Soul Bound

Chapter 13

Eva had a spring in her step as she and Annaliese walked down the hallway to the surprise Anna had promised her.

The past few weeks had been gruelling. The most difficult weeks of her life. Every night before bed, they had to visit the infirmary, where the healers would wrap her in nasty-smelling bandages then send her on her way. Whatever they infused the bandages with it healed her bruises and aches overnight. Her hands, however, which she had completely shredded on Big Bertha several times now, took a few days to heal.

On her most recent visit, she asked to go down to the healing pools. A dragon could take care of her hands no problem, then she could go back to Big Bertha immediately. She wouldn't have to take a break, while she waited for them to heal.
The healers looked at her like she had grown a second head.

“These wounds don’t warrant a dragon,” they had said, leaving a scowl on her face and eliciting a chuckle out of Annaliese.

“Grayson shouldn’t have taken you down to the pools,” Annaliese had teased. “That’s the easy way out. It’s character-building to sit with your wounds. You won’t have a dragon to heal you out in the field; you have to learn to deal with the pain.”

“I don’t care about the pain." She didn't understand. Nobody did. "I can handle it. You won’t let me train when my hands are mangled like this. How am I supposed to get stronger if I don’t spend every minute of every day working towards that?”

At that, Annaliese had huffed and told Eva to trust the process. That night they had gone to the gym and lifted weights in silence. But, this morning, Annaliese woke her up and said she had a surprise for her.

Eva bounced on the balls of her feet, ready for anything. Maybe this surprise was another trial she had to pass before she could ride Arkon. Plummet had been difficult for all of five seconds. Big Bertha was brutal and unforgiving--until Eva figured out there was a rhythm to the course. Once she moved to the beat of the course, she flew through it. Her only problem with it now was that she wasn’t quite strong enough to make the Leap of Faith, which Annaliese promised she’d be able to do after many weeks of lifting weights.  
 
At the end of the hallway, a wide stairway ducked into a tunnel; windows lined the wall, casting the sun’s warmth onto the steps and filling Eva’s pores with life. She paused, admiring the blues and oranges trickling into the canyon. She hadn’t watched the sun rise in weeks--not since she had arrived at the base. When she went on hunts, the sun had surrounded her, there was no escaping its morning ritual, but here, despite waking up at the same time, she was surrounded by walls, closed off from the world.

She had no idea what was going on outside of these walls. Was Prince Darius still out there, looking for her? Murdering other villages?

She had a feeling Annaliese knew. Jacob and Grayson definitely knew; Jacob went out of his way to avoid talking about the outside world at dinnertime. He mostly badgered her about keeping up with her studies and training. Anything to keep her distracted long enough to sweep whatever rising curiosities she might have about the evil prince’s whereabouts under the rug.

It wasn’t like she was planning on leaving the base. She knew she wasn’t strong enough to face him. Yet.

Annaliese grabbed her hand and tugged her down the stairs, away from her thoughts. “Come on, Eva. No doddling.”

Eva should have known where they were going when she saw the stairway, having been here once before, but it hadn’t clicked until they reached the bottom and she was met by a massive cavern. This time she was given the chance to take in the majesty of the stables. It must have once been an underground lake, it was so big; stalactites hung from the ceiling, while the walls and floor were smooth but held soft ripples in the rock. Despite being dry, the rock surface glistened as if the sun was shining down on a lake. At further inspection, the glittery effect was created by tiny stones embedded into the rock, like in their bathroom ceiling. She wondered if they were natural, or if someone had installed them when this base was created.