Chapter 140 - 96 : The Cave

Chapter 140: Chapter 96 : The Cave

The forest seemed to have no end.

Lucian Veymont pushed through another curtain of wet branches, his breathing ragged as water streamed from his hair and ran down his face. The stranger was still slung over his shoulder, his weight dragging heavily against him with every step. Lucian had adjusted the man’s position several times already, but there was no comfortable way to carry an unconscious adult through a forest while running for his life.

His injured arm throbbed beneath the makeshift wrapping. Each shift of the stranger’s weight pulled at the bite, sending another wave of pain through his arm, but Lucian only clenched his teeth and kept moving.

Mud sucked at his boots, while roots and uneven ground caught beneath his feet. More than once, his footing slipped badly enough to send his entire body lurching forward, forcing him to tighten his grip around the stranger’s legs to keep them both from falling.

He barely noticed the scratches anymore.

Branches had caught his clothes and skin so many times that the small cuts had become part of the background pain. The rain had soaked through everything he wore, leaving the expensive fabric of his robe heavy and cold against his body.

He had never imagined himself running like this. Not alone, not through mud, and certainly not with a wounded stranger over his shoulder while men hunted him through the darkness.

Lucian had been born into a life where such things were never supposed to concern him. As the only heir of his family, he had grown up surrounded by wealth, servants, and guards. Whenever he travelled, there were always people to clear the road ahead, protect his surroundings, and handle whatever inconvenience stood in his way. He had never needed to worry about where his next meal would come from, where he would sleep, or whether danger was approaching from behind. Someone had always been there to deal with it before it reached him.

His guards had remained behind to buy him time. Some of them were probably dead already, but Lucian forced the thought away and pushed deeper into the darkness, tightening his grip around the stranger. He could not stop.

At least not yet.

He pushed deeper between the trees, breathing through his mouth as the cold air scraped his throat. The rain had begun to weaken, no longer pounding down with the same force as before, but water still dripped heavily from the branches above. Every step made a wet sound beneath his boots.

His legs were beginning to shake, but he ignored it and kept moving. Somewhere along the way, he had shifted the stranger from his shoulder and was now carrying him across his back, one arm hooked securely around his legs. Another dozen steps passed before Lucian adjusted his grip again, tightening his hold as the man’s weight shifted against him.

Carrying an unconscious person this way was far from easy, especially with only one arm doing most of the work while the other was injured from the wolf’s bite. Every step strained his balance and pulled at his wounded arm, but Lucian kept going.

"You’d better still be alive."

His voice came out strained. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

He turned his head as much as he could, trying to check on the stranger across his back. For a moment, he felt nothing. Then, beneath the weight of the unconscious man against him, Lucian felt it.

A heartbeat.

Faint and slow, so weak that if he had not been carrying the man and paying close attention, he might have missed it entirely.

"Good."

Lucian released a breath he had not realized he was holding. The stranger was still alive, at least he was not carrying a corpse.

That small reassurance was enough to keep him moving.

He pushed through another cluster of branches, ducking beneath the wet limbs as he pressed deeper into the forest. Then, gradually, he realized he could no longer hear anything behind him.

Lucian slowed.

A few more steps carried him forward before he finally stopped, his chest heaving as he stood beneath the rain.

He listened.

Nothing.

Only the steady sound of rain falling through the trees. The shouts had disappeared, along with the hurried footsteps and the occasional snap of branches breaking beneath the pursuers. Even the distant calls that had followed him through the forest were gone.

Lucian waited.

Still nothing.

He slowly turned his head and looked back through the trees. Dark trunks stood between the shadows, wet leaves trembled beneath the rain, and mist hung faintly among the branches.

Nothing moved.

His shoulders finally sagged.

"Looks like i finally lost them."

The words came out barely louder than a breath.

His body immediately reminded him how much he had forced it. Pain pulsed through his bitten arm, his legs felt heavy and almost numb, and his back burned beneath the stranger’s weight. He shifted the man’s body higher across his back, trying to secure his grip, but the movement pulled sharply at the wound.

A sudden burst of pain shot through his injured arm, causing his grip to loosen for a split second. The stranger’s weight shifted dangerously, nearly slipping from his back. Lucian reacted quickly, tightening his hold and pulling him back into place before he could fall. He hissed through clenched teeth and stopped for a moment, squeezing his eyes shut as he waited for the pain to subside.

"Damn it!"

He waited until the pain eased before moving again. He could not stay out in the open, not with the rain turning the forest into a maze of darkness and making every step more difficult. He needed shelter, somewhere he could stop long enough to catch his breath and tend to his injured arm. With that in mind, Lucian pushed deeper into the forest, keeping his pace steady despite the stranger’s weight on his back. After some time, the trees began to thin around a rocky slope, revealing a dark opening beneath the stone.

Lucian slowed.

A cave.

His eyes remained fixed on the opening for a moment before he moved toward it.

The overhang shielded part of the ground from the rain. Water still ran down the rock outside, but the earth beneath the stone was comparatively dry.

Lucian stepped beneath it.

For the first time in what felt like hours, the rain was no longer striking his body directly. Lucian stood beneath the rocky overhang, breathing heavily as he adjusted the stranger’s weight on his back. The difference was immediate. It was not warmth or comfort, only the simple absence of cold rain, but even that was enough to make his exhausted body want to collapse.

He looked into the darkness beyond the entrance and crouched slightly, careful not to disturb the stranger. The ground near the entrance was damp, with several old fragments scattered among the stones.

Bones.

Small ones, weathered almost white.

Lucian’s expression tightened. He picked one up and turned it between his fingers, then applied a little pressure to test its strength. The bone gave way almost immediately, crumbling into brittle fragments between his fingers.

It had been here for a long time.

His gaze shifted deeper into the cave. Nothing moved, but he still hesitated. After everything that had happened tonight, he did not want to walk blindly into another danger. Instead, he tossed the bone into the darkness.

It struck stone.

The sound travelled deeper into the cave, then returned as a faint echo.

Lucian waited, listening closely.

Nothing answered.

He listened for any sign of movement, but the cave remained silent, the last traces of the echo gradually fading into the darkness. His gaze shifted back toward the forest. Rain continued to pour outside, drumming against the rocks and filling the night.

Lucian exhaled slowly. Whatever had once lived in this cave, there was no sign that it had been here recently. After everything he had already endured that night, he could not afford to stumble into another wild animal’s territory and invite another fight. He was already exhausted, injured, and carrying someone who could barely move. Searching for a better shelter would only expose them to more risks, and he had no guarantee that he would find one.

This place would have to do.

He adjusted the stranger’s weight on his back and stepped deeper into the cave.

The passage widened after a short distance, opening into a chamber large enough to stand comfortably. The ceiling was low in places, but the floor was mostly dry. The air was cool and carried the faint smell of damp stone and earth.

Lucian lowered the stranger carefully. The moment the man’s weight left his back, Lucian staggered, his knees nearly giving out beneath him. He caught himself against the cave wall and remained there for several seconds, one hand pressed against the cold stone as he fought to steady his breathing. Only when his legs felt strong enough to support him did he slowly sink to the ground.

He sat against the wall and leaned his head back, his chest rising and falling heavily. With his eyes closed, he finally allowed himself to stop moving. It was the first real moment of stillness he had had since the ambush, and without the need to keep running, everything he had been forcing aside came rushing back.

The attack. The sudden chaos. His guards drawing their weapons as the shouts erupted around them. The blood. Then the realization that the people attacking them had not come to rob them.

They had come for him.

His guards had understood it too. That was why they had stayed behind, buying him the time he needed to escape. Time that might have cost them their lives.

Lucian’s jaw tightened.

He opened his eyes and stared at the cave ceiling.

He had never experienced anything like this. He had never run for his life, never hidden in a cave, never had to wonder whether the people who had protected him all his life were still alive. Yet the night seemed determined to give him one problem after another. Even after escaping the ambush, he had somehow ended up standing and defending an unconscious stranger in the middle of the forest while a pack of wolves closed in around them.

His gaze drifted toward the man lying a short distance away.

Lucian rubbed his face with his good hand and let out a tired breath.

"Why did I even do that?"