Arnica
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JG cautiously moved to the two bots to get a closer look. They were older models whose parts weren't even worth cannibalizing for replacements in her part of the galaxy.
However, they must perform a vital function here because a box near their stand was full of spare parts. She wondered how many had been shipped out with the colonists and how many were in working condition. Her eyes glanced around looking for more stands, finding six stacked in a corner. Moving up and down the rows of tables, she looked for anything that would pose as a threat to her. Turning back to the spybots, she knew she had to neutralize the pair.
Horiku came back nearly a half a hour later, finding JG bent over the workbench.
"There are underground passages throughout this mountain. Some we need to stay away from. They smell of something rotting. There are others that I don't know where they lead, but it could be to another surface outlet. I could feel a draft from them."
JG nodded, laying the tool down. She felt she damaged enough parts on the two bots that it would take a while to repair. She also deactivated the recorders and destroyed whatever stored information they had.
"Let's see which of the prisoners want to go, and take an assessment of their condition. About the rotting smell, anything you recognize?"
"Yes. Like the poison outside."
"Storage for their supplies," she surmised. She looked around for something to seal the tunnels without blowing them up.
Horiku, touched her arm hesitantly. "Jina Gari, I know you have been leading us with great skill..."
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"You want to take over the leadership for a while? Go ahead," JG encouraged with a grin.
"I meant the elder Dwarf. Dwarfs know underground tunnels. However, being that he is on his beiage, death walk, if the exit is too far he may not be able to lead us all the way out of here."
"Nameer, do you know about Dwarfs?"
:They live all their lives with their pride in the mountains and when they are ready to die, they travel alone to the nearest mountain top to await the passing of their spirit.: JG got up and approached the Dwarf. She had little experience in dealing with them, but what she did know was that they were a blunt spoken race.
"Honorable elder," she started. The old head turned to her. Black, dull eyes stared back at her. "I understand you were interrupted from your beiage."
"Yes," he wheezed. He pointed a gnarled finger at her. "You are the one they call
'Iron Fist'"
JG snorted in alarm. "Where did you hear that?" She was sure she did not 'leak'
that memory.
"We have species memory. What one Dwarf encounters is known by all in that space where time has no place."
"So, if I cheat a Dwarf, everyone will know, huh?"
"Only if it has a profound effect on the Dwarf, otherwise it would be too burdensome for us all to remember each event in everyone's life."
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"I didn't know what I did was all that important to a Dwarf."
"He was a young one, and the image you created as you stopped the miners and soldiers from starting a blood bath was quite emotional for this Dwarf. May I ask you to tell the story, just so I have a clear idea on just what really happened?"
JG looked embarrassed and then laughed. "Alright. I have something to ask of you too."
The old head nodded.
"You still want to go on with your initiation?"
He nodded.
"Will you allow us to follow you out? We will not interfere with your rite."
"You have chosen the word 'initiation' instead of death walk. Why?"
"My lifemate told me that life is fraught with many levels of initiation, physical death being one."
"A Drosu thought," the old Dwarf nodded. "You are Kiuzi. I noticed you and your apprentice speak with the great cat. He is your animal guardian?"
"He is a friend that asked me for help. Will you help us?"
The Dwarf nodded. "I have little strength left in my legs to make it to the top. You may have to carry me." He nodded to Horiku who came to stand next to JG.
"I will carry you for as long as I can to your mountain top," JG offered.
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"A burden easily shared," Horiku bowed respectfully, then turned to Jina Gari.
"We must leave quickly. One of the women said the doctor that runs this lab shall be returning with supplies. He does not stay away for long."
"Alright then, gather the others together. Let's find some packs and food for our trip. The water carriers are on wheels. I already checked them and they haven't been tampered with. Those small hand carts will be good to stack supplies and carry those that can't walk."
Horiku was quick and efficient in organizing the freed captives. Those that were too weak, such as the Dwarf, sat in a cart while the others feeling more able pulled, happy to be escaping. JG would have started a fire or placed a chemical bomb to destroy the lab but she did not know what she would be releasing into the air.
"We'll take a break here," JG spoke softly.
The column gratefully stopped, dropping to the ground exactly where they stood.
Nameer had padded ahead not wanting to be around the group. The group was frightened by his presence. He regained his strength quickly. From the information Horiku and JG
had gathered most of these people could not remember for how long they had been tortured but it seemed to them for many moons.
While they rested, JG recounted her story privately to the Dwarf and Horiku spoke with a cranky Benitians who had refused medical treatment for his burns. Horiku joined Jina Gari at the water bucket.
"Do you think the Dwarf will make it?" JG asked softly.
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Horiku looked at her strangely. "You can know this yourself just by touching him as you do Nameer."
JG looked uncomfortable. Now she knew how Alexandra felt. Just because Alexandra is an empath she assumed Alexandra knew what others were thinking or how they felt all the time.
"It is what everyone knows," Horiku explained. "It saves considerable time in relationships to not hide some feelings."
"What happens if the person's feelings aren't so nice?"
"You are referring to words as opposed to feelings. We are all sensitive to the energy of thoughts. For those that are not used to it, as yourself, you will continue to be off-balance until you learn to protect yourself from intentional negative thoughts."
JG shifted to look at her face on. "What are you talking about? Someone's thoughts aren't going to hurt me."
Horiku shook her head. "It has. When you were searching for Nameer."
"I…"
"You were feeling despair. You let it influence your actions and thoughts."
Horiku studied her worried. It was such a basic lesson for inhabitants on Arnica, yet the Queen had told her in her dream that the off-world soldier did not know how to fight despair except through avoidance. It was not the way of a Kiuzi warrior. She must acknowledge it, let it go, and move on.
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"Despair? Was that what that was? Well, it took me off guard. I can handle it." JG
felt herself slipping back into her defensive noncom soldier's role.
"How is that?" Horiku challenged.
"Listen…I've been through this shit before. I can't take time to sludge through that emotional dribble."
"You face the despair and see it for what it is and then you put it in its place,"
Horiku told her seriously.
"Put it in its place?"
"Despair is merely a tool. How it is used is determined by the person."
JG shrugged her shoulders and rose to her feet. She thought of Alexa
ndra and her months spent in a prisoner of war camp, witnessing what was left of her troop tortured to death. What did she do with her despair? Then she remembered that her father was the one responsible for that betrayal.
"Let's get going!" she said too harshly and then quickly suppressed the anger that began to resurface, grimacing as her voice echoed in the tunnel. "Damn memories," she muttered as she picked up the handle to a cart.
She heard an echo from behind them but was too engrossed on what she felt in front of them. "Master Dwarf," she called softly to the figure on the cart near her.
"We must move quickly, before they seal their end," he told her in a fierce whisper.
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JG noticed the tone of his voice. It sounded forced, as if his strength was barely enough to get the words out. A rumble began, growing quickly and coming toward them.
The echoing in the tunnels magnified. Everyone froze in their steps.
"Turn the corner!" the Dwarf thought more than shouted.
Bodies scrambled off the carts toward another branch in the tunnel. The Dwarf was assisted out of the cart by Horiku, while JG worried about their water. She tried to move another cart in front of one of the water carts, hopping it would spare it from whatever was coming down the tunnel.
"Helgas moon, I'm gonna regret this." An energy wave picked up a cart and slammed it into JG, successfully pinning her against the tunnel wall.
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:My friend.: a relieved Nameer greeted her.
There was only darkness around her. Near her, someone was shifting weight off her then touched her leg.
What happened?
JG's verbal reply was a barely heard croak.
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She attempted to rise, nearly losing her balance. Her left leg was numb. Debris from the carts and their contents were scattered about. She plucked bits of something from her tunic. Hobbling on one leg, she negotiated her way in the dark over the debris.
When she rounded the corner, the air that hit her was heavy with despair.
"What the hell is this?" she croaked and then coughed.
"The Dwarf led us to what some call the Well of Despair," Horiku explained softly. "Normally, those that visit here are already masters of handling this magnitude of emotion."
"Well of…" JG held her breath as she gathered her wits. The sensation in her leg was returning. She needed to find a way to get all of them out. Suddenly, she reached behind her and pulled open her pack. Fumbling around she found her light. She turned it on to give the group a sense of comfort.
Following an inspection of the survivors, JG found she had been the only one that had not made it into the protection of the next corridor. Horiku dressed her leg wounds and then suggested she take a nap while Nameer locate a water source. JG would have loved to go with him just to escape the heavy feeling that was depressing her, but she needed to keep the survivors calm and she admitted, she needed some rest in order to heal.
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Nameer, unaffected by the energy bombarding the others was more interested in hunting in the tunnels. The more distance he put between the survivors and the one that had captured him the better he felt. He was also thirsty and hungry. His nose picked up small creatures in the tunnels, but first he needed water, then he would hunt before returning to the stranger he had bonded with.
"Jina Gari, Nameer has returned," Horiku told her softly.
:There is water in one of the tunnels.:
JG cleared her throat and opened her eyes into the strangely shadowed tunnel.
Horiku pressed a water gourd to her lips. Slowly she sipped her fill.
"Nameer, it is good to see you. Horiku, let's get everyone ready."
JG moved her leg experimentally. "Even in this place where hopelessness is so heavy, injuries are healed quickly," she muttered to no one in particular. She knew her wounds had been deep and she should be at least limping, but… She shook her head and stiffly moved to take care of something she had promised to do.
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From around the corner where the wreckage of the carts lay, JG set about selecting a plank to carry the body of the Dwarf.
"Why are you doing this? He led us here!" one of the survivors objected.
"It is a horrid place!" another agreed.
"If we had not taken this tunnel, chances are fewer of us would have survived the blowout," JG reminded them as she gingerly moved the Dwarf with Horiku's assistance onto the plank. She silently gave the soldier's lament to a fallen comrade as she tied his body in place. She realized he had been very weak and probably used his last strength to give the warning.
"You would not have been hurt if he had remained behind! He held us up!"
"You are not the one that will be carrying him," JG returned tersely.
"He is dead! His spirit will follow us…maybe cause us to die too!"
"When it's your time there is no out running the hound of death," she told him.
"Horiku, we will fill up at the water source that Nameer has found and then find a passage that takes us to the top of this mount. I see you have gathered what can be used to carry water. I made a promise to master Dwarf," she finished in a softer voice.
Horiku nodded and began to get the survivors to their feet. JG noticed that everyone seemed to have recovered from whatever physical ordeals they suffered in the cages, however, they all looked weary.
Nameer led them. Horiku held one end of the plank, while JG the other.
Chapter 11
Gi stopped at an underwater pool, giving everyone time to rest. The group collapsed with a
ching calves and heaving lungs, the last steep climb finally silencing even the men's thoughts. Lt. Vanstar and Cpl. Wetfoot settled near E'l at the edge of the pool where the three women were dangling their legs into the water, at Gi's suggestion.
The men sat in their space, away from the water, pulling off their footwear and rummaging in their donated packs for something to relieve their sore feet.
Alexandra collapsed a little distance from the women, mentally collecting herself.
She felt both physically and mentally exhausted. She realized why Gi had recommended the water as the essence of the water began it's healing on her submerged legs. Gratefully she gave thanks to the spirit of the cavern and waters. A lethargy had been creeping over her which she had not realized until she connected with the water. She dragged a hand up to run through her hair, tangling with the long curly strands.
I have to cut this hair or bind it back. I also have to do something about the
vibes from those colonists.
Their anger was dense. She was having difficulties finding the cause. She was sure that heaviness was wearing all of them down. Alexandra looked up at the Corporal who had put her boots back on and had her pack in place; like a soldier in unfamiliar territory, always ready for a moments notice to move. The Corporal dropped to her knees, blocking Alexandra's view of the men and theirs of her.
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"The lamps are running low on energy, Commander," Cpl. Wetfoot reported in a low voice so it did not echo in the low cavern.
"Yes. Our eyes will adjust to the darkness, unless you think there's something wrong with their night vision."
"It isn't all that dark, ma'am. If there was any problem with darkness, Gi would say something."
"Sometimes Corporal, when leading civilians, you let them have their way with the small things."
"What happens if it's too many small things?" she grumbled, and then continued,
"Commander, I've been around this group of colonists for about a stan year. They don't learn by past mistakes. This group repeats the same mistakes holding them to be sanctimonious truths."
"How many colonists have you met?"
"About a hundred agreed to see us. More than that are scattered around Arnica.