Before Moonrise

4. Darkness

Rowan is slumped against my shoulder, unconscious.

As we fall through the darkness, I think back.

Insane, he had called her. I wonder what 'insane' means in this case. I picture a woman with tangled hair and far-away eyes, sitting in silence. I wonder if she ever speaks at all.

We continue to plummet through the black. We must be at least three miles under ground.

I suppose I should be petrified. Not only am I falling down a tunnel that doesn't seem to have an end, I have broken the Code of the Moon. If you break it the way I have in the last half hour, the Code clearly states that that person should be executed.

And then there's the fact that I have a live human in my arms.

At least, I hope he's still alive...

Just when I begin to think that we will never finish falling, we hit the ground.

I am on my feet again in less than a second. For some bizarre reason, I am not in the slightest bit hurt.

My extra strong eyes soon adjust to the dark, and I see that we're at the start of some tunnel.

I cannot see the end.

"Oh great-" I don't finish my sentence. My voice sounds so strange and out of place here, in the cold, black, echoing place.

I shiver, and begin to walk.

And walk and walk and walk.

After what seems like forever, the unconscious Rowan and I are in a wide and open space.

Two rivers flow from either side of the massive space, meeting in the middle, forming a large pool. Rising from the center of it is a huge, shining, pale white stone. On the stone is an engraving of a wolf, howling.

On the walls are ancient drawings of more wolves, the Thistle, weapons and one big carving of the Isle of Lycanthrope.

The entire cave is made from white marble.The water that is rushing along the rivers is no ordinary water. It is a dark blue colour, the little waves swirling in strange and mystical patterns. The oddest thing about it of all is the stars that seem to shimmer from the depths, lighting the darkness very slightly.

If I was not faced with the danger of Rowan's death, I would have spent a long as possible staring at this beautiful but creepy place. Instead, I take all of three seconds to take this in.

I lay him carefully on the hard, cold ground. I look in his satchel for something to lie him on. I find a weird sort of cocoon of thick material. Perfect.

I scoot it under him and quickly grab my own satchel.

Whenever we go out, we take basic medicines and herbs with us, just in case. I suppose it's lucky that I chose to bother with this rule.

I take in a final breath before his wound is fully exposed again.

I lay everything out, thinking back to my lessons. It's handy that I have a good memory, because I was twelve when I was taught, now I'm fifteen.

I carefully unbind his side and eye the small hole. I don't think he will need stitches. I don't have the equipment for that sort of thing, anyway. Or the skill.

I open my own satchel, and spread out all my supplies. I have a couple of ready made medicines, a fistful of leaves, some berries and a root. I can't quite remember exactly what they are all for, let alone their names.

First of all, it needs to be washed. I pick up my water skin and start to pour the water onto his wound.

Well, it certainly looks clean. But now I can see the damage Sunset has done. Hatred courses through my veins as I observe the wound which is deeper than I thought.