I hold up the tube. “If I take this, your hope for freedom will be lost too.”
Miss Q hangs her head. “I know.” She lets her statement hang in the air between us for a minute. “But right now, his power is limited within these cavern walls, just as his master’s was. If he gets out…”
I stare at the moss at my feet. “He will end the world with his darkness,” I finish.
“Claire?” calls Lexa's voice through the ferns.
I stuff the metal cylinder into my pocket and pin the Quelton with a look. “Lexa will never hear from you about this powder.”
The Quelton bows her head. “Of course, you have my word.”
“I’m over here,” I call out into the dim cavern.
Lexa enters the clearing with a filled crate. “When I came back, I saw you two leaving and thought I would bring up the last of it.” She catches sight of my tear-streaked face and stops dead. “Claire, are you alright?”
The tears that I had been barely keeping down resurface and I cover my face in my hands. Lexa is by my side in a moment, kneeling in the soft moss and holding me close as I weep. I turn and cling to her as if she were a lifeline. The warmth of her body offering a comfort I could have never hoped to achieve on my own.
My ear is pressed against her chest, and I feel her voice rumble as she addresses Miss Q, “What happened?”
A pause. “We have strong reason to believe Claire's mother has passed into the next world, and that Darkmor is unable to complete his blood ritual without the living blood of Claire's family.”
Lexa squeezes me closer, her arms a protective barrier from anything that may cause me further pain. “We will discuss this more later. For now, would you mind leaving us?”
“Of course,” comes Miss Q’s voice accompanied by the soft sounds of feet on moss fading into the distance.
I cry my pain into Lexa's shoulder while she holds me. I hurt so bad I feel as if I have suffered a wound that will never heal. She begins to hum, a soft, quiet tune with a beautiful voice. I quiet my cries as I focus on the sound, and slowly her humming turns into a song.
I listen quietly as she sings a wonderful song about rainbows, bluebirds and dreams coming true.
Her song ends, and I pull away, wiping my face. “That was beautiful.”
Lexa's ears turn a light shade of pink. “It is something my mother used to sing to me. It always gave me hope.”
“Thank you for sharing it,” I mumble.
Lexa climbs to her feet and offers me her hand. “Should we return to the others?”
I give her a weak smile and take her hand. “Is it an old song?”
“My mother always said so. She claimed it was one from the world before ours.”
I nod. I too had heard of the world that existed long before ours. Some people claim the monstrous beings that almost destroyed our world are our ancestors. There was one man who shared my cell for a while who was particularly against the previous users of our planet. He would often rant about the world above, even claiming there were still dead zones from the war that wiped the previous inhabitants out. But after hearing that song, is it possible they weren’t all bad?
We traipse through the undergrowth, and I suspect Lexa is taking us the long way back so I can have time to compose myself.
We enter the clearing and find the others scattered under the largest ferns, sleeping in small groups. Unwilling to draw attention to myself, I locate an unoccupied fern and curl up underneath it. I stare up at the underside of leaves and watch small white insects travel backwards and forwards in single file.
Lexa settles down beside me, and I push all thoughts of my mother from my brain. I cannot allow this to consume me. There will be plenty of time for that after we complete our mission. My fingers find the little silver cylinder in my pocket. Or maybe there won’t be.
Chapter Thirteen
Fire rocks
I awake to a painful squeezing, and I jolt up to find a long, muscled creature has wound its way around my legs and is crushing me in its agonizing embrace.
I let out a pained gasp and push at the scaly creature. Its coils tighten, and it lifts its head to hiss at me, a forked tongue darting out to flick the air.
I glance over to Lexa to find her spot vacated. Panic bubbles up within me, and I pull my dagger out and brandish it at the creature. The head snaps at my hand with startling speed, and I only just retreat in time. Those fangs don’t look like they will provide a gentle bite.
“Help!” I cry out as I try to drag myself out of the creature’s grip.
All it does is coil itself tighter. People rush to me and the first to arrive is Nathanial, who I swear lets out a squeak and recoils.
Miss Q pops up next to him. “Oh, you got yourself a python.”
Jamie runs over, squeals and rushes back to her mother.
Lucas approaches the creature, and it hisses at the group, tightening around my legs. Pain explodes through my limbs, and a soft whimper escapes me as the beast worms its way up my body.
“I don’t care what it is,” I say with gritted teeth. “Get it off me.”
Miss Q darts in and grabs the beast’s head in both her hands and slowly she uncoils it from my legs. The python doesn’t look at all happy, and it hisses at the Quelton. Miss Q hisses back, and the python shrinks into itself.
I sit up and rub feeling back into my legs as pins and needles rapidly spread through the limbs. The tender muscles scream at their mistreatment, and I am sure the bruising the python created will linger for a week at least. Hurriedly, I crawl to my feet. If the animal comes back, I would rather be upright and awake.
Miss Q returns without the creature. “Snakes love it around here. The lava keeps them warm and they are okay. You just have to know how to deal with them.”
I raise my eyebrow. “You said it was a python.”
Miss Q stops and rubs her head. “A python is a type of snake.”
“Nathanial's petrified of them,” Lucas snickers.
Nathanial puffs up his enormous chest. “I am not. I simply did not wish to engage with the creature.”
The big smile plastered from ear to ear on Lucas brings out a small one of my own. Lucas walks right up to Nathanial and points up at him. “You can say what you want, but I heard you squeak.”
Nathanial's eyes narrow. “Did not.”
“It is excellent to hear they don’t bother you, Nathanial,” Miss Q interrupts. Nathanial gives Lucas an I told you so smile which fades when Miss Q resumes talking, “I placed it over by the woodpile. Seeing as you are un-phased by them, perhaps you wouldn’t mind using the wood to build a fire for Lexa's return?”
Nathanial's skin blanches, and he glances over at the wood pile. “Uhh…”
Lucas lets out a small bark of laughter and slaps Nathanial on the arm. “Come on’ big guy, I’ll help you carry the wood.”
The two head off towards the pile, with Lucas leading the way and Nathanial trailing behind him.
A resounding boom echoes throughout the cavern as something punches through the rock roof in the distance and explodes in a flaming cloud of dust below. The ground shakes so violently’ I fall to my knees. Many ferns around the clearing lose their hold on the ground and topple with me.
I gape as an uninterrupted beam of light pours through the small hole in the distance. My eyes water from the brightness’ and my knees rattle against the ground.
“What was that?” I hear myself ask no one in particular.
“I don’t know,” says Miss Q, her short spikes of hair standing upright all over her body making her appear at least half a size bigger than she actually is.
I stare at the thin beam of light and crawl to my feet. “Can you take me to a ledge so I can see?”
Miss Q grinds her teeth. “We can go. However, I am not sure how much there will be to see in the dim light of the cavern.”
I point at the beam of light. “I am hoping that whatever created that will still be within its light.”<
br />
Miss Q nods and takes off in, what must be for her, a very slow jog. I have to sprint to keep up.
She weaves us through countless ferns, and I can’t help but notice how many of them have come down with the earthquake that thing caused.
Miss Q stops suddenly, and I almost cannonball into her. “The ledge is just on the other side of these plants.” She pauses for a moment, hesitant.
I place my hand on her shoulder and give her a small smile. “I will go look, you can remain here if you wish, and I will fill you in on what I see.”
Miss Q visibly relaxes. “I will wait here in case others want to see.”
I nod and weave my way around the last few bushes and ferns. I find myself standing on a sheer drop as the lush life around me suddenly ends in emptiness. I peek down over the edge, and my head swims from the height and I take a careful step back. With all the falling trees I don’t need to risk the chance that this ledge has been weakened as well.
I look out into the cavern and follow the blinding golden beam of light to the ground. The glow highlights a giant crater and even from here it’s massive. Everything around it has been thrown out of the way or disintegrated.
Small fires have sprung up around the hole and are slowly eating their way through the dry grasses and trees that had desperately clung to life in the dim cavern. Only the lava fields near the base of this mountain offer any comparison to the destruction of whatever fell from above.
The plants behind me shift, and I turn to see Lexa and Tash enter the space to stand beside me. Lexa has a small cut beside her eye, and Tash looks like she took a tumble down a hill.
“Did you see what happened?” Lexa asks.
“We heard a crash, and then everything came down around us,” Tash clarifies.
I turn to face the beam of light. “Something covered in flames broke through the roof of the cavern and landed over there.” I point in the direction of the crater. “We felt the explosion too. Then a big cloud of dust and fire rose high enough to be seen from our camp.”
Lexa looks me over, and her eyes linger on the scale imprints on my pants. “Does Miss Q know what it is?”
“I don’t know.” I pause. “She seemed rather frightened, or at the very least, extremely distressed about what has happened.”
A silver dart zips past us and zooms towards the crater and its new spotlight. All three of us crouch down and retreat into the foliage.
“Well, at least Darkmor will have something else to do for a while. I guess now would be a good time to leave while they are distracted by this new…” Tash waves her hand at the flaming hole in the ground. “Whatever that is.”
Lexa nods. “Excellent suggestion, Tash. Let us return to the others. We shall prepare the fish for travel then we will leave.”
I rub my hand across my neck. “It will be a shame to leave. I actually like this place. Well, minus the snakes.”
Tash and Lexa cast one another a look as I head back into the ferns to where we left Miss Q.
Miss Q stands beside a line of strung up fish that Lexa and Tash must have brought with them.
Together we head back to find Lucas crouching beside a small cooking fire, feeding it. Nathanial stands on the other side with the flames in between him and the woodpile, his massive hand resting on the hilt of his broadsword.
A small smirk slips across my lips as I move to stuff my blanket into the backpack beside Lexa's neatly folded one.
I look around the group and Lucas and Nathanial are stringing the fish across the fire while Lexa, Tash and Miss Q clean their hands with wet fern leaves. Jarmile and Jamie scuttle about collecting hot rocks to put in the fire for tea. Someone must have shared our idea with them.
Jamie picks up a bright, colorful rock and holds it up with pride, scanning over the people in the clearing. “Melissa?” she calls out.
When no reply comes, everyone stops to cast about a glance. I get up and inspect the place where Melissa had been sleeping and find her blanket and water bottle are both still lying beneath a small fern.
“Melissa,” I call into the shrubs around us. Nothing but a slight breeze answers my call.
“Split up,” Lexa commands. “Call out if you find her.”
I slip into the plants and follow a trail of broken branches. I can hear the others calling out Melissa's name in the distance, and I resist the urge to call out. If she didn’t answer before, it is because she is gone, or because she can’t.
I wind my way around a cluster of tall ferns and clamber over a fallen tree. In the distance, I spot a mass of curled black hair splayed out on the soft carpet of moss beneath a large fallen fern.
“She is here!” I bellow into the surrounding plants and run towards her. Miss Q arrives seconds after I kneel to the ground and begins pushing away smaller leaves and branches, so I can see how badly Melissa is pinned.
I look under the fern and relief surges through me. Luckily her legs seemed to have dipped into a wedge between two large rocks. It looks incredibly uncomfortable. It will have to be lifted before we can pull her out, but the tree has not crushed her.
I let out a slow sigh of relief. I have seen awful things happen to people who get crush injuries, often they die slowly and painfully. The few who survived this type of injury often suffer limb removal in an attempt at stopping the spread of the body’s poison.
I inspect the blood and the egg-sized lump above her temple where the falling fern must have struck her. I move my hand from her head to find clear liquid coating it. My eyebrows furrow and I twist to look at the side of Melissa's head and the clear liquid is oozing out of her ear. Apprehension fills my stomach. I don’t know what this means but instinct tells me it’s bad.
Some distant memory stirs in me as I stare at the clear liquid and recall my mother treating a severe head injury, the man had the same symptom and my mother called it brain fluid. He died. I swallow back a surge of sorrow.
A grey spider with a black triangle on its abdomen scuttles up Melissa's arm and sinks its fangs into the exposed skin between her neck and shoulder.
“Hey!” I yell and reach for the creature.
Miss Q is faster and seizes the giant spider in her fist and its legs wriggle in the air as it tries to break free from her grasp. “I have never seen a spider like this before. Let alone in the birthing grounds.”
I inspect Melissa's reddening bite as the sounds of crashing announce the arrival of the rest of the group.
I turn to Miss Q. “You said yourself it has been many years since you have been here, perhaps they have moved in since then?”
Miss Q drops the spider to the ground and promptly crushes it with a large rock. “Can’t have them running around. It is not meant to be here, and I won’t have it.”
Nathanial thunders past and lifts the massive fern alone, his bulging muscles shining in the dim cavern light as he takes on the huge weight.
I loop my arms around Melissa and drag her free of the plant, Lexa is by my side inspecting Melissa’s wounds in an instant. The ground vibrates as Nathanial drops the massive fern with a loud thud and stands off to the side, unsure what to do now his strength is not needed.
I look back at Melissa. “I don’t know what to do about the bite. It just happened.”
Lexa is quick to press her hand to the wound. “What was it?”
I shrug. “A big grey spider with a black triangle on its back.”
Lexa's eyebrows furrow as she returns to her task. Lucas and Tash begin constructing a stretcher and within minutes they have a blanket lashed to two tree trunk poles, and Melissa is gently lifted onto it.
“We need to clean the bite,” Lexa states in a calm voice. “Some spiders carry a bacteria that eats flesh.”
I shudder at the thought, and we hurry Melissa back to the river. “What about her head?” I ask, eyeing the purpling lump and the slow drip of fluid from Melissa's ear.
Lexa's lips press into a hard line. “There is nothing we can do about that but wai
t and see.”
Tash is quick to put hot rocks into one of the small balooga shells we still carry with us and the water inside begins to steam. Silently Lexa takes a cloth begins working on cleaning the wound.
By now Melissa is at least two shades paler than she used to be, her body is covered in a light sheen of sweat, and violent shakes have started to wrack her body.
I touch her hand, and the heat is almost overwhelming. I dig my own blanket out of our backpack and go soak it in the stream. The water is warm but still cooler than Melissa.
I hurry back and use the blanket to wipe Melissa down before folding it over her forehead, avoiding touching the angry swollen lump there. Tash has already begun the extensive task of locating and removing all of Melissa's knives, that last thing we need is for her to puncture herself with one of them.
She sits back, and I catch a glimpse of metal hidden in a sewn pocket on the inside of Melissa's sleeve. I pull it out just as Melissa launches into a fit. Foam builds in her mouth.
“Roll her to the side,” I screech. “Careful with her head.” Swiftly we roll her onto her side and wait for the shaking to stop as the white foam rolls from her mouth.
When she finally lays still and unmoving, I wipe the foam from her face and consider our options. “I think we should lay her down on her back again,” I say slowly.
“Won't moving her make her head wound worse?” Tash asks, stress and strain spread across her features.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I am worried that having her on her side will encourage more stuff to flow out of her ear.”
We all look at our pale, sweat-covered friend, her life hanging in the balance of our actions. Why didn’t we bring a fully trained medic?
Lexa nods decisively. “Roll her onto her back. Slowly.”
We all carefully roll Melissa. Tash takes charge of her head and ensures it is not lolling about.
I remove my tunic and fold it, laying it under Melissa’s head. With that done, I slip the tiny knife I retrieved from Melissa into a pocket I have on the outside of my chest binding, hiding it just beneath my shirt.
Jamie clutches her mother’s hand. “Mummy, will she be okay?”
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