Kingdom's Fall

Chapter 27, Part 2

Gray thought he was dead until the dawn proved otherwise. The glimmer of light down the mouth of the tunnel was like an anchor, holding him fast to the world of the living. The night that came before it had been so long that he was certain the darkness would last forever. There was no sleep. There was no fear, either. Not any more. Just the pain, constant and ragged, too much to think clearly other than to know that this was what the end was like. Once he might have had an opinion on it. Now it was just the truth of the world. He was dead, or as good as, and the only thing that was holding him here was the long wedge of light that poured into the tunnel. It would grow, and tilt, and shrink again, and then it - and he - would be gone.

He watched the light for a while, and as he watched it he was aware of something else. There were noises, too faint to be recognised or even claimed as real, but they were there to be heard nonetheless. The pain nagged at him, folded up around him, trying to get his attention, but he pushed it away and strained to hear. There were noises, and he knew somehow that they were important.

The noises grew louder, then faint again, and finally loud enough that he could be certain they weren't in his head. The light at the tunnel mouth vanished and re-appeared again, and the flutter of shadow was enough to set his heartbeat racing. The shock of it brought him fully awake.

Gray was on his back, his head propped up on a bundle of rags and old tent cloth so that he could look past his own feet down to the tunnel's mouth. Even if he wanted to turn over, he couldn't. His left hand made sure of it. He hadn't seen it since they had helped him into the tunnel, but that was probably for the best. He couldn't even feel the fingers on that side anymore. It was as if they had ceased to exist. The pain was still there, though. It was getting worse, climbing up his arm and sending tentative feelers out across his chest. He knew how bad that was, and what it meant for him. He could feel his heart beating in his chest, a hard, regular beat, the last vigorous defence of the body doing the only thing it could to stay alive a little bit longer. Knowing that it wasn't going to help was a hollow sensation, an intense, deep sorrow that felt like a weight sitting dead centre on his chest. Gray tried to ignore it. He'd been ignoring that feeling his whole life, and he was damned if he was going to change now. He had a duty, and he was certain that he wasn't going to die until he saw it done.

You did well by the boy, he thought. Now give him a chance to make that count.

Down at the tunnel mouth there was another shadow and more noise. A foot scuffed against rock. The fall of pebbles and dirt pushed out of place. Voices. Gray paused, and listened. He couldn't make out words, but there was rhythm to it. The close voice calling out, reporting back. The one further off responding, giving orders. The chain of command. Someone outside was playing it safe, sending in an underling to be their eyes and ears. Gray smiled to himself. Fat lot of good it was going to do them.

The light in the tunnel was obscured again as the person outside crouched to make their way in. The Engineers had been in a hurry, so they had dug it small. The chamber at the end was large enough to hold the charges, but getting down there was a close business. Gray could hear the man's breath, all the little gasps and scrapes that he made as he worked his way forward. He did well not to scream when he touched Gray's boot, but the sound he made as he recoiled backwards was one that Gray would treasure. It was the sound of someone who sorely regretted not having brought a lamp, or a change of trousers.

Gray worked his mouth, wondering if he even still had a voice to speak with. "Do you need a light?" He asked. "I've got one you can use."

"You do?" The voice was young, innocent, and filled with a kind of wonder at their strange meeting. Once upon a time, Gray would have felt bad about that, but now he just wanted it all to be over. Sympathy could go hang.