Their passage slowed as the water calmed and Sarah adjusted her vice-like grip. ‘What can you see?’
‘More tunnel.’
‘What’s that noise?’
A strange reverberating sound grew louder with each passing second and she felt Jason twist round to look.
‘I don’t know,’ he said, ‘my visor light’s really dim.’
The river’s flow picked up again and Jason swore.
Sarah tensed. ‘What is it?’
‘Waterfall,’ he said, his voice full of fear.
Sarah felt panic swell within her. The voice had been wrong, the darkness wasn’t her friend – it was her enemy!
Jason wrapped his arms around her as the thunderous sound engulfed them. ‘HOLD ON!’
Sarah took a deep breath and went weightless as they were washed over the top of the waterfall. Seconds later they plunged into frothing darkness. Torn from Jason’s grasp, Sarah’s helmet clonked against hard rock and pain exploded in her back. Tumbling over and over, she was tossed round the seething cauldron like a rag doll. Lungs bursting, the submersion continued and the terror of death seized her. Moments later she surfaced and gasped for air as she flailed in the water.
‘Jason!’
Swept onwards through the black, she heard no reply. ‘Jason!!’
A faint shout came from far ahead. She tried to swim, but the sodden arms of her coveralls made it impossible. Concentrating on keeping her head above water, she called out again and this time Jason’s answer sounded closer.
A wave caught her in the face. ‘Where are you!’ she said, spitting out water.
‘Sarah, over here, this way!’
Sarah turned her head in the dark, trying to get a fix on his voice. More water covered her head and she went under. The sound of water filled her ears before she bobbed back to the surface.
‘Sarah, I’m here, keep going!’
A hand grabbed her collar and she was pulled sideways into calmer waters.
‘Put your feet down,’ Jason said.
Coughing and spluttering, she did as instructed and found the bottom with her feet. She stood up, waist deep in water, and clung to Jason in desperate relief.
‘There’s a path,’ he said, ‘take my hand.’
Reluctant to let him go, Sarah hung on until she felt his hand grip hers.
Splashing forward, she was led into the shallows.
‘Stay here,’ – Jason prised away her hand – ‘I’ve got to climb up.’
She grasped his arm. ‘Don’t leave me!’ she said, pulling him back.
He touched her cheek. ‘I’ll be right here, I promise. Just don’t move.’
Reluctantly, she let him go while the noise of the river continued to thunder past behind. Blind and freezing cold, she stood shivering in the dark, her arms hugged tight to her chest.
‘Okay,’ Jason said, his voice coming from just above, ‘reach out and you’ll feel a wall.’
Sarah put out a tentative hand and felt hard, crumbling sediment.
Something touched her arm and she yelped.
‘It’s okay,’ he said, ‘it’s me. Hold out your hands and I’ll pull you up. It’s about six foot high.’
Sarah raised her arms and felt Jason’s hands grasp hers.
‘You ready?’ he said.
Sarah said, ‘Yes,’ and was lifted from the ground.
When she was back standing by his side, she felt around for another wall to guide her, but found nothing.
‘Wait!’ Jason grabbed her. ‘There’s a sheer drop two feet away. We’re on a raised walkway. The river on one side, nothing on the other, okay? I’m going to clip you to my harness. Don’t move.’
Sarah heard the clink of climbing gear as Jason secured her to him.
‘Right,’ he said, and gave the short piece of rope between them a quick tug, ‘where you go, I go. If you fall left, shout “left!” and I’ll jump right and stop us both going over. Now the ground on the right also drops away, so if you fall right, shout “right!” and I’ll jump left, okay?’
Sarah nodded. ‘Okay.’
‘And if I fall, I’ll do the same and you jump the opposite way to my call, agreed?’
‘Agreed.’
‘Good – okay, the river carries on, but I can see more waterfalls ahead as this place opens out into a big chamber. The path’s quite narrow so we’re going to have to take it slow. Hold onto my harness with one hand and keep your arm extended, otherwise we’ll get too close and you’ll trip me up. Understood?’
‘Yes,’ she said, her teeth chattering.
‘We’re lucky; the air in this chamber’s warm,’ – he rubbed her arms vigorously – ‘which means the sooner we get to safe ground, the sooner we can dry out and move on. If Trish was unconscious she’ll have been swept downstream. Let’s get moving.’
Sarah reached out and felt for his harness. Securing her hold, they moved out in single file. In the lead was the man who couldn’t see the truth – and behind – the woman who just couldn’t see. It was the delusional leading the blind, and both chased the dead.
Chapter Four
Sarah clung to the back of Jason’s climbing harness with an outstretched hand. Soaked to the bone, she trudged along one step at a time, led onwards by Jason, the two of them on a hiding to nothing. Her mind wandered as the noise of the cascading waters below echoed through the chamber around them. Three times she’d almost slipped from the edge, but due to their slow pace she’d managed to cling on and avoid taking the desperate action Jason had envisaged should one of them fall.
The thought of jumping into mid-air was bad enough, but to jump headlong into darkness sent fear coursing through her veins. She knew the rope that bound them together would prevent her from falling to her death, but it didn’t make the idea any less daunting. Jason could falter at any moment and she’d have to react immediately or be pulled over the edge with him.
Step by step she felt the pressure increase, the wait for the inevitable almost unbearable. Some would say the darkness was preferable as you wouldn’t be able to see the deadly drop below. Sarah, however, didn’t need to see the hidden danger; she knew it was there and that was enough. Memories of past excursions – and of sanctuary itself – terrorised her mind, hinting at what would happen if she made a mistake, a fatal error of judgement that would kill them both.
Time passed and Sarah’s fears remained until the path ended, bringing them out onto a flat plain that Jason said followed the river, which continued into the distance. Taking a quick time out, they shed their Deep Reach climbing gear, jackets, coveralls and underwear and squeezed out the water as best they could. Sarah also removed her Deep Reach helmet and shook out the liquid that remained inside while Jason decided not to risk disturbing his in case it ended in disastrous results; if they were both blind they were truly lost. After rubbing themselves down with handfuls of dusty soil from close by, they pulled on damp clothing and struggled back into their harnesses, Sarah operating by feel alone while Jason utilised the dim visor on his helmet.
With the river close by, they drank their fill and then moved on.
Sticking close to the fast-flowing waters, Jason scoured the landscape looking for signs of Trish. At first Sarah had held onto his hand, but as they continued she let go, trusting in his unwavering guidance and the rope that linked them together.
Hours later, Sarah’s energy reserves finally gave up the ghost and she pulled on the rope to halt Jason’s advance.
‘I need to rest,’ she said.
She’d been expecting him to argue, but he mumbled in agreement and they moved away from the river and lay down on the ground in exhausted silence. Sleep came easily, whisking the two friends off into the mystical realm of unthinking thought. The day had been long, but the night had only just begun.
♦
Sarah’s exhaustion led her into the deepest of sleeps, the halls of darkness as unfathomable as the history of Sanctuary itself. Down and down she fell, tumbling into the abyss of noth
ing. Time vanished, giving way to a heady swirl of lights that drifted through an ocean of loss. A voice whispered to her and Sarah moaned in her sleep.
The Anakim orb, tucked away in a pocket on the leg of her coveralls, throbbed in the dark. Its corrugated surface shifted and turned smooth. A pulse of light shone within, its power glowing through the red cloth that held it prisoner against its will. Sarah whimpered in her sleep, fighting against the demons of her mind’s own making. A roar of sound flashed through her eyes and she woke with a start. Still lying on her side, she looked down to see the orb resting on the ground next to her leg. It continued to glow with an eerie light and Sarah wondered how it came to be where it was. Had Jason removed it from its place of safekeeping? She looked up to see her companion gone. Heart racing, she sat up. ‘Jason?’ she said, turning round to gaze into the darkness. ‘Jason?!’
There was no answer. Has he gone and left me? Is his desire to find Trish so great he would leave me all alone in the pitch-black? She picked up the orb, which felt light in her hand. ‘At least I have you to keep me company;’ she muttered, ‘at least I have light.’
The orb’s glow brightened in response; it was if it could hear and understand. Sarah held it aloft to light her way.
‘Jason!’ She took a few more steps and called again. ‘Jason!!’
She listened. There was still no reply.
Attempting to quell the panic within, she tried to think. If he didn’t return she needed to do something. I could go to the temple and wait for him there. She touched her chest where the pendant dangled. And if he never returns I can try and get to the surface using the transportation device. She wandered through the dark, continuing to call Jason’s name.
What seemed like days came and went, and she slept twice more and each time she woke the orb was waiting for her, its light a blessed oasis in the dark.
Deciding the moment had come; she drank from the river one last time and made her way back to the temple. All the while the Anakim orb remained bright, lighting her passage through dark chambers.
When Sarah finally found her way back to the place where Trish had fallen, she felt a deep sense of despair. Trish and Jason had left, each by their own choosing. Never had she felt so alone, so lost.
Leaving the scene of torment behind, she climbed stone steps and worked her way to the centre of the temple’s ancient complex.
‘I thought I’d find you here,’ a voice said out of the dark.
Sarah’s heart constricted in fear and she held the orb higher to reveal a shadowy figure standing before the transportation device.
‘Jason?’ she said, knowing the voice wasn’t his.
The shadow turned and Sarah felt her world lurch sideways.
‘You were just going to give up and leave me?’ Trish said, walking out of the gloom. ‘And now you’re leaving Jason, too?’
Sarah stumbled back, the vision of her friend warping the reality around her. ‘You died, you’re not real!’
Trish strode forward and grasped Sarah’s face. ‘Not real! You left me to die. You brought me down here to die! And you knew what would happen. You knew, and did nothing!’
Sarah tried to shake her head. ‘I didn’t know … how could I know?!’
Trish’s hands grew hot and her eyes shone bright. ‘You dreamt of fire and smoke. You were tormented by dreams. But it wasn’t your mother who burned, it was me! You could have saved me,’ – wisps of smoke poured out from Trish’s hair – ‘you could have saved us all, but you chose to be selfish, you chose to risk our lives for your own gain.’ Fire ignited to consume Trish’s torso; the tongues of flame licking at Sarah’s horrified face.
‘You caused your mother’s death,’ Trish said, ‘and now you’ve killed me and Jason, too!’
Sarah tried to break free of the inferno that held her, but the fire had taken hold. Pain seared her skin and dark smoke choked her lungs.
‘You’re a selfish bitch, Sarah,’ Trish said, her eyes filling Sarah’s mind, ‘A SELFISH FUCKING BITCH!!’
Sarah let out a squeal of terror and sat up, her head reeling. Darkness surrounded her and she put out a hand and felt Jason lying a foot away.
Relief flooded though her.
She hung her head and wiped a tear from her face before reaching out to touch him again. Reassured he was real and that she was actually awake this time, the reality of her situation returned to crush her like an anvil. How has it come to this? She looked back over her life wondering what she’d done wrong to deserve such torment. Events that had seemed major at the time offered up little in the way of explanation. I’ve never been an evil person. I’ve never intentionally gone out of my way to hurt anyone. So how has this come to pass? Is it just fate? Is it my destiny to suffer? The memory of her mother’s death reared its ugly head and she knew that’s when it had all started to go wrong. That was my fault. I deserve everything I get. But how do I make amends? she asked herself. Do I need to die? Do I need to sacrifice my life to redress the balance?
Fearing more dark dreams, she decided to stay awake while her questions continued without answer. Jason murmured in his sleep and Sarah wondered if he was having a nightmare too. She pulled her legs up to her chest and remained that way until he woke some time later.
The mood was as dark as their surroundings as they set out once more. Jason, still refusing to accept their loss, kept scanning the river and Sarah walked in silence by his side. Is there no end to the darkness? she thought. She removed her helmet and tried turning it on. The visor glowed to life before dying to black a moment later. She switched it to battery saving mode, also to no avail. And so she remained – entrenched in the bleak pit with only the faintest of illuminations escaping from Jason’s visor to light her way.
The sound of white water drifted up from the depths, its urgency growing louder with each passing moment and Jason halted their progress.
‘Another waterfall?’ Sarah said.
‘Yes.’ He sounded weary. ‘There’s no way down.’
‘Perhaps we missed her; perhaps … she survived and is wandering around lost behind us.’ Sarah didn’t believe a word of it, but it was all she could think of to say, and even that was an effort.
‘No,’ he said, ‘the current is too strong and you said her arm was broken, she wouldn’t have been able to swim to shore.’ Jason’s voice broke. ‘I don’t know what to do.’
Sarah found his hand in the dark and squeezed it. ‘I should never have brought us here. Neither of you deserved this. Trish didn’t deserve to die, it should have been me.’
Jason snatched his hand away. ‘She’s still alive.’
‘She said she loved me,’ Sarah said, holding back tears, ‘she was my best friend and I failed her. She died because of me.’
‘She’s not dead.’
Sarah didn’t have the energy to keep up the façade any longer. A sob escaped her lips and tears flowed. ‘It’s all my fault. I killed her. I killed Trish and I’ve killed you, too!’
Jason shook her. ‘She’s not dead, do you hear me?!’
Sarah was crying now, ‘I killed my mother. I deserve to die, I have to die. I want to die!’
‘I said, she’s not dead!!’
Jason pushed her away and Sarah felt the rope that tied them go slack. She reached out her hand but her fingers closed on nothing. ‘Jason,’ she said, ‘Jason?!’
He didn’t reply.
‘Jason!!’ she crumpled to the ground, sobbing, her hands searching in the dark. ‘Jason, I’m sorry, don’t leave me!’
Her stricken voice echoed around the cavernous chamber, but Jason still didn’t respond. He’d left her, and it was what she deserved.
The noise of the gushing waters grew louder, filling her mind. Still crying, Sarah found the edge of the abyss and knew what she had to do. Standing up on wobbly legs, she took a deep breath and stepped out into nothing.
Chapter Five
Sarah toppled forward into the welcoming arms of death – then somethi
ng yanked her back. Propelled into reverse, she crumpled to the ground in a heap.
Jason pulled her into a sitting position. ‘What the hell are you doing?!’
Sarah shook her head in despair, her sobs renewed.
Jason wrapped her in his arms. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, stroking the back of her head as she clung to him, ‘I’m so sorry.’
They stayed that way for some time. Jason offering soothing words while Sarah cried herself out.
‘Do you know why I follow you?’ Jason said, breaking the silence.
Sarah wiped her eyes. ‘What?’
‘Do you know why you lead and I follow?’
Sarah shook her head.
‘Because you have passion, a goal – a goal better than any I can find myself.’
Sarah sniffed. ‘My goals get people killed.’
‘And yet without them my life has less meaning, without you it has less meaning. Some things are worth dying for, Sarah, and purpose is one of them. You know what you want and go for it. It’s what I admire most about you.’
‘I thought that was my bum.’
Jason managed a laugh. ‘That, too, but don’t let Trish hear me say that.’
Sarah’s mirth died at the mention of her friend.
‘One thing is for certain,’ Jason said, ‘you don’t deserve to die.’
Sarah felt tears well again. ‘You would say that; you’re a nice person, a strong person.’
‘Am I? Do you know how I used to think when I was young? I wasn’t strong; I grew up a coward, my thoughts twisted by the fear of physical threats. I started having evil thoughts about the bullies that surrounded me and those thoughts took root and spread and caused me to wish bad things on others, others I loved. I became a pathetic shell. But you know what? I saw what I’d become and knew that wasn’t me. I decided I wasn’t going to live like that, I wasn’t going to let that be who I was. I’d rather have died.’
He paused for breath before continuing. ‘I know how you feel when things get too much. You think you might as well give in, end it all, but that’s not what life is about. If you give in to death, the dark, you’re only giving in to those people who put that darkness in you, to those bullies and bastards who don’t deserve to take your light – our light. You didn’t kill your mother, the people who set the fire did, the people who stole your maps. They’re probably enjoying life right now. Is that fair? Hell no! What are you going to do about it? Look at yourself, Sarah, and know this is not you. Do you hear me? This is not you.’
Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2) Page 3