There was a ceiling above their heads!
The light came through the rectangular panels, but those panels weren't transparent; it was impossible to tell if they were frosted windows to the outside world or if the light came from bulbs hidden behind the milky whiteness. The evenness of the illumination suggested the latter.
A ceiling! John could hardly believe it. If there was a ceiling, they had to be in a chamber, a chamber bigger than anything John had ever seen bounded by walls!
The only wall he could see was the one at his back. Everything in front of him was forest. Could you call it a forest if it had a roof? There was greenery in extravagant profusion as far as the eye could see, a veritable jungle of plants. There were shade trees and bushes and fruit trees and low ground cover and shrubs and grasses and pine trees and ferns, all growing in a riot that beggared the finest corporate arboretum he'd ever seen. It was the sort of growth he could imagine the legendary untouched rain forests to boast.
And they were still inside the dwarves' realm!
They stood on a three-meter-wide path of gravel that ran along the wall they had come through. A narrow path in front of them led into the verdure. Looking down that shadowed aisle, John could see that it forked not very far in. A glance in either direction along the edge of the wood revealed what appeared to be other paths leading into the trees from the perimeter path as well.
John found this place the most congenial he'd visited in the dwarves' domain. It was alive, full of energy! Totally unlike the stony coldness he'd felt everywhere else.
Why had the dwarves constructed such a place? Was it a park, or a farm, or an arboretum, or something else entirely? What purpose could a captive forest have for the dwarves? As he stared in wonderment, the door slid shut behind him.
Sue tensed, giving the panel a dirty look. She looked around suspiciously. When nothing happened, she relaxed.
"No alarms. I guess we're okay for now."
It was almost as if someone was urging them to go on.
The perimeter path ran straight for a long distance in either direction. It was hard to tell for sure, but it looked like the forest eventually curved out to press against the wall. Or maybe l he wall curved away from the trees and the forest followed it. They could walk in one direction or the other and find out, but somehow the path in front of them seemed a more inviting avenue for exploration, even though it was cloaked in the shadow of the trees whose branches arched over it and the gloom gathered under the leaves shaded everything to a dark mystery.
Sue took a step toward the path into the forest. "Come on. There's gotta be an exit somewhere."
The forest might be the most inviting place John had seen in the dwarves' realm, but he hesitated to enter. "I only agreed to help you get through the door to this place. I can't leave Hear yet."
"Oh, no. You're not shimmying out on me. We ain't out yet. Come on. The outside's gotta be on the other side of the
trees."
It sounded like wishful thinking to John, but he had promised to help her escape, even though they had taken different views of what a completed "escape" would mean. How had could it be? Once they'd found the door to the outside, he'd come back and make sure the dwarves got Bear back on his feet. And having helped Sue escape, he'd know the way out himself.
He followed Sue under the cool and pleasant cover of the leaves. The air was full of forest smell, flavored with the scent of a bewildering variety of wildflowers and other blooming plants. Insects buzzed and moaned through the air, and crawled and scurried through the leaf mold and along the branches and stems of the plants. John found the filtered light easier on his eyes than the harsh glare that beat down on the perimeter path. The environment made for pleasant and serene walking, quite unlike the city.
They took the left-hand fork and hadn't gone more than a couple of dozen meters before the path forked again. Sue took the left branch again. She ignored each of the lesser paths that occasionally intersected the one they traveled on. Before long, John became convinced that they were paralleling the wall through which they had entered. How long before they encountered another wall?
Sue stopped and crouched low, listening. After a moment, she whispered, "Somebody's comin'," and dived into the greenery beside the path. Catching the faint sound of dwarvish voices, John followed, just fast enough to see that she was cutting through the underbrush, heading toward where he thought the wall lay. Being smaller than he, she made better time sliding through the tangle and was soon out of sight. He pressed on, thinking they would have been better off hiding in one place and trying his best to move quietly. He came upon a narrow path and could hear the voices of the approaching dwarves; they sounded close and were getting closer. Thinking that they must be using the path he'd just found, John crossed it and kept to the untracked brush. He hoped Sue had not taken the path; if the dwarves were using it, they'd surely catch her.
Before long, John discerned a lightness through the leaves and brush. The wall. Staying within the cover of the brush, he stopped and scanned the perimeter path. Sue was nowhere in sight. He could hear the dwarves more clearly now; they were definitely coming closer. If he called out to Sue, they would hear him. He silently wished that she would stay low and out of sight. He kept silent himself, crouching down and trying to make himself as small as possible.
Too bad Faye wasn't here; her invisibility trick would be useful.
As it turned out, he didn't need Faye's trick. Three dwarves emerged from the brush. The trio crunched down the gravel path, headed toward the door. And John—John thought inconspicuous thoughts, wanting to go unnoticed. Talking in a language John didn't comprehend, the three dwarves strolled by his hiding place. They gave no sign that they noticed him crouching in the shadows of the plants.
He was vaguely surprised that the dwarves didn't seem to be searching. He was sure the alarm must have gone up even if he hadn't heard anything. Maybe the dwarves were searching elsewhere and just didn't think John and Sue would have come here.
He waited until the trio went through the door and were gone, then waited some more before stepping out on the path. He looked around, hoping Sue would see him and emerge Irom the brush to join him. She didn't.
Softly, he called her name.
She didn't respond. Had she abandoned him?
He didn't think she'd take off on her own until she was sure that her way to the outside world was clear.
So where was she?
He stepped back into the shelter of the brush. There was no sense standing around in the open.
Should he wait for her to come back or should he go looking for her? If she was coming back, where would she come back to? They hadn't made any plans for a rendezvous. He'd have to go looking. But this place was huge; they could both stumble around for hours without running into each other. He didn't dare shout to her and she wouldn't dare either; there might be other dwarves about.
There had to be some way he could locate her without bringing down every dwarf in the place. If only he had some thermal goggles, he might spot her hiding place in the greenery by scanning for her body heat. But he didn't have thermal goggles and wishing for them wouldn't get him a pair; he might as well wish he could summon her by magic.
Then again, maybe he could. He hadn't been able to replicate the magic he'd done in the otherworld. Even though he had not gotten any effects, he'd almost always had a sense that something was happening when he tried. He remembered the feeling of vibrancy he'd had when he first returned to the mundane world; there was something of that sense here. He hadn't felt it anywhere else in the dwarves' halls, but he felt it here. Maybe a spell would work here.
If he knew one.
Which he didn't.
He felt useless. Was there anything he could try? Sometimes in fantasy stories, a magician could find someone just by thinking about them. A piece of clothing helped, a nail paring or lock of hair was even better; something with a psychic link to the person. John didn't have any of those
things, but he could try anyway. All he could do was fail.
Crouched in the brush, he concentrated on Spillway Sue. He tried not to think about how foolish he'd look if Sue or a dwarf walked up on him. He tried to think only of Sue, picturing her as well as he could. He saw her standing in front of him, bare-chested and pants open. A hint of blue panties drew his eyes down. This wasn't the sort of picture magicians got in fantasy vids.
A vague sense of presence impinged on his embarrassment. He opened his eyes and looked guiltily to his right.
No one was there.
This was stupid.
He'd just look and listen for her; sooner or later she'd show herself. The perimeter path stayed deserted. Slowly, with nothing to disturb them, the insects returned to their workaday chorus around him. John waited, growing more fretful. Had he made a mistake in deciding to wait?
The line of his gaze kept drifting off to the right. Waiting was getting him nowhere. He stood slowly to stretch his cramped muscles and started moving through the brush at the edge of the woods, following the perimeter path. Without understanding why, he found himself scanning the wall rather than the forest. The stretch of panels, grilles, and pipes didn't look any different than the wall he'd been staring at from where he had hidden until he noticed that the colored strips tied on one of the vent grilles weren't moving; when there was air flowing, the strips fluttered with its passage. What was different here?
John emerged from the woods and crossed the path to examine the vent. The opening was covered by a grille about two feet across. The top of the vent was about head height for a dwarf; John had to crouch to squint in between the slats. The inside was pitch-black and he couldn't see anything. Moving his hand across the surface of the grille, he discovered that there was a slight airflow, but only in the corners.
Something was blocking the vent.
"Sue, come on out. They're gone."
She didn't answer.
Was she in there, or was he just making a fool of himself?
He found the latch. It was an automatic closure type and hadn't quite caught. He popped it open and the grille swung wide on its hinge without any urging from him.
The increase in light slanting into the duct was enough for him to make out a huddled form. He recognized the running shoes. She didn't respond when he called her name, so he reached in and grabbed her ankle. Her other leg stirred in a weak attempt to kick his hand away from her. He just hung on tighter and grabbed her other ankle.
He pulled her out. She was a deadweight. What was wrong? He felt better when she began to struggle feebly against his attempts to get her away from the vent.
"Take it easy," he told her. "It's just me."
"Jack?"
She sounded as orbital as a tapvid junkie, but she stopped struggling. Her knees were too rubbery to support her, so he helped her sit down. John didn't like the look of her reddened skin. Her breathing was uneven, too. She was sick, or something.
"Got sleepy," she mumbled. "Not real bright ta sleep."
"You're going to be okay." He hoped he wasn't lying.
"Was gonna hide. Couldn't stay awake."
"You just sit here a minute."
"Okay," she agreed lethargically.
John went back and stuck his head in the vent. The air in the duct was moving freely again; he could feel it on his face. There was a faint odor of old sweat and rotting food. He had a vision of a locker room inside a trash bin and realized that he was getting a little light-headed, Not much oxygen. He pulled his head out of the airflow.
A little woozy, he sat down beside Sue. She leaned over and laid her head on his arm.
"Wha' happened?" she asked in a voice that sounded a little more normal.
"You crawled into that vent to hide?"
"Only place I could see ta hide."
"You passed out in there."
"Passed out? I thought I was falling asleep."
"I think it's some kind of gas vent. Maybe carbon dioxide for the plants. It's sure not normal air. You're lucky I figured out where you went."
"Ya got me out?"
"Yeah."
She didn't say anything for a while. "Ya coulda left me there."
"Why would I do that?"
"Why not? I don't mean nothing to ya. Ya coulda gone back ta Bear and pretended nothing had happened."
Her hand slipped across his rib cage and she gave him a brief one-armed hug.
"We gotta get going," she said. "They're gonna come looking for us soon. We gotta get outta here 'fore that."
"You're not in very good shape," he protested. Though she was breathing and talking almost normally, he was still worried about her color.
Using the wall as a brace, she pushed herself up onto her feet. "I'll survive."
"I think we should go back. Maybe they haven't missed us. We could try another day."
"Got this far." She took a couple of wobbly steps before putting out an arm to hold up the wall. "I ain't gonna give up yet."
He hadn't really thought she would. "Try the main path
again?"
"Sounds good."
She started back toward the path, but stayed near the wall, using it to steady herself. John caught up with her and put his arm around her shoulder.
She looked up at him, an unreadable expression on her lace. She slipped her arm around his waist.
"Let's go," she said.
They had almost reached the opening in the greenery when the door in the perimeter wall opened. There were two dwarves on the other side. The dwarves looked surprised to see John and Sue; John was certainly surprised to see the dwarves.
"It's Reddy," the blond dwarf said. "Grab him!"
His dark-haired companion lunged through the doorway. John disentangled himself from Sue. The dwarf ignored the staggering girl and came at John. Sue stuck out a leg and tripped him, but it cost her her balance. Both of them went down, the dwarf pitching toward John. John swung his fist at the dwarf's head as he fell forward. The shock of contact burst through his hand as he connected. The dwarf hit the ground and sprawled limply. The blond dwarf came forward more cautiously, moving around the fallen Sue.
Something in Sue's hand reflected light: her stolen weight bar. With a sprawling lunge, she swung her weapon and managed to catch the dwarf in the shin. He howled and began to dance, hopping on one leg. John shoved him and sent him tumbling back through the doorway. Sue scrambled to her feet and started slapping at the wall in a vain attempt to activate the door mechanism. John stepped up beside her and ran his hand along the frame; he couldn't always find a door's hidden control panel. This time he did. He triggered it. The door slid shut, cutting off the dwarf's angry shouts.
They still had one opponent on their side of the door. Sue gave the fallen dwarf a nudge with her foot. He groaned, but made no effort to move.
"You're in it now, Tall Jack." She tugged on John's arm. "We're both going now, or staying forever."
John let himself be dragged into the forest. He kept looking back at the fallen dwarf, hoping the guy wasn't totally concussed. Sue let go of his arm and with a "Come on!" started trotting down the path. John couldn't bring himself to go. He stood in the shadows of the trees, staring at the dwarf he had taken down.
The door opened again, revealing three dwarves this time, the blond one and two new guys in gray coveralls. All were grim-faced, and all had pistols in their hands. Eyes roving, they came through the doorway. They did not seem to spot John standing still in the forest gloom. The three stopped by their fallen comrade and holstered their weapons. The two newcomers kept watch while the blond stooped over and examined the prone dwarf.
"Good thing Corey has a thick skull," the blond said.
"Gesham, you figure they went into the arbor?" one of the standing dwarves asked.
"Where else?" Gesham said. "You and Lorenkin go get them."
The two dwarves in gray nodded and started for the path, toward John. They had deadly grim expressions on their faces.
John felt as if he were in the petrified forest hunt scene from Stellar Wars, but at least Zan had had a tranq gun to take out the guys chasing him.
"I don't see anything," Lorenkin whispered.
"I do," the other said. He pulled something from his belt and pointed it toward John. There was a sharp crack and something pocked the tree next to John.
A bullet! That was a bullet!
Muscles frozen, John stared at the splintered wound in the
tree.
They were shooting bullets at him. Real bullets! No tranq guns here.
He stumbled a step backward. Lorenkin clearly caught the motion; he reached for his weapon. The other dwarf fired again. Chips of bark pattered on John as another wound appeared in the tree.
Why were they shooting at him?
John didn't think it wise to hang around and ask. He turned tail and ran, taking the path to run faster. Behind him he heard the dwarves start after him. With his longer legs he was by far the faster runner. He increased the distance between them easily.
But where was he going?
He turned a corner and found Sue standing in the path.
"I thought I heard shots," she said.
"You did." He reached out and spun her around as he passed her. "Run!"
She started after him, too.
When he came to a fork in the path, he didn't stop to ponder which might be the better way; he took whichever looked to offer a better path for running. He slowed his speed a little so that Sue could keep up, but he didn't stop running until he look a turn and nearly overran a figure standing in the middle of the path.
All he could do was stare.
Sue came around the turn at full speed and ran right into John.
"Jesus, what'd ya stop for! Ya crazy—"
Her words stopped as she saw why John had stopped. She stared openmouthed at the figure who stood in their way. His appearance alone would have been a shock, even without the shifting multicolored glow that surrounded him.
robert Charrette - Arthur 02 - A King Beneath the Mountain Page 24
