Chapter Four: Lukeni's Maze
The rest of the evening and early morning with Deni Bonet went by in a swirl of passionate love-making, tender conversation, rest, and finally, recovery. It seemed Deni had realized her life had very nearly been cut short and, in a happy twist of fate, she also seemed determined to ignore that fact by doing naughty things to me.
My struggle to accept that her fervor for intimacy was more to do with her coping mechanism than my sex appeal lasted all of ten seconds. By then she had crawled on top of me, pulling her shirt off in the process, before pressing her lips against me with an intensity Ginny never could quite get the hang of.
I decided my 'saving people thing' could and should be used in other, particularly satisfying ways. Those thoughts, however, made me think of the others in the coffee shop the night before, and I felt a great deal of guilt and shame that I didn't even try to save their lives. At the time I had been so concerned with Deni's well-being that I didn't bother to fight back, or to cast a simple Wingardium Leviosa on the falling ceiling, or to include the other men and women in my Portkey...
Deni's eyelashes fluttering against my neck was enough to break me from my thoughts, and any new sexual position kept me sufficiently dazed, distracting me from an otherwise melancholy mood. So, I pulled a Snape and used Occlumency to dampen the pervasive sadness, although I would revisit the memories when I was alone. In my mind's eye I could vividly see the waitress, her eyes full of razor-sharp glass, screaming while her husband stood motionless, unable to help his wife at all.
And yet, lying beside me was a satiated demi-goddess named Deni, who had just fucked me so long and hard that, for long stretches of the day and night, I couldn't stop smiling. It made for strange, convoluted emotions.
We enjoyed the amazing room to ourselves, spending most of the morning either looking out the windows at the wonderful scenery or tucked in bed, glued to each other by the hip. I ordered a bevy of dishes over lunch, delivered by room service personnel that I thought might recognize Deni, though they never said a word or made any motion to greet her. For my own part, I was just thankful nobody was asking questions about a high-paying customer sleeping with the hot blonde working the front desk. For this reason we were staying inside as much as possible, as she didn't want to risk getting in trouble with upper management; even though our relationship was entirely innocent in nature, she didn't think it would do her career any favors if she was caught literally with her pants down.
The one time we did leave the room we ran into Delphi... or at least, a man I thought was Delphi. When I greeted him, he spoke in a language so foreign I didn't dare try to decipher it, though Deni cottoned on immediately. It was obvious the man didn't recognize me, and it confirmed my hunch that Delphi was not only hiding himself with a false name, but also with a false body. I nodded meekly and hurried ahead, avoiding Deni's questions as best I could without revealing anything important to my quest in Africa.
On my second day in Greece, the front page of the morning newspaper showed the levelled coffee shop, surrounded by police and reporters, aflame with a ghostly green figure that had clouded my nightmares for more than two decades. Fear shot through me like fire and my hands instantly shook, so I removed them from Deni's leg, which had crossed my own underneath the covers as we lay in bed recovering from our grandiose meal.
"Morsmorde," I whispered, ignoring Deni's quizzical look. She shifted her body to lean around me and look at the newspaper, and I was tempted to hide it from her, just to save myself from our inevitable conversation. Perhaps I could tell her I was checking the football scores? Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to react before she gasped.
"What the hell is that?" she said, pointing at the offending photo.
I sighed. Did it really have to be the Dark Mark? And in Greece of all places? There was no chance this wouldn't make the news in England, and anyone with half a brain could put two and two together. So, what to tell Deni? After some thought I settled for: "It's basically the Dark Lord Voldemort's calling card."
She turned her disgusted look to me, thought she relaxed a bit before she spoke. "What do you mean, Harry? Someone killed - I mean, you killed him, right?" She was quite obviously getting flustered. "I thought he's dead!"
"He is dead; I can promise you that much, but some of his followers... the lieutenants are still alive..." The faces of Lucius Malfoy and Thorfinn Rowle floated at the edge of my vision, and I grimaced at the thought of either one of those two being involved. "Most of them went to jail, but some people have money... big money, and some people need money, and things like justice mean less to them than cold hard Galleons do." I wasn't just running my mouth either; scumbags like Daphne Greengrass, a spy at Hogwarts during her last year, walked free because their parents were as deep in the pocket as Malfoy.
"I can think of at least five Death Eaters who walked free, not counting their happy little Pureblood Muggle-hating cult families, who are just as fucked up as the rest of them. They certainly wouldn't care about murdering innocent Muggles if it meant getting a free shot at me when my guard's down. The man who attacked us had to be a Death Eater to even know that bloody spell."
"So, you're telling me that they are still after you?" She stared at me in disbelief, suddenly clutching her dressing gown a little closer to her body. "After all this time they're still trying to kill you?"
Lucius had been a good Samaritan as of late, but there was still a chance that it could be him, and maybe even Draco involved. Then again, I suppose anyone with a broomstick could have followed us, and a tracking charm could have told them I was in Moschato... a scrying spell might have located us if cast by a strong enough wizard, and I knew five to ten people off-hand that probably wanted me dead.
My first thought was Delphi, as he had been close enough to cast a spell on me, but then... why would he want to kill me before he got me to solve his little horcrux mystery? Provided the Portkey worked, I would be leaving the next day at noon to go to the Congo, just as Delphi had said. Was it paranoid to think that he was setting me up?
"Harry," Deni said, the first vestiges of anger rising in her normally soft voice. She waved a hand in front of my face, back and forth. "Are you okay?"
"I'm not sure, honestly," I muttered, avoiding her last question. What was I supposed to say? I'm fine, sorry about the whole 'nefarious plot to murder our asses' thing. It's something you get used to.
I gave her a non-chalant look, which was probably a mistake. "I didn't think I was that important to them these days. I mean, it's been three years since the last time someone tried to kill me, and I didn't expect-"
"Three years! I have never even been in a fist fight with another person, much less ALMOST MURDERED!"
Okay. Definitely a mistake.
She pulled away from me, long blonde hair swirling around her face, and she angrily blew the offending hair out of her eyes. It looked to me as if she was fighting off an urge to rip me a new one, and while I had thought her particularly attractive when she was angry the previous morning, I wasn't as enthralled with her beauty when she was pissed off at me.
She controlled her voice then, dropping the volume but keeping the same level of intensity. "If you think it's okay for people to just... blow up coffee shops to get to you, murdering innocent Muggles, and destroying entire city blocks in the process..." She paused, scrunching her face up as if she found me daft. "If you think that isn't important then I think we are done here!"
"Deni," I soothed, trying to calm her down, despite getting nervous myself because I knew I was failing, "Please just settle down. I know it's a lot to deal with right now, but I think you'll see-"
"I just - for fuck's sake, Harry, this is more than a lot to deal with! This is our lives at stake! Aren't you even a teensy bit concerned that your life is so damned dangerous? Does it even bother you that men and women we just met are now dead for absolutely no reason? So, you tell me why the fuck those people had to die!" She looked at me, and I could tell she wanted me to answer her, though I honestly had nothing worthwhile to say. I couldn't help that collateral damage followed me everywhere I went, and I already felt bad enough about the people who had died in Moschato. Perhaps using Occlumency had made me seem like an uncaring, selfish jerk, but I thought it was better than blubbering about it while I had a naked, emotional woman in my care. It wasn't my fault people tried to kill me on a regular basis, just like it wasn't her fault she got caught up in this...
"I don't know, Deni... I told you I was just as surprised as everybody else!"
"But you knew this could happen, didn't you? There had to be some reason they were there. Don't tell me it was a fucking fluke!"
I couldn't say I was surprised that Deni was acting this way; truthfully, this argument should have happened sooner. The romantic attraction between us, and the need for physical contact, and the fucking, had only delayed the inevitable. When it came down to it, this relationship was never going to work... and I think we were both starting to see it.
I shook my head. "I had no idea, Deni... I swear! I wouldn't put innocent people in danger - not now, and not ever! You don't understand... I told absolutely no one I was coming to Greece, and yet somehow they knew exactly where I was." I sighed, holding my head in my hands. "It's not my fault, Deni... if there was anything I could do I would!"
"Then why the fuck are we sitting in bed!" She ripped the covers off of her legs and stood, grabbing her clothes from the floor as she went. Before I could ask her where she was going she was already half-dressed. She deftly moved her fingers and the front of her bra clasped together, and as I watched her angrily pack, obviously getting ready to leave, I knew she would not be coming back. She slipped on the same shirt she had worn yesterday and, despite all the dirt and grime from the destroyed coffee shop, Deni still looked amazing. "I've got to get out of here," she mumbled to herself.
"Deni, wait!" I yelled, but it was too late; she had already grabbed her things and was walking to the door. She slung it open with a grunt, pausing only to deliver what I thought was sure to be a mighty last blow. I was not disappointed.
"You know what, Harry Potter? I really liked you. You were a perfect gentleman, and for what it's worth, the sex was outstanding. You're rich, and famous, and funny when you're not being so anal about everything. But the simple fact that you're in so much danger everyday... I don't think a relationship between us would work. I'm a normal, city girl - not a crime-stopping teenage phenom. Besides, you're going off to Africa tomorrow, and now," she drawled, as if this whole thing was my fault, and I had ruined her entire time in Greece, "I'm going back to America as soon as this job is over, so let's just call this what it was." She paused, as if gauging my reaction.
"For what it's worth, Deni Bonet," I said, my voice level, but my eyes downcast. Inwardly, I was seething with anger and disappointed in myself that I couldn't say the right thing to make her stay, at least one more night. "I really liked you as well. You are a charming, intelligent, beautiful person and I know you're capable of doing anything with your life, city girl or not. I know I could make a relationship with you work - I would do whatever it took - but the sad truth is you are right... I do have to leave for Africa tomorrow." I smiled, though there was a stone lodged somewhere near the top of my stomach. This felt like a big mistake, but it was her choice to walk out - not mine. "You are brilliant, Deni."
She smiled back at me and, if I was reading her right, it was tinged with sadness. "Bye, Harry."
Goodbye, Deni.
She shut the door and silence reigned once more in my exquisite hotel room. I stared at the space she had just vacated for a few more minutes before I slowly slid back down into bed, sighing and covering my face with a pillow. My bones ached, my back was bruised, and now my heart was broken.
I was off to a good start so far.
The Portkey deposited me on my arse in the middle of a puddle of thick mud.
I snorted in resignation, more amused by the wet clay soaking into my shoes than angry. I should have known that Delphi would give me a Portkey that left me covered in shit. It was very hot, more so than Greece, so I immediately felt beads of sweat soaking through my shirt as well. A mosquito latched onto me arm the moment I landed, and I swept him away with an annoyed grunt.
A cursory glance around me revealed I had made it successfully to Africa, though I had no idea where I was or what the village I was in was called. I found myself on a deserted street, perhaps owing to the rain that was steadily drizzingly over my shaved head. The few people that were out and about quickly moved towards shelter and I decided I'd join them a moment later when lightning crackled sharply above me followed by a loud boom of thunder.
I broke into a slight run as it began pouring even harder, and I didn't stop until I reached cover, which just so happened to be a flimsy canopy outside of the town's vegetable market. I noticed a woman standing very still as I approached, and for one brief moment she caught my eye, jerking her head subtly towards an alleyway between two brick buildings. I knew that this couldn't be a coincidence, so I smiled and moved to join her. However, she remained stony-faced and swirled a cloak around her shoulders, stepping back into the rain and out of my view.
Oh, Merlin. Not another pretty face with attitude problems.
I rushed to follow, wishing that I had a cloak of my own, as the wind and rain hit me in the face and on my exposed arms. The dark-skinned woman swiftly made her way to the alley, and without even a glance in my direction she turned the corner, disappearing once again from my view. I hurried to catch her, my trainers slapping against the wet mud and leaving my jeans caked in the foul shit.
As I entered the alley I felt a ward of some sort smack against my back, and I immediately placed a hand on my wand. I was virtually consumed by my paranoia since the episode two days previous, and I was certainly taking no risks now. In fact, I had decided not to leave the room after Deni retreated, and I had spent the rest of my time in Greece staring forlornly out the window or clicking the remote control on the TV, watching an unfamiliar but suddenly important cartoon about a long-eared gray bunny and a duck named Daffy...
I walked for another minute, my eyes locked on the feminine form in front of me, before she stopped and turned towards me. She beckoned me to her with her right hand, and I complied, stopping in front of her and giving her an expectant look. She removed her hood, which had been concealing her face.
"You can use Drying and Warming charms here, if you'd like," she whispered. Her voice was distinctly African, as was her face, and I was reminded slightly of Angelina Johnson, my former Quidditch captain at Hogwarts. She looked like she was in her late-twenties, her skin color most closely resembled caramel, and with the exception of a slightly cleft upper lip, her face was flawless. Rather than detract from her beauty, the defect enhanced what was already there.
I caught myself staring and averted my eyes, deciding to do exactly as she had said. Once my spellwork had taken effect, leaving me warm and dry, I added a spell that would keep the worst of the rain away from me. I smiled, and told her thanks, to which she merely nodded and turned away. It seemed that she was in a hurry to get somewhere, most likely the base, so I decided to hold back on the hundreds of questions running through my head... for now.
"Follow me," she said quickly, replacing the hood over her features. She paused to survey me from underneath her hood, her eyes dark and mysterious. "Stay close."
We set off towards our destination, and during the journey I had my first glimpse of the scenery surrounding the village and its people. It was strange for me to see... well, everything, as I had never been in such a remote part of the world and honestly didn't know what to expect.
There were huts made of wood and straw intermingled with discarded motorcycles and scooters, and the majority of the buildings were dilapidated, some looking like they had been destroyed by war or neglected to the point of being sucked up by the ground and the jungle. Despite this, the trees dotting the countryside were especially beautiful, and I spent most of our long, wet trip admiring them, though I wasn't sure if it was the beauty of the jungle or the repugnant nature of the terrible homes the people were forced to live in that kept my eyes constantly coming back to the trees. Of course, the clouds above us were dark and lethal looking, but it was early enough in the day that I had no problems seeing for hundreds of meters in either direction.
From time to time, men and women carrying clay pots crossed our path, ignoring my guide but paying close attention to me. I assumed it was because I was caucasian, but it occured to me that it could have been as a result of the rain swerving strangely just before it reached my head. I mentally shrugged, deciding that I would rather keep myself from catching the flu, or the West Nile virus, or whatever, than soothe the minds of people I would never come into contact with again.
I noticed that there were no automobiles, though many men and some women pushed bicycles carrying blankets, on which lay tradeable goods varying from bananas to firewood, probably taking them to the market to sale. It would be near impossible to ride the bikes in this weather, especially with the roads so muddy, but I suppose they had to deal with the difficult terrain and climate on a daily basis and were used to it. My companion did not turn to look at me, instead focusing on swiftly reaching our destination, wherever it was.
After ten or twenty minutes of walking we reached a sharp turn in the road, and though I started to follow it towards my left, the woman halted. I stopped, looking at her confusedly, before she removed a wand from her coat pocket and waved it at a particularly large tree to our right. Despite having lived in the magical world for eleven years, I nearly jumped back in shock when the tree and surrounding ruffiage were sucked into the ground in seconds. The woman looked at me with the barest hint of a grin on her face and took two steps towards the hole in the ground, allowing the swirling sand in front of us to grip her feet.
My heart started to pump overtime as I saw the woman consumed by the ground, and I instinctively reached an arm out to help her, though she did not scream nor even look afraid. Once her head had disappeared from sight, I looked around warily and put one foot lightly on the sand, making a face as miserable as when Deni had left the day before. Sighing in resignation, I decided to just go for it, trusting that the woman wouldn't simply offer herself up to be eaten by nature. I closed my eyes and kept them shut as I jumped, and I could immediately feel the strong grip of the sand taking me down harshly. I had to actively try to keep myself from fighting its unstoppable pull, and when the sand reached my head I had to clamp my mouth shut in order to keep a scream from jumping out of my throat.
Fortunately, I merely floated down to the ground and landed on my feet. Slowly, I opened my eyes to find the woman outright laughing at me, and I gave her an angry glare which just caused her to laugh louder.
"You should have seen your face!" she said through her guffaws. "Harry Potter can stand up to the Dark Lord, but put him in the jungle and he gets shaky as a leaf." I continued glaring at her as she slowly regained control of herself, the laughter leaving her face though it remained in her dark brown eyes.
"Thanks for that," I said sarcastically, still a little annoyed at her. "You could have prepared me for the damn thing, then maybe I wouldn't have been scared."
Again she laughed, though it was quite a bit quieter now that we had both settled down. "Where's the fun in that? Besides, you're going to be dealing with things that are a lot more surprising than that over the next few weeks. Consider it a practical lesson if you must."
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever," I said, still a little freaked out by the whole thing and lacking a suitably sharp response to end her teasing. Deciding to get to the point I asked, "Where are we?"
My eyes couldn't make out much in the tunnel that we were standing in, as they hadn't adjusted to the lack of light. Up ahead I could see blurry objects lining the walls, and I assumed they were torches meant to guide our descent downward. The woman shook her head and turned a bit more business-like, which suited me just fine.
"Do you want the long answer or the short one? I'm sure Delphi will explain everything once we're all together."
"Well, I'm not going anywhere else, so you might as well start on the long one."
"Sure," she said in a clipped tone, turning away and lighting up her wand with a whispered Lumos. "The village that you Portkeyed to is known as Faradje, a part of the Republic of Congo near the eastern border with Uganda and the northern border with the Sudan. I'm sure Delphi would have let you Portkey here, but everything is warded so tightly it would take anywhere from fifty to seventy-five witches and wizards to tear them down."
This was understandable, given the need for security here, so I nodded, encouraging her to continue.
"We call this cave system Lukeni's Maze. Delphi told you the story of the horcruxes, right?" Again, I nodded, and she kept talking. She set off in the direction of the torches, so I followed her, certainly unwilling to be left alone in the dark tunnel without a guide. "Well, we're pretty sure that Lukeni made these tunnels so that he could easily walk down to the temple without anyone ever getting wind of it. There's no telling how long it took him to carve these out of stone, especially with a staff, but we think that he started them well before his father ever passed. He probably didn't intend to place the horcruxes here, and we're not sure what the original purpose of the temple was, but nevertheless, we know that they weren't here before Lukeni created them."
As we walked, I noticed all manner of insects and spiders hanging from the cave walls, and their shadows were dark and dangerous looking. The place was enough to cause anyone to shiver, but I tried to focus on what the woman was telling me instead of jumping at everything that moved in the darkness.
It occured to me that conversation with the woman would be tremendously easier if I at least knew her name. When I asked, she snorted, catching me a bit off-guard. "Abebi Radwan... but everyone that knows me calls me Bebi."
That was a little too close to Deni for my comfort, but I decided not to mention it, instead offering my hand for her to shake. "Harry Potter," I introduced myself, though she had already used my name earlier. When she didn't shake my hand, as she was too busy guiding us through a particularly narrow passage in the tunnel, I slowly retracted it, feeling rather foolish.
I didn't speak again until we reached a large clearing in the mass of rock; looking down, I could spot indefinite darkness below me, and I was absolutely certain that any step off the beaten path would leave me flailing my arms as I fell to my death. Though I tried not to sound like a petrified little boy, my voice came out rather high-pitched, and it echoed off the ceiling and walls as if a hundred people were speaking all at once.
"So, Bebi... what's your story? How did you end up here of all places?"
She stopped suddenly, and I noticed her mouth open momentarily before she bit back what I assumed was a sharp retort. It seemed to me that Abebi was easily addled when she was trying to focus, but then again, it could have been that she was as scared as I was in the dark, spider-infested tunnels.
"I'm actually Nigerian, though I went to school in the United States and did a couple of small jobs before I came to the Congo... Mexico, Belize, South Africa... mostly for dirt pay and at a major risk to myself, but that's how you get started in this line of work."
"This line of work?"
"Tomb-raiding, spelunking, searching ruined temples for horcruxes, that kind of thing. It tends to look good on a Curse Breaker's resume, though the highest paid mostly work in nice cushy offices for places like Gringotts and Havergnells, and have the artifacts delivered to them by peons like... well, kind of like us, I guess..."
I had never heard of Havergnells, but I figured it was the American equivalent of Gringotts, though I couldn't be sure whether goblins ran the place or not. Her mention of Curse Breaking had reminded me of Bill, who had been working at Gringotts for the past few years. He and Fleur would be coming up on their fourth anniversary, and when I visited their home I was always astounded by how meticulously decorated and curiously lavish it was. Most of the Weasleys were lower to middle class; Bill, on the other hand, certainly wasn't a stranger to luxury these days. Of course, Fleur's family was filthy rich as well, so I'd imagine at least some of that money came from them.
"What about Delphi? How did you meet him?" This was what I really wanted to know, and she gave me a side-long glance after I asked, as if she was judging whether or not I was reliable enough to know that information. It ended up taking her more than a few moments to arrange her thoughts.
"I didn't meet Delphi until the night before I left. Of course, we corresponded beforehand, and I had already accepted the invitation to come out here, but I had never seen him in person. I was at home, packing my things and getting ready to spend a lot of time overseas, when he interrupted me by knocking on my door. I made us both a cup of coffee and he explained the significance of this quest we're on."
Somehow, perhaps because she had thought so hard and yet answered so quickly, I didn't believe Abebi. She seemed like a nice person, and I found her likeable enough, but the story was too simple to me. Delphi had bought me a remarkably expensive hotel room to commemorate the event, and yet he had merely popped up on her doorstep and shared some coffee? I promised myself I wouldn't immediately accuse her of anything, and that I'd ask questions of the other people here once I met them to determine if her tale was singularly suspicious or if everyone had been simply hanging outwhen Delphi popped up. It wouldn't surprise me if he only went to great lengths to get me here considering my notoriety, but for whatever reason, I didn't think this was the case.
Regardless, I dropped the subject for now, preferring to find out what type of magic she was known for, as I suspected everyone would at least be talented with something. I pressed her for information, and after climbing an inclined stretch of the tunnel, she spoke as I paused to catch my breath.
"I'm good at both Warding and Ward-Breaking, and I'm no slouch when it comes to a fight," she said, breathing less heavily than I was, as I had never been in a tunnel like this before and was having a rather rough go of it. She continued, ignoring the fact that I had my hands on my knees and was seriously considering retching. "But I think the real reason Delphi wanted me on the job was my familiarity with Africa, because he's sent me to retrieve almost everyone from Faradje." She shrugged. "Where some people would be annoyed because they were singled out for their skin color, I actually understand; most people on the roads wouldn't even blink at me, as long as I kept my head covered and hurried along, and all the new people coming in and out tend to make things very suspicious, y'know?"
I nodded, having surmised as much earlier in the trip when everyone we ran into looked at me funny. "How many people are here, do you think?"
She shrugged non-chalantly, and though she held a lit wand in her hand, I could barely make out her shoulders moving through the darkness. I could have cast Lumos myself, but I decided keeping my wand in my hand and being prepared for anything was a much better, safer idea. "I'd say twenty or so, counting Delphi and a few of his associates who probably won't be..." she paused, perhaps looking for the right words. She looked back at me with a smile, adding, "Getting their hands dirty. We're supposed to get started early tomorrow, so there could be more people coming in by then, but I doubt it."
"Anybody I should watch out for, ya think? You know, big, brutish, destined-to-make-trouble-for-me types?"
She laughed, tapping her index finger on her lips. "My lips are sealed," she said, before reconsidering. "However, I will go ahead and tell you that there are a whole team of mercenaries down there, and they probably won't take shit from anybody, so it would be best if you tread carefully around them. You'll know who they are by the red patch on their robes. They get sent in to do... extermination if goblins, or anything else really, come too close to the people working on the horcruxes."
So, I needed to worry about Delphi, goblins, spiders, horcruxes, and now mercenaries attacking me for any perceived offense. That's not to mention the dark tunnel, which conveniently bended to the right, causing me to smack against the outcropping of rock with my left shoulder and forearm. I cried out in pain and surprise, but Abebi didn't even bother herself to turn around, merely chuckling under her breath and saying, "The trail turns right here."
This time I didn't complain and risk drawing further embarrassment from the crafty Nigerian girl. Instead, I flipped her my middle finger behind her back and mocked her, repeating the words she had just said angrily under my breath.
"I heard that," she said, merely laughing even louder, the noise rebounding off of the tunnel walls.
We were coming into a part of the tunnel that had a few scant beams of sunlight coming down from the ceiling, and I was thankful not to have to squint for once. Abebi extinguished her light and lowered her wand, though I noticed she held it tightly by her side, just in case. I could also see a waterfall through the dim light, and hear its relentless roar as well. The stones lining the wall left the water a cerulean blue, strangely aglow in the cavern. It was...
"Beautiful," I said, not realizing I had spoken aloud until Abebi agreed with me.
"Yes, it is..." she murmured, though she didn't seem as awed by the sight as I was. Perhaps she had grown used to the majesty of it now that she had been to this spot in the tunnel so many times. "The Dungu River runs through the cave here, and the diamonds in the wall of the cave being hit with the sunlight cause it to look like that." She sighed, turning her head away from the waterfall. "It is easily the most beautiful sight I've seen since I've been here."
I nodded, still a little distracted by the blue light shining maddeningly through the torrent of water. Far below us, I could hear the water crushing against the riverbed, and it made me wonder just how far down the river really was. It occured to me that this place would have been here thousands, if not millions of years before Lukeni stepped in and turned it into a meandering underground trail, and I was certain it would remain long after everyone I knew had died. I was also overcome with the feeling that, despite the waterfall's temptuous beauty, it was just as deadly as anything else in this God-forsaken cave.
Turning my eyes away, I forced myself to continue forward, hurrying to catch up to Abebi, who had merely stopped for a moment to watch the water. The tunnel had opened up significantly now, and I could see moss and vines replacing the spiderwebs, as if we were coming closer to the jungle. I assumed the trail wouldn't be much longer.
Abebi confirmed my assumption a moment later. "We're almost there," she said, and I felt my heart clench. I wasn't afraid, per se, but the knowledge that I would be exposing myself to a whole new world of trouble wasn't sitting well in my stomach after a thirty minute walk through the rain followed by twenty more minutes in darkness.
Lukeni's Maze had posed little threat to me with a guide, but I was worried nonetheless; if I had to leave quickly, for any reason, I would definitely be lost, and I had seen paths branching off in many different directions on the way here. I assumed it would be the same for any of the other wizards and witches present, and if anything strange were to happen, we'd essentially be lost unless Abebi was with us.
I mentally shrugged. I definitely knew one person I was going to get close to in the Congo, if only to suit my own purposes.
I just hoped she wasn't planning on doing the same.
-End of Chapter Four
