“How about you get back up behind, Jacob,” Derek said, slowing down and pushing his way in behind me with Tanda keeping up with his step.
My moan probably sounded like a growl but I didn’t care, I just made my way back up to Jacob. “What the hell am I supposed to say to him?” I asked in a soft whisper, putting my hand on Jacob’s back.
“I would start with what happened that night? That way it will finally be cleared from your mind.”
“I feel like I’m gonna be sick,” I replied, holding my stomach.
“We don’t have that much further; this next turn will take us to a place that Chin once showed me. I think many of the old ones knew of places like these, it’s why they survived for so long.” Then, he slowly looked back at me. “Until you came along.”
After going down what seemed like a mile or more, Jacob took a right, then a sharp left, taking us into a small chamber filled with bones all the way to the ceiling. He waited until we were all inside, then, moved several skulls away from the back wall that was lined in nothing but skulls. He reached his hand in, elbow deep, and turned a lever, which made it easier to slide the partially stone, partially bone wall to the side.
“I can’t believe it doesn’t smell worse down here than it does,” Tammy said, going through the opening sideways, followed by Cates, who then waited for the rest of us so that he and Jacob could slide the wall closed.
“Count your blessings woman,” Cates laughed. “It could be like ole Cortez’s, or that place with the walking dead.”
“Then, it’s true,” Martin interrupted, looking right at me.
“Is what true?” I asked, knowing what he meant.
The area that we were in was small enough that, no matter what short burial chamber we walked into, everyone was going to hear what we had to say. The main room was dome shaped and much bigger than any part of the tunnels that I had seen so far and had four smaller tunnels leading just a few feet in, each just long enough to lay bodies in. He walked up to me so fast that I stumbled backwards, putting up my left hand and going for my blade with my right. I glanced over seeing Derek trying to make a move to step in, but Jacob and Cates both closed in around him.
“This is between her and her maker,” Jacob said, gripping Derek’s arm.
“All this time and you act like you do not even know who I am,” Martin hissed, slapping my hand out of the way. “Is it true?” he yelled, reaching for the front of my shirt.
“How can I answer your question, if I don’t know what you want to know? It is true about the others being dead?…yes…did we kill them?…yes…make your question clear and I’ll give you an answer!” I yelled back as he lifted me off the floor.
I swung my blade around, stopping it at the base of his throat. “I am no longer yours to push around, so put me down,” I hissed, much like he had, into his face as the tip of my blade dug into his flesh. He lowered me to where my feet were firmly back on the ground, but did not let go of my shirt. Instead, with his eyes close, he leaned into my blade, cutting himself. I gave up the pressure that I held as I watched the red liquid run down his chest, soaking the white lace of his shirt.
“Exact your pound of flesh. I know too well what I have done to you, and I have wished against it every waking moment since,” he softly replied, slowly opening his pale blue eyes and melting my heart more than I would have ever admitted to anyone at that time.
“They killed my family, Martin…you weren’t there,” I said with a fine tremble in my voice, knowing what he had already been through, but needing to hear it from him.
“I tried…” he paused, swallowing. “I was at the disadvantage of Rebecca’s men. I could stand here and explain everything to you, but, it will change nothing of what has happened. All that matters to me is that you are alive and standing right here, right now,” he proclaimed releasing my shirt, running his hand down my arm and bringing my hand to his lips.
I looked back and saw all the others watching us, Tanda now holding Derek’s other arm in a loving manner; Cates and Tammy were holding hands; and Garvin and Sydney with an arm over each other’s shoulder. Jacob and Fala were just smiling. I grabbed the front of Martin’s jacket and pulled him into one of the small coves, giving the others the hint that we needed a bit of privacy. They began moving about making small talk, while I pushed Martin up against the short curved shape wall, and pressed my head into his chest.
“I never thought seeing you would be this hard,” I whispered into the scent of his flesh.
“Did you find the letter?”
“I knew you were looking for me,” I said, raising my eyes to meet his.
“Until my death,” he whispered back, leaning down and taking my mouth with his.
He wrapped his arms around my back and lifted me off the floor once more, only this time my arms were around his neck and we were in an embrace of a long awaited reunion. I feared opening my eyes, because I didn’t want this to be a dream. I slid my lips from his and nuzzled my face in beside his ear, burying myself into the fragrance of his hair, then deeper, finding the scent of him. We held each other for a very long time, before I finally pulled back. He slid me down to my feet as our eyes searched each other’s soul.
“I have a better place to rest than this,” he claimed, smiling down at me.
“If you know who we are, then you know why we’re here,” I calmly replied, stepping back out with the others.
“I have a little place at the end of the city. No one will bother you there.”
“Did you hear what I just said?”
“We can talk about it tomorrow night. But, if you wish to sleep with soft feathers under your heads, then we must hurry, or do you prefer the dust of the long dead?” He ignored my question a second time.
“It would be better to keep clear of the scavengers,” Jacob replied, taking the offered hand of Martin. “I am Jacob, you know me from Chin’s head lead. But, I now follow Renee, as my friend.”
“You cannot say you have forgotten me, old one,” Cates said stepping up. “It has been a long time.”
“You are still as big as an ox, but you seem to be missing something,” Martin smiled, touching the big man’s elbow.
“Just a small price in the heat of battle,” Cates laughed, causing Martin to glance back at me. “This is Tammy, and besides our Renee, one of the best females I have ever known.”
“Heard a lot about you,” Tammy said, shaking Martin’s hand, but smiling back at me.
“And this is Sydney,” Garvin proudly said, patting Sydney on the back. “He is a part of me, and a good man as well.”
“We are a family now,” Tanda smiled, taking Martin’s hand like a small child would. “He is not our kind, but Fala is our family as well.”
“I know what he is, and it is a pleasure to meet you, Fala,” Martin said with a bow to his head.
“There’s more back with Cornelle…” Tanda began to say.
“Shouldn’t we be going, or are we staying?” I interrupted, before she could mention my brother’s name.
“She’s correct. We must go now if we are going to make it home before the dawn calls out for our rest.”
“Or our burning flesh,” Derek smirked, going to help Jacob slide the wall back.
“Not likely young one. These tunnels run into the tunnels that go to the basement of my home.”
“Then we just may end up sleeping on the floor anyway…if we don’t move, right?” Derek asked more sarcastically.
He didn’t care for the way that Martin got around my question, no more than I had. Derek seemed to have a dislike for him from the moment they first met, when he had his blade ready to take off the man’s head. I knew it was going to be a long night, indeed, if I had to find out what was bothering him. Derek had become like walking death since the loss of his brother. He gave little in the way of emotion and even less when it came to talking to anyone about how he felt.