Chapter 7

It took more than forever for Reyn's eyes to adjust. She felt along the sides of the tunnel, sizing it up well. The air was still as dry as the air above, but the air was cooler and seemed to move slowly along, telling her that it was quite long. Her footsteps made tiny sounds like shoes on pavement - the echoes were canny and short. The tunnel was small, around six feet tall at Reyn's guess, and 5 feet wide.

After a while, Reyn guessed that there was no light source in this tunnel. She closed her eyes, hearing nothing but the echoes of her own footsteps as she walked.

There was a number of different possibilities concerning the tunnel. The first: Matthew was at the other end. The second: It led into Amestris. The third: Both of the above. The fourth: It led back into Aerugo. The fifth: The tunnel led into one Amestris' border countries: Drachma, Creta, or even across the great desert into Xing. Reyn didn't bother to care where it led - she just required water at the moment.

The slightest sound alerted her - the sound of a droplet of water hitting the ground. Water, indeed. As Reyn continued to walk she heard the trickling of a stream, and finally the much welcomed sound of water careening through the rocks, shaping them. She knelt downwards and felt around for stone, for anything. Her fingers closed around what she thought to be a piece of flint. Carefully, she cut off a piece of her uniform and dug through her pockets for anything straight. She came across a pen. Very circumspectly, she removed the ink cartridge from the casing and set it aside. Searching well, Reyn found the wad of torn cloth and wrapped it around the casing. Then came the next step - the fire. She still held the stone in her hands, and with a flick of her wrist - a very graceful flick indeed - she struck the rock onto the ground, causing sparks to fly for a split second.

Now she knew where to place the cloth; without moving the hand that held the flint she shifted the makeshift torch up a few inches, in line with the stone. She struck again; at first the cloth refused to light, but after a number of attempts she had enough light to see by.

She picked the torch up carefully; she would have less than an hour with a simple wooden pen and cloth torch. As if smoking, Reyn stuck the cold end of the torch in between her teeth, with the flame set far enough to the left to allow the stoic girl to see. She continued her walk, now able to add another sense to her observation.

The ground was hard rock, and if she didn't have shoes on at the moment her feet would be calloused; though there were also traces of sand, enough to leave footprints. Reyn's sense of hearing was correct, though - a stream flowed nearby. She walked to the bed of the stream and knelt down once more, piling sand to fit the torch on neatly before moving far away from it and submerging her head. The feeling of fresh, cool water was a blessing. Reyn washed her face off and took a few drinks, slowly at first, and then mere moments later she was filling herself to the brim.

Once she was finished with this, she picked the torch up again and looked back at the bed.

Footprints.

Matthew could have passed here. They both required the same things...

The footprints led upstream. Two possibilities.

The stream could be a tributary, meaning that Reyn should travel downstream to find a bigger body of water.

Or, Reyn could travel upstream and find the source. She could also find the owner of the footprints. It could be Matthew.

Why was she so intent on finding him? Matthew could take care of himself. Couldn't he?

The sound of an automobile collision coursed through her mind.

Reyn held her head in frustration. What had she been thinking about? Where was she going?

... To find Matthew, of course. To find her lost comrade, because he was an Aerugan soldier and it was her duty to protect all of them.

Reyn began to follow the footprints, unaware of the flickering shadow that watched her every move...