“Yeah,” he replies. “Let’s get out of here!”
As they continue past the dead priests, Aleya says, “You know, if that is the sign of these priest, why didn’t everyone have them?”
“Maybe it was only given to a priest once they achieved a certain level of the temple hierarchy,” suggests James. “Simply having one may have afforded them some privilege or it could’ve been a sign of rank or trust as well. We may never find out conclusively.”
The tingling sensation of another doing magic suddenly comes to James. It isn’t very strong and it feels like it’s far off, probably the mage up on the surface hunting for them. Whatever the reason, he doesn’t mention it to the others, he can tell Aleya remains quite agitated about being in here. No sense giving her more to worry about when nothing can be done about it anyway.
They come to another junction of converging corridors branching off to the right and left, or they can continue on straight. Shining the light from the orb down the left corridor reveals another impassable cave-in. To the right the corridor extends further into the dark, as does the one continuing on straight.
A moment’s hesitation is all they need before feeling the breeze once again coming from straight ahead of them. Not worrying about the corridor to their right, they continue on down the corridor ahead of them.
From where Jiron leads, he suddenly says, “I think there’s light coming from up ahead.” Glancing back at James he adds, “Douse the orb.”
“Right,” agrees James as the orb disappears, plunging them into darkness. It takes their eyes a few moments to adjust before they can make out the faint light from up ahead that caught Jiron’s eye.
As they move closer, their excitement mounts as they realize it is in fact sunlight coming in from the outside. The corridor is blocked by a cave-in except for a small opening near the top.
Jiron climbs the rubble pile and looks through the opening. Turning back, he whispers excitedly, “I see trees out there!”
“Can you make the hole bigger?” asks Aleya, anxious to get out of the underground temple.
“I think so,” he replies. Soon rubble begins to cascade down from the top as he begins widening the opening.
“Jiron,” James suddenly says, interrupting his excavation.
Glancing back at him, Jiron pauses in his labor and asks, “What?”
“Maybe we should rest here until night and continue this once the sun goes down,” he suggests. “Then we could get out without anyone noticing.”
Aleya gets a panicked look in her eyes at the prospect of spending any more time in this old temple which is now more of a tomb.
James lays his hand on her shoulder as he says soothingly, “We’ll be okay. We’re right next to the opening.” He can tell she has a strong desire to simply get out of here, but her expression begins to soften as she realizes the logic of his suggestion.
Nodding, she says, “I guess we could all do with a rest before trying to reach Kern.”
“That’s the spirit,” he says, giving her a big smile.
As Jiron comes down from the top of the pile, he says, “If it hadn’t been for all we’ve already come through, I wouldn’t want to stay down here either.”
“You’ve seen worse?” she asks.
“Oh yeah,” he says, coming close and sitting down next to her. “I’ll tell you about it sometime when your imagination won’t run away with you.”
“That bad, huh?” she asks, unconsciously scooting slightly closer to Jiron.
“Oh man, yes,” he says with a laugh. “You get into interesting situations if you stay long enough with James.”
They sit down along the sides of the corridor and break out what little rations they have left. Most of what they had from last night is still on their horses. James sits along the wall on one side of the corridor while Jiron and Aleya sit on the other.
“I’ll take first watch,” offers Jiron after everyone’s done eating. “You two try to get some sleep.”
“Very well,” agrees Aleya. Resting her head against the wall, she closes her eyes and tries to relax.
James stretches out against the wall, lying on his side and trying his best to use his arm as a pillow.
Jiron sits there next to Aleya and listens to her breathe as she slowly slips away to sleep. He’s never felt this way about anyone before. Oh sure, he’s had his share of girls, but none had ever touched him as this one has.
Once Aleya at last succumbs to sleep, she begins tipping to the side until her head at last rests on Jiron’s shoulder. He moves slowly and works her head down until it’s resting on his lap. Using his fingers, he gently moves the hair off of her face and watches her as she sleeps.
Chapter Twenty Four
Jiron’s tired. He’d let the others sleep while he kept watch the entire time. It isn’t that he didn’t want to rest and allow James a turn at watch. It was just that every time he tried to get up, Aleya had stirred so he settled back down so as not to disturb her.
When at last the light had faded from the opening at the top of the rubble blocking the corridor, he waits another hour until night has completely set in before waking the others. He almost doesn’t want to, Aleya using his lap for a pillow gives him a warm fuzzy inside.
Shaking her shoulder gently, he says, “Time to go.” When she fails to wake up, he shakes it a little more vigorously and repeats himself a little louder. “Let’s wake up!”
Coming awake, she sits up and at first begins to panic in the dark until James’ orb appears to dispel the dark. “You stay awake the whole time?” James asks him.
Nodding, he replies, “Yeah. You two seemed to need the sleep more than I.”
Aleya produces three strips of jerky and hands each of them one. “This is the last I have,” she tells them.
“Thanks,” they say in unison as they rip a piece off and begin to chew the hard, stale meat.
Leaving his orb with the others, James climbs to the opening at the top and gazes out. He can’t really make out anything outside in the dark of night. Some light filters down through the trees from the stars overhead, but it doesn’t do more than make indistinct shadows.
“I don’t think anyone’s out there,” he says. Finding a hand sized flat rock, he begins scraping away the debris, enlarging the hole.
“Just be careful,” Jiron tells him. “Don’t make too much noise, or someone may hear you.”
“I will,” he replies as he continues clearing away the dirt and rock. When he at last has a hole large enough for him to squeeze through, he sets his rock down and turns back to the others. “I’m going to cancel the orb so it won’t attract anyone’s attention,” he explains. After seeing Aleya’s nod, he plunges them back into darkness.
“Follow me,” he says as he begins moving through the opening.
Once he’s through, Aleya moves to follow next. She removes her bow and quiver from behind her back and holds them in front of her. At the opening, she whispers to James, “Here, take these.” When he’s taken them from her, she squirms through to the other side. Standing up, she reclaims her bow and arrows, slinging them once more behind her back.
Jiron worms his way through the opening next and soon they’re all standing together on the other side. In the faint light from above, they can make out walls that had at one time been a room, possibly underground before erosion or other forces had opened it up.
The entire area is overgrown with trees and vegetation. Someone just happening upon the area would’ve thought it was just another part of the ruins dotting the mountainside.
“Now where?” James whispers to the others.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea to try to work our way through to Kern from here,” Aleya says quietly. “Most likely, if they’re still searching for us, it’ll be between here and there.”
“She’s right,” agrees Jiron. “We should try to skirt around the forces and cross into Cardri west of Kern. Go around the Empire’s forces rather than through them.”