In The Shadows of the Cavern of Death (Shadows of Death Book 1) (9 page)

Chapter 9

Strange sounds surrounded me, and opening my eyes to see what it was, I was blinded by pain as if shards of glass were being gouged into my eyes. Crying out, I threw myself from Tristian, curling onto my knees. I wrapped my head with my arms, hiding my eyes from the source of my pain. My cries must have woken Tristian, because his curses soon joined my cries. Ripping at my outer shirt, I pulled it off, keeping my eyes squeezed shut as I ripped it into strips and wrapped it around my head. Slowly, I tested it, barely opening my eyes, adding a second strip before it muted the light, enough to stop the pain, but I could see. Wiping the tears from my cheeks, I went to Tristian, whispering nonsense words so he would loosen his grip enough that I could help him. After wrapping his eyes, I grabbed his arm to bring him deeper into the shadow of the tree where the sun’s rays couldn’t blind us.

“What was that?” he hoarsely asked.

“It was the sun. We’ve been in the dark so long it will take time for our eyes to adjust to the light.”

“Are you sure that they’ll adjust?”

“Absolutely. It will just take a bit of time,” I confidently told him, even though it was just a guess, one that I hoped was right.

Standing up, he held his hand out to me. “Come on, we need to go and get our packs before something happens to them.”

Taking his hand, I allowed him to lead me back to our packs, exactly where we left them. But instead of staying there, he picked them up and took us back to the shady spot by the water that we had just left. “It’s better if we stay out of the sun as much as possible for now, until we know the effects that it will have on our bodies,” he said, before sitting back down and pulling out breakfast for us.

I couldn’t argue with him; he made perfect sense. If the sun did this to our eyes, there was no telling what it would do to our skin. Reaching for the food he set out for me, I slowly ate it as I looked around this place, no less lovely even with my muted vision.

“Do you think its OK if we explore or should we wait until it gets dark?” I asked, wanting to explore, but willing do what he felt best.

“We’ll have to be careful, but I think you’re right and we should explore. We need to find food and shelter.” 

Looking around, I was sure there was an abundance of food; we just had to figure out what was good to eat. “We should watch the animals and see what they eat.”

“Yeah, that’s probably the best plan. If they’re eating it, it should be safe for us.”

Looking at the water, I said, “Do you think it would be OK if I went into the water?”

“I think so, why?”

Smiling, I picked at my clothing with my fingers. “Because I stink and I want to feel what it’s like,” I said, looking at it longingly. Water had always been scarce for us, we were allotted a certain amount each day. No one had ever submersed themselves in it in our cavern, but I knew that that’s the way we used to bathe.

Laughing, he said, “Yeah, you are ripe!”

Ignoring him, I started to strip, eager to go in. Leaving on my underclothes, I grabbed the bar of soap that my sisters had covetously guarded like it was food. Pushing away the memories of them and the pain it brought, I gathered up my clothes and approached the edge. Setting the clothes down, I timidly set my foot on a rock that was in the water. It was the strangest feeling. It was warm and cold if that makes any sense. Intrigued, I stepped on another rock, then another, until water moved around my legs, all the way up to my knees. Shivering from the chill of the water, but warmed from the sun, I was entranced by the feelings. The water was a clear color I had never seen the likes of, ours had always had a brown tinge to it.

Knowing that if I thought about it too much I’d never do it, I jumped from a rock into the darker, deeper part in front of me. Squeezing my eyes and mouth closed, I sank down, my head going completely under and it was terrifying until my feet touched the ground. Laughing when I broke back to the surface, I gave a little scream when Tristian put his arm around me.

“Are you alright?” he frantically demanded, pulling me toward the rock I had just jumped from.

Giggling, I said, “I’m fine, I just forgot to put my feet down.” I stood and the water came to my shoulders. “Isn’t it the most amazing thing that you’ve ever felt?” I babbled. Giddy as I moved through it, I dunked my head back under, trying to touch the bottom with my hand. Coming back up, spitting out the water that was in my mouth, I guessed I should keep it closed down there. I found Tristian were I left him, but he had smile on his face when he looked at me. Shaking his head, he grabbed my soap off the rock, turning his back.

Not about to let him ruin my fun, I moved my arms, kicking and splashing, trying to teach myself something I once read about––swimming. I was just getting the hang of it when he grabbed my foot, pulling me toward him. Sputtering at his unintentional dunking, I didn’t get a chance to say anything. I had just opened my mouth to let him have it when he grabbed my hand and placed the soap in it before turning and going toward the shore. Sticking my tongue out at his retreating back, I hurried and cleaned myself, wanting to get back to my fun. I had never felt freedom before, the joy of no responsibilities, and I wanted to bask in it for as long as I could.

Unfortunately Tristian had other ideas. When I went to put the soap on the rock, I saw him by the edge of the water cleaning his clothes without the soap––he was just wetting them. I guess playtime was over. Climbing out of the water, I gathered my clothes and went over to him. We silently worked together until everything was clean, laying the clothes out in the sun to dry before going back to sit in our shaded haven. After a while, I realized that my skin wasn’t cooling down. I thought that it was being in the sun that was making it warm, but as I looked down at it, I realized it was pink and it was starting to hurt. Looking over to Tristian, I saw that he was in the same condition.

“Do you feel OK?” I asked.

“No, my skin hurts and I feel tired,” he yawned

“Me too. Do you think that being in the sun did this?” I asked, pointing at the redness.

“It must have, we’re going to have to be careful about being in it for any length of time. I think it’s also best if we keep our skin covered by our clothing if we have to be in it.”

Nodding that I agreed, I let out a yawn and laid down on the cool grass. It felt good against my warm skin. I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes again, it was just getting darker. My skin still hurt, though not as bad, and so did my head. Tristian was spread out next to me and our clothes were in a pile next to of him, he must have gathered them up before going to sleep. Standing up, I was a little dizzy, but I fought it until my head cleared. Removing the strips of cloth from my eyes, I looked down at my skin. It was looking much better, though it was still red in some spots like burns. Taking a long drink of water to clear my head, I quietly dressed, wanting to give him as much time to rest as I could.

A sound I thought never to hear again echoed in the distance, causing me to run to Tristian and shake him awake. Terrified, I put my hand over his mouth as it sounded again, causing him to sit up. With wide eyes we looked around, waiting to see the soldiers come for us. Jumping to his feet, Tristian grabbed his clothing, throwing them on as I stuffed everything else back into our bags. A third shot rang out just as I put the last item into the bag; throwing myself to the ground, I waited for our deaths.

“It’s too far away,” Tristian whispered.

Confused, I asked. “What’s too far away?”

“The sound, listen, it’s carrying over the land. They’re not shooting at us, but something else.”

Well, that was great, but then who were they shooting at? “We’re not alone up here,” I said, as things we had seen since the moment we entered the Cavern of Death began to click in my head. Things like empty abandoned homes. But then I began to think of other things that I had never thought to question before, like our Governors’ and speakers’ skin color on the day of the lottery, at times darker than ours, but at other times red like mine was now. How many years had they been on the surface, leaving us to the darkness below? How many of us had they kept killing instead of finding a new food source that seemed to grow and walk in abundance upon this land?

As these thoughts rolled through my head, I was no longer scared, I was angry. My anger grew, strengthening my resolve as other thoughts went through me. We were their slaves and masters did not travel without their slaves. Crowley had told me that long ago, he wasn’t sure how many hundreds of years ago, one of our jobs used to be traveling to the other caverns to serve as house servants, but the practice was done away with and no one knew why. As of this moment I knew why. It was because they couldn’t have us going back and telling our community that the world had healed and we could leave the caverns. Oh, I was sure that they still had servants, so they either kept breeding pairs up here or not everyone really died at the lottery. How many of us were up here and where were they?

Turning to Tristian, I said, “We need to know what that was. Who or what they were shooting at.”

Staring off into the distance in the direction that the shot came from, he murmured, “If we go and they capture us, we’ll be killed.” He left out the “eventually,” that hung between us, unsaid.

We had just escaped from that hell, I was a fool for wanting to go anywhere near them. It wasn’t just my life I was risking, but Tristian’s, too. Still, even knowing this, I blurted out, “They won’t be expecting anyone else to be out here. If we’re careful, they’ll never know that we were there and I think it’s best if we know where they are and what they’re up to.”

“I know what you’re thinking, Misty, and the chances that she’ll be there are next to none,” he guessed, turning his gaze to me. Closing my eyes, I wanted to deny it, but I couldn’t. I knew that there was next to no chance that Rose was there, but still, until I saw for myself, it would haunt me. Every time I closed my eyes, she would join the twins, cursing me for leaving them behind, for not saving them.

With a sigh, he said, “We’ll cross the water here where it’s shallow and make our way toward the higher ground over there. It’ll give us a better lay of the land, so we know what we’re walking into.”

Raising my gaze to his, I whispered, “Thank you,” letting out a breath that I hadn’t realized I had been holding.

Reaching out, I took his offered hand, allowing him to pull me up. Silently I let him lead me across the water and into the woods. The sun was moving lower in the sky as we made our way. Fading rays from the sun penetrated the woods, giving it a soft glow that was magical. The darker it became, the more alive the woods became, as animals moved around. Their sounds seemed to carry into the night from soft hoots to sinister howls that caused shivers to race down my spine. Moving into a small clearing, Tristian stopped me from moving on by grabbing my arm.

“We’ll camp here for the night; it’s too dark to safely keep moving on,” he said, dropping his pack, “grab some sticks to make a small fire, it seems colder here than by the water.”

Gathering the sticks in the clearing, I asked worriedly, “Do you think a fire is a good idea, someone might see it?” 

“It’ll be fine, I’ll keep it small. The shots we heard were miles away, echoing from the distance.”

“Are you sure? I’m not cold. I think we would be OK without one.”

Throwing the sticks he had gathered down in the middle of the clearing, he used some dried leaves and got the fire going. “It’s not the cold that I’m worried about keeping away, but the animals,” he said, taking the sticks from my hands before pulling me down next to him.

Taking out the food and water, he split up a small portion between us before putting the pitiful amount left back. We would have to find something soon or we would starve. It would be a true irony if we managed to starve in a place where food literally grew around us after staying alive so long in the cavern.

Breaking the silence, I asked, “You think this is foolish, don’t you?”

“For thinking that you might find Rose, yes, for wanting to know where their city is so we can avoid it, no,” he quietly answered.

“It’s not that I think she’s alive, it’s having to know that she’s dead,” I said, trying to find the right words. “Besides, aren’t you curious to know if there are others of us among them?”

Seeming to think on my words before he answered, he said, “I don’t know if it will be better or worse to know. If they’re there we can’t help them and I will have to live with that knowledge that we are free while they are slaves. But if they aren’t there I know that they suffer below, trapped in darkness while their tormentors walk in paradise.” Gazing at his profile, I watched as he searched the fire, as if expecting it to hold the answers to his torment. I thought about what he said and knew that it was true. If I found Rose, I couldn’t take her from there and if I didn’t find her, I knew that death had claimed her––either way, it would haunt me, the inability to do anything. Whether I was free out here or a slave within the caverns didn’t matter. I still didn’t have the power to do what mattered. So I suppose the question was, is it better to live in ignorance or wallow in regret?