Chapter 32 - The Pit

Celaine’s eyes vanished into the darkness and Hump’s heart raced as he stared at the spot where she had just been. It was hard to think. His ribs ached, his arm ached with a sharp pain, his head pounded—he must have knocked it on the way down. He tried to get his bearings, but the only light came from the small hole that they’d fled through, where kobolds gathered. He breathed, panic rising in him. All he smelt was blood and rotten meat. He’d dropped his staff on his way down and now searched for it, but the ground around him was empty.

Celaine suddenly appeared before him again. She knelt; her vague shape barely visible in the shadow of whatever hell pit they had fallen into.

Hump opened his mouth. “What are you—”

“Shh,” Celaine hissed. She pressed a hand against his mouth hard enough to push his head into the ground. Hump’s eyes widened at the force of her grip, but he kept his mouth shut. Essence swam in her eyes like stars. Her face was so close to his that he could feel her breath. Her snake eyes glimmered with essence. “Be very, very quiet,” she whispered. “They need to think we’re dead. Understood?”

Hump nodded. He glanced back up at the hole above, trying to judge the distance in the dark. It was a long way up, they wouldn’t be climbing out, that was for sure. Even if the kobolds decided to leave them alone. He’d felt something crack when he’d fallen but didn’t feel any pain beyond a bit of bruising—either a very good sign or a terrible one. He curled his toes, testing everything still worked. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he was certain nothing was broken.

That relief left quickly. A kobold peeked its head into the hole for a better look, trying to hold out one of their crystal torches. Behind it, the other kobolds spoke, seemingly deciding whether they would follow or not. When the creature pulled itself back up, Hump relaxed again. He took Celaine’s hand in his and tried to lift it off his mouth. It didn’t budge, so he made muffled noises at her until she noticed.

She whipped her hand away. “Sorry.”

Hump shook his head as if to say it was nothing. “They’re not following us down,” he whispered as quietly as he could. I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

“What do you mean?” She turned her stare on him, so intense it made Hump’s skin prickle. He realised they’d never been this close before.

“It’s a long fall, but if I survived it, a kobold could make that jump too. That means they’re either afraid of us or there’s some other reason they don’t want to come down here. Which do you think is more likely?”

She blinked, the darkness returning for a fraction of a second. “Whichever it is, we shouldn’t stick around to find out. We need to move before they change their minds.” She stood quietly, dragging Hump up by his hand a little too easily.

“I dropped my staff somewhere,” Hump said. He squatted down, feeling the ground around his feet until he found something that felt right.

“That’s not your staff,” Celaine said quietly.

“It’s not? Then what is—” Suddenly, he remembered where he was standing. “It’s a bone isn’t it.”

“A femur from the looks of it.”

“Uck.” Hump scrunched his nose. He placed it back on the ground as quietly as he could. “That’s just brilliant.”

“Here,” she said, pressing what he hoped was a staff against him.

“If this is another bone that’s a sick joke. For all intents and purposes, I’m a blind man right now.”

She breathed a soft laugh. “It’s not.”

He took it. “Thanks.” He looked around at the complete darkness that surrounded him. “So where do we go? As far as I can tell that way is just as pitch black as that way.”

Celaine sighed. “You’re pointing at a wall.”

Hump frowned. “I can see this becoming a problem. I can’t cast Light, not unless we want to risk bringing the kobolds down here.”

“Well, I can see just fine,” Celaine said. “Maybe that’s what’s keeping the kobolds out. They might not know how deep it is.”

“Maybe,” Hump said, though he doubted it.

“There’s only one path and it looks like it leads down,” she said. “Hopefully we can find another route out that isn’t stuffed full of kobolds. Here.” He felt Celaine’s hand take his and his heart sped enough for him to ignore the use of the ‘H’ word. It was a small hand, roughened by callouses. “You’re cold,” she said suddenly, concern in her voice. She pressed another hand over his. “Holy Mother, you’re icy.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“How are you even moving around?”

“This is what happens when a wizard overuses magic. There’s still a little wizardfire left in me but once that wears off, I’m going to be in a bad state.”

“How bad?” she asked.

“Don’t know,” Hump said. “Last time I was nearly dead before I reached that point. I was unconscious for the rest.”

“And you thought to only mention that now,” she hissed.

“I didn’t think we’d be stuck in a bloody hole when I took it!” Hump said defensively. “It’s not like there was much choice. Besides, it was years ago when I last used it. It’s not supposed to kill you. I’ll be fine. Now lead the way.”

She gripped his hand and pulled, dragging him into the darkness. “For someone at risk of freezing to death you’re grinning like an idiot.”

Hump felt blood rush to his cheeks. “Just happy—” his voice cracked, and he cleared his throat, deepening his voice. “Just happy to be alive.”

“Aww, did poor little Hump get nervous holding hands with a girl for the first time?”

“Oh shut up,” Hump grumbled. “Before I forget. Wait a second.” He took his chalk from his pocket, and as he did, he felt his spellbook shake on his belt. He pressed it flat, ignoring it, and held out the chalk to Celaine. “Draw an arrow on the wall. If help comes, they’ll have a path to follow.”

“I doubt the kobolds will keep out long,” Celaine said, “probably best we don’t give them directions.”

“Good point. Leave a message instead.”

Celaine shuffled away, releasing Hump’s hand. On instinct, he reached out to search for it. When he didn’t find it, he searched for a wall. For anything to steady himself. But there was only emptiness.

It suddenly dawned on him where he was. Entombed in darkness, buried in shadow and stone far into the dungeon’s depths, cut off from safety by a horde of kobolds and undead. His stomach heaved as all sense of direction left him, and he could barely tell up from down. His legs trembled. He wanted to call out to her but didn’t want to appear as afraid as he felt. Fortunately, Celaine spoke first.

“Both alive and uninjured,” Celaine read as she wrote, the sound of chalk scraping on stone accompanying her voice. “Follow the tunnel downward. That will do it.”

“Uh huh,” Hump said, barely able to keep the panic from his voice. He almost called upon his light. Almost. Anything to make the darkness go away.

And then her hand found his, a touch of warmth in all this cold and shadow.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Hump said, voice shaky. “Just realised how screwed we are. How do you know which way to go?”

“Not as screwed as you think,” she said, her voice calm. “There’s only one path. We’ve got no choice but to follow it. Are you good to move?”

Hump nodded. “Never better. Let’s go.”

It was an unpleasant feeling being led blind. Every step felt like he was going to trip. He hated having to rely on her like this, and even more than that, he hated being so useless. His book shook at his hip, and Hump pressed his free hand against it to stop it moving. Logic triumphed over fear. There was little keeping him going but for the warmth of wizardfire that still rose from his stomach. He needed to conserve the thread of strength he had left and wasting it on a Light spell would just risk the kobolds figuring out their location.

Hump’s foot brushed something, and it rattled off to the side. He thought of the bone he’d picked up. The sensation of the crack beneath his body when he first fell. The smell. It wasn’t so bad now that they were walking, but the scent of old meat and blood clung to his nostrils. “How bad is it?”

“So far, it’s not much different from the tunnels above. A little wider.”

“Not that,” Hump said. He gulped. “How many bodies. How bad…?”

Celaine was quiet for a moment. “We left most of them in the chamber where we fell. I’ve seen a few more along the way. There… there’s not really any bodies. Just bones.”

Hump clenched his jaw. He felt a dark anger rise inside of him. He forced it back down. “At least that means we won’t need to worry about undead. Do you think Bud and Vamir made it out?”

“Vamir won’t die there,” Celaine said with certainty. “He and Bud were holding the tunnel entrance when I jumped in after you. Some of the villagers were helping. They’d already taken down one of the salamanders, so I think their chances are good.”

“What do you think of our chances?”

“Less good. Vamir saw me jump in after you. He’ll come looking for us.”

“We shouldn’t count on that,” Hump said. “It’s already dangerous. I’d rather we found our own way out rather than get other people stuck down here with us. Do you think you could jump back up to the hole once the kobolds have cleared off?”

“No. It’s too high.”

He glanced over his shoulder, searching for that small circle of green light, but they had walked too far. All he saw was inky blackness. “Maybe we can find something to help us climb out then. Got any rope?”

“Do you not think I’d have mentioned it by now if I did?” she said impatiently.

“Just asking,” Hump said. “A log or something must have fallen down here somewhere.”

“I’ll let you know if I see one.”

“If worst comes to worst, I could magic up enough stone for us to climb out eventually. I’d need to rest first.”

“How long would it take?”

“The spell?” Hump shrugged. “Ten minutes. Maybe a bit longer as I’d need your help to draw the runes in the right place. I need to sleep first though.”

“If we’re going to sleep down here, I want to be as far away from the kobolds as we can get. They still might decide this place isn’t so dangerous after all.”

Hump frowned. “Then what? We just keep walking? It’s not much of a plan.”

“Better than getting chased by kobolds. Besides, the tunnel has to come out somewhere,” Celaine said. “At least it’s a chance. We can follow the chalk markings back if we need to.”

There was a distant crash. Hump heard kobold shouts and murmurs echo through the tunnel, impossible to tell if they were from somewhere in the tunnel behind them or one of the connecting passageways.

“As far as I’m concerned, down here, you’re the boss,” Hump said quietly.

“Good,” she said. “Then we keep going.”

As they walked, the silence weighed down on Hump almost as heavily as the darkness. He was completely blind, apart from the shimmer of light from Celaine’s eyes.

“So you have dark vision,” Hump said.

“Evidently.”

“All that time I was holding up a light for you…”

“Didn’t need it.”

“And you didn’t tell me, why?”

“Two reasons. One, it kept you busy for a bit, so you’d stop all your blabbering.”

“Well that’s just lovely. And the second?”

“I thought it was funny.”

Hump laughed. “Is it a natural talent or part of your Chosen blessings? I’ve never seen eyes like yours before.”

“What?” she looked at him and blinked. Suddenly the light in them was gone, leaving only darkness once more.

“It’s a bit late to hide them now,” Hump said. “They’ve been the only thing I could see since we fell down here. Don’t worry, it’s not like I’m going to tell anyone. I already knew something else was off about you two anyway.”

She was silent for a few seconds. “What makes you say that?”

Hump shrugged. “When we found those bonefiends and I used my magic eye, I noticed a veil over Vamir. You don’t need a veil to conceal being a Chosen. I assumed you were the same. So what is it? Are you both fae or something?”

“Not fae,” Celaine said.

“Then what?” When she didn’t speak, Hump continued. “Don’t feel like you have to tell me. Your business is your business, I was just interested.”

“It’s fine.” She sighed. “At the age of eleven, all the children in my village receive their first injection of dragon blood. It’s a five-year process, my eyes are one of the results.”

“You’re kidding,” Hump said. “That’s… That’s insane. How do you even have enough dragon’s blood for that? It costs a fortune! And how do you survive the process? I’ve heard of people trying that before, and it’s always the same story. The human body isn’t meant to contain something as powerful as dragon’s blood.”

“Now those are questions I can’t answer,” Celaine said.

“Why not?” Hump asked.

She paused. “Okay, I could answer them. But if I did, I’d have to kill you.”

Hump frowned. “Fair enough. Don’t tell me then. So what caused your eyes to start glowing down here? Why didn’t it happen earlier?”

“They can come out on their own if I become distracted,” Celaine said. “I have an amulet that helps me to keep the power of the blood under control, but clearly it didn’t do its job.”

“Can you let them glow again?” Hump asked nervously. “They were the only thing I could see.” Another moment of silence passed between them. “If you don’t want to, it’s fine. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“I don’t mind,” Celaine said quietly. Once more, light radiated from her eyes. “I can see better like this anyway.”

“Thanks,” Hump said. Even just that little piece of light was enough for him to feel a little better. It reminded him that he wasn’t alone. “Why do you hide it?”

“People kill for less than dragon’s blood,” Celaine said. “And my body is full of it.”

“It’ll be our secret then,” Hump said, smiling. “Shame though, this would have made for quite the story.”

Celaine snorted. “You really want to tell people how you got so scared of the dark so a girl had to lead you around by the hand?”

“I’d spice it up, obviously,” Hump said. “I’d be the one leading, and you’d be the one terrified of the dark. And of course, you’d be ridiculously attracted to my manliness.”

“You are so full of shit,” Celaine said, but he could hear the smile on her lips.

“That’s not a denial. I’ll take that as a win.”

“Take it however you want,” she said smugly. “It’s your delusion. Now I’ve got a question for you.” She turned to look at him. “Why’s your book been shaking ever since we came down here?”