IN DARKNESS
Scene 60
Bunjaian lugged the unconscious Guinban. Piotras, chasing close behind, tumbled into the chamber just as Mentrianos reached the pedestal and triggered the portal. A powerful temblor knocked all of them off balance; Bunjaian fell, dropping his burden, and struck his head against the pedestal’s heavy shaft. Mentrianos, the baby held close to him, regained his footing; but Piotras was on his knees trying to get up. As he stood, Mentrianos lashed out with a shocker, and turned him limp on the floor.
Mentrianos looked around. The shadowy walls and ceiling dripped soft, wet green. An orange glow faded. The pedestal’s fiery color started to dissolve and darken. How to get out of here? He scanned the circular chamber, but there was no shaft. He made out a faint series of marks on the wall facing the pedestal’s touch panel. He drew closer. A bar or handle was mounted across some kind of door or hatch. He ran fingers along the bar, looking for the end to use for leverage. Bunjaian moaned.
A small sound moved Mentrianos to look down at Samantine. She gazed up at him with innocent, wide-open, dark eyes. She smiled. He stopped breathing as if held. Moments passed.
Bunjaian broke the spell, struggling to his feet. “What are we doing here? We were going back to Muathen! This is another place! Let’s get out of here! Use the panel!”
“No! They’ll think that’s what we’ve done, and they’ll chase us down! It’s better to hide out and go later, when they’ve given up looking.”
Bunjaian rubbed his head. “So now I’ve got to restrain this guy before he wakes up, and drag him around with us. And what do we do with this andro?” He kicked the prostrate Piotras. “How much food and water have we got?”
“Hang on. There are other marks on that panel. We could skip around to other spots, and then get back to Muathen.” A tremor underfoot. “Come on!” Mentrianos reached for the panel, but Bunjaian pulled his arm away.
“No! Look around! At least we should find out what this place is like, before we go jumping into worse trouble.”
“All right. But fast!”
Leaving the two unconscious men on the chamber floor, with Mentrianos still holding Samantine, they strained, raised the handle on the wall. The door’s seams appeared from under a deep layer of dust, and opened to a turning passage spiraling up through hewn stone, heavy roots, and dense-packed soil lit only by a glowstick Bunjaian carried. They raced upward, stumbling.
The passage ended in a knotted tangle of brambles so thick that it seemed a wall. They listened. Silence, so deep that all they could hear was their breathing and heartbeats. Samantine stirred, wiggled, and gave a soft, hungry cry.
“Shh!” Mentrianos rocked her a little. What do I do now? I can’t feed her. This was stupid. I wanted her mother too, but…
His thought broke off as he recalled the strange, jagged stick thing he carried. Why was he carrying it? Was it affecting him? He turned to Bunjaian. “Why are we here, anyway? You wanted to get back, and I wanted to get away with this baby, but doing it here makes no sense to me now.”
Bunjaian nodded. “I was going to ask you the same question. But we’re standing here – don’t you feel the pull to get out into this place, the way I do? What is doing that to us?”
“Something’s in that wood I’m carrying, I think. It attracted my attention back at Fornonpae, so I took it, I don’t know why.” Mentrianos fumbled for the wood, but Samantine cried out, and he paused to soothe her.
Bunjaian touched his belly. “I’ve still got a piece of it in me, they said. They told me they’d take it out later.”
The ground shook. The two men exchanged looks. Bunjaian said, “We’d better go check on the others.” They hurried back down to the portal chamber.
Piotras and Guinban were gone.
Next scene is coming soon.