The vortex spat Drew out right where he had pictured, and he stumbled slightly in the dark. It was night in this realm, but he still couldn’t figure out the time difference. He set Leila down gently on the ground, then slid the backpack off his shoulder. He rummaged about for the flashlight and then swore as he managed to blind himself when he turned it on. Blinking furiously to clear the white spots from his eyes, Drew fumbled with the flashlight until it was pointing away from him.
Trying not to let the sheer size of the area he needed to search break his spirit, Drew grabbed some of the lighter-coloured stones and placed them in his pockets. Then, working his way from the ravine, he put stones on the ground to mark the start of his search grid, and he began to methodically look over every inch of the dry desert floor.
Leila came and helped, pecking at anything shiny, but Drew soon realized her night vision wasn’t exactly the best. At least it made him feel confident that they were both searching over the same area and she’d see anything he missed and vice versa.
There was a lot of rock, a lot of dirt, and the odd dried husk of a doomed plant. There was no ring. Drew diligently marked off each section he searched, ensuring he covered any area he could have been in during the fight with the Shadow Blades. As he searched, he tried to think of anything other than how worried Zach would be right now. It was a shitty thing to do, disappearing like that, but if he’d stayed to explain, well, that would have ruined the surprise. He wanted his proposal to be special and romantic, and that meant it being a complete surprise.
A quiet voice in the back of his mind wondered if Zach would evenwantto marry him after such a stunt, but he tried his best not to listen to it. Yes, Zach would be upset that he’d returned to Hell by himself, but Drew hoped that once he’d explained the situation fully, it would simply become one of those whacky engagement stories they could tell at their wedding and on their anniversaries. A tale to laugh about. One of those“Remember when . . .”moments you brought up after a couple of drinks and were reminiscing.
Or maybe it’ll be the final straw that makes Zach realize you’re not the one he wants to be with?
Drew’s breath caught, and he blinked rapidly to stop tears from spilling over his cheeks. No, it wouldn’t come to that. No matter how angry and scared Zach was, he wasn’t going to break things off. He wouldn’t.
Would he?
Bok!
Drew looked down to find Leila standing at his feet, her head cocked to one side as she peered up at him with her inky black eyes. She looked worried, which was a remarkable feat for a hen, yet she seemed to have no issue conveying her emotions.
He crouched down and rubbed at the feathers behind her black comb. “I’m okay,” he assured her. “Just caught up in my head, is all.”
Bok!
“Yeah, I know. No point worrying about it now. What’s done is done. Come on, we’ve almost finished down here, so it’s just the slope to look at now.”
There was quite a bit of debris that had gathered at the base of the outcrop, left from the tumble they’d taken all those hours ago. Drew was extra careful as he sifted through it all, since there was a good chance it was as he was tumbling ass over tit that the ring had worked its way from his pocket.
There was still no sign of the ring.
He worked his way through the debris field a second time, just in case he’d missed it, but there was nothing but rocks, rocks, and more rocks.
“Comeon!It has to be heresomewhere!” he cried, slumping down onto his butt on the ground and covering his face with his hands. He was already exhausted, and he’d not even started the hard part yet. Just the thought of scaling the steep slope again, but this time scouring every inch of it, made him want to weep.
Leila hopped up onto his leg and made her little purring chirrup noise as she pressed against him. Despite everything, Drew felt his spirits lifting, and he gave her a gentle hug. “Thanks, Leila,” he whispered. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself. “Okay. We can do this! Let’s go.”
Hours later it became apparent that Drewcouldn’tin fact “do this.” In order for him to do it, the ring had to be somewhere on the slope, but that was not the case. What passed for dawn in Hell had come and gone, and the extra light of day had made the searching much easier, though Drew had still used the flashlight to better catch a glimpse of the black zirconium band or the small ruby. He’d been sure not to rush, and to continue to beas methodical and careful as possible, and he was confident he’d not missed anything.
The fact of the matter was, he must have lost the ringbeforethey’d had the confrontation with the Shadow Blades, and prior as well to their tumble down the slope. Drew’s plans for a relatively quick visit to Hell were, quite literally, going to hell. He would have to backtrack the path they’d taken from the settlement, both whilst looking for the ringandavoiding any demons along the way. Somehow he didn’t think he’d be successful with the second part of that goal.
Hopefully, if he did run across any locals, he’d be able to talk his way out of any confrontations, or scare them off with the threat of magic without the need to actually attempt to fight anyone. Zach would be much more forgiving of his jaunt to this realm if Drew returned unscathed andwithoutgetting his ass beat.
Slumping down onto a rock, Drew decided a short rest was required before the next leg of their journey. He unzipped the backpack and pulled out a granola bar, some poultry mix for Leila, and her little water dish. He poured a small amount of water into it, taking care to ration it out as he wasn’t sure when he’d next come across water that would be relatively safe to drink. His familiar happily pecked at her breakfast, being sure to devour the sunflower seeds first. It was a habit he’d noticed each time she ate. Sunflower seeds first, then the other seeds, and finally, if no other food was on offer, she would reluctantly consume the pellets.
He’d need to see if the Nightingale Collective had any texts that spoke about familiars so he could do some research. Kensington had said they were so rare that he knew very little about them, so no one was quite sure if they had the constitution of their non-magical species, or if they were much more hardy. Drew had been feeding Leila as if she were simply a chicken, but it might turn out that she could eat the same things as Drew did. That would be very handy, as the reading he’d done the other day when Leila had appeared had said there were many foods that were toxicto chickens. Drew didn’t want to accidentally poison Leila if she shared a salad with him that had avocado and onion in it.
He was pretty sure that Leila would much prefer to share Drew’s food than be forced to eat laying pellets. Not that he blamed her. They didn’t look particularly appetising.
Once they’d finished their food, Drew packed everything away and took a moment to just gather his thoughts. He looked out over the vast plain, marvelling at the beauty before him. If asked, he would never have thought Hell could be described as being beautiful. It wasn’t exactly a landscape that would grace a postcard or feature as a travel destination, but it was beautiful nonetheless. The purplish hue of the sky made the red sand and rock appear almost black, and the red glow on the horizon from a distant lava lake was a gorgeous contrast to the sky. It was becoming warmer, but the breeze was cool, and there was a feeling of serenity that seeped its way inside Drew as he took in the view.
It was soon time to leave, though, so he stood and made his way carefully down the slope. His bruised body still ached from his last descent, and with no one here to help him if he fell again, he was extra cautious. Leila followed behind, hopping from rock to rock, and occasionally flapping her inky wings as she fluttered across larger distances.
At the base of the outcrop, Drew headed left. He’d been able to see from above how far in each direction the newly formed ravine spanned, and the settlement lay on the other side. It was a much shorter route to go around it to the left, so he headed that way, trying to ignore the possibility that he’d dropped the ring somewhere that was now at the bottom of the deep crevice. There was no way to tell if that was the case, so he tried not to worry about it.
Once he reached the edge of the ravine, he walked back along the edge until he reached the point opposite where they’d been. Cutting across the desert from the end of the ravine would have saved him a lot of time anddistance if he were simply returning to the village, but he still needed to look for his lost property. It was going to be a long day.
Moving at a snail’s pace, Drew began backtracking their original path. Hours passed, and his back and neck were aching from being hunched over to scour the ground before him. He had to take regular breaks to stretch and rest his screaming body, and each time he stopped, he would be on alert, watching for any approaching demons. At one point, he saw a figure far off in the distance, but the direction they were travelling never intersected with his, so they passed by without meeting.
Leila came across a bright green bug on one of their rest breaks, and chased it around, trying to catch a tasty treat. Both she and Drew let out surprised squawks when the cornered bug ballooned in size and bared sharp fangs at Leila as it hissed at her in warning. In a flurry of feathers, she flapped her way up to the relative safety of Drew’s shoulder as they watched the bug—now returned to its original size—scurry away.
