Nickie regarded the multicolored bruise gracing his face. “My arm will be fine in a few hours. What about your face? You’re gonna need some Pod-doc time to get that looking pretty again.”
“You think I’m pretty?” John teased.
Nickie arched an eyebrow. “I think you were a total dumbass going after that rock beast with a fucking sword.”
“Hey, don’t mock the decades-old traditions of my ancestors.” John winced as he grinned at his joke without thinking. “Ow, that shit hurts. But you’re welcome.”
Nickie bumped him with her good shoulder. “I was getting to that part. Thank you for distracting it while I set my shoulder.”
John shook his head. “I still can’t believe you put it back in that way. That took guts.”
Nickie nodded. “I know it did. If I’d hit it wrong my shoulder would have been completely fucked. This is not my first rodeo, Prince P… John.”
That brought another wince from the prince. He bent over and clutched his ribs as he shook with laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Nickie demanded.
John waved his free hand. “Nothing. It’s just, that’s the first nice thing you’ve said to me since we met and you still almost insulted me.”
Nickie? Sorry to interrupt.
Then don’t.
Nice to see you’ve got your snark back. I’ve been taking seismic readings while you were off playing with rocks, and I have concluded that there will be an eruption within the next few hours.
That soon? We’d better get our asses in gear then before we get a nasty surprise.
Actually, I recommend that you turn back now. It’s not safe.
What? But we’re almost there! Aren’t we?
You’re not close enough to procure the plant and make it back to the foot of the volcano before it erupts. It would be wise to leave as soon as possible.
Hang on, I need to discuss this with the others.
She called a halt and gathered everyone in. “Meredith has told me that the volcano is going to erupt within the next few hours. She’s recommending that we turn back now while we have time to make it to the surface. I’m happy to go on, but I’m not making that decision for the rest of you.”
John straightened up. “I’m not going back. I have to get the plant to heal my father. I’ve come this far, and I’m not giving up when we’re so close.”
Keen’s face reddened. “Did you not hear what Nickie just said? We should turn back before we get caught in the eruption.”
John threw up his hands in frustration. “I won’t turn back. You can all leave without me if you want, but I won’t fail. It’s not far now. We’re near the center. I know it.”
Keen clenched his fists. “That’s the thing. You don’t know it. All we’ve had to guide us is rumor and fable, and we’ve pushed our luck far enough. It’s time to leave before it’s too late and we can’t leave.”
John started forward. “Leave if you want to, but why did you insist on coming if you were just going to back out at the last minute?”
Keen got in John’s face. “Maybe if I’d known what we were up against I would have thought twice about joining you.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you’re just not cut out for this kind of thing. Maybe you should have just stayed home. Then we’d be in there getting the plant to save my father instead of standing here arguing about it with you!”
Adelaide was almost in tears. “Please don’t argue! We need to stick together.”
Grim got between the two men and pushed them apart. “This isn’t the time to fall apart. We will decide the best course of action as a group.”
John stamped his foot and pointed down the tunnel. “It’s. Right. Down. There! How much simpler can it be? We’re wasting time, and we need to move.”
Nickie held up a finger. “One minute.” Meredith, how close are we to our goal?
John is almost correct. My scans indicate a large chamber at the end of this tunnel. It is likely the one that contains the plant you are searching for.
She turned her attention back to the others. “Meredith says there’s a chamber at the end of this tunnel. I think we should split up. John and I will retrieve the plant, you three make your way back to the ship.”
Grim interrupted, “You want us to leave without you? I don’t like that as a plan.”
It may be a problem, Meredith agreed. The magma levels have begun to rise, and the zip line will not be there when you return.
Nickie relayed the information to the others. “So you don’t need to worry about making the crossing.”
Grim’s concern deepened. “But we will also need to find an alternative way out. It’s better if we stick together.”
“Fuck it all, you’re right.” Nickie looked at Adelaide and Keen. “What’s it going to be? Will you see this through?”
They exchanged a glance, and Adelaide squared her shoulders determinedly. “I’m in.”
Keen sighed wearily. “I suppose I am, too.”
Nickie turned to Grim. “What about you, Grim?”
Grim opened his arms wide and made a little bow. “I but follow wherever you lead.” He straightened and set off walking. “Just be sure to lead us out, okay?”
Nickie grinned. “Well, shit. Looks like we’re doing this.”
The tension increased incrementally with the temperature as they got ever closer to the center of the volcano. The tunnel was littered with fallen rocks, forcing them to walk single-file and work their way around the piles as they went.
Nickie hung back a little while she and Meredith plotted their route out. The others pressed on with the ever-present rumble of the impending eruption growing louder in their ears the farther along the tunnel they progressed.
John led them at a brisk pace, his desire to get to the chamber overwhelming the need for safety.
Grim and Adelaide picked their way along in his wake, chatting as they clambered over and around the rockfalls.
Grim caught Adelaide when she slipped on a patch of lichen. He helped her right herself and spotted the ashen cast to her face. “Hey, are you okay?”
Adelaide nodded and carried on down the tunnel. “Thanks, I’m fine. A little scared still, is all. I figure that the center is the most dangerous place to be, and we’re heading right for it.”
Grim nodded. “I get that. It can be difficult to face your fears, but sometimes we have to face the thing we fear the most to escape the prison we allowed it to create for us.”
Adelaide gazed at Grim in full awe. “How did you get so wise, Grim?”
Grim sniggered. “I don’t know about that. You just have to learn from your experiences.”
Adelaide looked thoughtful. “Then you must have had a lot of experiences.”
John called from up ahead. “I can see the end of the tunnel. We made it!”
They caught up with him, and they entered the chamber as a group. The tunnel opened up onto a wide, sloping plateau that ended in a drop-off at an aperture a short distance away. The chasm looked to stretch all the way around the chamber, although much of it was obscured from their position by huge rockpiles and odd-looking magma sculptures.
“We need to get to the other side,” John told them. He fished a pair of binoculars from his pack. “I’m going to look for a way across.”
“Good idea,” Nickie agreed. “We should all look. This place is huge, and time is short. Split up for now, but don’t go too far. Everyone meet back here in ten minutes.”
Keen and Adelaide went one way, Grim went another.
Nickie scanned the chamber around her but she didn’t see any plants, just solidified magma and steam rising up out of the ground everywhere she looked. “Looks like this place has seen some serious activity.” She walked over to where John stood peering over the edge of the precipice at the magma below through his binoculars.
He turned his head to look at Nickie, his face glistening with sweat in the dull glow of the magma. “It’s rising,” he informed
her.
Nickie chose a spot on the opposite wall just above the lava-line and kept her eyes on it. A couple of minutes later the spot was overtaken by the magma. “I can see that.” She strained her eyes to try and make out what was on the other side. The ground rose in hissing mounds where the pressure from below had forced it up in tiny versions of the mountain. The natural vents hissed continuously, superheating the air inside the chamber. “That looks like vegetation over there,” she told John, pointing out one of the dark patches. “Are any of those your plant?”
John trained his binoculars on the vents. “I think… Yes, I can see it! We just need to get over there.”
“Here, let me see.” Nickie held out her hand, and John passed her the binoculars. She used them to scan the edge of the aperture and saw Grim waving at her from his position on top of a jutting outcrop. She turned to John. “Go and get Adelaide and Keen. It looks like Grim’s found us a place to cross.”
Nickie made her way to Grim over the treacherous ground and looked across the aperture. The outcrop extended almost to the center of the chasm, where it broke off and then resumed from the other side. “It almost looks like a bridge.”
Grim tilted his head as he examined the narrow bridge. “I think it looks like two fingertips almost touching.”
Nickie grinned. “You romantic bastard. Come on, let’s get across.”
Nickie, that promontory will not hold Grim. It is extremely porous.
“Oh.” She grabbed Grim by the arm before he could take a step onto the crumbling bridge. “Meredith says it won’t hold your weight. Sorry, dude, you’re benched for this one.”
Grim huffed. “If I keep getting left out, then I don’t know if I’ll bother coming along on the next mission.”
Nickie shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll get some action, just not now.” She indicated the slowly creeping magma below. “Unless you really want a lava bath?”
Nickie was cut off when the background rumble suddenly increased to a roar, and the ground rippled beneath their feet and threw her off-balance. She pitched forward into the nearest rockpile. Without a thought, she put out the arm she’d broken earlier to save herself. It buckled, and she slammed into the rock face-first with a scream of agony as the bone in her arm parted yet again. “Fuck!”
Grim helped her up when the contraction had passed. “Are you okay?”
They had to almost yell to be heard above the grinding complaints of the volcano. “I’m fine. It’s just a cut.”
She held a hand to her head, probing gently through her hood. Her busted eye had opened up in a ragged gash where she’d scraped her face. She wiped the blood away and turned back to the bridge. “Shit, more of the bridge has fallen away.” The cavern swam in her vision, and Grim caught her again as she stumbled. “Maybe I banged my head a bit harder than I thought.”
Your ulna has rebroken, and you have the beginnings of a concussion. You need to take it easy while your brain heals.
Yeah, ‘cuz there’s plenty of opportunities to kick back and relax right now, Mere.
Whatever you are doing, you need to hurry. That was a massive spike in the seismic activity since my last report. Get the plant and get the hell out of there, Nickie.
Keen and Adelaide arrived at a jog. Keen took one look at the bridge and began to shake his head emphatically. “There’s no way we can cross that.”
Nickie waved him off and tottered toward the bridge. “We can, and we will. Where’s John?”
Adelaide frowned. “I thought he was with you and Grim?”
“No, or I wouldn’t be asking. Didn’t you pass him on your way here?” She turned in the direction of the last place she’d seen him. “You all wait here, and I’ll find him. Try to figure out how we can get across that bridge without dying while I’m gone, okay?”
Nickie set off without waiting for a reply. John was not at the spot she’d left him. She called his name, but there was no way he’d hear her over the growing roar of the volcano. She looked around and spotted his binoculars on the ground, then saw his foot protruding from behind a boulder.
She hurried over and found him propped up against the rock with his head in his hands. “John, what’s going on?”
He looked up at her with confusion. “Nickie? I climbed up to get a better view and slipped.”
She held out her hand. “Come on, we’ve found a way across.”
He pointed at his foot, which was at an awkward angle to his leg. “It’s broken.”
Nickie sighed. “No shit. Can you get up?”
John struggled to his feet, and she wrapped an arm around him to support him as they walked back to the bridge.
The others were still debating the options when Nickie guided John over to sit against a rock. “What’s the problem?”
Keen’s face was the reddest Nickie had seen it. “This is suicidal! That bridge won’t hold any of us.” He pointed at Nickie and John. “You’re both too damn injured to be of any use, and the fucking thing will collapse if either Grim or I even attempt to cross.”
Grim nodded in agreement. “We might have to just call it quits, Nickie. We can’t win every one.”
Nickie bristled. “I don’t quit.” She laughed as her vision swam again. “Okay, I don’t quit anymore. The point is that I’m not leaving without that plant to save John’s dad.” She took a wobbly step toward the bridge.
“I can do it.” Adelaide’s voice was a whisper in the thunder of the cavern.
Nickie heard, and she eyed Adelaide suspiciously. “I suppose you’re light enough to get over without the bridge collapsing, but you haven’t got training for this. How will you cross the gap?”
Adelaide shook her head to dislodge the strand of sweaty hair from her face and half-shrugged. “I have some gymnastics skills. Same thing.” She turned and ran toward the bridge. “Just watch!”
She vaulted up onto the rocks and gained the bridge. “See?” she called back. She hurried over the wider part but slowed as the rock narrowed closer to the middle before ending abruptly. Adelaide brought her arms out for balance as she placed her feet carefully to avoid falling to her death.
Back on the far side, Nickie stayed by John and held her breath as she watched Adelaide’s progression. Keen and Grim called encouragement from the edge to keep Adelaide’s confidence high while she climbed around the rubble in her way.
The bridge narrowed to just a few paces wide. Adelaide halted. “Guys?” She looked back at them, her face completely drained of color. “I don’t know. I can make the jump, but what if it doesn’t hold me?”
The bridge shook minutely, and Adelaide almost lost her footing. “I’m going to try.” She backed up a few paces, sprinted at the gap, and vaulted over to the other side.
She landed at a run and pelted toward the vegetation around the vents without stopping.
Nickie came over to stand with Grim and Keen. She handed over John’s binoculars wordlessly while Adelaide swerved around the continuous jets of steam the vents on the other side were emitting.
A few tense minutes later, Adelaide returned to the bridge and gave them a thumbs up.
Grim turned and called to John, “She has the plant.”
John nodded and slumped against the rock. They shared a relieved grin as Adelaide made her way back to them.
Their relief was short-lived.
As Adelaide reached top speed to jump the gap, a keening roar came from the tunnel behind them. Adelaide lost her footing on the jump, and she screamed as she missed her landing.
Nickie moved like the wind to reach her, pushing through the dizziness that washed over her from the sudden movement.
Nickie, no!
Nickie didn’t listen. The bridge crumbled with every panicked step she took. She dropped to her stomach as the dizziness returned and inched her way along until she reached the edge and found Adelaide hanging on grimly to the rock. She reached out with her good arm as Adelaide cried with relief. “Take my hand!”
She gra
bbed Nickie’s hand, and Nickie slid backward on her stomach to pull her up one agonizing inch at a time.
Adelaide sobbed as they crawled to safety. “Thank you! Thank you!”
“Don’t thank me, just hurry up before the fucking monster gets here and cuts off our escape.” She grabbed Adelaide and pulled her along, the dizziness threatening to overwhelm her completely.
They clung to each other for support as they reached the other side. When they reached solid ground, Adelaide collapsed to her knees and let the tears flow. She undid the pouch on her suit and passed the plants she had stuffed inside to John.
John’s eyes shone. “Thank you. I can’t tell you what this means to me…”
Another roar came from the tunnel, and the cavern vibrated as the monster approached.
Nickie turned tiredly toward the tunnel. “Nope, you can’t. We haven’t got time.” Meredith, get us out of here now!
The route map is ready, but you need to hurry. There is another activity spike, this one ten times any of my previous readings. The eruption has begun. Take the path I’m overlaying in your HUD. It will lead you to an exit partway up the volcano from which you can escape.
A blue line appeared over Nickie’s vision just as the monster appeared. “Grim, take John, and everyone follow me. We’re getting the fuck out of here.”
Grim hoisted John over his shoulder and ran after Nickie as if his life depended on it.
Even inside their suits, the heat was becoming unbearable as the magma overflowed the aperture. The monster paid it no attention, too focused on the group to notice its encroaching death. They dodged behind the rocks to stay out of its line of sight, but it still came after them, screeching as it smashed the rockpiles with its remaining arm.
They ran.
A rockpile exploded right next to the monster, and a jet of lava spewed out. The pressure knocked the monster into the aperture, ending it forever and ticking one item off Nickie’s “things to worry about” list.
Labyrinth (Deuces Wild Book 3) Page 18