Renagade

Part 10

In the dark, they had no sense of time. How long had they slept? She didn' t know, but she could feel Chauncy's body pressed against hers and that brought her a sense of relief. She racked her brain trying to remember the places her father had forced her to remember, but those maps had never mentioned the beautiful paintings, nor had they how intricate the caves were. She had marveled the art quietly with Chauncy, but what truly had stunned her was the magic that seemed so deep into the caves, that it was almost as if the caves themselves were a magical entity. Mmmh. Chauncy shifted and wrapped his arms around her, her stomach dropped and she held her breath. This was not proper, but in the moment, alone in the dark she enjoyed it.

"Thirsty," He whispered, Evelyn opened her eyes to look at him, but was only met with blackness,"

"Me too," her voice rasped. He withdrew his arm and the coolness of the air rushed to replace his heat. She could hear him searching for the torch and as soon as he held it aloft, the dull green flame winked into existence. Such a strange kind of magic. She held it as he stood and took one more glance at the giant snake painted in reds and golds against the rough sandstone, before they continued on.

They walked in silence, sometimes stopping to admire a particular painting, but water was the only thing on their mind, and yet the caverns never yielded signs of unending. Occasionally, dark openings in the walls yawned before them, seeming to suck what little light they had, but Evelyn continued to walk straight, and did not deviate from the main painted cavern. She recalled the maps she had studied and knew at the end of a main passages there had always been a massive and vaulting opening in the tunnels. Perhaps there, they would find water, or something that could aid them.

The floor beneath them began to slope upward steadily, their feet now walked upon damp soft sand and the wall carvings had turned more foreign and old. Though their craftsmanship and details were still amazing, the faces of long forgotten dwarves had begun to crumble, and yet somehow that seemed to make sense to the pair of them. In the distance, a rumble could be heard. Water perhaps? Gods they hopped so. The air around them began to cool and the rock face grew dark with moisture absorbing the heat from their fingers and the light from the torch. True to her memory, the caves did indeed begin to widen, and grow taller, vaulting above them a moment later.

"Evelyn!" Chauncy reached for her hand and pulled her. There! A pool of undisturbed water. They rushed towards it and knelt down like dogs, lapping and drinking with their hands. As they drank, slowly light began to glow, subtly, though the pair were too focused to notice the little pin pricks of blue and green lights that began to wink and move high above them. Soon the torch flickered out, and Evelyn could see her fingers. She stopped and looked up at Chauncy, wiping her mouth on the back of her sleeve.

"Chaunc..." She whispered and gazed upon the beautiful sight. Twisted marble and granite columns nearly disappeared into the beautiful blue-green light. Above them, spires of light, lit and continued to glow, pushing more of the darkness away. They were in a great underground city, the likes of which no one had seen for years. They stood, and Evelyn took his arm and pressed herself against him in the cold as they stared for what seemed like hours. The longer they were there more the light glowed. The pool behind them reflected the soft light and seemed to stretch on for miles, until they could not see it in the light of the luminesce.

"What is this place?" he whispered, wrapping his arm around her back. It was cold and it was wet. His belly felt heavy with the amount of water he had consumed.

"It was the greatest place that ever was...." an old voice spoke out of the darkness. Evelyn tensed and Chauncy searched for his sword. Behold, a small hunched figure came towards them, his hood covering his face head, but his long white beard seemed to trail behind him.