Master's Lair

She strained against the bindings, but they only seemed to tighten against her chaffed wrists. She huffed hot air through the thick fabric of her gag but couldn’t get enough breath to satisfy the burning in her chest. Another blast of heat dried the sweat from her skin and tousled her hair. The flames danced higher from the crevices below, the sweltering fumes making her light-headed. She blinked, uncertain of what she had seen.

Smoke roiled in the fiery depths… or perhaps a shadow of something vast, moving through the flames. No, nothing could be that big…