Tin Thoughts (The Downfall Saga Book 2) Page 29

  “Give me the dagger.”

  “Pull me up.”

  “The dagger.”

  Knowing that this wasn’t the time to start an argument, Donovan reached down with his free hand and grabbed the dagger from his belt. He slid it across the floor towards the entrance into the room.

  “Pull me up.”

  Finian hesitated, his eyes glancing towards where the dagger lay on the floor, before looking back at Donovan. With a heave, he pulled Donovan out of the pit.

  “I thought you were going to leave me there for a moment.”

  “So did I, but Ezhno wouldn’t have been happy.”

  “Who?”

  “He’s one of the three people looking for the dagger. You told us about him before we climbed down here.”

  “I never mentioned any names.”

  Donovan took a step away from Finian and rested his hand on his sword.

  A loud boom shook the room, and the dais toppled from sight. The illusionary floor dissipated until they could all see the deep pit in the center of the room. The rumbling slowly subsided. The pillars which had supported the real tiles had all crumbled and collapsed into the pit during the quake.

  “Your father wants to talk to you,” said Finian. “He can even help you with that symbol carved into your chest.”

  “How?”

  “He’s the one who put it there.”

  “I don’t believe you, and even if I did, I don’t trust you.”

  Donovan took another couple steps back and drew his sword.

  “I didn’t want it to come to this,” said Finian, drawing his sword.

  Donovan assumed that Finian was large, clumsy, and would try to overpower him with brute force. The assumption nearly cost him dearly.

  Finian ducked forward, before rising up and slashing with his sword.

  Donovan wasn’t prepared for the speed of the maneuver and barely managed to take the slash on his left shoulder instead of his neck. The cut wasn’t deep, but it hurt nonetheless.

  Donovan spared a quick glance over at Brighid who stood waiting by the entrance, a perplexed expression on her face.

  Donovan circled away from Finian until he caught sight of his cloak laying on the ground. Donovan deflected Finian’s next two swings, as he worked his way closer to his cloak. He dove and rolled over his cloak, standing up with it bunched up in his hand. He tossed it at Finian, who raised his arm to ward it off. Donovan lunged low and hacked at Finian’s thigh.

  The cut was deep, and brought Finian down to one knee.

  Donovan caught sight of Brighid out of the corner of his eye, and barely ducked under her first swing. She lacked finesse and swung wildly at him.

  Donovan backed out of the way of her swings, and drew the dagger from his leg with his left hand. He waited until she overextended herself, and he twisted inside her guard. He knocked her sword aside and pressed the tip of his dagger under her jaw.

  “It doesn’t have to be like this,” said Donovan. “Drop your sword and we can each go our separate ways.”

  She spat in his face.

  He thrust upward with his dagger.

  He was sprayed by a crimson fountain of blood before he withdrew the dagger and moved out of the way. Brighid crumpled to the ground.

  Finian had hopped over to the entrance and was bending down to pick up the white dagger.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” said Donovan, walking towards him. “Give me the dagger and we can end this.”

  A grin spread across Finian’s face. He lobbed the dagger into the air, towards the pit.

  Donovan dropped his weapons and jumped towards the dagger. He grabbed it out of the air, and spun around to see Finian in mid lunge.

  He barely managed to twist himself around so Finian’s sword skipped across his ribs instead of impaling him.

  Donovan slashed with the white dagger, scoring a shallow cut above Finian’s wrist.

  Finian dropped his sword and howled in pain.

  An intense white light radiated out of the cut on his arm. It continued to grow, and slowly travelled up his arm, shining through his skin.

  Finian rolled around on the ground, clasping his injured arm, which shone bright enough to light up the entire room.

  The light was bright enough to see it shining through his clothes. Donovan watched as it reached his heart. The light disappeared, and Finian stopped moving.

  All light disappeared.

  Donovan cautiously walked forward in the darkness and checked for a pulse.

  Finian was dead.

  He felt around until he found his dropped weapons and cloak. With all of his belongings accounted for, he searched for the entrance to the room.

  He walked down the short tunnel, and washed the blood off of himself under the falling water in the vertical shaft.

  Looking high above him, he could see the small spot of light shining into the shaft. All that stood between him and the light was a long, dark climb up the slippery shaft.

  Chapter 31

  Kort was shoved towards the side tunnel by Caddaric. He’d just ducked inside when a searing heat hit his back and an unseen forced threw him against the far wall. He bounced off the wall and landed on his back.

  Ravyn was tossed through the air and landed on top of him, knocking the air from his lungs.

  Caddaric followed close behind her. He hit the wall but managed to stay on his feet. Rocks started falling from the ceiling, and a large rock hit Caddaric on the shoulder.

  The ground stopped shaking, and they were left choking on dusty air.

  Ravyn freed herself from Kort’s arms and got to her feet.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, summoning a ball of light after her previous one disappeared when her concentration had lapsed.

  “I will be,” said Kort.

  “I could use a hand,” croaked Caddaric.

  Caddaric was propped up against the wall, his right hand holding his left shoulder.

  Caddaric winced when Kort moved his hand away. He gently probed his shoulder.

  “I don’t know how bad it is. There’s not much I can do for it, other than to put it in a sling.”

  They’d left most of their supplies at camp, and materials for the sling were in short supply.

  Kort pulled off his shirt, and began fashioning it into a sling.

  “Sorry about the smell.”

  It took him several minutes to put Caddaric’s arm into the sling, during which Ravyn explored the pile of rocks blocking the entrance to the tunnel.

  “Donovan,” she said rapidly. “Donovan!”

  She continued to scream his name while she searched the pile of rocks with her light.

  “I hope he’s okay,” she said. “It’s not going to be easy tunneling out of here.”

  “What’s the point?” said Kort gloomily. “No one could survive getting crushed under those rocks. He’s dead and the dwarves will have won before we even get out of here.”

  “You can’t give up hope,” said Ravyn. “We don’t know what happened to Donovan, and for all we know the dwarves brought the tunnel down onto their own heads as well.”

  She sat down beside Caddaric and pulled the map out of her pack. She brought her light close, and studied it.

  Kort walked down the dark tunnel and took a minute to compose himself after losing Donovan, before returning, red faced with tears streaking through the grime covering his face.

  “There’s only the one route on the map that comes out above ground, but they have a long ways to travel still,” said Ravyn. “Even when they get out of the caves, they have to backtrack a few miles and climb down from the highest plateau to the one with the manticores. We can’t give up until it’s over. We’ll win it for him.”

  “Besides,” said Caddaric, “what else are we going to do other than dig our way out of here?”

  “What’s at the other end?”

  Ravyn traced her finger along their route on the map until she found where they were.

 
“Nothing. It stops after a short distance.”

  Kort helped Caddaric to his feet, and escorted him further down the tunnel, before returning to start shifting rocks.

  The entrance was blocked from floor to ceiling. Most of the rocks were too large for them to even attempt to move. Kort began moving the small rocks away from one side of the entrance and tossing them into the tunnel.

  Ravyn walked over and started to help move rocks. They paused after fifteen minutes to examine their progress and realized that they hadn’t even made a dent in the pile of rocks blocking their escape.

  “This is pointless,” said Kort, throwing down a rock. “Osmont will come looking for us, and get us out of here.”

  “Why don’t you do something useful for once and keep working,” said Caddaric.

  “Why don’t you come over here and say that?”

  Caddaric made his way over to them and stood in front of Kort.

  “You have added nothing to this team. We would have been better off with anyone else.”

  Kort looked over at Ravyn who stood there silently.

  “You made it this far with me not pulling my weight, so why should that change now.”

  Kort pushed his way past Caddaric, intentionally bumping into his injured shoulder, and started down the tunnel. He summoned a light which he perched on his shoulder and kept walking, knowing that nothing good would come from talking to Caddaric right now.

  The tunnel curved, and narrowed in several places, but was longer than Ravyn had indicated.

  He turned to the wall and began pounding his fists against it, scraping his knuckles raw. He blew out a deep breath, before continuing down the tunnel.

  He didn’t know how long he’d been walking, but he became aware of the sound of dripping water ahead. He walked around a shallow bend, and came across a small stream of water, barely a trickle really, flowing out of an opening in the wall and pooling on the floor, before running down the tunnel into the darkness.

  Kort poked his head into the hole and positioned his light so he could trace the chute upwards. It was small and steep, and continued past the extent of what he could see. He debated trying to climb up it to find out where the water was coming from, and if it led outside, but he didn’t want to risk getting stuck without letting his friends know where he was first.

  Kort pulled his head out of the opening and hurried back down the tunnel towards his friends, a bounce was in his step.

  He saw a light in the distance, heading his way, and a minute later he could make out Ravyn walking towards him.

  “I’m no help, huh,” said Kort. “What have you been doing?”

  She reached out and put her hand under his chin. She turned his head so he was looking into her brown eyes.

  “Caddaric didn’t mean what he said. He’s used to getting his own way, and is frustrated about losing.”

  “I didn’t hear you supporting me when he said it.”

  “I’m sorry. I truly am. You’ve done more than your part. You’ve done your part on the challenges, and have helped everybody with their injuries. Clearly, you’ve matured a lot this year.”

  He gently removed her hand from his face and held it in his own.

  “I have to ask you something.” He looked down at her hand. He took a deep breath before lifting his head and looking her in the eyes. “This has been eating away at me since your birthday, but I’ve been too afraid to ask you. What’s happening between you and Caddaric? You remember the day after your birthday when I came to see you, and you and Caddaric were together on the floor. Did the two of you spend the night together?”

  Ravyn burst out laughing.

  “Me and Caddaric? You’re worried about me and Caddaric?”

  “If you’re going to be like that.”

  Kort turned around and strode down the tunnel.

  “Wait up.”

  She ran after him. She tried to get in front of him, but he get moving her out of the way and continued walking. Finally, she shoved him against the wall to keep him from walking away.

  “If you try to walk away from me again, I’ll break your leg.”

  “You’re always making more work for me,” he quipped.

  “Look, Caddaric and I are good friends. We’re in all of the same classes and spend a lot of time together. We’re close, and comfortable with each other, but that’s it.”

  “And that night?”

  “We were planning for the competition. We stayed up too late and fell asleep on the floor.”

  He studied her face, and it took a while before he finally spoke.

  “I believe you.”

  Kort relaxed and reached up to cup her cheek. He leaned forward, and she shoved him back against the wall, a little harder than was necessary.

  “Now, I need you to be honest with me. Whose perfume did I smell on you that morning?”

  Kort felt his face go red, and Ravyn moved her forearm so it pressed lightly against his neck.

  “Her name is Satine. We’re taking some of the same classes. I went over to her place that night so we could study some anatomy.”

  The pressure on his throat increased, and he had to push her arm away before he could continue speaking.

  “For Professor Elthia’s class. Donovan’s in the same class. You can ask him. Look, we were only studying. She’s flirty, but I think she plays it up because it makes me so uncomfortable. I would never do anything to hurt you. At least not intentionally.”

  She smiled and let go of him.

  “Is she pretty?”

  “One of the most beautiful women that I’ve ever met, but she’s a slug compared to you.”

  He opened his arms to hug her and waited.

  She stepped forward and gave him a rib crushing hug, but he didn’t mind.

  They stood there, locked in an embrace, enjoying each other’s presence for the first time in weeks.

  Kort bent down and whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry. You knew that I was a buffoon when you met me, so in a way this was your fault.”

  She grabbed his head between her two hands, and there was fire in her eyes. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.

  Kort stood there rigidly for a moment, at a loss from what had just happened, but then he melted into the kiss. Both of their lights went out, and they stayed there in the dark for many minutes, their lips rarely separate from each other’s.

  Ravyn finally pulled away from him.

  “Promise me that you’ll tell me what’s bothering you in the future,” she said.

  “Always.”

  ***

  “It’s a tighter fit than I thought,” grunted Kort.

  “It wouldn’t be if you weren’t so large,” said Ravyn.

  “I’m glad that it’s slick inside or I wouldn’t have even gotten in this far.”

  “Quit talking so much, and start pushing harder.”

  “I’m in,” said a jubilant Kort.

  “Now that you’ve found your rhythm, keep it up until you’re done.”

  Kort grunted and strained to keep moving.

  He was entirely inside the chute, the cold water had already soaked the front of him.

  The three of them had agreed that the chute Kort had found was their best chance to get out of the tunnel. Kort had insisted that he would go first, and he’d started to regret it as soon as he’d gotten his shoulders inside.

  He’d left his armor and pack in the tunnel below. He had a knife strapped to the inside of his leg, but was otherwise unarmed. If he didn’t make it up the chute, then it wouldn’t matter what he’d brought with him.

  He had to take shallow breaths before squeezing himself a few inches up the chute. He’d then spend several seconds catching his breath before repeating the process. Inch by inch he made his way upwards.

  It leveled off a bit after ten feet, and opened up slightly. He could finally breathe regularly.

  He crawled along the passageway. It began to curve upwards until it was nearly vertica
l again, and he could feel a cold breeze blowing against his face. He extinguished his light and saw a light up ahead.

  His arms were aching by the time he pulled himself out of the chute.

  He rolled over onto his back, and stared at the clear blue sky, as he caught his breath.

  A steep stone wall rose up behind him, and he could hear water splashing into a pool off to his right.

  He rolled over onto his knees and stood up. He walked away from the wall to get a better view of his surroundings.

  He was on a rocky plateau. It was long and narrow and he could see nothing but blue sky over the edge. Water fell from the cliff above and formed a large pool in the center of the plateau. Most of the water flowed straight over the edge, down the lower levels they’d seen from the ground, but several tributaries split off from the stream and flowed along the ground until they disappeared into holes in the ground, like the one he’d just climbed out of.

  The cliff sloped outwards as it rose, and there was a large open area behind the waterfall. Pale yellow objects were scattered across the plateau, most heavily concentrated near the waterfall.

  Kort thought he saw something move behind the falling water. He took a step backwards and his boot crunched down onto something on the ground. He looked down to see the crushed skull of a lizard or large bird, he wasn’t sure which.

  He heard a deep grow over the sound of falling water, and this time he was sure that something had moved behind the waterfall.

  He crouched down and crept back to the rock wall. He bent down beside the hole he’d climbed out of and looked inside.

  A light approached him from its depths, but he couldn’t make out the figure on the far side.

  “Quiet,” he hissed. “There’s something large moving around up here.”

  He waited until Ravyn neared surface before reaching down to help pull her out.

  “What’s up here?” she whispered.

  “I don’t know. It’s behind the waterfall.”

  Ravyn snuck off to take a look around while Kort waited for Caddaric. His injured shoulder hampered his progress, and it was several minutes later before his light became visible.

  Ravyn had returned by the time Kort was helping Caddaric up.

  “Good news,” she said. “We’re here.” She had a wide smile on his face.