The Book of Deacon (30 page)

"If you wanted meat, you should have taken a
larger one. With the smaller ones, you are better off just eating
them whole. The bones are thin, you don't have to worry about
them," he said.

Myranda laughed, until she realized that he
was serious. In an experience that she would try to forget for
years to come, she did as he suggested. It took the better part of
an hour to choke down enough to convince her she would not starve.
Leo, on the other hand, was quite happy eating until he was full.
Myn snapped up the rest.

"Well, after that rather unique experience, I
trust we will retire for the night--or day, or whatever it may be?"
she fairly pleaded.

"I suppose, but we must move quickly
tomorrow. The increasing flow of water is making me nervous. I have
a feeling our timing could have been a bit better in this little
endeavor," he said.

"Why?" she said.

"Well. This cave has two distinct states: wet
and dry. I was expecting to get here during the transition from the
former to the latter. I fear that I may have been held a bit longer
than I had realized, in which case we may be experiencing the
opposite transition. No cause for worry, though. So long as we
reach the end in a timely manner," he said.

His words
did
worry her, but his tone was nothing if
not relaxed and confident. Everything about the way he expressed
himself made Myranda trust Leo more. Myn must have felt the same
way, because she had resumed her constant trek from one lap to the
other, unable to decide where she wanted to sleep. Eventually,
Myranda slid to beside Leo so that the dragon could stretch across
both laps while they dozed with their backs against the wall. Sleep
came swiftly and was refreshingly free of any disturbing
images.

The sound of a fresh torch being lit by her
helpful dragon roused Myranda from sleep. Leo was using some of the
leather that affixed the fuel rags to one of the spent torches to
bind the remaining ones. Once again, he was awake before her, and
she'd fallen asleep before him. Though she'd not known him long,
she had never seen him sleeping naturally. There was no room to
stand, but he assured her that the roof would be tall enough to
stand shortly. The trio moved on.

"How is it that you remember this place so
well?" Myranda said.

"Well, I spent a bit more time here than was
required," he explained.

"How long?" she asked.

"Seven months," he said nonchalantly.

"Seven! Seven months! How did you survive so
long?" she wondered.

"I ate quite a few bats, drank quite a bit of
stagnant water, and learned to love the dark," he said.

"Why didn't you leave the cave?" she
asked.

"Hadn't found what I was looking for," he
said. "Well, here we are, the halfway point. After a rough bit,
things get much easier from here on."

The dancing light of the torch fell upon a
cleft in the stony wall with a fair amount of water trickling from
it. The path continued into the darkness.

"We have to climb this?" Myranda asked.

"Yes indeed! Let's get at it," Leo said, as
he threw the bundle of torches over his shoulder to be held in
place by the former sling.

Once again, Myn shot up the wall effortlessly
and Leo managed to climb easily enough despite his ailing legs.
Myranda, left holding the torch, had more of a struggle. Leo
noticed when the light fell too far behind for him to see.

"Do you need a hand?" he called from
above.

"I could use one!" she said.

"There is a ledge up here. When you reach it,
we will work something out," he said.

She made her way to the ledge. After some
thought, they came upon a compromise. Myranda took the helmet that
Myn carried, rolled it in her robe, and tied it to her back with
the robe's waist cord. Myn, in turn, clutched the torch, sans a
good portion of the handle to make it easier to carry, in her
teeth. With her ease of climbing the wall, the dragon was able to
put the light wherever it was needed. With both of her hands free,
Myranda managed to keep up with Leo with little effort. For nearly
an hour, the three climbed, concentration requiring that
conversation cease. All that could be seen was what the light of
the torch revealed.

An opening came into view.

"Is this the tunnel?" Myranda asked.

"Too big, but the correct one is nearby," he
said.

When they did find it, Myranda was not
pleased. It was a rough stone tube just a bit wider than Leo's
shoulders.

"This is it?" Myranda said, praying for the
answer no.

"I am afraid so. A few words before we enter.
The walls are far from smooth. Move quickly--but carefully, or you
will tear yourself up badly. Push that bundle ahead of you, or you
will get it snagged. If it feels that the walls are closing in,
just close your eyes. The feeling will pass. Above all, keep
moving. You don't want the fatigue to hit you while you are
inside," he said.

"How long before the tunnel widens?" she
asked.

"It doesn't. We are going to spend, oh, two
hours crawling through that, and then there will be a hole that we
will drop through," he said.

"Two hours!" she cried.

"Roughly. It will seem much longer, though,
so stay focused," he said.

Myn scampered inside. Myranda waited for Leo,
but he assured her that she would rather go second. The one
bringing up the rear would be working in near pitch-blackness. She
hurriedly seized the opportunity to at least see where she was
going. The walls scratched and scraped at her hands and arms badly,
and rolling the bundled robe ahead of her made her wish she'd left
it behind. Her friend's words rang true. Each second seemed to take
ages.

"Isn't there another way?" she called back to
Leo.

"There are a handful of other paths that lead
to roughly the same place, but they aren't nearly as pleasant," he
answered.

"What could be worse than this?" she
asked.

"Well, one involved sidling along a
water-slicked ledge above a
very
deep chasm for roughly twice this distance.
Another is a smoother tunnel a bit wider than this," he said.

"What was wrong with that one?" she
asked.

"Spiders," he said.

"I see," Myranda replied with a shudder.

More time passed. More than once, she had to
take his advice and close her eyes rather than be driven mad by the
walls of a tunnel that seemed to be getting narrower by the minute.
As if it wasn't difficult enough, her muscles were beginning to
cramp up from the awkward movements of following the tight twists
and turns of the tunnel. It reminded her a bit too much of moving
across the floor while bound the chair in the deserted church.
Finally, she couldn't take any more.

"We need to stop for a while. I can't take
this," she said.

"As you wish," he said, pausing for a moment
before speaking again. "You know, I was thinking."

"What?" she asked.

"That cloth was a bit dry. On the torch, I
mean," he said.

"So?" she said.

"So it might go out soon," he said.

"You're joking," she said.

"Am I?" he said ominously.

Myranda continued crawling with renewed
vigor. She knew that he had only said that to get her moving, but
the thought of having to feel her way through this tube in pitch
black, regardless of how remote the possibility, was enough to get
her think twice about stopping. After an eternity of crawling,
Leo's threat seemed to come true as the light of the dragon-borne
torch vanished.

"What happened!?" she called out, panic
closing in.

"I think Myn found the hole," he said. "Feel
for it. It should be just in front of you."

Sure enough the bundle dropped through a wide
hole in the bottom of the shaft. With a bit of difficulty she
flipped down to a slippery, sloping floor a fair distance below.
The bundle was sliding and rolling quickly away. Myn dropped the
torch and fetched it, and Myranda tied it securely to her waist.
Leo dropped down. The light revealed the walls and ceiling to be as
smooth as the floor, and far smoother than even the base of the
former stream they had been following.

"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" he
asked.

"No, it was much worse," she answered, taking
a seat.

"No, no, no. Up, up, up!" he said.

"You cannot be serious," she pleaded.

"Oh, come now. We are ahead of schedule. If
we keep moving, we could be sleeping with a sky above us. Isn't
that worth working for?" he said.

Myranda reluctantly moved on. Leo was setting
a rather brisk pace now. Perhaps he was especially eager to be out
of this dank hole in the ground. She couldn't blame him. If she had
spent as much time here as he'd said he had, then she would be
running as fast as she could to escape. As it was, she'd only been
underground for a day or two and it was more than enough.

What
did
concern her was his silence. In the times she
managed to catch a look at his face, he wore a stern look of
purpose. Hours passed in much the same way. The torch burned out
and was replaced. Myranda made some attempts to start a
conversation, but beyond the answers to her questions, the dialogue
died quickly.

#

Trigorah's heavy boots echoed along the floor
of the cave as she made her way to its mouth once more. Her quick
action had spared her men from the girl's desperate attack. Now
those who had survived the battle were combing the seemingly
endless number of passages. They had been prepared with their own
torches, but they hadn't lasted for long.

The general cast a quick gaze at the signs
and their warnings. A dozen languages described vague dangers. The
word "beast" tended to figure prominently in them. This was a cave
with a reputation that gave even her Elites pause, but she had a
job to do, and she would see it done.

The brief warm snap had ended, and vast
fringes of icicles lined every edge and every branch. As Trigorah
scanned the twinkling landscape, her eyes came to rest on an
approaching form. It was a large man, bearing overused armor, an
intricate halberd, and an infuriating smile. He was seated on a
steed that seemed dead on its feet. The beast's head hung low and
pained breaths came in vast, steamy clouds. When Arden finally
reached the cave's mouth, the horse trudged to the nearest piece of
greenery and ate of it greedily.

"Have you ever given a moment's consideration
to your mount?" Trigorah scolded.

"Horses are cheap," Arden said.

Trigorah looked at him with disgust.

"I figger you know why I'm here," he
said.

"The circumstances of the wager," the general
said.

"Uh-huh," Arden said, grinning with
half-rotten teeth.

"You still seek to collect? You couldn't hold
on to your target!" Trigorah hissed.

"I caught the 'sassin before you caught the
girl or found the sword. Hangin on to monsters don't enter into
it," he growled. "You ain't lookin to weasel out, are ya?"

"I still have a task at hand. I will not
abandon it," she remarked.

"She went in
that
cave, and you still hope to bring her
back? What part, the head?" Arden chuckled. "Quit tryin to wriggle
out of this. What're you, a coward?"

"Coward?
Coward!?
You, of anyone, call me a coward?
There is a
war!
There is a hated enemy to the south. Has your
blade ever tasted anything but the blood of your fellow Alliance?"
Trigorah raged.

She smoldered for a moment, then turned to
the cave.

"Soldier!" she called.

One of the men under her command stepped from
the shadows.

"I want regular sweeps of the cave.
Systematic. I shall send a supply team here. In the meantime, my
colleague and I have a briefing that cannot be postponed," she
said, stalking off to the clearing that sheltered her horse. "I
dare say he has
much
to learn from me."

#

With no conversation to occupy her, Myranda's
mind wandered. Just as he had instructed her to do, at each branch,
she carefully felt the walls, turning in the direction that was
smoothest. Soon the tunnel was glass-smooth, and almost perfectly
straight. The grade grew gradually steeper, making it difficult to
keep footing. Strangely, the sound of echoing drips of water was
absent. Hours passed as Myranda gave Leo his quiet time. The second
torch since they had awakened had to be replaced, signifying a full
day of walking, climbing, and crawling. Myranda made ready to sit
and rest, but this time she was not even scolded or encouraged. Her
friend merely gave her a stern look that prompted her to
proceed.

"How much further?" she asked.

"I can't be sure," he said. "We are
close."

Silence followed.

"What is wrong? You were so talkative
before," she said.

"Nothing is wrong. I just want to get to the
end of this tunnel as quickly as possible. You can't hear it, but I
can. This mountain is groaning. It has something up its sleeve.
When it makes its move, I want to be ready for it. That means I
need to listen," he said, agitated.

Myranda milled over his words before
answering.

"It's just that . . . I can't stand the
silence. It cuts through me. I've been alone for so long. Talking
to myself, talking to Myn. I just need to hear a voice. I need
proof that there is someone else out there. It seems like every
time I try to get close, the world runs away," she said.

"The world runs away from you!" he said
incredulously. "That is not how I remember it. When we first met,
what were you doing? You came into an inn and sat as far as
possible from anyone else. You closed yourself to your
surroundings, so much so that you failed to notice your money being
stolen. When I helped you out, you scurried upstairs and locked the
door behind you. You were the one running. That is the trouble with
your kind. Everything is always about you until the time comes to
find fault. Sickening," he said.