He didn’t look at her. “I can’t say.”
“What? What do you mean, ‘I can’t say’?” Her head shook with the incredulity of it. “This is my life that’s being threatened here. Tell me what’s going on!”
Rhane stopped again. He stuck his face close to hers, lifting the torch higher so she could see him clearly. “Kalista, I cannot explain anything to you until I understand it myself. Right now the conclusions I have are of the absolute worst nature. To share them with you is a cruelty I am not capable of.”
She relented with a hesitant nod. “Okay.” But there was something else. “I think one of them is communicating with me somehow. He’s like this huge, terrible monster waiting for me to fall asleep. Can you at least tell me if he’s real? I feel like I’m going nuts.”
A brief battle flashed across his face. Finally, he answered. “If it is he who I think it is, then he is the reason this labyrinth was built.”
“Oh?” She hoped very much that Rhane would go on, and was surprised when he did.
“A very long time ago, that creature committed an act of treason that ripped an entire civilization in two. In the years during the civil war, tunnels were constructed beneath this city to ensure the safety of ruling families.”
“You said your lineage traced back to a people who lived at foot of the Golden Mountains. That’s relatively near the Gobi. Have you ever been here before?”
Up ahead, York whistled. “That one is smart as a whip.”
Ignoring him, Rhane slid a glance in her direction. “I’ve never been down here before this night.”
“It feels like we’ve been walking for hours. How will we find the way out?”
“It’s only been forty-one minutes,” a voice called from behind. That was Warren, the wolf-boy.
“These tunnels are very old. They range for miles, covering the entire area underneath the city.” Rhane gave an easy shrug. But the way his shoulders were set remained tense. “But it’s not a maze. It will eventually lead us to the surface.”
Ironically, at that moment the single shaft diverged into two separate pathways headed in very opposite directions. Everyone stopped at the juncture except Warren. He walked ahead to examine the gaping dark of both entrances.
York looked at Rhane. “Is your spider sense back yet? Hear any more voices?”
Kali had no idea what the big guy meant, but when Rhane replied, he sounded annoyed. “You two go scout ahead.” He handed his torch to Warren. “Report back. Then we’ll figure out which way. I’ll stay here with Kalista.”
York grinned. “Sir, yes sir.” After gesturing for Warren to take the right tunnel, he quickly disappeared into the left.
They left and the light went with them. Kali had no time to feel any measure of unease. For as soon as they were gone, Rhane moved closer and wrapped his arms around her. She went willingly as he drew her close and buried his face into her hair. Then he pushed her away gently.
Kali looked for where his face would’ve been, confused and missing his warmth. “What was that for?” Before he could answer, the glow of the torches returned, getting stronger and brighter as they converged. Warren and York were back.
York didn’t waste any time delivering the results of his reconnaissance. “My way is a no go. There’s a cave-in after several hundred yards. I hope War did better.”
Kali had turned to hear York more clearly through the distorting underground echo. Feeling Rhane’s fingers brush against her sleeve, she looked back to him.
“Because I needed it,” he whispered softly. His voice was normal again as he addressed York. “That’s okay. War doesn’t look like he thinks we’ll be spending the night down here. I guess we’ll be heading right.”
War nodded. “The tunnel goes on for about a quarter mile and then opens into a big cavern of some sort. The walls are covered in a weird manmade coating. Beyond that, I’m not sure. The tunnel definitely continues. It smells like there might be water up ahead.”
“Okay,” Rhane said. “Let’s get moving.”
War had understated the size of the cavern the tunnel led into. Half of a city block could have easily fit inside the immense space. Kali couldn’t hide her awe as she turned in a full circle, taking in as much as the dim light would allow. Something bizarre was happening. It was as if the walls themselves were absorbing the light, and a faint glow began emitting from the rock.
“Do you see that?” Kali wasn’t sure why she was whispering.
“Yeah.” Rhane sounded wary.
“Up here,” York called.
Rhane touched her arm. “Wait here.”
York pointed to an area in the floor when Rhane reached him. “There are impressions. Like someone stood in this exact spot pretty often.”
Rhane crouched down to take a closer look. Kali stood on tiptoe, wanting badly to see what they were looking at. She risked moving closer. War glanced in her direction but didn’t try to stop her. The impression was a pair of footprints. Nothing was miraculous about them. It was only that they were worn permanently into the floor. Rhane straightened. With a measured look at York, he stepped into the impressions. Kali heard a faint click. And then the walls came to life.
Powered by some unseen source, light flooded the cavern. Pictures materialized on every walled surface, surrounding them with a 360 degree view of a projected painting. A faint humming filled the room. Kali took in a startled breath when the pictures began to move. Above their heads, the ceiling erupted in a brilliance of red and orange as if it were on fire. Light from it grew brighter and brighter, and became so blinding that it hurt to look at. The faint hum built to a dull but painful roar.
The roof of the cave seemed to move toward her. Kali threw up both hands, shielding her eyes from the light. She stifled a scream, mentally reassuring herself that it wasn’t real. There was no way Armageddon would start a hundred feet below the surface in an old, manmade cave.
The fire that engulfed the ceiling shifted to the walls, transforming into a massive fireball that hurtled through the sky much like an asteroid en route to earth. It impacted the ground, violently foot printing its presence with a huge crater. The flames died, and a foreign-looking object was revealed in the settling dust. Kali wasn’t sure what to call it. Nothing she’d ever seen in sci-fi movies came close to replicating the structure. For lack of a better word to describe it, her mind labeled it a pod. The pod was immense. It towered above every tree that had survived the destruction of its arrival. Strange blue symbols illuminated metallic surfaces, glowing for a short while and then disappearing. Animals emerged from one of three spirals that sprouted from a spherical core. Fearsome teeth and claws identified the creatures as predators. Fur in colors ranging from white to black, with every shade of grey and brown in between covered their hides. They ran on all fours, assimilating into the surrounding habitat. A second group of animals came forth. These were horrible monstrosities. Some ran on all fours like the ones that preceded them, while others ran on two legs. And as the sunlight touched them, the creatures appeared to writhe in pain. Stronger than the agony was the will to be free. Hides smoking under the merciless sun, they streaked away from the downed vessel, finding cover in the shadows.
The scene shifted, faded to a darkness that didn’t last long. The images that surfaced next were even more disturbing than the last. An all-out war raged. Soldiers in gold and black armor battled shadowy figures that shifted their forms, alternating between men and grotesque troll-beasts. Both sides suffered heavy losses. Blood soaked the battleground. More beasts poured onto the scene, joining the gruesome fray. It was horrible to watch. Some died as men. Others died as monsters. Kali wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. She had to see what happened next.
Despite the climbing death toll, the number of participants embroiled in the war continued to grow. The masses increased until only a weird mixture of human and inhuman faces filled the walls with expressions of rage, triumph, defeat, and regret. The faces began to disintegrate. The scene changed, gradually dimming to nothing as darkness reentered the cavern.
Sometime during the extraordinary barrage of moving images, the torches had died out. Or maybe War and York had deliberately snuffed them to limit any possible interference. Kali was pondering the thought when a strange fluttering sound reached her ears. It was like the noise of a bird’s feathers beating the air but amplified times a thousand. And it was growing louder. And closer. Kali looked up. And screamed.
A goliath had descended upon them, carried upon enormous wings that touched either side of the cavern walls. Red and black scales patterned its skin. Yellow eyes, as big as a compact car, were split in horizontal halves by black slits. The monster opened its mouth. A spark ignited, and fire materialized in its jaws. Kali screamed again and staggered backward.
Thunder rumbled. The ground began to shift, the quaking intense enough to make the walls and earth blur in sight. She lost her footing, thrown by the force of the disturbance. Something solid stopped her from falling, but then the floor itself gave way, crumbling from beneath her feet, leaving only air to support her. Kali started to free fall into darkness, but was abruptly jerked to a midair stop. A chaos of rocks and dirt rained down into the gaping hole that had been the ground only seconds before.
She looked up. The walls were glowing again, but the moving images had stopped. The goliath was gone.
Did I imagine it?
If she didn’t stop having crazy hallucinations, Kali was going to commit herself to the loony bin.
Past the hand holding on to her, she met York’s affable grin. “Don’t worry. I won’t let go.”
How he could be so cavalier in present circumstances was beyond her. As she was about to breath her thanks, the situation got way worse.
Unseen water announced its presence, rushing in like it had breached a flooded levee. A moment later, thousands of gallons of water poured into the cavern. Unstoppable in force, the torrent pummeled everything in its path. It rose rapidly, too rapidly. Even a skilled swimmer like Kali would not survive. She would be ultimately crushed beneath the surging weight. She looked down at the dark, angry waters and then back up at the only person standing between her and certain death. “Please, don’t let go.”
“Get ready.”
“
What
?” Fear squeezed her chest. Certainly he wasn’t thinking about dropping her into that. Upward momentum followed, erasing the premature panic she felt. York was pulling her up. Suddenly at eye level with the big man, she scrambled against the rock in search of solid footholds. His hand was steadfast until she found them. “You saved my life.”
York looked down and cringed. “Not…yet.”
Kali’s eyes widened in confusion and then dread. Ice cold water encircled her feet, and showed no signs of stopping. The level reached her hips. Pretty soon, her shoulders were submerged. Kali gasped from the shock of the freezing temperature. Then her body promptly acclimated and warmth filled her. From her head and down to her toes, she was protected against even the slightest chill. Kali let go of the wall. The water had slowed enough to make treading in it barely a danger. But the cavern was still filling. The ceiling was only ten feet away from her head. If something didn’t happen fast, they were going to drown.
Chapter 44
“York!”
“I know.”
“What do we do?”
“Don’t freak out.”
“Too late!”
Reaching up, Kali could have touched the cavern roof. She was trying very hard not to hyperventilate. Even York looked worried.
Maybe there’s a way out. I can swim to the bottom and find it. This water has to be coming from somewhere
.
When she barely had room enough to hold her mouth above the water, it finally stopped rising. York floated on his back to keep breathing air. “Well…that was intense,” he said.
With the immediate danger diminished, Kali’s mind could stretch beyond thoughts of self-preservation. She looked around. Only their two heads floated above the rippled surface. “Where’s Rhane?”
“That’s a good question.” York’s mouth quirked. “Maybe you’ve noticed that Rhane hates being underground. He doesn’t care much for large quantities of water either.” He actually laughed. “This must be one helluva combo for him.”
She thought back to their date at Ridge Lake and realized York was right. Though he’d hidden it well, Rhane hadn’t been very excited to swim in the lake, and was almost relieved when they’d left. “But he’s okay, right? He has to be okay.”
“Shhh--”
“Why?”
York turned on his side, bringing an ear out of the water. Flipping over again, he shouted, “Kalista, go now! Swim!”
Responding to the urgency in his tone, she dived beneath the water and kicked as hard as her legs knew how. Large pieces of rock hurtled past as the ceiling buckled, and then collapsed into a thousand deadly projectiles. She cut her speed in order to dodge the debris. Even a graze by one of the larger chunks could have broken a bone. She had done so well thus far surviving the night. She didn’t want things to end with her drowning while in excruciating pain.
From the corner of her eye, she saw a huge rock careening directly toward her. There wasn’t enough time to move from its course. Kali tensed, waiting for the painful impact—but York was suddenly there, shoving her clear, placing himself in the path of the boulder. His body jerked as the rock hit him. The muffled thud reached her ears even underwater. York swam a few more strokes and went limp.