Daughter of the Dragon

Chapter 19: The Exit (UPDATED)

Valant and Darya waved goodbye to Rasselin and followed Meika along the pool's edge. She led them through several natural-looking tunnels and smaller caverns until they found an opening almost precisely like the one they found behind the waterfall. Nine feet tall and about as wide, perfectly shaped in a way that natural tunnels weren't.

"This is it," Meika declared and walked forward without hesitation. Darya and Valant followed close behind.

The journey to the surface was eerily similar to their earlier descent into the earth. They walked in silence to let Meika concentrate, following her through the tunnels, taking a left here, two rights there, then through a chamber, into another tunnel, and so forth. Their guide led them unerringly toward the surface. Without Meika, Darya and Valant would be hopelessly lost.

Valant knew they were close to the exit when their surroundings started to change. The tunnel became less uniform, and the stone walls changed color and texture. Finally, they stepped across the threshold and into a small cave. It was little more than a big hole gouged out of a sandstone escarpment. There was no waterfall here. Instead, the cave entrance was hidden behind thick bushes and thorny brambles.

It had taken them only two, maybe three hours, to reach the exit—far less time than they had wasted going down. Rasselin's directions had no doubt helped.

Meika put her arms over her head and stretched. "When we get to Oakhill, I'm going to pay for a bath and a massage."

"We should use money as little as possible," Valant protested. They had a purse—Ela's secret stash—with some coins. A gold piece, a fistful of silver, a smattering of coppers. Maybe forty shillings all told. Not a lot, but enough to get them to Highrock if they didn't spend it all on hot meals, wine, baths, and massages.

Meika threw Valant a smile. "I was joking. We could use some laughter around here." When no one laughed, Meika sighed. "I asked Rasselin about the little boy he found in the tunnels. But he said there was no time to explain. So I should ask you, Valant, since he's already told you all he knows."

"Can't it wait? There is nothing much to say, really."

"Then just say it. Unless you'd rather not talk about it?"

Valant hesitated. He could tell Meika. Of course, he could. That wasn't the issue. But this was neither the time nor the place. They should keep going, stay alert, avoid trouble, find the rod, and go back to free Rasselin.

"I need to rest for a few minutes anyway. Threading the maze was taxing."

"All right, but there isn't much to say. Sixteen years ago, Rasselin found a little boy with dark skin and black hair, barely old enough to walk, in the tunnels. That boy was me, obviously. The boy had stumbled across a threshold and was hopelessly lost. He was tired, hungry, and frightened out of his mind. Rasselin gave the boy water to quench his thirst and the fruits of the forest to still his hunger, and then he led the boy to the surface."

"Why do you refer to yourself as 'the boy'?" Meika said between gulps of water.

It was a good question, actually. Valant hadn't really thought about it. "I... I guess it's the way he told the story, Meika. I don't remember any of it, so it doesn't feel like me."

"Go on." Meika smiled encouragingly.

"He—Rasselin—left the boy in the woods right outside Stelmond. The villagers there were more likely than most to take him in. And they had a witch there, in case there were... complications. He even considered taking the boy—me—directly to Ela but decided not to. He didn't know her and didn't want anyone to know about his existence."