A low rumbling laugh filled the air and a dark figure approached us, walking along the top of the lava. The ring he wore obviously protected him from the heat as if he were a Salamander in truth. “Little Larkspur, you lied to me. You said you would leave and I would have Fia to myself. But here you are, standing between her and me. Shame on you.”

My jaw twitched. “You can have her for all I care, but you can’t be killing children. That I won’t stand for.”

“Well, good thing they’re tucked away then. I’d hate for you to be angry with me.” He stopped about twenty feet from us, right at the edge of the lava and leaned forward putting a hand to the side of his face. “The little ones, they will make perfect bargaining chips, you see?”

He lifted his other hand. “But you are in my way, I didn’t want to do this, but I will kill you and your friends.” The lava surged forward and I flung my hands up, the earth exploding in front of us. Below my feet the mountain trembled and I gave a soft apology as I drove a hole downward, tunneling as far as I could. The lava flowed into the hole, splashing at the edges.

Blackbird, if that was even really his name, tipped his head to one side. “Worked past your blocks, did you? Clever girl.”

He held his hands out and lines of green flowed up from his hands to his shoulders. So he really was connected to the earth as well. Spirit, earth, water and holding a ring that gave him a connection to fire. But I saw what he was going to do and I held my hands out above us, just stopping him.

The ceiling above us groaned and the weight of the mountain pushed down on me from above.

Cactus let out a low whisper. “Shit, he’s going to squash us like bugs.”

Peta trembled. “He is an abomination.”

Sweat dripped down my arms as I held the mountain back. Gravity was on the bastard’s side, though, and that tipped things in his favor. A sharp wind snapped through the cavern, throwing all four of us back against the rubble of the door. My concentration broke for a split second and the rocks began to fall in earnest.

I couldn’t think of anything to do other than to get farther away from the ceiling. “Hang on!” I yelled as I opened the earth below us, dropping us into a slide as I smoothed the ground around us turning it into a slope that allowed us to fall without freefalling. Above, the rocks tumbled, and a few slid down the slope with us. Pushing my power out ahead like a burrowing mole, I was able to keep us out of the worst of it.

Tumbling to a stop, I looked around, or tried to. We were in complete and utter darkness.

“Cactus?”

“I’m here,” he answered.

I tried to stand but ended up whacking my head. “Ash, talk to me.”

A low groan from my left turned me around. I scuttled forward, my hands finding Ash quickly. “Are you injured?”

“No, just banged up,” he said.

The walls around us rumbled and I froze, my hands tangling with Ash’s. Peta let out a meow, as she clung to my shoulder. “Lark, you truly are going to be the death of me aren’t you?”

I reached for my power, reveling in the fact I could hold it tightly even though our situation was rather dire.

Rock and dirt sprayed around us, and I could suddenly see. A white-scaled head curled toward me. Amethyst eyes glowed as he blew a low stream of fire from his nostrils to light our space. Cactus was covered in dirt, as was Ash. Peta looked actually, not too bad.

“Scar, how did you find us?”

“Heartbeats, I can find yours easily as it beats louder than any other. Come on, I can get you out of here,” he said and turned around, tunneling away from us. I scrambled after him. Cactus and Ash hollered at me to stop, to think about what I was doing.

Peta dropped off my shoulder and scooted ahead of me. “Do you really think you can trust him?”

“If he’d wanted to hurt me, he could have let me fall when I was thrown off that damn ledge.” I crawled as fast as I could on hands and knees, and still Scar was leaving me in the dust. The tunnel wasn’t completely dark as Scar blew fire ahead.

The light grew brighter as the tunnel widened, large enough I could stand. I waited for Cactus and Ash to catch up before moving forward.

What opened in front of me was nothing short of breathtaking. The cavern was shaped like a giant bowl with tunnels branching off in a myriad of places, but that wasn’t all that different from what the Salamanders had set up. It was the deep, pool of water in the middle of the bowl surrounded by plant life and small chirping birds I heard even from my position way above.

“This is amazing,” I whispered. Scar poked his head up over the ledge.

“Are you coming? My father wants me to lead you to the tunnel that will take you back into the lizard caves.”

I slipped over the edge, Peta leapt to my shoulder with a grunt, and I shimmied down the wall before Cactus or Ash had time to protest. I looked up to see them both staring down at me. They shared a glance between them. Ash shook his head and Cactus shrugged.

Peta’s tail flicked me in the face. “Pay attention to the wall you are climbing, not the men.”

I focused on where my hands and feet were going, placing them carefully until I felt the wall open up again. Using just my arms I carefully lowered myself the rest of the way and swung into the open hole.

Scar sat on his haunches, waiting for me. Cactus and Ash dropped in a few seconds later. The young firewyrm gave Cactus a sidelong glance. “You can only take your familiar with you. The others have to wait here.”