“You can’t be down here.” He was grateful for her warning, but he wanted her safely back up the rope. “This area could collapse.”
“I know,” she said. “Right on top of Carn.”
“If we dig faster we could create the same result.”
“I heard Lo say there was a passage down here.”
Up. Why wouldn’t she go back up? She knew the need for speed. “The passage is too small.”
“Let me try.”
“No.” The response came automatically, but her offer meant he could no longer dismiss the possibility he’d been unwilling to contemplate.
She took one hand off the rope and reached for him. “He could be bleeding or trapped. If I can get down there I could stabilize him. Maybe move him to a safer part of the cavern. Then you could dig faster. We don’t have time to argue.”
Mercury cupped her face. “My brave
courra
. If anything happens to you—”
“I’ll be careful,” she interrupted.
Careful. He doubted it. It seemed she was always jumping into trouble. If she’d been careful they’d still be headed to the hunt planet. “Spread your weight across the ground and wait until I free the rope.”
Samantha’s browse lifted. “The rope?”
“You’re not going down there without some way for me to pull you back.”
Mercury made sure she was in a stable spot then scrambled up the side of the rift. Working quickly he untied the rope and tossed it down to Lo, who’d moved into position near Samantha. He knew she was still uneasy with his troubled brother, but she fought to accept him. If anything happened to her… He had no idea how to finish the thought. She was human or close enough to have lived her life as one. She should mean nothing to him, but she had quickly come to mean everything.
Samantha waited impatiently as Lo tied the rope around her waist. “Where’s the opening?”
“Just below.”
As he released her he crawled down and over then reached out a hand to guide her. She hesitated only a moment. She no longer worried he might intentionally hurt her, but it was hard not to fear those claws.
When she took his hand, he guided her to a narrow hole that hadn’t been visible from above. He moved closer pressing against her and increasing her heart rate.
“Don’t be afraid. This area is more stable because of the rock.”
She wasn’t sure it was fear that made her heart pound. Every time he got near, her insides tightened and every place he touched her burned.
He tugged at her pack and she shrugged out of it. The opening was narrow and dark and too tight for her to wear it, but she clung to one strap.
“If he’s hurt, I’ll need the supplies,” she explained.
He released it with a nod. “Push it in front of you.”
His hands returned to her waist. She pushed the pack into the darkness then reached in and gripped the cool rock. The rough surface scratched her palms as she pulled herself forward. Strong hands slipped from her hips down her legs as she worked her way forward.
Her shoulders fit easily into the crevasse, but it was hard to maneuver. She had to wiggle like a worm until the passage turned sharply down. She froze and listened as her pack clattered downward. It sounded to be at least a few meters, but it did hit bottom fairly quickly. She reached down and spread her hands out. It seemed wide enough, but the drop continued past where she could reach. She considered backing out and turning to drop feet first, but she’d already wasted too much time and she had no idea what would be ahead after the drop.
“You’ll have to let go now.”
Lo had one hand around her ankle. The weight of it lifted away and then the slack in the rope at her waist disappeared. She moved forward slowly, the rope keeping her from dropping too fast. The space opened out and she couldn’t reach anything, but she was able to get one hand wrapped around the rope. As her feet left the confines of the passage, she twisted but the rope kept her steady. Her feet ended up beneath her and she lowered several meters before they touched what she hoped was the ground.
As the rope went slack leaving her weight on her feet, something crunched beneath her boots. She cringed, visions of an army of insects crawling through her head. She squatted down and carefully spread her hands, searching for the pack. She sighed with relief when the cloth materialized out of the darkness beneath her fingers. She pulled the light out and switched it on casting a narrow beam against a rock wall a meter away.
Dirt swirled in the narrow beam like nightmoths drawn to the light, but she didn’t see or hear the crawling critters she’d feared. She pulled the bottom of her shirt up to her mouth as a makeshift mask. Whatever had kept the earth above from collapsing the cavern had allowed enough of the dirt in to make the air thick with the stuff. She shifted her weight to stand and froze at the unsettling shifting underfoot. Slowly, she aimed the light down on the floor. It bounced back at her, revealing the dirty white of bone.
Everywhere.
The bones of a hand lay crushed beneath her boot.
Her pack sat in the yawning gap at the center of a crumbling ribcage.
“Breathe, little female.” Lo’s voice drifted down from above, seeming much too far away, but she took his advice and forced air through her reluctant lungs.
Muffled voices and scrambling movements above gave her the moment she needed to recover her wits. She carefully shifted away bone fragments until her boots were steady on the solid floor then slung the pack over her shoulder and stood.
“Samantha? Talk to me,
courra
.” The rough, growl couldn’t hide the worry in Mercury’s voice.
“I’m okay.” She answered softly, knowing Lo would hear, and feeling less brave than when she’d volunteered to dive head first into a dark pit.
She swept the light across the cavern, turning in a slow circle and hoping whatever was responsible for the bones had long sense departed.
“Can you see Carn?” Mercury paused. “Your dark clouds are overhead now.”
Samantha understood the gentle reminder for the need to hurry, but the dark was disorienting, so all she could do was to make a methodical sweep. “Not yet.”
Where she stood, the cavern spanned three meters across. Bone dotted the floor—some recognizable as having belonged to a single skeleton, but others had been scattered making it hard to tell the number of dead.
The cavern ceiling formed a dome directly overhead, but the moment she started exploring it crowded down to only a few centimeters between her and what looked more like rotting debris than rock. She didn’t immediately see Carn, but there was a bend in the cavern, which was looking more and more like a crevice or ravine that had been covered over in a land slide. She headed for the bend, picking her way around the bony remains.
As she cleared the corner the space between floor and earthy ceiling closed down to about two meters. A freshly fallen layer of mulch-like material covered the bones and the debris overhead bulged downward like a tarp straining under too great a weight. Directly under the lowest point, a pile of debris and dirt created a mound. A mound with twisted legs.
Carn.
Samantha dropped to her knees and scrambled around the mound. She found his arms shielding his face. Luckily, he’d landed on, or gotten to, his side. His arms not only shielded his face but kept a path clear for air to reach him. He was breathing, but unconscious.
“Found him,” she said aloud.
The bulging ceiling above shook loose another layer of debris. Samantha coughed and covered her face in her shirt again. When things settled overhead she dusted herself off and started scooping debris away from Carn’s arms and shoulders. “This ceiling is shaky.”
She couldn’t hear a response, but there was no more movement above. She had him mostly uncovered when a voice drifted around the bend in the crevice. Reluctantly, she left him to get back to the tunnel she’d come down.
“I’m here.” She shouted up. “Carn lost consciousness.”
“Can you move him?” Mercury’s voice settled the sense of doom that had been growing inside her.
She looked over her shoulder despite not being able to see him around the corner. She didn’t need to see him to know he was big. And heavy. Still, if she needed to move him, she would. And she hadn’t tried the med kit. A stimulant might bring him around. “Yes, but there’s no way he’ll fit through the gap up there.”
“Agreed,” he shouted. “But the roof here must be more solid. Safer.” A gust of wind chased his voice through the opening. The heart of the storm had to be over them now.
She nodded to herself. “You’re going to try to dig through.”
“It’s the only way.”
It was also incredibly dangerous. One of the slopes above could slide down on top of them. Especially with the rain. But he was right. What choice did they have? “Has it started raining yet?”
“Yes.” She was sure there was a lot that one word left out. What would rain be like for them if they’d never experienced it?
“I’m going to try a stimulant. Are there any medications that he’ll react badly to?”
The answer was slow in coming. “No, but be careful. He might be confused if he wakes.”
Samantha went back to Carn and dug through her pack for the med-kit.
She found a mild stimulant and applied it to the vein in his neck to try to get the fastest reaction. While she waited she pulled out her water and set it in reaching distance then backed up.
“Come on, Carn. Open those eyes for me.” She could try to drag him, but—
He came around, sputtering and coughing. She wanted to reach out and help him sit-up, but she didn’t dare. Not after the way he’d reacted to her touch in the past and not after Mercury’s warning.
“Carn.” She hoped she sounded calm. “It’s Samantha. You fell, but you’re going to be okay. There’s water to your left.”
He was already trying to push up. He leaned toward her, seeming to respond to her voice. When he lifted his head, he studied her face then grabbed for the water. After a big swig, he cleared his throat. “Mercury? Lo?”
“They’re fine. They couldn’t get down here without bringing it down on top of you. Right now we need to get you around that corner.” She pointed. “The roof is more stable there and the sooner we move, the sooner they can finish digging through here. Okay?”
He nodded and untwisted his body. Small nicks and scrapes peppered his skin with bloody dots of color. Brushing dirt from his face and shoulders, he moved slowly but with purpose.
Samantha crawled toward the corner, leading the way with a glance over her shoulder. Carn panted with effort. Pain tightening his face into a ferocious mask. Crawling through the debris, filthy, and looking capable of chewing engine parts, he looked more animal than she’d ever seen any of the Arena Dogs, but beneath it all he was still Carn. A man plagued by worry and pain.
When the space over their heads opened up, he tried to stand, but failed.
Samantha edged closer. “Not much farther now. Will you let me help you?”
He nodded and she helped him loop his arm over her shoulder. He couldn’t seem to put weight on one foot. Together they hobbled clear of the danger zone and beneath the domed stone ceiling where Samantha had come down.
“What is this place?” He stared at the bone littering the cavern floor.
“I’m not sure.” She urged him on. “Let’s get as far away as we can.”
They stopped where the stone floor began to slope up and she helped him prop against the cavern wall then shouted up to Lo and Mercury.
She knew the moment they started to dig. The scrape and groan of shifting debris echoed off the stone walls. The noise of the storm outside kicked up. The muffled roar of the rain grew louder, punctuated by the whistle of the wind.
The temperature dropped.
She shivered.
“They’ll be all right.” Carn’s certainty sounded as solid as a sand-break in a sandstorm and she wanted to shelter under its strength.
She met his gaze. “I know. I’m just cold.” But it wasn’t the cold making her pulse pound loud in her ears or drying her mouth beyond swallowing.
When they broke through, chances were high that the area would collapse further, bringing more sodden earth down on top of them. Mercury and Lo could be buried under more debris than she could shift.
“Thank you.” Carn put a hand on her shoulder.
Confused, she waited for his explanation.
He smiled, a small smile, but a smile none the less. He shook his head and the explanation never came. The rustling crash of dirt and debris collapsing drew their attention back to staring down the cavern to the bend where instead of seeing the two faces they hoped for, they watched as dirt and dust swirled in the air and a stream of water trickled around the rock. It widened into a small rivulet that hinted of the danger, but disappeared into a crevice in the rock floor.
As the dust settled, Samantha’s chest grew tight. Something at the back of her throat made her gasp for air. Her eyes stung. Too long. They had to have come down with the collapse. They should have been up and moving.
Before she made the decision to move she was running back. “Mercury! Lo!”
She dropped to her knees at the edge of a pile of mud and roots that nearly filled the space where Carn had been laying. She dug, dragging big handfuls of the stuff down and pushing it to the side. A yawning gap loomed overhead. She could hear the storm above clearly now. The wind in the trees. The rain pounding the ground.
She was vaguely aware of the trickles of water plopping down on her from above and the moisture on her cheeks. Carn was there beside her. She didn’t know how he’d made it back across the floor of the fissure when he could barely stand, but he was digging with purpose.
Something shifted in the now sodden muck where she’d just shoved her hands. She pushed in further until her arms were buried above the elbows. She felt firm flesh beneath her hand.
“Carn.” A whisper, both hopeful and panicked.
His hand shoved in beside hers and he pulled back hard, knocking her to her ass. It didn’t matter. Not one bit. All that mattered was that Mercury came up, clutching Carn’s arm, gasping and shaking muck from his face. As his shoulders and chest emerged he scrambled forward, pulling Lo free behind him.