Muse 9 (ONC 2020)

Chapter 23

The tunnel entrance beckoned to us as we stood before it. I glanced over at Luktor, with his bandanna still around his neck, and his jacket fastened over a single piece tunic and trousers. Daggers rested in his belt with an old hunter's rifle of Dad's strapped to his back.

As for me, I wore Mom's poncho, the Muse 9 rifle across my back and my gear in a pack tied next to it. Luktor's own gear rested beside his rifle.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Yep," he said, looking back at me. "Let's go find Mom and Dad's safe place."

Together, we headed into the tunnel leading to the gutterfalls and the Drain, me in the lead with Luktor trailing right behind. If someone had told me, when I made this trip not even a week ago, that I would be coming back to live in the depths of the Drain, I would have called them insane.

But here we were.

The Grid was no longer safe, not even for us. We didn't know who else was involved with the Muse 9 mission, but there had to be others. They had our names, our locations. Staying in our old lives was not an option for survival. But the Drain was.

The tunnel narrowed as we approached the large drainage pipe. Crawling to the end of the tunnel, I fixed my cable to the overhead bar and pushed out, swinging for a moment as the water crashed over my head until I was able to gain control over my motion and start climbing downwards.

Luktor followed me, imitating my action by fastening his own cable and jumping out after me. I gave the bar a worried look but it didn't seem to shudder under the extra weight.

The descent was slow but uneventful. A couple times Luktor's boots slipped on the abyss' surface and he would swing forward but he always caught himself before smacking into the side of the pipe. The bar above didn't give way as I reached the ledge.

Wrapping my cable around the hook, I gestured for Luktor to wait while I worked my way out to the other side. I inched around towards the entrance to the Drain, Luktor watching me impatiently from where he still hung by his cable.

Once I reached the end, I fastened my cable and looked across to the tunnel entrance. Kicking off, I felt a slight give in the ledge right before I leaped across the gap and landed in the tunnel, stumbling as my boots hit the stonecrete. I turned the stumble into a roll, coming up and turning back towards the entrance. "Luktor!" I shouted. "Come on!"

Anxiously, I watched for my brother. It took a couple minutes, but then I saw him edging toward me through the pounding water. Eyes tilted to look where he was stepping, he carefully lifted his foot just enough to move it over, his progress slow but steady as he repeated the motion over and over again.

Finally, he reached the last hook and bound his cable to it. Glancing over at me, he took a deep breath. "I really have to jump?" he called.

I nodded. "Yes, you do," I replied. "Come on. It's not too bad. But be careful. I don't think that ledge will hold for many more trips."

Luktor jerked his chin down and twisted slightly, preparing to jump. But just as his knees were flexing to make the leap, the ledge crumbled out from underneath him and he fell.

There wasn't even a scream.

Before I knew what I was doing, I dove out of the tunnel, snatching the Muse rifle from my back and thumbing at the control panel as I reached out to grab Luktor. I managed to grasp my brother's wrist as I pressed the trigger, sending an energy cable shooting back up to the entrance.

The water poured down over us, threatening to tear Luktor from my grip, as we hung there, the Muse rifle's cable the only thing keeping us from falling.

Slowly, I stroked my index finger against the control panel and the cable began to rescind. It seemed an eternity before the cable pulled me up to the level of the entrance and I was able to plant my feet and pull my brother up high enough where he was able to roll into the tunnel.

Panting, the two of us regained our breaths as I replaced the rifle on my back. "That was a close one," I said.

"No kidding," Luktor retorted.

I stood and helped him up, the two of us doing our best to wring the water out of our clothes. Then we turned and headed down the tunnel.

Not too far in, a figure was lounging against the side of the tunnel. On seeing us, he straightened and I instantly recognized the thick, dark hair and plated armor of our mentor, Morath Eurykhan.

He had been waiting for us.

"What took you so long?" he asked.

"We had to decide which one of us would go first," Luktor answered easily, without hesitation.

"Who'd you decide on?" Eurykhan asked, walking towards us.

"Sable," Luktor replied with a rueful grin.

"It's about time," he said, with a low laugh.

There was silence as Eurykhan looked both of us up and down. It had been quite a few years since we had seen each other, but although it almost seemed like nothing much had changed, everything had.

When Eurykhan had left us, Luktor and I had been dead set against working together. We had been still young, still learning our way around our trades. Now we were seeing the benefit that blood brings when living down in the Grid.

We'd made it this far. There was a lot more left to go before the end.

"I see your mother was right," Eurykhan said to me. "You went after the Muse 9."

I nodded. "I did."

Eurykhan gave us a rare grin. "Let's go."

The three of us set off down the tunnel, Eurykhan falling into step between us. Without another word, we headed off.

It was about time Luktor and I saw our parents' safe house.