Dark Queen: The Cybelline Prophecies

Chapter 38

Five blurs raced through the forest, as they headed towards the edge of the kingdom and deeper into the Devils' Maw.

"Cy, that way." Miri said as she pointed to a higher location, Cybelline nodded.

Behind her, four very determined boys followed her like little ducklings, she didn't stop them. Afterall, she was much younger when she started her training.

The little hand tightened on her back, Miri buried her face in Cybelline's back, "They're up there." Her entire body shook in anxiety and fear. Cybelline looked up and whistled. They were now at the base of the largest mountain.

Devil's maw had gotten its name by the giant, jutting mountains that bore strange resemblance to the gaping jaw of some unimaginable demon of the the deep.

"Boys." Cybelline gently unraveled the distressed girl from her back. They stopped next to her. Cybelline smiled, "I'm going to go alone. Don't come after me, find a safe place to hide. Get yourself up a tree, people usually forget to look up. If you don't hear back, take this and your sister to the closest town." She gave them all the money she had on her.

Ceric opened his mouth to argue, but Cybelline shut him down, "Will you be able to help me if you went with me?"

He closed his mouth and shook his head, his hands in fists. Ryion came over and took Miri's hand, "We'll hide well, we promise"

Cybelline ruffled his hair, "Thank you."

"You'll come back." Miri suddenly said, "You're our hope."

Ceric looked at her with a slight frown, but when Berin nudged him in question, he only shook his head.

Cybelline grinned and made a shooing motion, "Get. And don't forget to make the mark I told you about, it'll make it easier to find you later." They disappeared into the trees.

She climbed the summit and almost rolled her eyes, why was it that all dramatic things ended up on cliffs, edge of buildings, or some tower? It was almost as if the writer had a fear of heights and was projecting it onto her characters. Or watched too many action movies. 

BOOM. A heavy boulder fell next to her, and Cybelline made the jump to a much safer ledge on the cliff. She glowered at the sky, was this punishment for her questioning how the story was going? She threw up the middle finger and continued to climb.

The top of the summit was a wide span of land, dusted by large boulders and gnarled trees. On any given day it would've been a beautiful large field...

BOOM

Rocks rain from the sky, Cybelline cursed and darted for cover, a rain of shale followed thereafter. Cybelline looked for the source headed towards its. It was a dangerous, slow journey as she had to continually dodge all the rocks and miscellaneous missiles that flew around her. Wind whistled and howled, gathering dust and sharp debris the closer she got, she was stuck in a tornado.

A huge boulder came at her, she threw herself to the side, missing it by an inch. The last time she'd ran through an active warzone was three years ago, it wasn't even half as dangerous.

She took another step forward and smashed headfirst into a clear barrier, it threw her back onto the ground. Cybelline sat up and cursed.

She couldn't see into the thing, and then the world went silent.

A force, pressing into her lungs, sucked her towards the barrier and just as she was about to crash into it again, she was through.

But she still couldn't breathe, something had closed off her throat and lifted her high into the air. Beside her, was a man in grey with a black mask, inspected the newcome thoroughly. He patted her head, "Now, where did you come from?"