Tol remained in shock and grief. It took Dem and Tir nearly half an hour to coax him the rest of the way across the Dangerous Ledge. All that time, Bel and Fen clung to the wall, tempted to go back, but staying where they were in hopes that the way would soon be clear. Finally, they were able to get across.
Jin, then Tik, crossed very carefully while Tol sat between Dem and Tir, crying his eyes out.
“I . . . didn’t even know . . . I liked her . . .” Tol was eventually able to share between sobs.
Some of the others were tempted to smile, but didn’t.
Once they had settled down, everyone but Tol crawled back to the edge and looked into the pit. Dem’s dropped glow-stone, and Fim’s three, illuminated some of the blood, now turning brown. She lay completely still, exactly as she had landed.
They talked, and agreed that climbing into the pit would be extremely dangerous. They weighed that danger against the lost mushroom bag and glow-stones. No one was in the mood to risk another accident. With wrinkled brows, they agreed that they had enough mushrooms and glow-stones to go on.
They experienced Fim’s death on two levels. They grieved for their friend and companion. They were also aware that every death, in a civilization of less than three hundred people, brought them a big step closer to extinction.
NEBADOR Book Ten:Stories from Sonmatia 42
Now they had to sleep, and the floor of the lava tube was no better than before the pit. Bel and Fen curled up close to each other, but got little sleep.
Tol just tossed and turned while mumbling things he remembered about Fim.
The others might have dozed off for an hour or two, but without any Patrols to announce work shifts, it was hard to be sure.
When Dem eventually sat up and rubbed his eyes, he looked around. Jin and Tik appeared to be the only ones who had figured out how to get comfortable on the rocky floor. A moment later, Tik sat up and stretched, then came over and joined Dem. They both opened mushroom bags to see what was for breakfast.
Suddenly, Dem realized the problem. “Where’s Tol?”
Soon, everyone was up, trying to remember when they had last seen him, or heard him sniffling. Hours before, they all agreed.
Dem and Tik both had the same initial, frightening thought, and dashed back to the edge of the pit.
Fim was still there, silent as the rocks. No sign of Tol was to be seen.
Tir and Jin found him just a hundred or so yards farther along the tunnel, sitting on the hard ground, hugging his knees, rocking back and forth while muttering to himself. He came willingly, but without joy or purpose, when they coaxed him to return to the group and eat some mushrooms with them.
The path the Map wanted them to follow that day was long and winding, but with no labeled dangers. A few symbols baffled them, and some arrows pointed in different directions, sometimes the way they were going, sometimes back.
“What
does
that mean?” Fen wondered aloud.
Tik looked thoughtful. No one else had a clue.
At Dem’s suggestion, they took stock of their resources. Only six glow-stones could be found, one less than people. Bel offered to go without and stay close to Fen.
The mushroom supply looked like it would last several more days.
“We really need to find water,” Tir asserted, having difficulty swallowing the mushroom she was chewing.
NEBADOR Book Ten:Stories from Sonmatia 43
Everyone nodded, but had no idea when that would happen.
Tol had to be prodded nearly every step of the way. All hope seemed to have left him, and be just sat down and hugged his knees every time they stopped to rest, look at the Map, or when they simply forgot to prod him.
Most everyone was soon trying to avoid the task. Dem took over to keep his friend moving.
Although no dangers presented themselves, the lava tube was soon going steeply downhill, causing unsure footing among the sharp rocks that littered the floor.
Although the lava tubes tended to be fairly straight, not so the limestone cave they discovered after a short, easy crawl.
They stood up as they entered the cavern, one by one, and gazed around in wonder at the stone draperies, slender stalactites, and bulging stalagmites all around them.
Tol sat down and looked at the ground.
They knew about limestone caverns because parts of the inhabited tunnels were once decorated by the same beautiful stone formations. Centuries of hands, feet, and excavation had destroyed most of the beauty, but enough remained that the travelers knew the names of the strange stone shapes.
The sound of dripping water soon called them to a pool where they all drank deeply. Dem had to almost force Tol to drink, but kept his frustration to himself.
The way before them, although made beautiful with stalactites and other formations, was now winding and hard to follow, so they looked at the Map often. Tir realized that the arrows always pointed up-slope, so they could see in advance that they would be going up and down all day long.
Mostly
down.
The twisting limestone cavern had been carved by an underground river countless centuries before, then decorated by dripping mineral water after the river dried up. That river had not been too concerned with going in a straight line, nor afraid to plunge into deep places before bubbling up again somewhere else.
NEBADOR Book Ten:Stories from Sonmatia 44
The travelers could follow the twisting and turning on the Map without too much trouble.
The ups and downs were harder to navigate, and often sand half-filled the low places.
So they chewed mushrooms, drank from crystal-clear pools nestled among towering stalagmites, and prodded Tol to keep going, hour after hour, occasionally up a little, but mostly deeper and deeper into the planet.
Tir thought she was just tired as they stumbled down a slope between stone draperies. Then she realized the air was starting to smell bad, and noticed that everyone else was having trouble breathing, too. Tik and Jin made eye contact with her and nodded. Dem quickly joined in the realization of what was happening, and explained it to the others who hadn’t guessed.
“That’s like . . . in the lowest storage caves . . . under the Government Tunnels . . .” Fen shared, “. . . where they keep the canned food. No one works
. . . in there for more than . . . a quarter hour at a time.”
Jin nodded. “Bad air sinks.”
Dem got out the Map and they all gathered close — except Tol, who just hugged his knees and rocked.
“Oh, no!” Tir moaned. “More down before . . . it starts to go up.”
“Do we have . . . any choice?” Dem asked anyone who cared to answer.
Most just looked at each other. Tik shook his head. Tol rocked.
The longest hour of their lives began, and felt like six hours. In the deepest part of the cave system, where the underground river had carved a smooth but winding tunnel through the rock, bad air collected. Some was probably Carbon dioxide, the natural result of all breathing, burning, and decomposition. The sickly smell might have been pollution that lingered from the industrial civilization that once covered the surface of Sonmatia Two.
Gasping, they pushed forward, knowing that any other path to their destination might take weeks to find. Some were tempted to run, but the lowest places, choked with sand and gravel, forced them to hunch over, crawl, and even dig in one place.
Panic was close, and getting closer.
NEBADOR Book Ten:Stories from Sonmatia 45
To add to their problems, Tol wanted to sit down and withdraw from the world more and more often. Dem forced him to keep going with pokes, prods, and eventually threats of violence. Tol responded weakly to the prods, but didn’t seem to hear the threats.
Every slight uphill brought hope, but those always seemed to be followed by an even-longer downhill.
The group didn’t dare stop. They knew their survival in this place was measured by time — minutes, not hours.
Tir tried to keep an eye on everyone. Fen and Bel stayed attached to each other, but both were turning blue and stumbling often. Tik couldn’t seem to get enough air, no matter how deeply he breathed. Dem and Jin were not much better. Only Tol seemed unconcerned, but that, Tir knew, was because he no longer cared whether he lived or died.
They didn’t dare stop to consult the Map, so they were hardly aware of going up again. With his last burst of determination, Dem pushed Tol to keep walking. Jin pulled Tik along. Bel and Fen dragged each other. Tir somehow managed to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Suddenly Tik stopped and shared a few of his rare words. “I can breathe!”