A Fairy Tale With Two

Chapter 23

     Rain flooded around them, making it nearly impossible to see the black rocks ahead. The stone had become perilously slippery, so they had to move slowly and together to prevent anyone falling.

      Kaden peered around a rock to see a sheer drop off just behind them. His mouth went dry as his foot slipped over slick stone, and he let out a shout of surprise. A hand caught his shirt collar, and Aliyah pulled him back to his feet.

      "Easy. That fall will kill you," Aliyah told him darkly, "Stay over here with us. If Rowan gets cursed again, we'll need you anyway."

      "I can't see anything!" Kaizen shouted over the roaring thunder. They were momentarily blinded by a flash of lightning, which was followed by a deafening crash of thunder that shook the mountain.

       Aliyah caught Isaiah by the arm as his foot slipped over slick stone, and he nearly pulled her down with him. "Hey, careful! Find a stable spot and hold on!"

        "There isn't a stable spot," the stone beneath Kaizen's hand broke free from the softening soil, and he would've fallen if Kaden hadn't steadied him. He slicked rain-soaked hair back from his eyes, and he looked up into the rain clouds, "Oh man..."

          Aliyah looked in the direction he was facing, and realized the rumbling and shaking of the mountain had not stopped after the boom of thunder. It was continuing, jarring boulders from their places. And she saw what Kaizen was looking at.

         The roar in the mountains was coming from the hundreds and thousands of huge and small boulders alike, each and everyone cascading down the mountain towards them. They barely had a minute until the stones hurtling towards them would smash into them. Best case scenario- they were knocked off of the mountain and plunged into the perilous pit below. Worst case scenario- they would be smashed beneath the hundreds of tons of rocks and be obliterated to dust.

       "Just give us a break!" Aliyah shouted at the sky, raising a fist in both anger and exasperation. She turned to the others, pointing at the avalanche roaring towards them, "We have no place to run to, so does anyone have any good ideas?"

      "We're dead," Kaden moaned, his eyes locked onto the black rocks cascading down the mountain towards them. The heavy rain made him blink fast, and each time his eyes opened, the avalanche seemed much closer.

        "I meant a good idea," Aliyah said snidely, then the ground shuddered beneath them. They nearly all fell, but Isaiah landed on his side, keeping his eyes locked on something in the darkness.

          "Kaizen," Isaiah grabbed his king's wrist, "Trust me, okay?"

          "Hard to trust a man that filled your bed with spiders as a joke. I was haunted for years, dude."

         "Fair point," Isaiah shrugged, then pulled Kaizen forward, spinning sharply around so he was flung off of the cliff, "Sorry!"

         "Kai!" Kaden shouted, and Aliyah looked horrified. The rocks on the mountainside were leaping across slick stone to reach for them, and Isaiah grabbed Kaden before he could leap away. Kaden found himself flailing wildly as thin air greeted him with its cold clutches.

       "Kaden!" Aliyah shouted, leaning forward to look down after him, "Isaiah, what the hell are you doing?"

          Isaiah looked back at the boulders, "Helping." He grabbed her arm as the rocks reached them, and he pulled her over the edge with him to the thunderous sounds exploding behind them against the stone as the boulders struck the place they had all stood.

       Aliyah shrieked, spinning wildly through the air as she plunged through the rain. Then something cold and hard curled around her, and her descent slowed. Then she was jerked upward. She looked up to see golden feathers, and her jaw dropped. It was a griffin.