When Given a Lemon

Part 41

The night is black save for our torches and campfires. I can't stop myself from shivering. It feels like all the warmth of the world escaped with the last of the light and I can't seem to keep myself warm no matter how many layers I put on. I'm wrapped in a blanket supplied by the medical tent where I now sit, but it does little to help with any feelings of warmth or security.

It's nothing like those winter nights we had spent out in the woods and ruins, but I'm about as uncomfortable. This day has been a terrible one, full of fear and bloodshed, all completely covered in mud. The night is proving to be no better.

We had earlier been sent down into the darkness of the Queen's tunnel, myself included despite my attempts at looking busy.

It had nearly been the end of me!

…

Shivering worse than when I was freezing, I had followed those ahead of me into the pitch black opening, our torches doing little to light the way. The back of my neck and arms tingled with the fear of being pounced on at any moment by hidden bugs that no doubt are watching us descend further into the murky depths.

It's impossible to see where we are going in here and it isn't long before a soldier in front of me missteps and with a shrill scream disappears. Bringing our torches close, we quickly locate a dark hole where they had just been. Their fear could be heard for only a few seconds before it had faded into nothingness. Now all we hear is our own thundering heart beats. Another soldier drops the unlucky man's torch down into the shaft and we all crane to see its rapid descent before it too disappears.

“Wherever this goes, it’s a long, long way down. Not something someone would survive.” The soldier who threw the torch whispered, turning as if that decided things. He motioned for us to continue on, careful to give the hole a wide berth as he instructed us all to use our lights to sweep the ground as well as around us in case we came across any other hidden passages.

My eyes keep trailing back to the abyss we had just left, where one of our soldiers could very well be trapped, alive, waiting for a rescue that would never come. The thought makes me feel sick in the pit of my stomach.

What if that were Lemon or Cayeol that fell, or me?

I shudder, picking up my pace to tiptoe as swiftly as the light will allow and I immediately bump into someone. A panicked gasp emits from the flailing body in front of me and I grab onto their arms to steady them before realizing that just beyond them is another of those holes.

That was close!

Gripping me tightly enough to bruise my arms, their whole body shudders against me with each gasping breath they take.

“Sorry! I'm so sorry!” I whisper hoarsely.

Only after catching their breath and triple checking that they are still alive do they relinquish their hold of me. They nearly shove me to the ground when they do, their terror transforming to anger now that they no longer have immediate fear for their life.

“Don't ever come near me again, ya hear?” They growl, “or I'll put you down that hole myself.”

I nod but in the dark I doubt they can see me, nor do they seem interested in an answer. Swiftly turning away they stomp off, carrying both our torches so that I am left in the dark. Part of me wants to stay back to assure that they don't grab hold of me and chuck me in as they had threatened, but the other is afraid that I will become lost in the dark or misstep somewhere else if I don't hurry after them.

Scrabbling forward, keeping my hands low so I can feel around me for purchase, I attempt to catch up. But try as I might, I'm falling farther behind. The torches licking the darkness gradually became smaller and smaller until they almost disappeared.