Marbles: The Hawk Who Refused to Die a Virgin

Chapter 14. Languin Takes Charge

Opal stood stock still, staring into blackness. He could hear water dripping. He could smell wet stone. That was about it. Oh and his chest hurt like a motherfucker. He reached into his shirt and pulled out the lamp. It was cold now and, as far as Opal could tell, inanimate. He ran his left hand over his chest and felt an intricate pattern of raised welts from the formerly hot metal of the lamp against his chest.

"Opal drop that lamp!" shouted Languin, his voice amplified in the enclosed space. Opal, startled, threw the lamp away from him as hard as he could. He could hear the lamp hit a wall and bounce back down. And bounce. And bounce. The numerous, yet increasingly fainter clangs meant that the lamp had begun to fall down a deeper hole than Opal could even conceive of. It went on for a while.

"No!" shouted Languin. Opal could hear his light elven footsteps prance over to the edge of the hole. "I told you to drop the lamp, not to chuck it into an abyss!"

"Dude I'm sorry!" Opal said. "You scared me! I just tried to get it away from me. I can't even see in here."

Opal could hear the elf attempting to collect himself. He could hear the elf's breathing slow to deep, even breaths.

"You are right," said Languin. "I am sorry. I forgot that I can see in the dark and that you cannot. It is just that you were holding an artifact of unfathomable power. It grants its bearer up to three wishes."

"Could have used that information before I went spelunking inside a giant," Opal said.

"You are right again," said Languin, lighting a torch and holding it above his head. Opal blinked and looked around him. They were all in a little cave.

"I guess that jostling against your skin counted as rubbing," said Languin. "That is how you activate the lamp. What did you wish for?"

"I wished..." said Opal, trying his best to recall an event from only a minute ago. This day had been so stressful. "I wished that everyone in the party would be somewhere safe."

Languin looked at Opal, reappraising him. "That was a good wish," said the elf. "It says a lot about you."

"Thank you," said Opal.

"Are you OK?" Languin asked. "Are you hurt?"

"No I'm fine," said Opal.

"I'm OK too!" said Marbles. He was over in the corner, preening.

"That leaves Lucy and her owl," said Languin. Lucy was lying on the ground, her robe's hood covering her eyes, with Jezebel nestled against her chest.

Languin jammed his torch into a fissure in the wall knelt beside Lucy. He pulled the tranquilizer darts from Lucy and Jezebel, and placed them in his pack. He unrolled Lucy's bedroll on the cave floor and lifted both Lucy and Jezebel up and set them down on the bedroll with an unnerving combination of elven strength and grace.

"Oh wow that was a good idea," said Opal. He never thought of this shit during a crisis, or post crisis. After anything the least bit stressful happened, Opal just got really tired. Really sleepy. He always needed naps right after big events, like clothes shopping, or final exams, or funerals. He never had the presence of mind to care for other people if he was tired himself. Languin saw Opal yawn.

"Opal you have been through a lot," said Languin. "Do not worry. There is nothing else we can do until Lucy's human metabolism processes the tranquilizer. That always takes a long time. Go ahead and take a nap."

"Sounds good," said Opal, unfurling his own bedroll. He lay down and fell immediately asleep.

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