The Hunter (37 page)

Carn was desperate. He could hear Keri’s and Braldt’s voices and sometimes he even caught sight of them in the distance, but
try as he might, he could not catch up with them. His voice, a rough raspy croak, would not carry more than a few yards. What
if they disappeared and left him all alone! The thought lent speed to his feet and he hurried through the dark corridors,
almost weeping with desperation. Then his vision blurred with tears of frustration and he
slammed into a fallen panel. Reeling with pain, he staggered from one side of the corridor to the other. Blood coursed down
his face and streamed into his eyes. He cursed and cried aloud, blinking his eyes and trying to stumble on, but the pain was
too great and he sank to his knees and wept.

By the time the flow of blood was stemmed and his vision cleared, they were gone. He had known that it would be so and accepted
it with a calm resignation, chiding himself. How had he dared to doubt? How could he have been so weak as to think that the
gods would abandon him? Had they not given him the greatest gift of all? There must be a reason for this, even if he could
not understand it. His faith had carried him through greater trials than this; he had only to place his trust in Mother Moon
and she would show him the way.

He settled himself at the base of the fallen panel and waited calmly, absolutely certain now that his god would not desert
him. After a while, he began to hear the murmur of voices. They were faint, distant, but they were unmistakably the sounds
of his vanished companions. He had to listen closely to hear them above the constant mutter of the mountain, but they were
there to be heard. He began to follow the thread of their voices, cautiously avoiding the many pitfalls that littered the
broken corridor, certain now that he would find them.

There was a sick feeling in the pit of Braldt’s stomach. Had the Madrelli betrayed them after all? It had always been a possibility,
but after all they had gone through together, it was hard to believe. Still, there was no doubting the fact that he was gone.
Keri had turned to one side and was now picking at what appeared to be a solid wall. She gave a small cry of amazement and
called to Braldt. Just then, she took a step backward and Batta Flor rose up before her, appearing magically out of nowhere.

Braldt moved forward, angry words on his lips, but before he could speak, Batta Flor grabbed him by the wrist and began dragging
him toward the narrow opening. “I’ve
found it, found what we were looking for. Hurry, there may still be a chance!”

“Where were you and why did you slip away from us like that?” Braldt said angrily, pulling free of Batta Flor’s grasp, realizing
then how completely they depended on him and how utterly lost they would be without him.

Batta Flor turned toward him with shining eyes, his excitement obvious. Seeing Braldt’s glowering face, he faltered and the
joyful look vanished, replaced by the somber, guarded expression that was the norm.

“I was gone for but a moment,” he replied stiffly. “I saw the cracked edge of the door and slipped inside to see if my suspicions
were correct.”

He fell silent then and Braldt could do nothing but ask the question. “And what did you find?”

“It was as I hoped, a stairway, with glyphs that have some meaning to me. They will lead us to the level above the chamber.”

“What good will that do?” Keri asked.

“Don’t you see.” Batta Flor turned to her, his eyes bright with barely suppressed enthusiasm. “This is a serviceway! It will
give us access to the floor above the flooded chamber as well as the heating and cooling and fresh air ducts in the ceilings.
It is possible that we can find an entry to the chamber or some way of shutting off the flow of water!”

“Do you really think so?” Braldt asked, berating himself for suspecting the Madrelli of foul play.

“Yes,” said Batta Flor. “There is no doubt that it will lead to the right levels. whether we can enter safely is another matter
entirely. Nor will we know the answer until we see with our own eyes. Come, let us go now. Sooner begun, soonest done!”

It was good to see Batta Flor in such good spirits and for the moment, he seemed to have forgotten about his injury. Keri
noticed that the ear had come unstuck from the medicinal adhesive and was twisted forward at a strange angle. She raised her
hand to press it back in place, but Batta Flor stopped her before she could touch it.

“No,” he said softly. “Leave it, it does not matter anymore. It is a useless thing like a broken twig hanging from a tree.”
To her horror, he reached up and ripped the ear from his skull, tearing away the strip of flesh and fiir that formed the fragile
connection, and threw the severed ear down. It lay on the floor between them like the corpse of a small animal, rather than
a portion of his living body.

Braldt gasped sharply and Keri bit back a cry and looked up at Batta Flor with wondering eyes. His own small, dark eyes glittered
feverishly in the smooth, dark skin that framed his face. The thick fur seemed to crowd inward, compressing his features,
making him appear more animallike, and Keri realized that it was because of the loss of the ear.

The ears had served to make his features more natural, more like a Duroni than an animal. She closed her eyes briefly and
tried to remind herself that this was Batta Flor, her friend, with whom she had shared heartbreak, sorrow, and her most private
thoughts. He was no animal but a stalwart and loyal friend.

“Don’t you see,” he said softly, taking her hands in his own and speaking directly to her. “It doesn’t matter anymore. None
of it. There is nothing left for me, I have no future, I cannot return. It would have been better if I had died back there,
instead of dying in bits and pieces. No, please,” he said, laying his fingers on her lips as she tried to speak. “Listen to
me, our lives, our cultures, are different. I know what I am saying. I know what is best for me and for Sytha Trubal and the
tribe.”

“But you are giving up without even giving her the chance to speak for herself!” Keri said impatiently. “It’s not fair, don’t
you see that! You men are always doing stupid things, making these dumb noble decisions when it is we women who must live
a lifetime with the consequences. I will not let you do whatever it is that you are planning! I won’t! And I speak for Sytha
Trubal as well! Don’t you dare go and do something dumb!”

“How like her you are,” said Batta Flor with a sad smile.

“I don’t know what either of you is talking about,” said Braldt. “But don’t you think that we should do whatever it is that
needs to be done? We don’t really have the time to stand around talking; the tremors are coming closer and closer together.
We would do well to be away from this place if it is possible.”

“The serviceway may have exterior outlets,” Batta Flor replied and Braldt could not help but notice that the fur on his shoulder
and chest was already matted with fresh blood.

Beast had slipped through the narrow crack and was whining softly. His huge scooped ears twitched back and forth as though
catching sound from all directions and his muzzle quivered as well. He lifted his front paws, treading nervously as if there
were water on the floor, and looked to Braldt for reassurance. Braldt ruffled the thick fur on the nape of his neck, and disturbed
at the air of indecision that seemed to be affecting his companions, he opened the narrow door and stepped inside.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust for the staircase was even more dimly lit than the corridor had been. Below him and
off at an angle, a single light shed a pale cone of luminescence on a square bit of flooring. Even farther below in the distance
there were other pricks of light like tiny white stars in a night sky. He could see nothing else.

Batta Flor and Keri appeared beside him; leaving the door open behind them to allow in as much light as possible, the three
of them moved silently forward. Batta Flor moved into the lead, which Braldt did not contest. The wall was on their left and
a slender waist-high rail ran along the right-hand edge of the stairs, which were both steep and narrow. Batta Flor dropped
to all fours and moved more easily than his Duroni companions.

They reached the first light without incident and stood there for a moment waiting for their eyes to adjust to the deeper
darkness, hoping to discern something of their surroundings. There was another of the now-familiar plaques affixed to the
wall and Batta Flor stood up on his hind legs
to inspect it, his keen eyes capable of reading in the near darkness.

“Two levels to go,” he said in a soft tone.

“Is there another door here? Should we look and see what is to be found?” asked Keri, peering over Batta Flor’s shoulder.

Batta Flor shrugged. “No reason to do so, a waste of time. I think that these were excavated when the place was first built,
when they were still searching for the rhodium, exploratory shafts that they paneled over for safety when they were done.
I don’t think any of them really go anywhere. We were lucky to stumble on them the way we did or we’d still be wandering around
back at the lake. No, this is the way we want to go.”

“Shouldn’t we light some torches?” Keri asked, looking out at the almost total darkness.

“No again. We won’t be able to carry torches with us in the ducts, they’re too narrow and the metal would hold the heat and
burn us. It’s best to become adjusted to the darkness now.”

“You seem so certain of what we will find,” Braldt said, wondering if it could really be so.

“I am sure,” said Batta Flor. “These glyphs are known to me. We are on the right path.” Braldt might have spoken again, questioned
the Madrelli, but Batta Flor stepped forward into the darkness and began descending the next set of stairs in a smooth, swinging
glide. Soon, he was lost to their sight. Beast whined and trotted down the stairs followed almost immediately by Keri. Braldt
hesitated for a moment and then he too followed their lead.

They did not stop at the next landing, pausing only long enough for Batta Flor to run his fingertips over the glyph panel
and grunt enigmatically. They plunged onward, taking the final set of steps with growing excitement, so caught up in their
own rising hopes that they failed to notice the light dim three levels above them as a dark figure slipped through the doorway
and stood there for a moment listening to their voices before it vanished in the darkness.

Beast yipped with nervous agitation and danced up and
down on his hind legs, easily divining the mood of his companions. The small band hurried down the final few steps and then
came to an abrupt halt. Before them was an expanse of dark water that shone bleakly in the dim light from above and lapped
at the foot of the stairs. They looked at one another, their eyes filled with dismay, knowing, now that the hope had been
stripped from them, how very much they had counted on this avenue of escape. Their eyes returned to the sight of the dark
water, felt the tremors beneath their feet, and knew that there was nowhere left to go.

Keri sank down on the lowest step and rested her head
on her arms, unwilling to let the others see her tears that she could not hide. She was tired and hungry and afraid. She
was tired of the overwhelming darkness and her heart still ached with the loss of Carn. More than anything she wanted to be
home, to feel her mother’s arms around her. Still, she could not complain, for she had won Braldt and that was reason enough
for all that she had endured. Although nothing, not even Braldt, could ever make up for the loss of her brother.

She was still sitting there with her head bowed, trying to compose herself, when Batta Flor moved past her and stepped into
the water. “What are you doing, where are you going?”

“Going to see what there is to see, girl,” Batta Flor replied with a flash of white teeth. “That is, unless you feel like
swimming and want to stay here for a while.”

“Oh, no!” Keri cried, leaping to her feet. “It’s just, I saw this water and—and I figured…”

“Figured you’d best give up,” Batta Flor finished for her. “Well, we can give up or we can keep going. The water’s not so
high that we can’t get through it. Come on, now, let’s be on our way! Soonest begun…”