Facing the Fire

by Carol Beth Anderson

  The entire area was overwhelming, beautiful, and massive. Over a thousand people lived in the Meadow, and most of them were now in the caverns. It wasn’t even that crowded.

  When they returned to the Golds, Tavi and Narre shared their findings. Narre offered to take the others on a tour, and everyone but Tullen stood to follow her.

  “Don’t you want to see?” Tavi asked.

  Tullen gave her a tired smile. “Not now.”

  Tavi nodded. “I’ve seen the other caverns; I’ll stay with you.” She sat and looked around the cavern. A few people were crying, but overall it was remarkably calm. She looked back at Tullen. “I have so many questions.”

  Tullen raised his eyebrows.

  Tavi looked around the cavern, trying to decide where to start. She turned back to Tullen. “What happens next?”

  “I wish I knew. In all our drills, we never came down here. I’m sure there’s a plan, but I don’t know it. One of the elders will probably talk to us soon.”

  “What did you do during your drills?”

  “We went to the rendezvous spot behind the Hall of Elders. They told us if there was ever a real emergency, someone would give us further instructions. I was just as surprised to see that staircase and cellar as you were. I knew there was a trapdoor in the building, and I’ve even opened it. A tiny little thing, leading to a tiny little cellar where a few jars of food are stored. I had no idea what was hiding right underneath it.”

  “Who knew how to get to the caverns?”

  “The elders always said only four people knew the whole escape plan,” Tullen said. “Their identities are secret . . . or they were until one of them opened the floor today. I’m sure that person’s name is currently spreading as fast as spilled beer.”

  Tavi laughed. But Tullen’s face grew more serious. “We’ve always known a day would come when someone would try to take advantage of our community, if for no other reason than to steal our resources. We’ve been prepared for generations.”

  Tavi nodded slowly. “That all makes sense. It’s just that . . . oh, never mind.”

  “What?” After a silent moment, he said, “Please tell me.”

  Tavi shrugged and said, “I’ve known you for years, and we’ve been in the Meadow for months. I had no idea there was an evacuation plan. I didn’t know anything about multiple guard towers or secret alarm bells. I just wonder why you didn’t tell me any of that.”

  Tullen didn’t look surprised by the question. He gave her a tight-lipped, thoughtful smile and took a breath before responding, “From as early as I can remember, I had it drilled into me that there are certain things in the Meadow we don’t share with Outsiders. Many Meadow Dwellers never meet any Outsiders, but we still all know what we can and can’t disclose.

  “The most serious Meadow secrets are related to security arrangements. There aren’t any weapons in the Meadow except those used for hunting. The community has promised to never participate in a war. We’ve always known if we didn’t have good defensive measures, somebody would one day take advantage of our pacifism.” He grimaced. “I suppose that day is here.

  “But you asked why I didn’t tell you. Tavi, from a very young age, I joined other Meadow children in promising that we would never speak to an Outsider about Meadow security unless that Outsider became a Meadow Dweller.”

  Tavi’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “How does an Outsider become a Meadow Dweller?”

  Tullen’s eyes held hers. “Through marriage.”

  “Oh.”

  “When I left the Meadow, I committed to keeping my promise to the community, even though I didn’t live there anymore.”

  “I suppose that makes sense.”

  Tullen continued to stare at her and said, “I’ve always hoped that one day I could share Meadow secrets with you.”

  It took half a second for the meaning of his words to register. When it did, Tavi’s mouth dropped open, and she felt heat enter her face. Every so often, Tullen made some crazy statement like that to her, bringing the conversation to an awkward halt with his typical frankness. Or at least it was awkward to Tavi; Tullen looked like he’d just commented on the weather.

  He grinned. “Sorry if that made you uncomfortable.”

  She didn’t respond. Judging by the expression on his face, he wasn’t really sorry.

  At that moment, Tavi realized the other Golds had returned and were sitting several feet away. She looked at them, hoping none of them had heard the last part of her conversation with Tullen. She put a big smile on her face and said loudly, “What did you think of the caverns?”

  Jenevy began to describe a particular cave they’d entered, but she didn’t get far before a loud voice, clearly amplified by magic, filled the cavern.

  “This is Aba. In a quarter hour, we’ll meet in this main cavern area to discuss our plans. If you are caring for small children who may be disruptive, please bring them to one of the smaller caves. We will notify people in those spaces to come here, so be prepared for the room to be full. Thank you.”

  The Golds scooted close to each other. All around them, others rearranged themselves, some leaving the cavern with their small children. Then people began streaming in from the other caves. Before long, the room was indeed crowded. Many were standing, and Tavi and the Golds joined them.

  Aba’s voice soon filled the cavern again. “Your attention, please,” she said. Tavi still didn’t see the elder until Reba pointed to a distant corner where a young girl held a glowing hand to Aba’s chest, amplifying her voice.

  “Thank you,” Aba said when the room had quieted. “My friends.” She held her arms out. “My family.” Tavi was surprised to hear the stern woman’s voice crack, emotion interfering with her practical eloquence.

  Aba continued, “We have spent decades refining our plans for a day such as this. We hoped to never implement them. We hoped these caverns would stay dark, the provisions here periodically retrieved before they spoiled, always replaced and never consumed.”

  She talked for several minutes about the changing nation of Cormina and the difficulties with being a closed, peaceful community under new leaders who were violent and demanding. Tavi heard several people sniffing or even sobbing as Aba talked.

  “Many of you may wonder whether the soldiers will discover us here,” Aba said. “Let me reassure you, these caverns are secure. Only four people in the Meadow knew how to get here. All four of them are here with us. And everyone who saw the entrance to the cellar entered it. No one the soldiers encountered above had information to share, beyond the rendezvous location.

  “The soldiers will doubtless enter the yard, and they will look for the place where we escaped. They will find the small trapdoor; many of you knew of its existence. They will open it and find a tiny cellar. The large door is bolted from the inside and so well camouflaged that we are confident it will not be detected. Similarly, the door from the large cellar into this cavern looks exactly like a cellar wall. It is bolted from the inside as well, and the mechanism used to open it from the other side has been destroyed. It can only be opened from the cavern.”

  A man cried out in an agonized voice, “My wife! Where is my wife?”

  Aba let out a small sob, just as amplified as her words had been. She inhaled deeply then released her breath. Again in control of herself, Aba said, “Huvlid is standing to my right, and when we finish this discussion, she will take the names of anyone you believe is missing.”

  “But we must find her!” the same man said.

  Others called out too, and Aba raised her voice, its firm tones echoing from the cabin walls. “Our top priority is protecting every Meadow resident, including those who are missing. We have a plan to send a brave scout back to our home tonight. He has trained for this very task. I cannot give you details of how he will get there, but he will do his very best to discover the status of all who are missing. If there is anything we can do to save further lives, I assure you we will.”

  Likely hoping
to avoid more shouted questions, Aba rushed on. “We have enough provisions for a full year.”

  Tavi gasped, along with many others. How had they stored so much food without anyone realizing it? She looked at Tullen, who appeared as baffled as she.

  A very small smile reached Aba’s mouth. “Every day, we store a small percentage of any food that is preserved. We have done this for many years. In addition to our stored food, we have one cave reserved for planting. Essler believes he can use his touch gift to encourage underground growth of certain crops. We have also stockpiled extra blankets, clothing, medical and hygiene items, and other supplies.

  “As for our immediate plans, we will send a small team of negotiators to the king and queen. While we wait for them, we will all live in these caverns. I hope we need not stay here long. Regardless of the outcome of our negotiations, we are the Meadow. We will continue to live as a community devoted to peace and freedom.”

  One person started clapping, and the applause soon spread to all the others. Tavi reluctantly joined in. Aba’s words sounded great, but the Meadow could stand to work on the “freedom” part, especially if you were an Outsider or a Meadow Dweller interested in the outside world. Tullen caught her eye and shrugged. He halfheartedly joined in the applause.

  After a few hours in the caverns, Tavi turned to the other Golds. “Anyone else starving?”

  She received several affirmative responses. But one of the elders had already announced that it would take time to get food distribution up and running. Children were first priority, then the elderly, then parents. Healthy young men and women likely wouldn’t get food until the next morning.

  Jenevy stood. “Who wants to take a walk? It’ll distract us.”

  Tavi, Wrey, and Tullen all rose to go with her.

  “Let’s find Shola,” Tavi said. “I want to see how she’s doing.”

  “Sure,” Jenevy said. “Tullen and I can check in on our families too.”

  Jenevy and Tullen had already found their families in secondary caverns. They walked to the cavern where Jenevy’s family was staying and chatted with them for a few minutes. Jenevy’s mother had heard gossip about a woman from their street who had chosen not to leave her home, but Jenevy didn’t know the woman well.

  The conversation with Tullen’s family was similar. A weaver that Tullen’s mother worked with seemed to be missing. Tullen barely knew the woman, but he embraced his mother and told her he hoped her friend was safe.

  As they walked, Tavi looked for Shola and her family. They weren’t in any of the caverns they’d gone through. “Let’s take that tunnel,” Tavi said, pointing.

  They did, peeking in every cave they encountered. Some of them were only large enough for one family. Still, Tavi didn’t see her student.

  “Do you know who she’s friends with?” Wrey asked.

  “I know some of her classmates,” Tavi said. A few minutes later, they encountered one of Shola’s friends, but the boy hadn’t seen Shola or her family.

  They continued to explore until they thought they’d looked through all the occupied caves.

  “Maybe they’re in the main cave, and we missed them,” Jenevy said.

  “Maybe,” Tavi agreed. But she’d looked there earlier, and she didn’t think she would have missed them. Surely she would have heard Shola’s loud, frequent laughter if she were anywhere nearby. “Let’s walk back through the caves we’ve visited,” Tavi said. “I’ll look for her friends and ask them.”

  Her luck didn’t improve. No one had seen Shola. A few of the youth seemed concerned, but most of them assumed the girl was in another room. Tavi’s hope dwindled.

  Back in the main cavern, Tavi told Tullen, Wrey, and Jenevy she wanted to search by herself. Her friends went back to the other Golds.

  She walked through the whole room twice, finding more of Shola’s classmates. None of them had seen the girl.

  Holding back tears, Tavi approached Huvlid, who held a leather notebook and a pencil. Her back was so straight, it looked like a broomstick had replaced her spine.

  “Pardon me,” Tavi said.

  Huvlid looked at her, and Tavi didn’t think she was imagining the disgust and distrust on the elder’s face. But Huvlid kept her words professional. “Are you here to report a missing person?”

  Tavi’s mouth felt dry. She swallowed, unsure of what to say. “Remember the girl I was tutoring?” she blurted.

  “Shola?” Huvlid asked.

  “Yes. I can’t find her or her family.”

  Huvlid’s face softened. She looked Tavi in the eyes, no trace of judgment in her expression. “Thank you for telling me.” She opened her notebook and wrote in it.

  Tavi waited a moment, then realized there was nothing more for her to say. She returned to the Golds.

  Later, when those around her were going to bed, Tavi still sat up, her elbows propped on her crossed legs.

  “We should sleep,” Narre told her. “There’s nothing else for us to do, and it’ll keep us from thinking about being hungry.”

  “I can’t sleep,” Tavi said.

  Wrey, who lay on a blanket with another one covering her, propped herself on her elbows. “I could help with that,” she said with a smile.

  A few of the Golds laughed. Wrey’s sight gift could render Tavi unconscious, which wasn’t how Tavi wanted to get her rest. The former Gray didn’t joke around much, and Tavi tried to smile at the words.

  Long after her friends had gone to sleep, when the only sounds in the cavern were snores, people shifting their positions, and occasional crying babies, Tavi still sat wide awake, worrying.

  The Golds were finally eating, a mid-morning breakfast of canned tomatoes and dried, salted fish. It was a strange combination, but Tavi’s empty stomach was glad to be filled. If only her need for sleep could be met so easily; she felt like she’d only dozed for about an hour the night before.

  “Attention.” It was Aba, her voice again magically amplified. Tavi had rarely seen a group of people grow quiet so quickly. Aba asked that each family keep at least one representative in the main cavern, this time suggesting that all children under the age of fourteen should go to one of the smaller caves.

  People streamed in and out of the huge cavern. When they were all situated, Aba called them to attention.

  “Our investigator made it into the Meadow last night and returned this morning without being detected,” she began. People murmured in response, but when Aba started talking again, her expression grave, the crowd quieted.

  “I don’t believe in delaying bad news. Our investigator traveled through as much of the Meadow as he could. He also visited the homes of all the missing. We had twenty people on our list. He found seventeen. Every one of them had been killed.”

  Gasps and cries filled the room, and Aba herself broke down. Tavi looked around, her eyes wide, unwilling to join in the weeping. Names. I need to know the names.

  She didn’t have to wait long. Aba pulled herself together and read the list of names. Number eight was Shola, and the next three names were those of the girl’s parents and younger brother.

  Tavi placed her head in her hands and cried. An image filled her mind, but it wasn’t Shola’s face. It was the cover of a book of Corminian history, a book Tavi had never had the courage to share with her pupil.

  Grief reigned in the cavern, the loud anguish of a community sharing a deep tragedy. There was no panic or chaos, just shock and weeping.

  In that moment, Tavi witnessed the depth to which the Meadow was a family. She heard and saw people grieving for those they weren’t related to, with a sadness equal to that she’d felt for her sister. She raised her eyes to the Golds. Three of them had placed comforting hands on her when they’d heard Shola’s name. And she realized that, for now, they were her family. Even Ash, in a sense. You didn’t have to like everyone in your family, after all.

  Tavi’s weeping slowed before most of the others in the cavern. She’d only known Shola for a few months. This
place was full of people who’d spent every day of their lives together.

  Though her tears dried, anger filled Tavi’s chest, along with a familiar sense of powerlessness. She’d been helpless to stop this attack, just as she’d been helpless to protect Misty over a year before.

  But one thing was certain: They couldn’t stop future atrocities from in here. Tavi turned to face the other Golds. She opened her mouth, and her voice was hoarse, but sure.

  “We have to leave.”

  Chapter Twelve

  I once had a student who graduated from school but insisted he needed another year of magical training. Not seeing any reason to deny him that, I allowed him to stay in the program. When graduation time came around again, he asked to stay one more year.

  That was when the truth struck me: He did not need more training. He was merely frightened to enter a world of unknowns. I sent him away, though he begged me not to. It took time for him to find a job and even more time for him to settle on the right profession. But I never regretted pushing him out of the nest of the midwife house.

  -From Training Sun-Blessed Students by Ellea Kariana

  Every Gold agreed: It was time to go. Watching Tavi’s shocked face, Tullen almost laughed. She really thought she’d have to convince us, didn’t she?

  Tavi nodded slowly and continued, “I’m glad you’re all on board. We have a few things to work out, though. We don’t know where we’re going or what we’ll do once we get there. We don’t have any supplies. And we don’t know how to get out of this place.”

  “I can help with the last one,” Tullen said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” A couple of the others offered to come with him, but he declined.

  He walked toward the tunnel where he’d seen Aba exit earlier. Normally if Tullen needed a favor from an elder, he talked to his Aunt Bellika. But she was sitting in a corner with her family, her head bowed, grieving her own role in the day’s tragedies.