“No, but I feel it.”
The old warrior grabbed Kara’s arm. “What do you feel?”
“A presence I’ve not felt since...”
“Since when?”
Kara lost her train of thought. It had become so hard for her to stay focused. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was saying. What if it was Erinie?”
Wrynric let go and risked leaning further out over the edge. “It wasn’t Erinie; I can see her torch about sixty feet below us.”
Aemon and Minard joined them at the edge. “She better make it,” Minard said. “She needs to keep me in line.”
Erinie finally made it up and Minard hugged her, but she didn’t hug him back. “I’m alright,” she said as she fought to catch her breath. “I don’t know who screamed. I thought it must've been Kara.”
Aemon put a hand on his mace. “Maybe Kahan is out there and something happened to one of his female followers.”
From the glances Wrynric and Erinie gave him, they were thinking the same thing.
“But how could he follow us?” Minard let Erinie go. “Does he have a map device too?”
The librarian shrugged. “Maybe. But even if he did, it’d do him little good unless he knows where the Dead City is already. I marked the location of the ruin on my device, after Arden and Liana led us there using their visiondreams.”
“Could he be using it to track us somehow?” Aemon asked. “They were at Sunholm, and could have stolen one.”
“They only act as maps,” Erinie replied. “They have no other functionality.”
Aemon shuffled his feet. “Then maybe Kara was right when she said Dwaycar could be helping them.”
Kara didn’t remember saying that. She grimaced. Yet another one of her memories lost forever.
Wrynric started hauling up the rope. “Whatever it was, it sounded close. Get the map out and find out where we head next. I want to get into the tunnels as soon as we can.”
When the rope was up, everyone ate a meal as Erinie used the map device. A detailed image of the surrounding tunnels appeared and she zoomed in and out as she planned their route.
After a few minutes, she pointed at the map. “We go that way until we reach a junction, then we head left, then straight for a time, then right, then... well, you get the picture.” Erinie gave Minard a mischievous grin. “I hope your skull’s as thick as your brains, because you’re going to hit your head constantly. Most of the tunnels are belly crawls.”
The monk rolled his eyes. “Great. As if my head hasn’t been knocked around enough already.” He smirked at Aemon. “Lucky you’re short and scrawny. Your precious brain will be spared.”
They extinguished all but Wrynric’s torch, then got onto their knees and followed him into the tunnel. They traveled single file, the equipment slung over their backs grating against the roof.
Water ran down the walls and pooled in small channels in the rock, numbing Kara's fingers with cold. The ground was slippery and covered in a foul-smelling orange sludge. Twice her hands slipped from under her and she went face-first into the muck.
Still, she was thankful she wasn’t Minard, for the monk had it worst of all. As much as the monk tried to keep his head low, it seemed to hit every low-hanging rock. Kara winced as there was a particularly loud thud followed by a pained grunt.
After the third such grunt, Aemon whispered back at her, “Is it wrong that I am taking a perverse satisfaction in his suffering?”
She forced a small smile but had nothing to say. Let the monk hit his head. His pain paled in comparison to her own.
They reached a junction and huddled together in the confined space. Four passages led from it, each as dark and uninviting as the rest.
Kara sat her chin on her chest and stared at the fluctuating light coming from the bulb of the passkey. The world around her receded into the distance until it was just her, the light, the urgency to keep moving and the pain.
Then a voice drifted to her, as if from a great distance. “We head up from here.” It was Erinie speaking. “I remember climbing a shaft here last time.”
Wrynric lit a second torch. Erinie took it, then said, “Once we’ve climbed the shaft there will be a long belly crawl, which ends at a small chamber. If it’s dry there, we can make camp for the night as it will be easy to defend.”
You need to keep moving. Tell them they must hurry. There is not much time left.
Kara jolted at the urgency in the voice. “No, we must keep moving.”
Erinie frowned. “We rest five hours and no more. We’re exhausted.”
They need to keep moving. You cannot stop!
Half closing her eyes, Kara tried to ignore the voice and the panic pumping through her like poison. Erinie was right; they needed rest. Kara felt close to breaking, her life draining away, her sense of reality fading.
After a short break, Wrynric rolled onto his back, reached up with one hand and pulled himself into the narrow, chimney-like hole in the roof. When his feet disappeared, Erinie urged Kara to follow him.
Gritting her teeth against the pain in her shoulder, Kara began to make the climb. With plenty of hand holds and ample room to maneuver, she had little trouble ascending the shaft. Halfway up she found an opening leading into a passage and could see Wrynric sliding along it. Kara wriggled around until she managed to squeeze in on her stomach. It was a tight fit, and she briefly wondered how Minard would go with his muscular frame, heavy robes and the equipment he carried.
Kara followed the old warrior along the passage, her stomach muscles straining. She quickly grew weary and wondered if the belly crawl would ever end. At times the squeeze became so tight, her back brushed against the roof when she breathed. She was surprised Wrynric had made it through the narrow spots in his chain armor. Perhaps the metal had become slick with sludge and easily slid between the rock.
With no way to see behind her, Kara had no idea if Aemon and the other two were still following. She could only assume they were.
The tunnel narrowed again, and she struggled to squeeze through. Claustrophobia began to settle in, drenching her in a cold sweat. The tunnel was too narrow, she couldn’t breathe, there was no way out, the rock would close in and crush her!
Calm yourself, the presence soothed. It will be over soon. Spare your energy for the final push to Annbar.
To Kara’s surprise, she managed to get hold of her growing panic. The rock around her didn’t feel half as threatening as it had moments before. Somehow, the presence had projected calm, much like it had projected urgency.
By the time Kara reached the small chamber at the end of the tunnel, she ached all over and was covered in orange slime. Wrynric dragged her to her feet and held her until her legs stopped shaking. Sitting on a rock, she hugged herself to try to get warm.
The old man grunted. “You look like a bedraggled kitten. Are you alright?”
She only had the energy to nod once. Then she slipped into darkness.
HURRY. YOU MUST HURRY!
Kara’s eyes flickered open and she realized she must’ve fallen asleep. Exhaustion fought to pull her back into the realm of dreams, but she struggled against it. She started to stretch but a sharp pain made her stop. Her wounds throbbed, and her muscles felt like they were stretched to breaking. On top of the pain, she was losing the battle to retain a hold of reality.
Get up, you must go.
The intense anxiety that came with those words made Kara stiffen. The feeling smothered her, causing her chest to tighten and making it hard to breathe. Aemon sat beside her, unaware of her plight, his eyes on the passage they’d climbed out of.
After a few minutes, the feeling eased. Kara tried to stand but her legs gave out from under her. Aemon grabbed her and helped her back onto the rock. “Are you all right?”
“I... I think so.” Kara noticed they were alone. “Where are the others? We need to keep going.”
“Wrynric went back to find Minard and Erinie, but he left an hour ago and I have n
ot heard anything since.”
Kara was uneasy. The presence following them drew closer. Who was back there? On one hand they felt like kin, but on the other, they felt alien and hostile. She could almost put a name to the presence, but it was like a word she knew she knew, but couldn’t think of at the time she wished to speak it.
Hurry!
The voice returned Kara’s thoughts to her need to get to the Metal Man. The chamber had three exits. The first was the one they’d come from, the next, a small, dark entrance beneath a sharp stalactite and the other looming high overhead near the edge of the torchlight. It was impossible to tell if the unexplored exits went anywhere without entering them.
Kara grabbed her walking staff. “We need to leave without them and get to the Metal Man. We’re running out of time.”
Aemon’s mouth fell open. “But we do not know where to go. We need Erinie’s map.”
A drop of water landed in Kara’s hair and ran down the back of her neck, giving her goosebumps. Shivering, she reached out for Aemon and he helped her stand. When she was steady on her feet, he held the torch up so she could warm her hands with it.
Aemon studied her, his eyes shadowed. “What if—what if they are not coming back? We might get lost and die out here.”
You must go. You must.
“We need to leave. I can feel...” She was certain the familiar presence was a him now. “I can feel him drawing closer.”
“Who are you talking about? Kahan?”
“I don’t know his name. The voice will not tell me.”
He bit his lip. “You mean the ghostly woman in your visiondreams?”
She gave a slight shake of her head. “No, not her. I hear another voice now.” She touched the passkey, the light struggling to shine through the coat of orange slime. “The voice belongs to another woman. I can’t explain it, but it feels like she’s inside me but also far away. I think...” She grimaced, as her thoughts scattered like rats in the Golden Keg’s cellar.
Strange images came to mind; then they were gone and replaced by others. One image was a huge glass tower with the Sun rising behind it, the next, two hands typing on a computer and another, long streaks of flame tearing through the sky.
Where were they coming from? Were they memories?
The barrage of images came and went so fast, Kara could no longer see what they were. They became like the river back at the Limestone Caves and she was being swept along with them, to be dragged under like Veladan, kicking and clawing until she drowned.
Aemon stroked her cheek with a cold hand, anchoring her to reality. “Talk to me, Kara. What is happening to you?”
His compassion brought tears to her eyes. She felt overwhelmed, her body racked with pain, her thoughts only half her own, her memories lost forever. Yet Aemon would stand by her, no matter what. If they left now, he’d let her lean on him and protect her with his life.
Aemon’s touch helped her regain focus. He was real, tangible, something to latch onto and stop her from being swept away.
“I need you, Aemon, now more than ever. Something is happening to me and I’m losing my tether on reality.”
“What can I do to help? I am afraid I will lose you.”
Wrapping her arms around him, Kara brought her lips to his and kissed him. He tensed, then relaxed and kissed her back. His lips were like ice and tasted of muck, but his love for her warmed her heart. After nearly a minute, he pulled away. “Kara...”
“Shhh, don’t talk. I need this.” She pulled him back and he kissed her eagerly, his fingers buried in her hair.
As they kissed, Kara experienced a pang of guilt. She loved Aemon, but she wasn’t sure she was in love with him—though her mind was a mess and she wasn’t certain of anything anymore. Perhaps she’d forgotten about her true feelings for him, along with everything else.
In the end, did it matter? He wanted her and at that moment, she needed him.
That was how Wrynric found them when he emerged feet first from the tunnel. “Hey,” he growled, slimy water dripping from his beard. “You two need to stop that and stay focused. I told you back at the temple, boy—”
Aemon disengaged from Kara’s embrace and glared at the old warrior. “What took you so long?”
Wrynric moved out of the way as Erinie dragged herself from the tunnel. The librarian looked bone weary and had a bloody gash on her forehead.
The old man helped her to her feet. “The monk got stuck at the beginning of the passage.”
“He was too fat to fit through,” Erinie said through gritted teeth.
They heard a deep voice from inside the tunnel. “I heard that.”
Moments later, Minard’s haggard face appeared, drenched in orange slime. He clawed his way out of the hole and used his staff to help himself to his feet. Stumbling backwards, he sank against the wall, chest heaving. “I never want to go through that again. Being stuck like that was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced.” He spat out slime. “I’d take an army of rotmen over that.”
Kara clutched the passkey as the voice urged her on. This time it gave her a deadline. Kara straightened. “We need to hurry. We must get to the door before nineteenth hour. How much farther is it?”
The monk was incredulous. “Ibilirith, have mercy. Let me get my breath back and settle my bowels before we crawl through another light-forsaken tunnel.”
Erinie moved to stand next to Kara. “Why nineteenth hour?”
“The voice told me.” Kara licked her lips, glancing at Minard. He looked too preoccupied to think too deeply about what she said next. “I hear her speaking to me, even now.”
“Who is she?” Erinie asked.
Kara held back tears. “I don’t know. I feel so lost. It’s a struggle to hold on.” The librarian moved to hug her but Kara held her back. “We need to go. Someone is behind us, and if I don’t make it to the door leading to the Metal Man by nineteenth hour, he’ll catch up to us and kill me.”
Erinie raised an eyebrow. “Who will? Kahan?”
“I don’t know who he is. I just know he wants to kill me.”
Kara’s dire words spurred Wrynric to action. “Use the map and find the exit.” He glowered at Minard. “You have two minutes to get yourself together, monk, or we’ll leave without you.”
Minard looked like he wanted to bite the old warrior’s head off, but instead nodded and took in several slow, deep breaths.
Erinie switched on the map and studied it. “We’re close. A few more passages and we’ll arrive at a river. From there, we climb a shoal into a ruined wall leading into the Dead City.”
“I remember the river,” Wrynric said. “We’re closer than I thought.”
Erinie shut the map down and gestured toward the hole under the stalactite. “That’s our exit.” Minard saw the hole and cursed loudly. “Hey, that wasn’t very pious of you, monk,” she laughed.
He gave her a withering glare. “Ibilirith will forgive me.”
Two hours later, after another belly crawl, they finally made it to the river and were able to stand. Kara’s back and arms were killing her and she’d become increasingly disoriented. The bite wound to her shoulder ached but the javelin wound to her chest hurt even more, for she’d bashed it on a ripple in the rock while climbing through the tunnels.
If only she could hold Aemon until all her pain melted away—but there was no time. They had to hurry.
The others appeared almost as exhausted as she was, but they were all determined to push on. Even they seemed to feel the urgency.
Lighting another torch, Wrynric tossed the dying one into the river. “Let’s move,” he said and trudged into the waist-deep water.
Kara followed him and gasped when the icy water touched her warm skin. The other three entered the river, faces drawn, eyes heavy with fatigue. “You’ll warm up after a few minutes,” Erinie said.
“I hope so.” Minard chuckled, grasping at his crutch. “I don’t want this thing to freeze off.”
Whi
le they waded upstream against the strong current, they washed the orange sludge off their skin. Kara drank a few mouthfuls from the river and found it refreshing.
They rounded a corner and the torch suddenly reflected off a dazzling display of colored crystals growing along the walls all around them. The crystals reflected more colors than Kara knew existed. The sight should have awed her, yet she struggled to care. Aemon cared though; he gazed around, mouth wide with wonder.
“This must be part of the River of the Gods,” Minard said, eyes bright with crystal light. “A passage on our sacred computer says the waters that flow from heaven ‘run through golden channels and past crystal cities of half a thousand hues, then sweep downward into the caverns of men, where he may drink of them and be purified.’”
Erinie smirked. “You think these crystals look like cities?”
The monk shrugged. “From a distance, some of them look like miniature towers and keeps.”
“Sounds like pretty words written by someone with nothing better to do with their time,” Erinie said.
“Pretty words.” Minard rolled his eyes. “What about your Lost Sun? We have proof of our Lady Ibilirith’s presence. What evidence do you have this Sun of yours ever existed?”
“Proof of Ibilirith? So a tomb and a bunch of old bones is proof?”
“Even if they were the only proof we have—and they aren’t—it’s still more evidence than you have for your Lost Sun.”
“I’ve seen the Sun in my visiondreams,” Kara said, so softly none of them heard it over the whoosh of the river.
Minard ran his hand over a growth of crystal. “I have faith my blessed Ibilirith exists, for I’ve lived under her sacred lights my entire life.”
“So you lived a life of privilege and ease, making you pliable to believe made-up nonsense like the divines,” Erinie said. “Every moment of my people’s existence has been a struggle for survival.”
The monk frowned. “You would not say that if you knew what my father did to my mother and I.”
“Enough with this nonsense,” Wrynric snapped. “We shouldn’t be far from where we have to climb.”
Erinie poked her tongue out at Minard, then hurried to walk beside the old warrior. The monk went back to admiring the crystals with reverence.
Heir to a Lost Sun: A Caverns of Stelemia Novel Page 37
