by Clay Kronke
"No," Aris's voice came across, sounding annoyed. "There are too many variables and adjusting for one only ends up negating another. I'm going to use the pulse cannons and see if I can't rig some kind of acoustic mapping."
Mira had walked over to the other end of the chamber and was taking a look at the three crevices. "So we're on our own for now," she said, nodding. "Copy that."
"I'll keep you apprised," Aris said. "Castle out."
Gareth joined Mira at the far end. "None of these look like fun," he said. "Which one do you want?"
Mira shook her head. "No splitting up," she said.
"Right, I forgot," Gareth said. "I'm your shield."
Mira raised an eyebrow. "We don't know what we're getting into," she said. "If something happens, I can't help if we've split up."
Gareth nodded. "Good point."
"Besides," she continued, pointing to the floor leading into the left passage, "they went this way." And with that, Mira stepped off into the crevice, and Gareth shrugged, following behind.
"Wait, why am I the one that would need help?"
• • •
Petra opened her eyes but couldn't see. Realizing she was lying on her back, she pushed herself to a sitting position, and felt the ground around her. She sat surrounded by large chunks of stone and covered in a layer of grit and dust. As she moved, she felt sudden stabs of pain all over her, most on her legs and hips, some on her shoulders and the top of her head. She gingerly flexed her arms and legs, but nothing seemed to be broken. "Ow," she said, putting her hands up to her head. She could feel a wet trickle down the side of her face, and she hoped that wherever the skin had broken wasn't too serious.
"Petra?" Bran said, his voice several feet away. "You okay?"
She was brushing the dirt from her eyes and out of her hair. "Just bruised and scraped up a bit," she said. "But otherwise fine, I think. You?"
"I don't know yet," he said. "Can't move my leg much, but that's probably just shock. The brace is still in place, though." She could hear the rustle of fabric and the crunch of gravel as Bran shifted position, followed by a small beep as he pulled out his handheld and turned it on. The screen lit up, casting a blue glow up against Bran's face and setting at least a faint light on their surroundings. His hair was disheveled, and his face was covered in dirt.
"You look terrible," Petra giggled, then winced at the new pain in her ribcage. She took a few deep breaths, waiting for it to subside as she looked around. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Bran said. "I think we found a weak section and the floor collapsed."
They had made their way down the winding stair into the chasm, Petra hyperventilating the entire time, and had found the low chamber at the end. There was a little light filtering in from above, enough to see that the chamber ended at three different passageways, but not enough to see if there were any more footmarks to follow. Bran had pulled a handlamp from a compartment on his belt, and even though it lit the way, they couldn't find trace of any recent movement.
They had begun to debate which passageway to take, when a scrabbling sound like metal on stone had echoed up from the left opening, silencing their conversation. They set off, making their way into the passage, but hadn't gone more than a hundred feet before the stone cracked and the floor dropped out from under their feet. Petra screamed, the world spun sideways, and the light cut out.
Petra didn't know how long she had been still before trying to move again, but now that she was sitting up, part of her wished she could just lie back down and wait there.
"Do you see my lamp?" Bran asked.
She looked around. In the dim light of the handheld screen it was hard to make out what was rock and what was not, but she did her best, groaning as she pulled herself up off the floor.
"Never mind," he said, picking a small gray cylinder out from between a couple of rocks. "Found it." He pressed a button and the end lit up bright white, casting more light around the chamber and making it easier to see where they were.
It was a small space compared to the chamber they were in before, a winding passage barely tall enough to stand in, with sloping, diagonal walls and jagged edges. Directly above was a tall air pocket, the top of which was the hole where the floor of the upper chamber had collapsed. Petra frowned. "We're not going to be able to get out very easily," she said, looking up. Bran had gotten to his feet, and limped up next to her, shining the light up into the space. The rock was sheer and steep, with nothing that would easily serve as footholds.
"There were three openings," Bran said. "Hopefully this one connects to one of them at some point. Come on." He turned and started down the passage they were in, moving slow to step carefully over fallen debris as he went. Petra followed, occasionally ducking to keep from hitting her head on any of the low protrusions jutting from the ceiling of the passage.
She caught up with him, stepping up beside, and noticed he no longer had the staff he had been using for support. A sudden wave of guilt washed over her, turning her stomach, and she blurted out, "I'm sorry."
Bran looked up at her, surprised. "For what?"
Petra didn't look at him. "For all of this," she said, her words starting to tumble out without pause. "For getting you involved, for getting us shot at, blown up, shot down, stranded, and now injured. I've been running headlong into the unknown like a madwoman, and you've gamely stuck with me to keep me from killing myself, all at your own personal risk, when you would otherwise be safe unloading cargo on some happy planet not being chased by fire-breathing monsters—"
"Hey," Bran interrupted, stopping and grabbing her shoulders, turning her to face him. He noticed her face properly for probably the first time. She had scratches on her forehead and right temple, blood on her left cheek from a cut somewhere under her hairline, dirt and dust at the perimeter of her face that she hadn't managed to wipe away, and her eyes were welled up, looking very nearly on the verge of a breakdown. "Come here," he pulled her into a hug, though it was slightly awkward as she was taller than him and he found his face being pulled into her neck. Her body shuddered slightly as she tried to keep herself from crying openly.
"It's all right," he continued. "None of this is your fault. I followed you into the council building, remember? And I blew off work to stay with you. You never asked me to." He took a step back, looking her in the eyes and trying to be as reassuring as possible. "We're in this together, okay? We'll figure a way out."
Petra took a couple of deep breaths, relaxing slightly, then nodded. "You lost your staff," she said, looking down at his braced leg. "You can hang on to me if you need to."
Bran smiled. "I'll probably be fine," he said. "But you should stick close just the same." Petra didn't wait for an invitation, gripping his upper arm with both of her hands. He smiled despite himself as they continued toward the other end of the passage, which was beginning to slowly angle upward. "I hope we won't have to actually climb anything," he said. "Don't suppose you can carry me?"
"Don't push your luck," she said, but inwardly she was happy some of his humor was returning. "Maybe we can find some more stairs—"
She stopped as more scraping sounds could be heard in the distance. "Hello!" she shouted, her hope fluttering as she listened to her voice echo down the length of the passageway. That hope sank somewhat as a minute or two went by with no response.
"I don't think that was your friends," Bran said, a worried look beginning to form on his face. "Come on, let's keep moving." He leaned into her grip slightly and limped forward as the two of them continued.
The passage was not an easy walk, uneven and winding, and they found themselves stepping over stone outcroppings and rocky debris in an attempt to avoid the wide cracks and crevices that made up most of the floor under their feet. Petra was beginning to wonder if it might have been easier to go the other direction, when the walls of the crevice tapered, the stone gre
w smoother with a glossy sheen in places, and the entire passage evened out, looking more like a tunnel bored into the rock than a natural passageway.
"Well this is better," Petra said, happy there was less irregularity in the floor to have to navigate around.
Bran, who was examining the section of wall closest to him, was shaking his head. "I don't know about that," he said as he ran his fingers along the glassy patches, his pace increasing. "I think faster would be better." The passageway was also straightening out considerably, and its increased artificiality was making Bran claustrophobic.
They continued on in uncomfortable silence, Bran's limping becoming more pronounced. Petra was about to suggest they stop for a minute when she noticed the tunnel ahead took a sudden turn to the right. Bran noticed as well, and Petra felt herself being pulled forward as their steps quickened. They took the turn, but stopped short as the passage ended, opening out into darkness.
They stood midway up the side wall of a very large cavern chamber, stretching endlessly in both directions. Bran's handlamp did little to penetrate the expansive darkness, but he quickly realized they didn't need it, as there was a river of phosphorescent crystals running along the high vaulted ceiling, casting an ethereal blue glow over the chamber.
He lowered the lamp and they stood for a moment, letting their eyes adjust. It was an enormous chamber, with a canyon shaped valley along the bottom from what could have been a river cutting through the space, with rock formations extending down from the ceiling like columns lining either side, giving the impression of a sediment-covered cathedral.
And dotting much of the length of the opposite wall were scattered circular openings, similar to the one they were standing in. Bran stepped to the edge and leaned out slightly, looking up and to the sides. There were more openings on their wall as well, dozens of them, all roughly circular and about ten feet in diameter.
"What are they?" Petra asked, stepping up next to him.
"I think they're where dragons have tunneled," Bran said. "They're the right size for it."
Petra's eyes widened. If that was true, there might be just as many dragons around them in the cavern system. The thought of coming across one – let alone multiple – as they tried to get back to the surface made her stomach lurch.
"That was what we heard earlier, wasn't it?" she asked, remembering the odd scraping and crunching sounds that at the time she assumed were other people.
Bran nodded. "Most likely. But don't worry," he turned to her, a slight smile drawing at his mouth. "Most dragons hibernate for years. There's a good chance we won't even see one."
"That would be nice," Petra said, though she wasn't hopeful. The dread in her stomach was turning into nausea, and all she wanted was to get back above ground. "So what now?" she asked. "If we keep going, how do we get down? Or do we try to go back the way we came?"
"I don't know," he said, leaning out again and looking down. The floor of the chamber was a good twenty feet below them, and though the wall of the cavern was steep, it angled forward and sloped down to the bottom where at least the immediate floor was more level. On the other hand, the chamber was long, and they couldn't see where either end went, and there was no guarantee they'd be able to get to a point that led back to the surface. "Our odds of getting more lost if we keep going are pretty high."
"Um, we may not have a choice," Petra said, and Bran turned to her. She was facing away from the opening, looking back into the tunnel, and in that moment, he could hear an odd snuffling sound, like air out of an exhaust, as a sudden waft of heat washed over them. "I'm not staying here," she said, turning to step up to the opening and looking down at the wall of the cavern under them, judging the angle of the slope.
"What are you doing?" Bran asked.
"Getting ready to break my own legs, are you coming?"
"Um," Bran started, looking back into the passage. There were now very clear scraping sounds coming from farther into the passageway, and the heat wafting their way increased, bringing with it the smell of sulfur. He turned back to see Petra sitting down in the mouth of the tunnel, dangling her legs out into the open. "I don't think that's such a good—"
Petra didn't wait. She pushed herself forward and disappeared out of the opening. Bran leaned forward and watched as she slid down the sloping cavern wall. She crumpled into a heap when she reached the bottom, and he was about to call out when he realized she was simply rolling forward. She got back to her feet, dusted herself off and looked back up to Bran, waving for him to follow.
"I'm not as nimble as you," he said, crouching down and preparing to slide down after her.
"Brace yourself with your good leg, I'll help," she said, waving more emphatically. He took one last glance behind him, swearing he saw movement in the shadows, then pushed out, leaning back against the stone as he slid down the wall, picking up speed as he went. He gritted his teeth, pulling his broken leg up against his torso and preparing to let himself simply collapse against the ground, when Petra jumped up, throwing her body up against his to slow his descent.
It knocked the wind out of him, and they landed in a heap at the bottom, but once he rolled over and sat up, he realized he didn't have any new fractures, and his already broken leg wasn't any worse off. "Thanks," he said. "I think."
"Can you walk?" she asked, getting up and helping him to his feet.
He tested his weight on the broken leg, wincing at the pain, but satisfied the brace was still in place and intact. "I think so," he said. "How did you know you'd make that drop?"
"I didn't," she said. "But I figured it was better than the alternative."
There was a sudden rough scraping of metal on stone, and they both looked up to see a dark scaly shape emerge from the tunnel they were just in. Petra almost screamed out, but Bran quickly put a hand over her mouth and shook his head.
A dragon's head and neck had appeared, extending outward from the opening in the cavern wall. It paused as it seemed to sniff the air a bit, and Bran and Petra froze, hugging the wall as close as possible. It let out a throaty grumble, then shuffled further out of the tunnel, its wing claws extending after emerging from the hole and embedding in the stone of the cavern wall. The rest of the body slithered out after, the hind legs unfolding, followed finally by the tail, which slung outward and seemed to shake itself off before flattening against the wall behind the creature. Perched sideways, it turned and proceeded to crawl along the upper wall until it came to another circular opening. It stuck its head in the opening, sniffed a few times, then pulled its head back out and continued on.
Twenty or thirty feet farther, it stopped and did the same thing, sticking its head inside the next opening and sniffing the air. It seemed to decide that this was the one it wanted, and started into the circular opening, pulling its wings back against is body and shuffling inside. After another few seconds, the tail disappeared and the creature was gone.
Bran exhaled and took his hand away from Petra's mouth. "You okay?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
She didn't respond for a minute, continuing to stare wide-eyed up at the tunnel openings above them. She glanced around the chamber, looking at all the other circular openings as it finally registered what they were really for.
She nodded, still looking up. "I think so," she said. "I've never seen one that close before."
"I've never seen one at all," Bran said, straightening up. "Aren't we lucky. Come on, we need to keep moving. If there are more, we really shouldn't stay in here."
"If?" she said. "I'm not taking that bet." She righted herself and they both stepped away from the wall, turning to look out into the chamber proper. From their vantage point they had a much better view toward the end of the space. The walls curved and undulated, and the ceiling was high and vaulted, but all surfaces seemed to contract, coming together at the far end at a single arched opening leading to darkness beyond. The river
of phosphorescent crystals jutting down from the ceiling widened and trailed down at the same end, surrounding the entire opening with an iridescent sparkle on top of its eerie blue glow.
The opposite side of the chamber, however, was almost completely dark, the crystalline clusters becoming smaller and sparser before finally getting lost in a dense collection of rock formations at the end.
"Seem like we're being led that way," Petra said, pointing to the brighter end of the cavern.
"Yeah, but I think that'll take us farther in the wrong direction," Bran said. "The shaft we came down is behind us."
"Yes, but we'll be able to see where we're going," Petra said, setting off for the brighter end. "And I don't want to be snuck up on again."
A brief rumble pulsed through the chamber, like a tremor from an explosion up on the surface, and both stopped in place. It wasn't loud, but it could be felt through the ground. "What was that?" Petra breathed.
Bran shook his head. "I don't know. Weapon fire, maybe." They stood still for another moment, straining their ears listening for a recurrence of the sound, but heard only silence.
"We need to find a way out," Petra said, grabbing Bran's arm and starting again toward the other end. He almost lost his balance but managed to stay upright. "Wait," he said. "We don't—"
"I'm not staying here," she said, her voice tense. Bran didn't argue but did his best to keep pace as they made their way across the chamber. The cavern floor sloped and stairstepped down toward the middle, where a deep crevice cut through the center of the space, but there was a strip between the wall and the crevice that was more or less level, and they made their way down to it with minimal difficulty. Once there, they found their way considerably less impeded by stone formations or floor irregularities, and their pace increased. They had not gone far, however, when Petra stopped suddenly, and Bran had to grab her shoulder to keep from losing his balance.
"What is it?" he asked. Petra was looking back toward the dark end of the chamber, her brow creased in concentration.
