The tunnel got no wider as I walked, but I could feel the ground beneath my feet start to dip so that I knew it was leading me down through the cliff and into the ground. It was a strange feeling, knowing that I had started many feet above the heads of the warriors and in a few moments I would be beneath them. Orienting had never been my strong point, but I was struggling with every ounce of processing ability that I had to keep track of the direction that I was moving and figure out where I was headed so that I could tell Pyra when I made it back. I couldn't let myself think "if".
"Zuri, it's tight in here, but I'm running out of light, do you think that you'd be OK bringing the torch in?" I called back over my shoulder.
The path ahead of me had gotten so dark that I wasn't able to see more than a few inches and I wasn't comfortable continuing on without light if I didn't absolutely have to.
"Do I think I would be OK like you think I might get stuck in there, or do I think I would be OK like you think I might catch us on fire if I go in there?" she called back.
"Well…both…maybe…just a little bit," I said cautiously, trying not the offend her.
Zuri was beautiful, but the truth was she was a little bigger even than me, and I wasn't entirely convinced that she would be able to navigate the tighter curves of the tunnel, especially if it got any smaller.
"Well, damn. That's comforting," she said.
I could hear in her voice that she wasn't upset. Ero had done amazing things for her in even the small amount of time that they had spent together and I would have to remember to thank him for the love, comfort, and confidence that he had given this woman who had meant so much to me during some of the most difficult times in my life.
"Sorry."
"It's alright. I'm on my way. Leia can bring up the rear and at least her tiny self will be able to get out in case all goes to hell and we burst into flames in here."
"Geez, Zuri, you sure do know how to make a girl feel better when she's creeping through the darkness holding a dagger."
"The things we do for our men."
I heard Zuri's voice close behind me and felt the warmth of the flame from the torch glowing on my back. I glanced over my shoulder at her and smiled.
"Don't I know it," I joked back, "But with the things that Ty is capable of, I am just fine with this little contribution."
Zuri let out a sound like she knew exactly what I was talking about.
"I am fine with just about anything as long as Ero keeps doing the same things to me that he was doing when we were on top of this cliff."
I laughed, but as soon as the sound made it all the way out of my throat, I felt the tension build inside me again. We were trying so hard to talk casually and joke about our men to distract us from walking down the tunnel, but it didn't have as much of an effect as we were hoping. Instead, as soon as I stopped talking, I felt even more nervous than I had before.
Chapter Six
"Where are they?" Ty growled as he paced in front of the cave.
"Calm down, Ty," Pyra said, "They have only been in there for a few minutes. Everything is fine."
"That's really easy for you to say, Pyra. Your mate is safely in a healer's shop playing around with herbs and leaves and shit trying to come up with healing potions. Mine is wandering around in a rock tunnel that none of us have any idea what might be in it, where it leads, or if it could be being used to bring our enemies into our compound. I'm a little stressed out right now."
"So I take it you got over your whole 'she's too young' thing and finally bonded with her?" Pyra asked.
Ty stopped pacing long enough to glare at him briefly, and then went back to pacing.
"Yes."
"And?"
"And what? It was the most incredible experience of my life, I'm hopelessly in love with her, and now I'm terrified that I've just watched her walk into her death. How is it that a group of warriors and a nurturer just sent three women into a potentially extremely dangerous tunnel with nothing more than a torch and a dagger?"
"They're going to be fine, Ty. You need to learn to have some faith in your mate. I know they seem small, but if Eden has taught me anything in my time with her, it is that human women are far more capable than we give them credit for. Zuri tells me that Samira is incredibly smart and resourceful. I wouldn't have let them go in if I didn't think that they would be safe."
"And what happens if they aren't? What happens if they get into the tunnel and it turns out that the Klimnu are using it, and they are in there? What then? Do you really think that they will be able to fight them off with a single dagger? We have no idea how many of them there are, and reserves could have arrived since the last battle. If we can't get in to them, it would be hopeless."
"So talk to her. Connect with her and make sure that she's OK. She might be able to tell you what she's seeing."
Pyra walked away, leaving Ty alone near the mouth of the cave. Ty stared into the darkness, straining to hear even the smallest hint that the women had made it into the tunnel or were headed back toward him. When only silence greeted him, he closed his eyes, took a breath, and concentrated on connecting directly to Samira.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
He waited a few tense moments.
"We're fine," he finally heard and felt his body relax slightly, "Pyra was right. This tunnel is extremely small. I didn't see anything that indicated that there might be a larger section or some kind of false wall that might open it up more. This is definitely it."
"How far have you gone?"
"Pretty far. The ground is getting steeper. I think we are probably all the way underground now. It's cold and feels kind of clammy down here."
"That's what the Klimnu feel like," he thought absently.
"I've never seen them."
"Zuri and Leia have. They'll tell you."
"I know. Wait…"
The connection went silent and Ty felt panic building inside him again.
"What? Samira? What's going on?"
"I feel air moving."
"What does that mean?"
"Air doesn't move inside a closed space. If I can feel air moving, it means that we are getting close to an opening in the tunnel. Get near Pyra. I want to be able to talk to him."
Ty called out to Pyra and gestured for him to come closer.
"Samira says that she can feel moving air," he told the massive warrior, "She wanted to be able to talk to you."
"Ask her if she can tell where the air is coming from."
Ty did as Pyra asked. It felt strange standing beside Pyra and having a silent conversation with his mate. He felt like the ability to communicate this way was such a private thing and it almost seemed inappropriate to be sharing it with Pyra. Of course, he knew that the way Ciyrs had healed Eden when she first came to the planet had created such a strong link between them that they were actually able to communicate telepathically, so Ty knew that it could be much worse. He didn't know how he would cope with knowing that another man was able to roam freely through Samira's thoughts or talk with her without anyone knowing what he was saying.
"Tell Pyra that I don't know yet. We can feel it on our faces and on our sides, so either it is one big opening, or there are two."
"Is the torch holding up?"
"The air in here is getting damper. It's fine for now, but I'm a little worried that it is going to go out soon. What do we do if it does?"
"Run the blade of the knife against the wall. Hopefully it will generate enough of a spark that you will be able to relight the torch."
"And if not?"
Ty hesitated. He didn't really know what to tell her. The thought of her being stuck inside the tunnel far underground without even so much as a light source made him feel sick.
"It'll work, Baby. Just keep going. I'm right here. Just know that I'm right here."
Chapter Seven
Ty's words gave me strength as I continued walking toward the feeling of the moving air. It was cold and thin, not what I ex
pected coming from deep underground. Then I remembered my few visits to the caverns on Earth when I was younger and the way the air felt thinner once we got deep inside them. As I thought that I started to wonder if I was always going to be trying to draw parallels between the world I left behind and the one that I chose for my future. I wanted to embrace Uoria for all it had to offer, which meant that I would need to find a way to stop thinking about it as something to compare to Earth and start realizing all of its potential and beauty.
I took a calming breath and asked Zuri to bring the torch a little closer. The warmth from the flame seemed to dry the air around me just enough so that it no longer felt like it was crawling across my skin and I glanced down to realize that the ground at my feet had become wet and muddy. The terrain had definitely changed and I had the strange feeling that we had entered an area far from the cliffs where we had started. It felt like we had done more than just walk through a tunnel, that we were much further away than we should have been.
"Ty?" I called out to him in my mind.
"Yes? I'm here."
"Can you go into the cave?"
"Pyra said we won't fit in the tunnel."
"No, no, that's OK. You definitely won't fit. I just need you to find the entrance to the tunnel and yell into it for me."
"Did your torch go out? Are you lost?"
Ty's thoughts were starting to sound frantic and I tried to send him calming vibes. I didn't know if it worked that way, but I was hoping that I could send him soothing feelings through my thoughts that would work the same way holding his hand would.
"I'm not lost and the torch is still just fine. Don't worry about that. I just need you to go into the cave, walk all the way to the back, and find the entrance to the tunnel. Pyra can probably show it to you. When you get there, just shout in to me."
"Alright."
Ty didn't sound convinced. I kept walking as I waited to hear his voice, but it never came.
"Did you shout?" I asked, hoping that he would say that he hadn't.
"Yeah. I screamed your name a few times."
"As loud as you could?"
"Yeah."
I took a breath.
"OK. Is Pyra there with you?"
"Yes."
"Have him try."
I waited for a few seconds but still didn't hear anything.
"Did either of you hear the guys shouting?" I asked Zuri and Leia.
I could barely make out Leia's face behind Zuri, but I could see that both women were shaking their heads. I closed my eyes briefly, trying to orient myself and figure out what this meant.
"How far do you think that we walked?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Zuri asked.
"Do you think that we've come so far that if the guys were shouting into the tunnel we wouldn’t be able to hear them?"
"No. Those men are loud, besides, the tunnel would only amplify the sound. We haven't gone far enough that the sound couldn't travel to us. Why?"
"I had them shout into the entrance to the tunnel."
Zuri and Leia both got nervous expressions on their faces that told me they understood exactly what I was saying.
"How did we get that far away?" Leia asked.
"I don’t know," I replied, "but do we go back or do we keep going and try to find out where this tunnel leads?"
There was a moment of heavy silence. Even Ty wasn't talking to me through his thoughts.
"We came in here because Pyra and the other warriors believe that this tunnel has something to do with the Klimnu being able to get into the compound and attack and we are the only ones who could get inside," Zuri said slowly and carefully, "If we don't keep going, there'll be no way for any of us to find out what's going on, and it could leave the entire clan at even greater risk."
"You're right," I said, nodding, "We have to keep going. Turning back now isn't going to help anything."
"We're going to keep going," I told Ty through my thoughts.
"Do you want me to keep shouting?" he asked.
"No," I replied, "Just stay close to the entrance and as soon as you hear us coming, let me know. It might be a little while, but just listen for me. When you hear my voice, shout in to me."
"I will. Samira?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
I felt my breath catch in my throat and my grip loosen on the knife. I had to regain my composure quickly to prevent myself from dropping it.
"I love you, too."
If I had been vacillating at all in my determination to continue forward, that had sealed it. I had never seen the Klimnu and I didn't know exactly what they were capable of, but in that moment there was absolutely nothing that could have frightened me enough to stop me from fighting to protect Ty, his people, and our future together. I tightened my grip on the knife even further, set my jaw, and surged forward. I picked up speed until I almost left the other women behind. The faster I walked, the less nervous I felt, and suddenly I realized that I was excited to find out what was at the end of the tunnel. I knew for certain now that if this was in fact the path by which Ullie had been interacting with the Klimnu to remain undetected, he had not been acting alone. Unless the creatures had always come to him through that tunnel, which was highly unlikely considering the amount of vigilance the warriors used to protect the compound, there was someone else, someone small, who was acting as a go-between for the Traitor and the Klimnu.
I was determined I was going to find out who that was.
Chapter Eight
Ty sat on the floor of the cave beside the entrance to the tunnel, leaned back against the cold stone wall so that he could listen for any sound coming from the tunnel. It felt like he had been sitting there for hours and he wanted to connect with Samira and talk to her the entire time she was away, but he knew that she needed to be able to concentrate if she was going to gather all of the information that they needed about the tunnel and wherever it led and then get back to them safely. Pyra had gone back outside of the cave to talk to the other warriors and the silence surrounding Ty was becoming overwhelming. He closed his eyes and went back over the events of the last few days in his mind.
He never expected this. From the time he was a little child he knew that he was not going to be a warrior. The destiny of each Denynso man is set from the time of birth and it is evident early on what a man is going to do with his life, whether that is to join up forces as one of the clan's fearsome warriors so that he can march into battle and help the others defend the clan and the planet, or take on another role within the group. As a very young child it was already evident that being a warrior was not what he was made to do. While he was nearly as massive as Pyra, his spirit was gentle and nurturing, not aggressive. He had never been prone to fighting or lashing out. Instead, he was drawn to cooking and baking. He used his skills to prepare food for the warriors to take with them while they were in battle and to strengthen them when they came back.
It wasn't until Samira came along that he ever felt the intensity of what the warriors felt. She sparked something in him that was so powerful he was almost afraid of it himself. Suddenly he was ready to use his tremendous size and strength for more than he had ever used it for, and was ready to step forward and be a part of defending the planet from the Klimnu in what they hoped would be their final showdown. He always knew that he would change when he met his mate, but he never expected that the change would be so drastic and powerful. It brought to mind elements of his inner self that he had hidden for so long he didn't even know if he could still use them, elements that he had always feared and tried to forget that he had, but now knew may be the key to him helping the warriors.
"Can you hear me?"
The sound of Samira's voice suddenly coming through the tunnel broke Ty out of his thoughts and brought him to his feet. For a moment he thought that he may be hearing her talking to him through her mind, but her voice sounded too loud for that to be what was happening. He leaned into the mouth of the tunnel.
"Ty! Is that the first time you heard me calling for you?"
"Yes. Just now. Are you OK?"
"We're fine. We're coming your way, but the torch finally went out so it's dark. Just keep talking to me."
Ty nearly sagged with relief. He felt a smile break across his face as he crouched down so that it was easier to call into the tunnel.
"I'm here, Baby. I'm right here. Just keep coming toward me. Listen to my voice. I'm right here waiting for you."
Ty kept talking, repeating himself over and over because he couldn't think of anything else to say that he would want the other two women listening to as they walked through the tunnel. Finally he heard footsteps coming toward him and a few moments later he could feel Samira's presence near him. He reached out and his hands touched her. Even in the intense darkness he knew he was touching his mate. She curled into his arms and he pulled her back away from the mouth of the tunnel so that the other two women could step out into the main chamber of the cave.
"Pyra!" Ty shouted, "Bring us a new torch."
Heavy footsteps sounded in the front part of the chamber and Ty saw the bright glow of a new torch flame cutting through the darkness toward them. They rushed toward it, using the illumination to guide them around the stalagmites that jutted up from the floor of the cave. As soon as they stepped out onto the plateau, he saw Samira take a deep breath and lean over to rest her hands on her knees. She continued to draw in long breaths as if she were trying to replace all of the air from the tunnel in her body with fresh air. He stroked her back gently, trying to calm her, as Gyyx and Ero rushed forward to scoop Leia and Zuri into their arms. Everyone stayed silent for a few seconds as the men comforted and cuddled their mates. Finally Pyra stepped forward.
"What did you find?" he asked.
Samira straightened and curled close to Ty's side before she spoke. He wrapped his arm around her waist, giving over as much of his strength to her as she needed.
The Alien's Back! (Uoria Mates V Book 1) Page 41