The Last Hope

31 - Trade

SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER - Holding Out For a Hero, covered by Nothing But Thieves. If you enjoy the chapter please vote and share, it means a lot. Also, I actively encourage commenting and am trying my best to reply to any as quickly as I can. Want a chat? Don't be shy!

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Each step was a drumbeat. Mirrored by the frantic pounding of her heart. Every scuffle of stone under her boots sounded like a screech, a battle cry. Mercy gripped the rings tighter through the pocket of her jacket, raising the sprite light high above her head with her other hand. Until now, she'd let it float in the air alongside her, following them both as a faithful companion. But once they'd stepped foot into the tunnel, it had stopped mid-air, and no amount of persuasion could get it to move again. Like it was scared. Mercy huffed in irritation and wrenched it out of the sky, keeping a tight grip as it squirmed.

Briefly, she'd wished she'd let Sebastian walk in front, as the caves were now far too narrow for them to walk side by side. Claws of sharp rock scraped at her as she squeezed through another tiny opening, turning sideways, and pressing her back as far into the stone wall as she could. It was uncomfortable, but not impossible. The air pressed down on her as she popped out the other side, still in the tunnel, but much wider. Up ahead, it opened into another cavern, but it was too dim and gloomy in the tunnel to see much of anything.

Hot air blew through the passage, blowing the tendrils of dark hair that had escaped from her braid away from her face. She crinkled her nose at the putrid stench of sulphur and something metallic. Mercy turned and waited for Sebastian to exit through the tight space behind her. When he eventually did, his heavy breathing and anxious eyes did nothing to put Mercy's mind at ease. She supposed she should be thankful Lincoln hadn't come with them, there was no way he'd be able to fit through these caves the way she and Sebastian did. Sebastian was struggling with just his broad shoulders; Mercy couldn't imagine adding to that a six-foot wingspan.

"Okay?" Mercy spoke directly into Sebastian's mind. He didn't jump like he did before, but braced his hands on his knees, holding up one finger. Like he was winded. Mercy cocked her head and wondered how debilitating his fear of confinement was, and where it had come from. Not that she didn't have her own fears, she was thankful these tunnels were beneath the ground and not fifteen stories above it. The air blew through the chamber again, and this time Mercy held her breath until it had passed.

"Fine. It's just the wards." It was strangled and pitiful reassurance, even in her head.

Mercy raised a quizzical brow, "the wards?"

Sebastian raised himself to his full height and cocked his head to the side, "Can't you feel them? They're like fire ants all over my skin."

Truthfully, Mercy hadn't felt anything but slightly uncomfortable since they'd entered the tunnels. But if Sebastian said there were wards then...

"I can't feel anything."

"Maybe because your magic is so different from anything else, the wards don't know to keep you out."

Well, it was as good an explanation as any, even if Mercy didn't completely understand it herself. She nodded anyway and turned around to pick her way through the last length of the tunnels. As she approached the open hole at the end of the tunnel, light flooded in and what she thought was a dip in the floor and a path to the lower ground was actually a sheer drop. Far, far below, the ground was spiky and sharp. Jagged edges waiting to impale victims should they fall from the precariously balanced wooden ladder leaning up against one side of the wall. The ladder was rickety and archaic and definitely lead to nothing but death, spanning the whole length of the rock wall down to the cave floor beneath.