“And you remembered it?”
“Kind of hard not to. Kids remember the most random things, and this was pretty neat. But I never thought I’d actually need to know primitive toolmaking in the real world. It was just something rattling around in my head.”
He quickly sliced off a section of the animal, separating it into strips with ease. He did not, however, fully gut and skin it. This wasn’t a hunting expedition and just this once they would not worry about wasting an animal that had given its life. After all,theywere the prey initially.
Dorrin tossed the meat onto a rock at the edge of the nearest lava stream. It was a small one, but the heat it gave off was intense. The meat was sizzling away in no time, and despite the stress of the situation—or perhaps because of it—Ziana found her mouth watering with anticipation. He let it cook well. This was a carnivore, after all, and he was taking no chances with its meat. Finally, after what felt like forever smelling its tantalizing scent, he plucked the meat from the hot slab and lay it on a clean one he’d set up as a makeshift table.
“Dig in,” he said, waiting for her to take the first piece.
“You don’t have to wait. You did all the work here.”
“No, I did not. We are a team, Ziana, and you have pulled your weight. I may have misjudged you.”
“Are you apologizing?” she asked, taking a bite of the piping-hot food.
He flashed a little grin. “Don’t push it.”
They ate with a ravenous hunger, downing much of the meat in a flash, and it was a good thing. Their meal was about to be rudely interrupted.
Growls filled the air.Severalof them. And they were growing closer.
Dorrin grabbed the sharpened volcanic blade and jumped to his feet, placing himself in front of Ziana. One look and he realized it wouldn’t matter. There were too many to fight. And they were blocking the one relatively clear way out.
“They smelled the meat cooking,” he chided himself. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“What do we do? Where can we go?” she wondered, her eyes darting this way and that but finding no answer.
Dorrin led her, the pair slowly backing away from the approaching pack. They moved until there was nowhere left to go. They had three choices. The beasts, the lava, or over the edge, and, crazy as it sounded, Dorrin opted for the third.
“This will seem crazy, but trust me,” he said, picking her up in his arms and holding her tight to his chest.
“What are you—” she began asking, but her words turned into a scream when he stepped out into nothing.
The plummeted straight down, the lavafall beside them radiating heat even as they plummeted toward the freezing water below. They were going to die. Splat on the ice. But at the last second Ziana realized one very important thing.
The lava melted an opening.
A second later they splashed down hard, Dorrin’s enormous, booted feet breaking the surface, sparing her the jolt as he took the bulk of the impact. They shot to the bottom, his legs absorbing the hit and springing them back to the surface. It seemed that the designers had decided to make this not too shallow, but also not too deep, and that had saved their lives.
They broke the surface, gasping for air. Dorrin placed one hand on the edge of the ice, his other heaving Ziana from the water before he followed her out, picking her dazed form up in his massive arms and running to shore, the ice cracking but not breaking beneath their combined weight.
“Quickly, take off your clothes!” he urged, shedding his soaking attire as fast as he could.
Ziana was in a state of shock, but she did as he told almost on autopilot, her body shivering from the cold, her nipples rock hard and her skin covered in goose flesh. She looked up, fear in her eyes.
Dorrin picked up their clothes then swooped her off her feet into his arms, hurrying along the shore. “Don’t worry, they can’t follow us,” he soothed. “We’re too far down.”
“It’s s-so c-cold,” she stammered.
“I know. Hold on to me. I will protect you.”
The water had been freezing despite the lava hitting it. The designers had ensured the water would remain cold, their complex pump systems pushing a steady stream of freezing water into the pool to constantly replenish it. But despite their cleverness, Dorrin had noticed something else when they were previously down on the lowest level. A small area near the frozen stone face from which the lava fell. A patch of ground not frozen like the rest. There was also a tiny section at the base of the stone wall that lacked ice or frost. And for that to occur in such a cold environment could only mean one thing.
One of the designers had messed up.
A pipe feeding either the lava flow or thermal geysers wasn’t buried deep enough, and as a result its heat had made its way to the surface. It was a tiny design mistake, easy to miss, but given enough time, it had eventually warmed the little patch of ground and melted the ice. Dorrin wrung out their clothes with his powerful hands and lay them on a slightly warm rock to hopefully dry. He then took Ziana and lay her down closest to the stone wall, spooning behind her, using his body to protect her from the breeze while warming her with his own natural radiant heat, his arms wrapped snugly around her.
Ziana was cold. She was miserable. But, incredibly, her chill was starting to lessen, their combined body heat warming them both. Her shivers finally subsided, and, exhausted from the ordeal, she slipped into an uncomfortable sleep pressed firmly against his naked body.
