Book 7: Chapter 23: Deeper
Wait, Lesh rumbled, nudging past Valla to better peer into the darkness. Victor felt a small surge of Energy, and then the giant warriors reptilian eyes began to shine with mossy green luminescence. I see a great chasm with tunnels branching off at the bottom. Its fifty times as deep as I am tall. There are shapes moving at the bottomivid, Id wager. Theres a narrow path cut into the face of this wall. If were careful, we should be able to descend, though Id brighten your globe a bit.
Victor nodded and willed his globe of light closer to the ground, brightening it slightly. Sure enough, a narrow path led downward to the left. Too narrow for anything but the bipedal ivid, he whispered, stepping down and onto the path, hardly wide enough for his large, booted foot.
Should I fly down?
If you do, you wont be alone. Leshs reply, for some reason, made Victor chuckle. He supposed it had to do with his dry tone without any judgment. He wasnt saying Valla shouldnt fly down, but he wasnt saying she should, either.
Ill stay with you. She didnt sound happy, and Victor could imagine why: being forced to trudge around through tunnels deep underground when youve tasted the freedom of flight in an open, windy sky . . . He shook his head, pushing the thought aside; he needed to focus. The narrow path had come to a switchback, and there wasnt much room for maneuvering. He almost slipped as he turned back the opposite way, but the resin-coated dirt was hard, giving good traction, and his boot caught well enough for him to recover his balance.
Victor, Lesh hoarsely whispered as they made the next turn.The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))
Yeah?
You should put your light out. Some of the insects have been glancing up at us. Ill warn you when the next switchback is coming.
Great. Victor pulled his Energy back from his globe, reducing it to a tiny flickering mote of light that he kept close to his feet. It was barely enough to illuminate the tops of his boots, but his Quinametzin eyes used it to paint the path before him in monochromatic gray anglessufficient to keep him from walking off into the abyss. They descended like that, painstakingly slowly, for nearly an hour before they came to the final stretch that would take them to the bottom of the underground crevasse. Victor couldnt quite make out the furtive, clicking shapes below, so he turned to Lesh, waiting for the big warrior to tell him when to move.
The ground is ten feet below us, and theres a tunnel straight across. I havent seen any of the small workers going into it, so we should be safe to regroup there. Take hold of my belt, Valla, and Victor will hold your hand as we move. Straight down and across when I say. Ready?
Ready, Victor replied softly. Valla said the same, and then they waited for Lesh to choose the right moment. Seconds ticked into minutes, and then, just as Victor was beginning to daydream about things he wanted to search for in Sojourn, Lesh silently dropped off the ledge. Valla made a soft yip of surprise, and then she dropped after him, and Victor followed. When he landed beside her, surprisingly without stumbling, Valla fumbled for and grabbed his hand. Then, Lesh darted forward, pulling her and Victor along. Victor could barely see the ground around them, but when they ran forward, he could feel the weight of the space above them, and his skin crawled with the sensation of being watched by a thousand sets of eyes.
He was almost surprised when they made it to the tunnel without some sort of clicking, hissing alarm being sounded. Lesh pulled them in, then turned back and rumbled, You can make your light brighter here.
Victor did so, finding that they stood in a tunnel very much like the one theyd left up at the top of the chasm. At least were still going down.
Lesh nodded. We are deep, indeed, by now.
Lets keep moving, Valla said, and Victor thought he heard some strain in her voice. As Lesh turned, leading the way deeper, he moved his light closer to Valla to see her face better.
You doing all right? he asked, motioning for her to walk ahead of him.
Not really. I think part of my racial evolution has made me more . . . claustrophobic, I suppose, is the right word. Im not enjoying having miles of earth and insects above our heads. What if the recall tokens dont work? She looked back at him, eyes wide with stress as she asked her question.
Look, Im not loving it down here, either, but I promise you, if I have to move the earth itself, I will get you out of this hive. Of course, Victor recognized his Quinametzin ego asserting itself, but it seemed to put Valla at ease, so he went with it. Was he really sure he could get them out of there? He supposed not, but hed die trying, and that was good enough; thered be time in the next life for regretting poorly made promises. Valla followed Lesh, and Victor followed Valla, and they made their way steadily downward.
They passed another great worker hall, this one housing tens of thousands of the smaller workers. In that hall, narrow catwalks made of dirt and resin ran between the dozens of upper tiers of insect cells. Constant traffic flowed over those high, strange bridgeways and at the ground level where Victor and the others walked. Still, the workers moved purposefully, heads down, and as long as they kept their distance, the bugs didnt seem to pay any mind to the three outsiders.
Lesh was good about keeping a retreat planned; every time a worker or one of the attendants approached them, he hastily moved back to a side tunnel or an empty cell, ducking to the side while the ivid went by. Another hour of descent became two hours, then three, and Victor lost count of the chambers full of cells and side passages they passed. Though they traversed mile after mile of tunnel, they constantly moved downward, and Victor began to wonder just how deep they were.
After a long period of silence, he asked, Theres no way we could have doubled back, right?
You first, Lesh said, holding his end of the rope tight in his scaled fist.
How are you gonna cross without anyone to hold your end?
Ill leap out, swinging from the rope, and climb up.
Victor looked the huge dragonkin up and down and snorted. Hermano, you arent built for that kind of shit. Let me hold it while you climb across, then Ill do the leaping, yeah?
I suppose. Lesh frowned. You could reduce your size further?
Yeah, of course. If I fall, I can probably jump up to that walkway, too.
Very well. Lesh handed him the rope, and then, as Victor pulled it tight, he tested his weight against it, pulling hard. Victor grunted and had to dig in his heels, but he knew he could support the dragonkins weight. If he got worried, he could always cast Iron Berserkhe was already channeling his Sovereign Will into his strength and vitality.
Go on! he urged the dragonkin. Lesh gave him one more nod, then, with surprising grace, leaped out onto the silken line, pulling himself hand over hand toward Valla. Victor was surprised by the initial leap and had to jerk back on the rope, leaning backward with all his weight to keep from being pulled out of the tunnel, but after that, it was easy to keep the rope supported. Luck must have been with them, or the fresh dose of ivid scent must have been especially potent because, though Lesh passed between two other walkways, none of the ivid gave him a second glance as he passed over and under them.
When he was safely squatting beside Valla, Victor nodded, contemplating things. If he dropped off the ledge and hung from the rope, hed be hanging across another walkway, and his line might touch one of them or, worse, knock one off as he descended. The only apparent way he could see himself getting to the walkway where Valla and Lesh waited was to jump past the other intervening span. Then, he could let himself swing and climb his way up beside Valla. Yep, gonna have to do it. He hung Lifedrinker back in her harness, then gathered up the feather-light rope and backed up for a running start.
He wrapped the rope around his right wrist several times and then switched his Sovereign Will boost from vitality to agility. Here we go, he breathed, then took two long strides and leaped out of the tunnel, aiming to cross the walkway about twenty feet out and five feet below the ledge. He soared over it effortlessly and had enough momentum that he was afraid hed hit the far wall on his way down, but then the silken rope snapped taut, pulling on his right arm, and he swung upward. Victor didnt wait to swing back the other way; he immediately started to climb the strand, easily pulling his weight up hand over hand. By the time he reached the end of his swing and started back the other way, hed shortened his hanging distance from the walkway by half.
In seconds, he slapped a hand onto the smooth span and felt Lesh and Valla grab ahold of it. Once, with their aid, hed scrambled onto the walkway, Lesh untied his rope and gathered it up. Very nimbly done, he rumbled as they hunkered down together.
Lets go! Victor didnt like being out in the open like they were. He took the lead, crouching low and hurrying along the walkway toward the distant tunnel opening Lesh had pointed out. Ivid moved along all around them. Some shuffled in the same direction, others in the opposite. They made strange sounds as they walked, like a constant susurration that filled the air, and Victor wondered if it was their breathing or just the sound of their chitin or fluid-filled joints. Whatever it was, it was nerve-wracking being amidst it, and he moved very quickly toward their goal, trusting that Lesh and Valla would speak up if he went too fast.
They reached the tunnel, and, for the first time in the hive, Victor saw smooth stone walls and flooring. Either this tunnel had been there before the ivid, or they had another caste of workers that could shape stone. He looked back at Valla and Lesh. Ready? Lesh held up his rope, so Victor nodded. Could the big dragonkin really not drop fifty feet? Or was he worried hed be too loud? Victor held the rope for him without arguing or questioningtime for that later. Lesh made short work of the climb down, and soon, hed darted into the stone tunnel, peering up at Victor and Valla.
I can hold the rope for you, she said.
I can jump down . . .
Will that not be loud?
Victor frowned, more annoyed that hed been mentally judging Lesh for needing a rope than that she was right. All right, he sighed, giving it a tug and grinning as Valla stumbled toward him. Hold it tight. Ill put my weight on it slowly.
Youd better! She bared her teeth at him in a nervous smile, and he realized she was doing everything she could to keep it together. He quickly stepped toward her, trying to hug her, to offer some comfort, but she bristled, pushing him back. Not now! I . . . I cant keep it together out here among them much longer!
Right. Sorry. Victor gripped the rope and slowly backed off the walkway, waiting for Valla to have his full weight before he rapidly descended. He set foot on the smooth stone only ten feet from a long column of workers, and he hurriedly turned and jogged into the tunnel to Lesh. When he glanced back, he was almost surprised to find that none of the bugs had chased him or raised an alarm. With a flutter of ammonia-laced air, Valla landed beside him and passed the silken rope to Lesh.
Come on! she hissed, moving further into the tunnel away from the crowded ivid highway. Lesh and Victor followed her, and theyd only descended into the wide stone hall for a dozen paces before she pulled up short and slammed herself against the stone wall, trying to sink into the darkness there. Lesh followed her lead, and Victor slowed, crouching low, trying to see what had alerted her. He didnt have to look farabout a half mile down the smooth, straight tunnel was a massive arched opening backlit by what looked like daylight. On either side of the tremendous, bright archway stood bipedal ivid with shiny, silvery, metallic carapaces and wielding enormous polearms.
What the fu . . . Victor started to say, but Valla slapped a hand to his mouthone of the ivid guardians had turned toward them, though it seemed its eyesight couldnt peel Victors shape from the shadows. After just a moment of scrutiny, it turned forward. Victor put his lips just a fraction of an inch from Vallas ear and whispered, I can see why other groups failed this bullshit quest.
