So I stepped forward into the waiting darkness.
I'd only gone a few feet into the corridor when the world turned from dark gray to as black as the coal Tobias Dawson had ripped out of the mountain. There was no light up ahead, nothing to help me see the dangers that waited. And I hadn't escaped the dwarf only to break my leg and end up starving to death down here. So I reached for my Ice magic again. It came to me as easily as before, and I upped the intensity of the flames burning on my spider rune scars until I could see well enough to walk on. Around me, the stone muttered, sharp, angry, and hurt from all the upheaval it had seen today.
"Sorry," I murmured to the rock. "I didn't have a choice."
My voice bounced against the stone and echoed back to me. The sound made me shiver, and I moved on, using my hands to light my way. The passageway grew narrower and narrower, until I had to turn sideways to shimmy through it. But I kept going. It wasn't like I had a lot of other options. There was no going back. Only moving forward.
The passageway opened up again slightly, allowing me to walk through the area square on, instead of twisting from one side to the other. But twenty feet later, it narrowed again. I gritted my teeth and slipped sideways.
And so it went. Sometimes, I could walk through the corridors with ease. Sometimes, I had to turn sideways.
Other times, I had to suck in my stomach and force myself through passageways that were little more than a foot wide. But I kept moving. Despite my many injuries, despite my broken jaw and throbbing skull, despite the strange influx of magic coldly burning in my veins, I kept going. To stop would be to rest, to sleep. Who knew if I would ever wake up?
There could be some noxious gas down here already killing me slowly. Some form of carbon monoxide or something equally lethal. No, I didn't dare stop. Not to rest, not to cry, not for anything. If Fletcher Lane had suddenly stepped out of the shadows and offered to tell me all the secrets he'd kept from me, where Bria was and what she was like, I would have walked right on by the old man.
So I trudged along in the blackness, with only the magical silver glow of my palms to light the way. Time ceased to have any sort of meaning. There were only rocks to navigate around, through, over. Sharp rocks pricking my feet. The smell of my own blood. And the murmur of the stones around me.
As I left the destruction of the cavern behind, the stones' murmurs became soft and sweet once more. They talked of water and air and the slow passage of time that had little effect on them. After the screams of the stones and the wail of the shattered diamonds in the cavern, the murmur of the rocks was as soothing as a lullaby. But I pushed the sound to the back of my mind, tuning it out.
Because if I listened to it, I would want to stop, just for a few minutes. And then I'd be gone.
I don't know how long I trudged along, just plodding through the dark earth. Minutes, hours, days, the end of the time. But I stumbled free of the narrow passageway I was in and entered a larger room, almost as big as the cavern where the diamonds had been. I was halfway across before I realized I was walking directly into a sheer stone wall.
I stopped, blinked, and held out my glowing palms.
The passageway branched off into two directions. Left and right. Two more dark holes just like all the others I'd walked and crawled and shimmied through. But this time, I had to make a choice. But which one? And would it even do any good? They both could lead farther into the mountain, turn back on each other, or lead me straight to a dead end. As long as it seemed like I'd been walking, I could be halfway to China by now.
But still, I had to try. Right first. I walked down into the right passageway about a hundred feet and placed my bruised, bloody hand on the stone wall. The usual, low murmurs of water, rock, and time sounded back to me.
Same sound I'd heard for hours now.
I sighed, turned around, and trudged down the left passageway. Once again, I placed my hand on the stone and listened to its vibrations. Water, rock, time. Nothing to tell me which way to go.
"Fuck," I snarled in a loud voice.
My curse echoed up to the top of the cavern and bounced back down to me before reverberating through the whole area. I sighed and swiped my hand over my face, smearing blood, dirt, and grime deeper into my skin.
Flutter-flutter. Flutter-flutter.
I froze, wondering if I was imagining the noise. If I was somehow concussed and just didn't know it. If maybe I was already dead, and this was all just a final dream or some sort of purgatory before I got shipped down below.
Flutter-flutter. Flutter-flutter.
Nope, I wasn't imagining it. The noise seemed to be coming from somewhere up above. On an impulse, I raised my hands over my head, palms up. I reached for my magic again, and the cold, silver flames burning in the spider rune scars in my palms intensified. I'd just upped the wattage on my human flashlight.
I frowned and peered into the darkness above my head.
There seemed to be some sort of massive figure attached to the roof. What the hell -
Suddenly, a tiny shape detached itself from the ceiling.
Then another, then another, then another. It took me a few moments to realize what they were.
Bats.
Hundreds of them.
Evidently my resounding curse had disturbed their peaceful slumber. Because the creatures all abandoned their perches. They hovered in midair for a moment before flapping away. They all headed down the left passageway.
My heart lifted, and I scrambled after them as fast as I could. Bats needed air, light, bugs, water. If they could get out, then I could too. I didn't care if there was only a hole small enough for the winged creatures to flutter through.
I'd find a way to get my human-size ass through it too.
Of course, the bats were much faster than me and not hampered by a lack of adequate spelunking footwear. But still, I hurried after them as fast as my aching body would let me. The passageway curved a couple of times before it opened up into a round room. I stopped at the entrance and blinked. Was it my imagination or was it lighter in here? I dropped my hold on my magic. The room went dark, and my heart started to sink again. But I stood there, waiting. And slowly, the area came into focus.
I peered up, and there it was. An opening twenty feet above my head. What looked like early morning sunlight filtered in through a tangle of kudzu vines that dropped down the walls like snakes. I peered at the opening. It looked to be just big enough for me to shove myself through. No time like the present.
I tore a couple of scraps off what remained of my dress and wrapped them around my hands. Then I grabbed hold of the kudzu and yanked on it. The vines seemed sturdy enough to support my weight, so I began to climb.