Chapter 4

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Jim had hacked through nearly half the rock, doing his best to ignore Blinky's muffled gasps and cries as the rock shifted and split over him. Finally, Jim had progressed to the point where Claire and Toby could drag Blinky from under the rock. It collapsed as soon as he was out, water pooling onto the nearby stone. Claire helped the blue troll to stand, and looking around, Blinky realized he wasn't imagining- there was a streak of light and the vague suggestion of shadows. Maybe this meant that his sight was returning!

Just in case it wasn't, Blinky said nothing- even though his eyes were no longer whitened, Vendel had told him the damage was internal: besides, his sight was never that great anyway, so he would probably never see beyond vague shadows.

Blinky was bruised and bleeding from several cuts, mostly on his legs, back, and head, but his worst injury was a broken arm. The humans and troll couldn't fix this in the moment, simply having to bind the arm to Blinky's side with strips of Jim's shirt. When this was done, the banged up troll explained his plan:

"This tunnel is an old emergency exit that exits out into the woods some distance away. It does unfortunately have traps set throughout to defend against gum-gums, but I believe that if we go slowly and make sure to be careful, we can get through it." Jim frowned and asked, "Will you make it through okay? I mean, you won't be able to see any of the traps." Just then, Jim's phone flashlight flickered, then died.

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