Birthright

by L. Fergus

  “What if it doesn’t, or goes nowhere?” said Zidin.

  “Our friend came from somewhere. Even if it takes us to the surface, we’re at least free of the castle.”

  The tubes glowed with a similar light as the sewers. Kita didn’t know much about the tubes. “How did the tubes form?”

  “They remind me of the lava tubes back in Arcone,” said Zidin. “Those are much smaller and go straight from the volcano to the sea.”

  “Zidin is correct,” said Angus. “The tubes are dead lava tubes created eons ago. They crisscross underneath the entire continent. They come in various sizes. Few are this small. Most can easily fit twenty men abreast.” Angus touched the wall. “The light is from a biochemical reaction when water touches lichens living on the lava rock. The light varies by location. In most places its bluish-white or yellow, in a few places it’s red, green, or purple. Off the main tubes is a maze of secondary and tertiary tubes, like this one. People rarely venture into them. Elves, raptors, and other ravagers inhabit the space. One of the tasks of the Legion is to thin the ravagers.”

  “How far have you traveled?” said Kita.

  “I’ve been to all the major regions and the far north. I haven’t been to Arcone, but after last night, I’m interested in visiting. It sounds like an intriguing place, with great potential for discovery.”

  Zidin grunted. “Watch the volcanoes and the sharks. They’ll get you when you’re not looking.”

  If his smile looks anything like a real shark, it must be terrifying. Let’s change the topic to something more important. I’m hungry.

  Kita discovered the monotonous nature of the tubes—glowing black rock that went on forever. They passed an underground stream that entered from a high crack in one wall, flowed across the path, and exited at the base of the other wall. Over time, the water carved a path, complete with eddying pools. The stream radiated a soft green light from the rocks. Kita stopped to admire it and the reflection of her roses floated on the water. The green water obscured the rest. Is that the only thing people will see when they look at me? I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Someday I want someone to see past them and know me for me.

  Following the tube, they stopped to gawk at the crystal and rock formation in a cavern. The tubes suddenly seemed magical. If someone told me this lay beneath my feet, I’d have called them mad.

  Kita made a habit of stopping and checking each stream. In a few, she found clear fish and could see their bones and organs. She caught one easily and showed it to Zidin.

  “Interesting—it has no eyes. Maybe it grew tired of looking at the rocks.”

  “It’s cute. I wonder if it’s edible. I’m hungry.” Kita’s stomach rumbled to punctuate. Thankfully, her roses hid her blush.

  “I wouldn’t,” Angus said, coming back for them. “With few defense mechanisms available here, the creatures have developed extreme versions of what they do have. That fish is toxic if ingested and can cause skin irritation from holding it. I suggest you let it go.”

  Kita threw the fish back in the water. Swearing, she washed her hands, but it was too late. Her hands burned, and a nasty red and purple patchwork covered them. Angus appeared carrying a handful of mushrooms and passed them out.

  “These are edible and safe. Not very tasty, but you can survive on them.” To prove his point, he ate one.

  They taste like mud. Kita finished hers while Sarge played with his. She tried to feed him one like a treat, but he discovered her ruse when he caught the first one and dropped it. Kita tried the copycat method, eating one, and then giving him one. Sarge refused. Frustrated, she considered shoving them down his throat. Probably not a wise idea. She ate another and put the rest in a pouch on her belt. Kita announced she was ready to go. Ten yards down the path, Sarge sniffed at the pouch. Kita ignored him for a while, then dug one out and flipped it to him. He caught it in midair and swallowed it whole. Pain in the ass…

  Angus stopped as he always did when they reached an intersection and looked at his compass. Are we lost? Wouldn’t it be great if we ended back at the beginning?

  Angus pointed to a small stream of water seeping from the rock. “Smell that.”

  Dutifully, Kita smelled the water. “It smells like salt. So what?”

  “We’re near the Salt River, and we need to go that way.” He pointed down a larger, dark tube.

  “How close are we to getting out of here?”

  “Days at least. Right now, we’re headed under Mount Razor.”

  “What could we possibly want there?”

  “That is where the Legion Administrative Center is located. Once there, we can complete your enlistment with the Legion.”

  The temperature climbed in the tube as the party reached Mount Razor. The luminescence on the rock changed from cool colors to yellows, oranges, and reds. The thick and muggy air pushed back as Kita walked. I thought I might be burned alive going into a volcano. Instead, I’ll be boiled long before I see it.

  A muffled sound echoed down the tube. As they drew near, the sound became a loud whoosh. Kita couldn’t discern any pattern. Sometimes there was nothing, and other times there were many at once. Nearing the source, the rock in the tube glowed a blood-red.

  Rounding a corner, the volume, temperature, and humidity jumped. The glow of the rock became so bright Kita couldn’t see any features down the tube. The ground shook from the noise.

  The party moved cautiously to the opening of a large cavern. Enormous columns of steam blasted from holes in the floor with a deafening whoosh. The geysers reached high into the air and carved a high ceiling. I’m sure they would make the average man feel small and insignificant.

  She found no pattern to the eruptions. One might go, other times several might go, or they might stagger. Compounding the problem, a geyser could go again once finished. Kita shared her observations.

  “It does make for a challenge,” Angus said with a grin. “If you notice the ground shakes before the geyser erupts, that gives three to five seconds warning. If we keep moving, we should make it through.”

  What choice do we have? Angus went first, followed by Kita and Sarge, with Zidin in the rear. They weaved between geysers, feeling for tremors. A geyser erupted early. Kita dove to the ground as the steam roared overhead. She covered her head, saving it from the burns that appeared on her hands. After the eruption, she lifted her head and spit dirt. It tastes like salt. She checked Sarge. The cat jumped to his feet with a happy growl. At least someone is enjoying himself.

  The group reformed and moved deeper into the cavern. Kita checked on Zidin. He didn’t say anything, but he had the most exposed skin. Even in the low light, she saw blisters forming along his arm and on his knees. She frowned—nothing could be done now.

  The steam cloud grew denser, and the red color deepened as they moved through the geysers. It’s like we’re running through a giant monster’s artery. Lost in the fog, something grabbed her. Kita struggled until Angus’ face appeared. He guided her out of the steam to the edge of a giant pit. A spider web of mineral strands covered the top. To Kita’s relief, the air temperature was cooler around the pit, and the steam was almost nonexistent.

  Angus pointed to the water coming down the walls and flowing onto the web. “The water contains particles of salt. Over thousands of years, the dripping has created a salt web.”

  The web measured thirty feet across with four tiers of webs. Each tier contained strands of different widths, crisscrossing in different directions, and connecting with the tier below in a few places. A few of the larger strands should be able to hold her. Zidin, on the other hand? I hope he can think light thoughts.

  Angus went first. Slick condensation covered the web. He took a few careful steps across the largest mineral strand. He slipped as he tried to step between strands. He took a few more steps and stepped onto a strand as big as a tree trunk. Angus sat down on the strand and pushed himself the rest of the way across.

  Kita wanted her crossing to be m
ore dignified than Angus’ and after studying the web, decided on a path across. She scratched Sarge’s ears to calm her nerves. He happily rubbed against her leg.

  Confident, Kita stepped to the edge, picking a spot where no strand connected. She took several steps backward. After patting Sarge, she sprinted forward. She didn’t know what effect the water on the web would have on her tumbling. If she slipped, she stood little chance of recovering. She reached the edge of the pit and twisted into backward handspring. As she rotated, she reached for her planned hand and foot placements. Kita gracefully arched from strand to strand, barely touching them. She landed on the far side and smiled at Angus.

  Sarge made it look almost as easy. He jumped and ran along the strands with his large tail trailing behind. When he reached Kita, he sat and cleaned the water from his paws.

  Kita worried about Zidin. He outweighed her, and his best choice was a multi-strand approach using the thickest strands. He straddled the largest strand, scooting across. A loud crack over the din of the geysers announced a buckled support strand. Zidin changed to a shorter, but thinner route that took him toward the center, making Kita nervous. She’d gone over the center and the strands flexed under her weight. Zidin scooted into the center. A series of small cracks became a thousand dishes breaking at once.

  Kita gasped in horror. A red aura closed around her vision. The world stood still. Zidin and pieces of the web hung in the air, Angus looked concerned, and Sarge sat cleaning a paw.

  Kita moved to the edge of the hole, calculating the distances and trajectories of the pieces of the web and Zidin, drew Midnight, and fired a single arrow.

  The arrow traveled fast, even in Kita’s berserking state. It hit a large piece of the web and pushed its new hitchhiker along with it. The arrow and chunk struck Zidin in the chest. The force of the impact knocked Zidin against the wall.

  Kita fired five arrows in rapid succession. The first struck the wall under Zidin’s arm. The next three struck under him to stop his fall. The final arrow struck above him to be a handhold.

  Angus tapped Kita on the shoulder in slow motion. He held a long thin metal rope made of twisted wire, attached to a pair of odd arrows. He pointed to where he wanted them. Kita nocked and fired them. One struck close to Zidin’s hand, the other on the ceiling behind Angus. Angus attached a device to the cable and slid it down to Zidin.

  “Hold on to the handle and hit the button. It’ll pull you up,” said Angus to Zidin. The words sounded long and tired in Kita’s ears.

  Kita fled into the steam as her berserking state ended. She slumped against the wall and curled up as sadness and tears overcame her. Sarge forced his way onto her lap. He wrapped his large tail around her legs and licked the tears from her face.

  “Are you alright?”

  Kita opened her teary eyes to find Zidin kneeling next to her. “Yeah, I can’t help myself,” she said with a frown. She was angry with herself for crying.

  “Good. I was worried you were going to stroke the fur off that cat.”

  Sarge looked at Zidin and lashed his tail.

  Kita giggled. “Sarge likes it, and he’s so soft.”

  “I’m glad my fallen angel does double duty as my guardian angel.”

  Kita sensed his change in tone. “I’m not about to lose my charge and friend if I can help it. It would be more heartache than I can bear. You weren’t injured, were you?” Kita kicked herself for not asking first.

  Zidin shook his head. “Nothing I can’t live with. I’ll have a nice bruise where that chunk of salt hit me in the chest, but it’s a small price to pay. I did tear up the arm that was burned earlier.”

  “Let me look.” Kita pulled the arm closer. Open blisters covered Zidin’s arm. “We don’t have supplies to bandage it properly. You have to be careful. It’s ripe for infection.”

  Zidin shrugged. “I can cut a piece of my kilt off and use that as a bandage.”

  Great, I save him from falling, only to have him go septic.

  Angus appeared out of the steam, wrapping his rope into a groove that went around the rim of his shield. Kita had never noticed it before. What a clever design.

  “What kind of rope is that?” said Kita.

  “It’s called a cable and it’s almost as flexible as traditional rope but thinner, lighter, and stronger. Once we arrive at Outpost Twenty-four, we’ll get you outfitted with this and some other tools.”

  Kita’s mind filled with ideas—what other interesting tools did the Legion have tucked away?

  “Are you alright to travel?”

  As an answer, she pushed Sarge off her lap and stood up. “Yes. We need to do something about Zidin’s arm.”

  “The geysers have stopped,” said Zidin.

  Kita and Angus listened for any whooshing sounds but heard nothing.

  “What does that mean?” said Kita.

  “It means we’ve plugged the hole, which could be a very bad thing,” said Angus.

  “How bad?”

  “It will be like a runaway boiler on a steam engine. We should make haste.”

  The first tremors shook the ground as they wove between geyser holes. Angus picked up the pace. A large tremor almost knocked Kita down. As she went, cracks in the floor radiated from the geyser holes.

  A violent tremor sent Kita tumbling. Landing inches from a gap that could swallow her, she peeked over the edge. The sides didn’t look like the tubes. She ran a hand down the granular inside. Licking her fingers, she swore and jumped to her feet.

  “It’s salt!” Kita yelled to the others.

  “What is?” said Angus.

  “The floor, it’s not rock.”

  Zidin and Angus appeared out of the steam. Both rubbed their fingers inside cracks and tasted.

  “She’s right,” said Zidin.

  Of course I am.

  “Then let’s hurry,” said Angus. “This cavern could collapse at any moment. We’ll move as fast as we can. I’ll lead the way, Zidin next, and Kita as the fastest you will take up the rear. Understood?”

  Kita and Zidin nodded.

  The group dodged cracks as well as geyser holes. The steam made navigating difficult. Several times someone stumbled over a new fissure.

  A massive tremor shook the cavern knocking Kita down. She rolled and jumped over a large opening. A new cacophony—like the web collapsing, only louder and deeper—blasted through the cavern. Kita yelled for the others. Their muffled replies came through the din. She found them in the steam and Angus hurried away faster this time.

  The tremors grew in intensity as they ran. One tremor sent Kita flying. She turned the fall into a roll, popping back up, barely missing a step. Her lungs and legs burned. She stopped when she reached the safety of the exit. It contained a trace amount of stream, but Angus and Zidin kept running.

  “Don’t stop,” yelled Angus. “If that chamber explodes it will blast steam up this tube like a geyser.”

  Taking a deep breath, Kita ran on. She caught up to Zidin and Angus in a wide spot. Both men looked exhausted. Kita sucked in some deep breaths. She wasn’t breathing as hard as them. “We should be safe now, right? We must be over a mile away.”

  Angus shook his head. As he opened his mouth to speak, a breeze passed over them from the direction they’d come. “Run. Don’t stop. Go, now.”

  No one had to be told twice. It felt like Kita was trying to outrun a monster she couldn’t avoid or kill. She didn’t understand how this monster worked, or why it could reach out from over a mile away to get them. The geysers in the cavern only reached the ceiling. Kita hated not knowing. When I get out of here, I’ll learn all I can about everything.

  The wind blew stronger and hotter, sapping the strength from Kita’s tired limbs. The tube climbed and turned a lazy corner. Stepping on a slippery rock, she tumbled back down the tube. Sarge turned and bound after her. She caught herself on an outcropping, and Sarge pulled on her arm to keep her from sliding further. Swearing, she ran back up, this time watching her foo
ting. She’d lost Zidin and Angus. They can’t be too far ahead.

  A deafening roar reverberated down the tube. The ground shook and didn’t stop. Ignoring the slippery floor, Kita ran faster than she’d ever run. The wind pushed her forward. The salt in the air stung her eyes. The smell of hot salt water plugged her nose as she labored to breathe. Ignoring her eyes and lungs, she ran on.

  Zidin’s massive arm grabbed her. He pressed her to the cavern wall while shielding her with his body. Steam and water shot past them with a deafening roar. When the eruption stopped, Zidin let go. Kita rubbed the salt from her eyes and tried to clear her lungs. She stood high on a small ledge, one of many exits. The new lake at the bottom made an island of a raised center mountain. There was no way to reach any of the other exits. I hope Angus has a plan.

  After spitting up enough salt to preserve a cow, she smiled at Zidin. “I’m fine. I feel like I ate a chunk of that room.”

  Angus didn’t seem concerned about her. He was busy searching the wall.

  “Can I help you find something?” Kita said with a sigh.

  “No. It will only respond to me—right now. Once we get you into the system, it will respond to you, too.”

  What is it? And what is it supposed to respond to?

  “Ah,” said Angus.

  The island in the center of the cavern moved. The color and texture matched the rest of the cavern, but its cone shape was too perfect. The top lifted on a giant center neck, revealing a circular walkway. On the sides of the cone, two narrow arms lifted upward. Angus wasn’t watching, too busy on his Arcom. Did he make the island move, or has some weird creature awoken? Maybe it’s both?

  “Angus, that island is moving,” Kita said, trying to keep the alarm out of her voice.

  “Excellent. I was afraid it was malfunctioning when it didn’t respond. It’s due for maintenance. Remind me when we get to the administrative center to enter the request with Red.” Angus’ tone sounded routine.

  To Kita, it looked like magic. After the last couple of days, even magic seems routine.