Leah's Hero - Miranda Martin Page 0,30

water. I pull her close and make for the surface. The water splashes as we break free and it loses its hold on us. I move her around so I can get her head next to mine, listening for her breath.

Breathe! Breathe!

I can’t form words, they won’t get past the lump in my throat.

“HELP!” I yell, it tears out, ripping the lump apart painfully. “HELP HER!”

Pressure builds in my head. They have to save her. She has to be okay. The fire flickers into view, hands reach down, I struggle with her limp weight, trying to keep us both afloat. She isn’t reaching for them as the others did.

“Uh-cuf-uh,” she coughs, shuddering.

I was trying to lift her, but now I drop and spin her around to my face. Her eyes flutter, she coughs again, and water splatters across my face. She emits a painful sound, coughs more, then sputters.

“GET HER!” I yell, pushing her back up.

The hands return, grabbing and pulling her up. My fingers trail down her legs as she’s lifted away. The tips linger on her feet as I tread water and hold on to hope. She is breathing. She’s okay. She will be fine. She must be. If she’s not…

A chill races down my spine and my thoughts freeze. I can’t think past her being gone. The cold of the water seeps past my scales, making my muscles sluggish. It’s getting harder to keep myself afloat. The weight of my body is pulling down. My body is not designed for swimming.

The water rises over my head and I struggle to get above it. I gasp air. If I don’t get out soon, I won’t get out at all.

“Urukol!” Angota yells.

The flickering orange of a torch appears in the hole above. The water blurs the lines. I try to reach, but my arm isn’t responding. It’s too heavy, too hard to move. My lungs burn but my hearts are slowing. It’s okay, if I saved her, that is what matters. She will carry on.

More noise. Yelling. It’s distant. Is she okay? Memories of her flicker across my thoughts, frozen moments of time, and looking at each one awakens the dragon. It rages, refusing to go out like this. She needs me. Desire, need, and duty are not done yet.

My feet touch the floor, I crouch and then thrust up. My one wing is a drag, but I’m rising. I break the surface and gasp air.

“Got him,” Angota says, grasping one of my forearms and pulling.

Rakstan takes my other arm and helps me over the broken edge of the floor. I fight my way over with their help.

“Is she alive?” I ask, coughing water.

“Yes,” Angota says. “Thanks to you.”

My muscles collapse as relief releases the tension. I lie back on the floor and breathe. My lungs hurt, burning at having taken on water. Exhaustion is heavy as I cough, trying to get the water out of my lungs.

“Where is he!” Leah yells, then she is beside me, her soft hands on my face. I rise onto my elbows, pushing towards a sitting position.

“You saved me,” she says.

Her wet hair is stuck to her head, framing her face, calling all my attention to the perfect roundness. Her lips are blueish and trembling. She shivers with cold, but her eyes burn, a fire in them that shows her fighting spirit.

My treasure.

I want to say it, but I bite off the words before they can leave my mouth. Instead I nod, looking around to the others as I struggle to control myself.

“Is everyone else okay too?” I ask.

She pulls back, taking her hands off my face. Regret is a hard knot in my stomach, and I tense my jaw. I’d give anything to have her touch stay on me, forever. The itch and deep throbbing ache hits with an intensity that makes me gasp. I’m scratching at the scars before I can stop myself. Sometimes if I massage the area it eases the aching, so I force myself to do that and stop scratching. The scratching is pointless, accomplishing nothing in the end.

“It still hurts?” she asks.

I nod, unable to meet her eyes or speak again. My hearts thump in my throat.

“We can’t stay here,” Angota says, cutting across any further conversation. “That part of the floor is gone, the rest will probably follow.”

“You want to go back out in that?” Rakstan asks.

“You want to wait around here for someone to drown?” Angota asks.

Rakstan opens his mouth, then snaps it shut and