Shadows in Shadows
Sabreur kept track of time for us. Around five o clock he called a halt for dinner. We had trail rations, dried food that didn't need reheating. It was bland and tasteless.
From there we traveled for a couple more hours before finally stopping for the night. We found a decent sized cavern, one that would allow us to spread out and rest. Sabreur studied the walls as I lay out my sleeping bag.
"See how the rock changes color here," he said, "the brown here is probably some kind of sandstone. And this… not sure what this is. But each color represents a different period of the earth."
"Are we really that deep?" I asked.
"I think so. The air's getting hotter, you noticed?"
"I did. Warm and muggy."
"We're probably approaching an underground lake. That's where the mugginess is coming from. Another couple days. Then we'll be off the map."
The thought wasn't reassuring. We drew straws for who took what watch.
"Is this really necessary?" asked Melody, who managed to draw midnight watch.
"The texts mentioned that there are things down here," Sabreur said grimly, "And I for one don't want to be surprised in my sleep. Besides, there's enough of us here that each person's watch only lasts for an hour."
I had the second watch. The ground was hard and the sleeping bag barely made any difference. I had laid mine out near the entrance to the cave with the Elemental Spear at hand. Sabreur and Infernus had taken the spot near the exit. Un-eairkagh quickly caught on to what we were doing and moved his sleeping spot next to me.
"If something comes in the night I want to be able to help," he whispered, loosening his Sinsis sword in its sheath.
"Alright. I doubt anything will happen though."
"Just in case."
It seemed I had just fallen asleep when Netsuko was shaking me awake. She smiled and returned to her bed without another word. My shift. Sabreur's light was dimmed and placed near the center of our group. I took a spot near the wall that would allow me to watch both entrance and exit. I briefly considered putting up wards to let me know if anything was coming but then quickly dismissed the thought. Some things were attracted by magic. Best not draw them to us.
My watch passed uneventfully. I did not allow myself to think about where we were and what could be out there. And about the ever-present and crushing darkness. When it was time I woke MoonFall and retired to my bed. I fell asleep immediately.
I dreamed. There was darkness all around me but there was something in the darkness.
"So you are trying to find him," a voice said.
The voice was familiar.
"You. You were with me when I was in the coma."
"I was," he answered, "Without me you might not have ever made it back."
"I know. Who are you? And why did you help me?"
"My name is Shi'tri. I helped you because you are my ally, if you realize it or not."
"Show yourself."
A man appeared out of the shadows. He was tall with long jet black hair flowing over his shoulders. His eyes where black also. He wore all black, mostly hidden under a long trench coat.
"How are you here, in my dream?" I demanded.
"You'd best turn back now," Shi'tri said seriously, his hands folded behind his back, "For your own good."
"But… you said to find Aldrai!"
"I did. To give you hope, so you wouldn't give up. But now that you're awake… well, I must be honest. There is no hope. Aldrai is quite lost to you. Go home. You're wasting your time."
"I won't!"
"Then don't hold me responsible for what happens."
He bowed and faded from sight.
"Wait! Come back!" I called, "Who are you? And what do you want?"
But there was no answer.
I was woken by FireDarkWolfX. He didn't say anything, just moved on to wake the others. I gathered up my things and joined the rest for a quick breakfast of more trail rations. I checked our water supply next. Quite fine, we'd be good for the next couple days. And hopefully we'd come across that underground lake Sabreur had mentioned the previous day.
A couple pets in our group chatted as we walked. I couldn't tell who it was. I was up at the front with Sabreur, trying to find the safe way through. He had the map out and was consulting it every few minutes.
We continued in this form for the rest of the day. One quick stop for lunch and then we moved on. Sabreur mentioned that we had passed the underground lake and I asked if we should double back to stop by it.
"No, I don't think we can get to it just yet. We're just having some of the humidity travel up here through vertical shafts we can't go through. We'll hit it on our way down, I'm sure."
"We have to go deeper?" SwiftRiversRunning chimed up from the middle of the group.
"Yes. We're only a couple miles below the surface right now. Once we reach where Aldrai fell we'll be able to follow his trail as deep as it goes."
Shi'tri's words came back to me. I brushed them aside. I would not turn back. I got a better grip on my spear though. He'd good as warned me that something would happen if we kept going. I would have to let everyone know about that sometime. Not yet though, but before we reached the scar in the earth.
We didn't make it before we had to stop for the night. The same routine followed, drawing for shifts and the strongest fighters taking the entrances and exits. There were three tunnels leading out this time. I took one, Sabreur and Infernus the other, and Terraile and Un-eairkagh the third. I had the third watch after midnight.
I didn't dream that night and nothing happened during my watch. As we were packing up the next morning though Padiglione broke the silence.
"I thought I felt something watching us last night," she announced, "But I wasn't sure and nothing happened. So I didn't wake anyone. It might have been my imagination."
"Maybe not," I said softly, "I had a dream the other night and the person who spoke to me when I was in a coma was there. He said he'd lied to me just to get me out of the coma and that there was no sense in going to find Aldrai. He hinted that something might try to stop us."
"And you're just now telling us?" Sakuko said accusingly.
"Um. Yeah," I said sheepishly.
She sighed in dramatic exasperation and returned her attention to breakfast.
No one really talked when we started out. I noticed everyone was keeping a better lookout on our surroundings and side passageways though, and that everyone's hands hardly strayed from their weapons. I even stretched out my magical senses to see what was around us. If it attracted something, so be it. At least I would be forewarned. There was indeed something there. I only felt it for a couple seconds before it faded from my senses. Apparently it had felt me searching and hidden itself somehow. I could not tell what it was but I detected no outright hostility.
"We're being followed," was all I said.