Authors: Lani Aames
“Quite,” Kerry said absently.
Myghal held in an underground dwelling. The Troll was probably no bigger than
Gomit, so the tunnels and chambers would be small and dark and suffocating. She
broke into a sweat just thinking about it.
She couldn’t…
Could she? She had to be the one to save Myghal because no one else would
believe the story, and Gomit had to preserve the secrecy of his allegiance to
the Pixies. But how was she supposed to force herself into the cramped quarters
of the Troll?
Kerry slipped on dark coveralls
and strapped on a tool belt with an array of tools that could be used as
weapons in case Tredje the Troll saw through Gomit’s distraction and discovered
what she was doing. She also carried a box cutter to release Myghal’s bonds.
Gomit had assured her that Myghal was bound with rope, not chains.
She checked the bright beam of
the heavy-duty flashlight several times as they crossed the five lanes to Sir
Plantsalot. By that time of night all businesses along the thoroughfare were
closed and very little traffic moved along the street.
Gomit lead her to the exit
bridge. Kerry watched as he quickly scrambled down the side of the drainage
ditch. She glanced around to make sure no cars were coming and no one was lurking
about then went after him.
The ditch was deeper than she was
tall, so no one would be able to see what they were doing unless they were
right on the side of the street or on the bridge above. Kerry switched on a
small penlight as they moved into the shadows beneath the bridge.
“Tredje’s sitting chamber is near
the entrance,” Gomit explained, keeping his voice low so it wouldn’t carry on
the night air. “He stays there all evening until he goes to bed. His bed
chamber is about halfway between the entrance and the exit.”
Kerry could already feel the
sweat collecting on her upper lip and trickling down the small of her back even
though she should have been comfortable or even a little chilled in the crisp
night air. It was too dark beneath the bridge, among the scrubby weeds, and she
was only able to tolerate it because Gomit was with her. What was she going to
do when he left her alone? How was she supposed to crawl into that small
opening and travel along the cramped tunnels without screaming?
“Wha—”
Her mouth was dry, her tongue like a wad of cotton. She swallowed. “What if he
decides to check on Myghal?”
Gomit
thought a moment. “He might before he goes to bed, but you should have the
Prince freed and both of you away from here by then. You’ll need to move quickly.”
Quickly.
Kerry didn’t think she could move at all. Already, she felt the pressure of the
darkness. She could imagine the tunnel walls bearing down on her from all
sides. Suddenly, her chest felt heavy and she gasped for air.
“Are
you all right, Lady Kerry?” Gomit asked, his voice thick with concern.
She shook her head and closed her
eyes. No, she was not all right. She was scared. More than scared, she was
petrified.
“Is there anything I can do?”
She shook her head again. She had
to save Myghal, but she didn’t know how she was going to force herself to enter
that tunnel where it was dark and small and closed in. Before she realized what
she was doing, she had crawled out from beneath the bridge into the open. She
rose to her knees and turned her face to the sky, breathing in deep gulps of
air.
“I’m sorry, Lady Kerry,” Gomit
said close to her ear. “We don’t have much time. If I don’t return soon, Tredje
will become suspicious. He might decide to look in on the Prince and make sure
he hasn’t escaped. Trolls are naturally distrustful and Tredje keeps a close
watch on me. This is the first chance I’ve had to tell you about the Prince.
Will you be able to free him?”
Would she? She had to. Somehow,
she would have to make herself enter the Troll’s tunnel and find and free
Myghal. Kerry swiped the back of her hand across her upper lip.
“I’ll
do it,” she said.
Gomit sighed in relief. “I knew I
could count on you, Lady. Give this to the Prince. He’ll know what to do with
it.”
Gomit
pressed a small, ridged bottle into her hand.
“Now, I
must get back. Do you remember the way?”
Kerry
nodded, then watched as Gomit trundled down the ditch toward the entrance
bridge. Gomit had gone over the directions with her as she readied for the
strangest adventure she would certainly ever have in her life. She had repeated
them over and over until she had them memorized. Now, she went over them again
in her head, but she realized it was a delaying tactic.
Myghal needed her. Why wasn’t
that enough to overcome this stupid, irrational fear of dark, enclosed places?
Myghal had helped her through being locked in the toolshed. He’d told her that
she was strong enough to defeat the fear whenever she was ready to do it. She
had to be ready now.
Kerry got to her feet. She looked
at the bottle that Gomit put in her hand. She stared at it in bewilderment. The
bottle was the saltshaker from her desk in the greenhouse and had been missing
a couple of days. Why would Gomit steal it? And how would it help Myghal?
With no answers, she tucked the
saltshaker into the zippered pocket that held the box cutters and turned
around. She used the penlight to find the opening again. The small hole looked
to be nothing more than perhaps where dirt had been washed away. It was barely
big enough for her to wriggle through. What would be on the other side?
“Take it one step at a time,” she
muttered and bent to go under the bridge again. “A ladder. Gomit said there
would be a rope ladder fastened to a large root that protruded just under the
hole.”
Kerry forced one foot in front of
the other until she was at the hole. She switched on the large flashlight and
put the penlight away. The beam revealed a space that was barely large enough
for her to enter. Sweeping the light down, she saw thick ropes knotted around a
root bigger than her leg.
But the
dark and enclosed space was too much and she had to close her eyes or run. She
couldn’t run. She had to do this to save Myghal.
Kerry
took deep, even breaths, breathing in through her nose and out through her
mouth. The tightness in her chest, that panicky, fluttery feeling, eased a
little. She had to try again.
Slowly, she opened her eyes,
keeping her breath even. She focused on the bright beam of light following the
rope ladder until it reached the bottom. It looked to be about a ten-foot drop.
She could climb down that far. Sure, she could. She just wasn’t sure what would
happen after that. Would she start shrieking until Tredje the Troll found her
and did who-knew-what to her? Or would she just curl up into a little ball in
the corner until Tredje and Gomit ran across her days later? Either could
happen. She’d just been lucky that she’d screamed in the shed the day before.
Otherwise, Myghal might never have found her and she’d still be there, huddled
in the corner in the dark.
The dark, her enemy. Enclosed
spaces, the bane of her existence. She faced both right now, but she had to
overcome them to save Myghal. She took another slow, deep breath.
Holding on to the dirt above the
hole, she put one leg, then the other through. Before she could think about it
too much, she wiggled around until she was on her stomach, her legs dangling.
She was barely holding on because one hand held the flashlight. There was no
way in hell she was releasing the light, so she had to think of something and
quick.
She managed to hold the light
under her chin and rummage in the pocket on the tool belt until she found the
bungee strap. She looped it around her neck and fastened the ends through the
handle on the flashlight. She immediately lowered herself until one foot
reached the root. She tested her weight, then put both feet on it when it held.
She gripped the dirt at the
bottom of the hole and bent until she could feel the root with her other hand.
She lowered one foot, taking a quick look with the flashlight to place the next
step. In this way, she was able to move downward until she could hold the rope
with both hands. She finished climbing down.
Keeping
busy had kept her mind off of where she was. But now she felt the walls of the
tunnel pressing in on all sides. Faint light came through the hole at the top
of the ladder. Up there was open space and air to breathe. Her throat
threatened to close, and her chest tightened up again. All she had to do was
scramble up the ladder and she would be able to breathe again.
“
Myghal
,” Kerry whispered
and closed her eyes. She gripped a rung of the ladder and pressed her forehead
against it. She had to focus on helping Myghal.
Once more she took deep even
breaths until her heart was no longer racing in her chest. She had to save
Myghal. It was extremely important for him to return to his realm before the
Equinox on Tuesday. Even though she didn’t have any idea why, if it was
important to Myghal, then it was important to her. She couldn’t save him if she
allowed herself to dissolve into a puddle of neuroses or, worse, run away. He
might forgive her, but she’d never be able to forgive herself.
All right, what was she supposed
to do next? What had Gomit told her? She had to think a minute before she
recalled his directions.
Stand at the bottom with the
ladder at her back, then turn left.
Slowly and without opening her
eyes, Kerry turned around until she could feel the knots of rope digging into
her spine. She swung the flashlight up with her left hand and opened her eyes.
Dizziness swept over her, as if
the tunnel was tilting one way and then the other. She had to close her eyes
again or she might topple over or puke. Or both. Tears of frustration scalded
them, but she refused to cry. She didn’t have time. She had to free Myghal. She
took a step, her hand pressed against the dirt to her left. She moved to the
left a few more feet then tried to open her eyes again.
This
time the dizziness wasn’t enough to make her stomach churn. She angled the beam
of the flashlight against the far wall to give the greatest area of light and
tried not to think about the expanse of darkness surrounding her or how the
ceiling lowered the farther she walked until she was nearly bent double. She
finally had to drop to her hands and knees.
Kerry
had never been in a situation where everything seemed to literally close in on
her.
She
focused her gaze on the circle of light cast by the flashlight, and
concentrated on the directions Gomit had given her.
Taking
a deep breath, Kerry reminded herself once again that she had to save Myghal.
That thought alone gave her the courage to crawl forward.
Gomit called them doorways, but
they were no more than arched openings cut in the dirt that led to either
another tunnel or a chamber. When Kerry reached the doorway to the chamber
where Myghal was being held—if she had followed the Gnome’s directions
correctly—she barely stuck her head in with the flashlight.
“Myghal?” Kerry whispered.
According to Gomit, this part of the Troll’s lair was far enough away from his
sitting room that she didn’t have to worry about making noise, but the tightness
in her chest and throat didn’t allow her to speak above a whisper. “Myghal, are
you here?”
Kerry heard a grunt, then a
scuffling sound. She flashed the beam of light all around the chamber. It was
much larger than she’d expected, with almost as much floor space as her
bedroom. The ceiling was, of course, no higher than the tunnel ceiling. She
would still have to crawl to enter.
A bright reflection made her stop
moving the flashlight. Unruly ash blond hair glittered in the beam. Myghal! He
lay on his side, a rag secured in his mouth with a piece of cloth tied tightly
around his head. She scuttled through the archway toward him.
His hands had been bound behind
his back, and his feet tied together. Another rope, drawn through the rope
between his hands, then through a metal loop fastened to a post buried solidly
in the dirt, and the one between his feet ensured he couldn’t move from the
spot.
Kerry
set the flashlight so that the beam illuminated them both, but didn’t shine
directly into their eyes. She untied the cloth around his mouth first and
withdrew the rag between his lips.
He
looked at her with such tender emotion while he worked his jaw that Kerry saw
no need to ever tell him that she had doubted him and thought he’d gone off
with the leggy brunette.
He
grinned. “You know, don’t you?”
Being
with Myghal eased her anxiety, and the tightness in her chest and throat had
relaxed, so she could speak normally.
“That Faeries and Gnomes and
Trolls exist? Yes. That you’re a Prince instead of a slightly eccentric Brit
who doesn’t know the difference between a Pixie and a Leprechaun? Yes.” Kerry
took a deep breath and grinned back. “That I think I might be falling in love
with you? Yes to that, too.”
“The feeling’s mutual. Now, if
you could get me loose, I’ll show you how much.”
Kerry unzipped a pocket and
reached in. She felt the box cutter and the saltshaker and brought out both.
Gomit had said the shaker would be important to Myghal. She began cutting the
rope behind Myghal.