screaming animal had been down here. Oddly, I had not heard the wailing sound for a while.
So I asked, "Have you seen an animal like that? My friends and I were sent to find something that sounded lost down here."
At this, Zolreya faced away from me.
Did that mean ... "Were you the one crying out?" I asked, suddenly much more concerned for her.
Zolreya exhaled heavily; her eyes began to water.
Shakily, I forced my battered arm up towards my head and rested it on her elbow. When I did, I was able to see, even by the dim glow of her body, that my hand was swollen and covered in a black bruise. It was hard to look at. I swallowed and asked, "Why were you crying out like that?"
Still not facing me, Zolreya finally said,
"I have been trapped here for ... a long time. I was brought in by that current. It nearly killed me as it pressed my body against the metal bars that lead back out to the ocean. That is what waits after the weak spot in the current-where I pulled you from. I only barely managed to pull free after many hours. Had I been a land-creature, I would have surely drowned."
"So you were calling for help?" I asked, still somewhat confused by her response.
Zolreya shook her head.
"There is no way out for me. For land-creatures, it is possible to run past the skeletal creatures that have been amassing in the cave. They would catch me crawling long before I could ever get out of the cave, much less all the way back to the ocean."
"Then you were screaming because ..."
Zolreya's cheeks became alit with the same blue glow as her body. She gave another heavy exhale and said,
"Because my body has betrayed me. Though I have no mate, something inside me began the process of procreation. I can only assume because of the stress from having nearly died. It has happened to others, rarely, but ... for it to happen in this situation, with no mate, is beyond cruel. And it is also painful when the process begins but does not end. Surgeons can remedy this problem; but without them, my body is trapped midway between the cycle. The pain was why I was ... crying out. And I'm ... so sorry it brought you here."
"No, that's not your fault," I said, adamantly. I still didn't understand all this, and I didn't want to seem rude by asking too many personal questions. For now, the important thing was that we needed to get out of here. It didn't matter how scared I was; terrified Lilly and the rest of me were on the same side when it came to getting out of these caves as quickly as possible.
I tried to think. The first issue we had was how badly my body was injured. I could focus on calling out to the others and hoping that they would find us. But that would require them to then carry two people ... past an army of boners ... which would be alerted to our presence by my shouting. And that was assuming they could even hear us. I certainly didn't hear them anymore ... and I doubted any of them to be the type to just leave me behind.
Only as an afterthought did it occur to me that I was a student of sorcery. Though very much a novice, there were at least two spells I knew. Minor shapeshifting did not seem particularly helpful here. But I had learned the most basic magic any warrior should know-healing.
I reached my battered arm away from Zolreya's elbow, from when I had tried to comfort her, and reached down to my breast. However, my hand was too shaky and battered to even grasp the metal cup and pull it aside. I began to doubt that I would really be able to find myself horny enough in my current condition to perform my magic ... especially since I had to be aroused for the magic in my healing milk to be at all potent.
A wave of discouragement hit me, and it had a cascading effect. It reminded me of having failed to be of any help during the battle, of the terror of falling alone into the cave, of wondering whether I would let death take me rather than to continue feeling the unbearable terror that had finally found its way to this world to find me.
