Chapter Thirty-Seven
After Abnah had been put to sleep, and Narrn was nowhere to be seen, Asbey escorted us out of the warehouse, through a manufactured tunnel constructed from plasteel panels, darkened with what appeared to be black paint. In some areas where the plasteel had either cracked or where the joints had separated, there were boards repairing the damage or serving as struts to support the structure from collapsing.
Asbey hurried through the long, narrow passage, illuminated by pink flickering lights which trailed down the center of the makeshift ceiling. "This will lead us straight into the mines," she pointed out as she walked, her large feet making soft plodding sounds as they struck against black stone beneath us.
It occurred to me, as we continued our voyage, from what I'd seen, the Gildan never had the opportunity to experience the outdoors. All windows in the upper level had been either boarded up, painted over, or removed entirely. The passage we were presently in was directly attached to the warehouse, and as she had just mentioned, would deposit us straight into the mines. Apparently, they were confined underground.
Abnah was the only who had ventured up top, and he had paid a high price for his adventure.
If my memory of the Gildan's history was correct, it hadn't always been this way. At one time, they had lived in large domed structures, large enough to house several family units. Their homes were above ground, and they only worked below.
My curiosity now piqued, I had to find out what had changed.
"Are you not allowed up top at all?" I recalled Dooku's complaint of trespassing into the resort, but surely in the mines, there were vents which led to ground level. Couldn't they use those to feel the warmth of the sun on their faces? To experience the cool breeze coming off the ocean?
"It is not a question of allowance," Asbey informed me, speaking over her shoulder as we continued through the tunnel. "Gildans avoid being outside at all costs."
"Why?" Dorme asked from behind me.
"It's the dust," Asbey answered.
"What dust?" Dorme continued to question as I compared Asbey's answers to my research.
"The red dust from the mines. It's everywhere: In the air, on our clothing, in our food. Even within our skin."
"I don't understand," I heard Dorme respond from behind, at which point I paused to turn around and explain.
"When stygium is ground into the red dust used in weaponry, it becomes highly unstable. Exposure to sunlight causes immediate combustion."
It took a few seconds for the information to sink in, but gradually, a light appeared behind Dorme's dark eyes. "Since the dust permeates their skin, if they're caught outdoors in sunlight…they explode?"
"Exactly," I confirmed Dorme's conclusion, my eyebrows raising, when my bodyguard hurriedly removed her pack, dug through it, and produced a canteen, which she proceed to dump the contents of into her hands and scrub her face and neck with.
"Dorme, stop wasting our supplies. It takes years of constant exposure for the dust to infiltrate the epidermis."
The young woman looked up at me sheepishly, her mouth twisting in a wry grin. "Oh. Sorry."
"This way," Asbey prompted us to continue, and we hurried to catch up with her.
After about an hour's walk, we came to the end of the fabricated passage and stepped into more natural surroundings; walls made of dark gray rock, speckled with black minerals, and coated with a fine layer of red dust.
"This is the entrance to the mines," Asbey informed us when she stopped. "From here, you are on your own. Follow the main path, and turn right at the first junction. Continue for ten meters and turn right again. After about twenty meters, there is a sharp incline, which will lead you to the surface. At the top is a heavy door. It will require both of you to open. That is the exit. Once you are through it, look for a rocky outcropping overlooking the sea. Built into the rock is a multi-level structure with many windows. It is there the Dark One resides."
I listened to Asbey's directions, committing them to memory, desperately hoping we didn't get lost and end up stuck wandering around the stygium mines. Too much time had passed already, and there was no telling what Count Dooku had done to Obi-Wan.
"What's going on here?"
I had only heard him speak a few times, but I recognized Narrn's voice when I heard it. The older Gildan was approaching our group, and he was obviously not pleased. Was he angry at Asbey for helping us? Was he going to try and stop us?
"I'm only showing them the way, Narrn," Asbey explained, stepping bravely in her brother's path.
Narrn's large eyes glared at his sister, his countenance quite serious. "They can't go through the mines."
"We are most certainly capable of doing so!" Dorme argued from behind Asbey.
She was, maybe, but I had a bad feeling I was either going to have to crawl that incline Asbey described, or Dorme was going to have to carry me up it.
"That's not what I mean," Narrn gazed at us with slight contempt, and I half expected him to utter the word "humans", with disgust, but instead he completely surprised me. "If they go alone, they'll get lost. To an outsider, the mines are a maze. I will guide them."
I filed away my previous disappointment in Narrn's leadership abilities, now holding a newfound respect for the oldest of the family group. "Thank you," I told him in earnest. "But we need to hurry."
Narrn turned again to his sister, his demand lightly spoken, but heavy with concern. "Return to take care of Abnah. Watch over him, Asbey."
"I will," Asbey agreed. "Be careful. All of you"