Okay, so here it is! The one you've all been waiting for! My favorite chapter, to date. Except for maybe the first Ahim one . . . well, I had fun writing it, I hope you have fun reading it!

A Maze and a Fall

They walked for what seemed like hours. The dim light from the opening had dissolved within the first minute inside the mine, and the passage was illuminated only by Byrn's glowing light. The mine shaft headed downwards at low angle for a while, then shifted to become steeper. The path they walked was littered with old gravel.

All of a sudden the shaft widened into an colossal cavern. Kel gasped in awe. Even the steady light of the phoenix didn't reach the ceiling or the far side of the cavern. What they were able to see just added to their feeling. A myriad of mine shafts spread from the side of the cavern, and Kel and Neal had just emerged from a tunnel that looked to be one of more than a hundred. The walls shone with glimmers of silver.

"I thought the mine was all out of silver," whispered Kel.

Neal waved his hand, and a ball of dark green fire flew to one of the glimmers, then back to his hand. "It's not real silver. It's a different mineral," he told her.

Kel began to walk forward, and Neal followed her. Abruptly, he grabbed her arm and stopped, causing her to stop as well.

"Gods," he breathed. "We just came so close to getting lost in here forever. We need to mark the passage we came from, or else we'll die no matter what, and even if we find the Third it will make no difference."

Kel turned around, and felt faint. She could only tell from which passage they had come because she was right in front of it. In ten more steps, she wouldn't have been able to tell which tunnel they came from.

Once again, Neal made a waving motion with his hand, and a ball of dark green fire flew from his fingers to the door of the cave, covering it in a shining green veil.

"Okay," Neal said. "That should stay until we get back."

They turned to face the cavern again, and turned their minds back to the biggest problem.

"How in the name of the gods are we ever going to find the Third if we don't even know what tunnel it could be in?" Kel moaned.

"You know, I don't think that's going to be a problem," said Neal. Kel looked at him as if he were crazy, and he rolled his eyes and explained his idea. "Okay, we've already gotten the first Two, right?" Kel nodded. "And you've noticed how we sort of just keep stumbling onto the right things? Like Ahim and the silver mine. What are the odds that he'd be talking about it just right during those moments we were in the common room? We've been pretty lucky so far . . . But the thing is, I don't think it's just luck. I think that it's all supposed to happen like this, that we're the ones supposed to find the Six, and whoever is behind it is making it easier for us, you know? So I think that if we wait here for just a little while, something will reveal itself."

Kel stared at him.

Neal shrugged. "I've just been thinking about it."

Kel snorted. "I guess!" Continuing more thoughtfully, she said, "But it does make sense. I guess we can wait for a little while . . . but if nothing happens, then we are definitely thinking of some other way to find the Third." They sat down on the rock floor, leaning against a small boulder. Byrn perched on top of it.

Time crawled by. After the first few minutes, Kel lost track of how long she had been waiting. Neal's head drooped as he fell into a light sleep, until it was resting on her shoulder. Kel jumped a little when he leaned on her, but then sighed and re-settled herself against the boulder.

I should wake him up, or at least move his head, she thought. But he looks so comfortable. I wish I knew how he manages to fall asleep in any situation. I guess I'll just let him sleep. In the back of her mind, she felt another reason as to why she didn't want to move his head, but she shoved it back where it came from before she realized what it meant.

Absolutely nothing happened as minutes dragged by. Kel was about to wake up Neal and think of a different plan, when something changed.

A beam of light shot through the cavern, pointing straight at a side-tunnel.

Kel stared at it, the wheels turning in her brain. Hidden by daylight and silver . . . that must be moonlight! I guess Neal was right about the whole "we're lucky" thing after all. Looking closer, she saw that there was a tiny hole in the roof of the cave, through which the beam was shining. Without the ray of light, she would never have noticed it was there.

Kel poked Neal, and he woke up muttering about food. "What happened?" he groaned. "I was having a good dream!" Kel pointed to the beam of light, and he sat up straight and tried to stand. That same traitorous part of Kel's brain made her wish he didn't have to move his head, but again she shoved the thought away.

"Let's go!" Neal said, pulling her to her feet. Byrn took to the air, pointing out which passage they were supposed to take. "I don't want to be in here forever, and we don't know how long this will last." They took the passage at a fast walk.

After a few minutes, they came to a fork. There was another beam of light coming in from the ceiling, but it was much fainter than the one in the giant cavern. It was pointing to the passage on the left.

"Hurry!" said Kel, and they broke into a run. Neal pointed behind him as they ran, and a ball of fire streaked back to cover the passage they came from. Good thinking, thought Kel. And I didn't even have to remind him.

A few minutes passed, and they came to another fork. The beam had about the same amount of light as the last one.

"We're keeping up with it," Neal puffed as they raced past the light and into the right tunnel, leaving a shimmering haze over the cave they came from. What he said made sense to Kel. Whatever was making the light fade was obviously timed so that the direction it showed would only be visible for a certain amount of time, and they were running fast enough that they could see each beam.

The next fork they came to also contained the same amount of light, but after that one it was decidedly dimmer.

"We have to speed up!" Kel gasped as they ran past. She forced her legs to go faster, heavy as they were. This is what I've trained for, she thought grimly. There's no way I'm giving up now.

They passed another fork, and another, and another. Kel began to wonder whether this whole thing was an elaborate trick when the passage came to an abrupt stop. There was no cavern, just a solid wall of rock debris that filled the passage ahead of them.

"Oh . . . no . . ." wheezed Kel. "Cave . . . in?"

Neal waited until he got his breath back enough to speak a complete sentence. "It sure looks like it."

"This is awful!" shouted Kel. She kicked at the wall, wedging her toe between two rocks. She wiggled it furiously and freed it. "I can't believe we came this far and the tunnel filled in!"

Byrn was hovering silently above them, providing the light. Both of the two knights had almost forgotten her presence until she uttered a piercing trill. She held it out, and Kel and Neal fought to cover their ears against the high pitched sound. Suddenly the sound broke off, and another beam of light shot to the side of the cave, but this time its origin was Byrn.

"This bird just gets more and more interesting," Kel murmured, awestruck. She moved to the wall and saw that the ray of light was pointing to a large chunk of false silver embedded in the wall. She felt Neal walk beside her. As they watched, the false silver melted, to reveal something hidden inside. The ray died down, leaving only the soft phoenix light that they had grown used to.

Kel reached out and grabbed the Third, prying it from the wall with her fingernails. She held it in front of her face and whispered, "We got it. Whoever did this must have made it look like a cave in to discourage whoever was looking, but Byrn here was smarter than that. I just wish we knew what else she can do. But it doesn't matter, because we got it. We really got it!" She broke into a grin.

Neal whooped with joy and pulled her into a hug. Something inside Kel sort of tingled, but then Neal pulled away and started doing a rather unique victory dance that chased it away. She laughed, and they both turned around and began making their way to the exit of the mines, Byrn steadily gliding above them.

Neal's magic worked perfectly, guiding them safely out of the maze and back into the first gigantic cavern that they entered. From there, it was easy to once again find the correct tunnel and make their way back to the surface.

When they exited the mines, the first rays of the sun were just starting their journey across the sky. Suddenly Kel felt the weight of staying up all night. Her legs seemed like they weighed tons each, and she could barely keep her eyes open.

Why is this suddenly such a hassle? She thought desperately. I've never had problems staying up late before. Kel reminded herself that she had stayed up all night before her Ordeal of Knighthood, and she still had enough energy to fight against the being in the Chamber. A small voice told her that she hadn't been running madly through a tunnel on the night before her Ordeal, and she reluctantly agreed (with herself) that there was a difference between the night of her Ordeal and this night.

"Kel." Neal's voice brought her back to reality. He sounded amused. "Get on your horse – in more ways than one." Kel glared at him and mounted Peachblossom, then started him in another slow walk. There wasn't a need to hurry back to the Wandering Ram.

Peachblossom's steady gait lulled Kel as she rocked back and forth, and her eyelids grew heavier with each passing minute. Finally, unable to keep them up any longer, she let her guard down and fell asleep.

Ten minutes later, she was abruptly jolted awake as she hit the ground.

Peachblossom turned his head around and gave her an expression that clearly said, What are you doing? Neal turned his head at the sound, and when he saw what happened, broke into roaring laughter. Kel sat glowering, thanking the gods that there hadn't been any recent rain. After a few minutes, she got to her feet and tried to mount up, but was stopped by Neal's hand on her arm.

"You, my friend, are in no condition to ride. Come on." Ignoring her protests, he lead her to his horse and helped her mount his horse.

"You're in no better condition than I am," she objected weakly.

"Ah, but you forget that I got sleep tonight." He grinned, and mounted behind her, holding Peachblossom's reins in his teeth. He slipped an arm around her waist, holding her firmly in Topaz's saddle. "We don't want another accident, now, do we?" he murmured in her ear. Kel shoved an elbow back, jabbing him in the ribs as she yawned so widely that her jaw popped.

"You tell anyone what happened and I'll hurt you, I promise," she vowed sleepily.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Neal reassured her.

Kel closed her eyes, leaning back against Neal's chest and feeling him breath. His arm was steady around her waist, and she realized that she rather liked the feeling.

Slowly, Kel fell sound asleep, rocking in the rhythm of Topaz's gait. She woke only briefly when they reached the inn, Neal nudging her awake, helping her dismount, and guiding her inside, his arm still around her waist and steadying her as she walked almost drunkenly inside the door and back to their room. She fell onto the bed without even removing her shoes, and was back asleep almost instantly.

Ooh la la! Hints at things to come, do you suppose? I guess you'll never know . . . or you could check back and find out. And you know that Neal is the kind of guy who would do a stupid little victory dance, so I just had to put that in there. Well well, did you love the chapter? Hate it? REVIEW AND TELL ME!!! As I've said before, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy when people review, so please please review!! More coming soon!