Vanya's Journal, Chapter 21, Part 2The journal entry continues."Urist!" I cried out, as we rapidly climbed step after step. Urist easily managed two at a time, and I was getting the nagging feeling that I was just slowing him down. "Urist, wait! Where are we going?" As I spoke, I stuffed the gorlak doll into my blouse so I would have a hand free.
He didn't slow as he responded, "I stored our Ballpoint weapons in a cave farther up. It is only a few times as far as the forges to Simon Tam's palace."
The mayor, Simon Tam, had ordered a series of huge rooms built for himself at the beginning of his first term, deep underground. Guards stood stationed by the door, and very few people were allowed in to see what he was doing. I'd only heard whispers... always something about a sister, or medicine. I don't think anyone really knows what's going on in there, but the walls in the stairways for many floors above it are filled with little passages and tunnels... many hardly wide enough for a dwarf.
"Here," Urist finally said, panting and pointing into a little hole in the wall. It was so small I couldn't even imagine either of us fitting. "Climb in there," he urged. "I'll follow you."
Whether it was an illusion or not, I don't know, but I thought I saw the inside of the tunnel twisting and shrinking ever so slowly, as I stared into its shadowed depths. "I can't go in there..." I whispered, frightened. "Look how small it is! It'll collapse and kill us!"
Urist roughly shook his head. "Vanya, I know you hate small spaces, but Hans
himself dug this tunnel - he said it will be safe! Do you want the Ballpoint soldiers to catch up with us?"
I shook my head, wide-eyed, and then looked up at his face: grim and set with determination. I could hear heavy footsteps echoing upwards through the huge spiral staircase, and I knew them to belong to the enemy. Turning back fearfully towards the hole, I put my arms up and started to pull myself into it. Urist helped me from behind, lifting me and pushing me forwards.
I've never been in such a small tunnel before. It seemed to squeeze me even
without the assistance of my fears: I could feel my shoulders and hips brushing against the walls. Urist seemed to be having an even harder time of it. The fabric of his clothing rustled loudly as he followed behind. It was so, so tight... I closed my eyes and plodded forwards blindly.
Too much had happened that night. It had shaken and bewildered me in every possible way, and all I wanted was to sleep. I didn't care where, even if it was on a cave floor, or outside on the grass, just so long as it was peaceful.
I yelped suddenly as I found nothing beneath my hands, the floor seeming to disappear beneath me as my feet moved me forwards, and I fell. Time seemed to slow as I felt myself blindly tumbling downwards in the frigid darkness, and I braced for the inevitable collision against the floor, praying that my death would be quick.
... I think I fell a total of three feet... In my defense, though, it was three feet in the dark. I had no way of knowing I was so close to the ground.
"Vanya?" a voice whispered. "Are you all right?"
I was lying on my back where I'd fallen. I looked up towards the source of the sound, but I saw nothing. "I think so..." I whispered back. "I can't see in the dark, remember? I didn't know when the tunnel was going to end." I stretched out my arms and legs, gratefully feeling of the wide-open space where I was lying.
"Indeed..." he muttered. I had a feeling he'd forgotten, but I wasn't sure. As I listened, I heard a rustle of clothing and the sound of Urist leaping forwards. With a heavy thud, he landed past my feet. "Come, give me your hand."
I sat up and held out my hand, moments later feeling the warm, comforting feel of Urist's grip. You can learn so much about a person from their hands... Urist's were firm, and calloused with years of honest work. They felt safe; trustworthy.
He pulled me easily to my feet. "Follow me," he spoke quietly. The silence that enveloped us seemed to make it louder than it was.
I followed behind him as he began to move, brushing my hair back out of my eyes and tucking some of it under my beanie. "You'll have to guide me," I warned him.
He didn't respond, only walking onwards with careful, confident footsteps that echoed gently through the dark.
We continued for a time in silence. I didn't like it. I could hear the dripping of water, the scraping of feet echoing faintly in the distance; the sounds of underground creatures. "Urist... You didn't have to rescue me..." I ventured, my voice echoing in the emptiness. "I would've deserved death by their hands." I heard the soft splash of a shallow pool beneath my feet as we walked onwards, spraying tiny droplets of cold water on my legs.
He was silent for a moment, pausing as if thinking. "Was what you did in your own defense?"
"No..."
Urist paused again before speaking. "Do you regret it?"
I nodded before remembering that he might not be looking in my direction. "Yes," I said. Tears sprang to my eyes and my voice faltered as I remembered the terrified face of the little blonde dwarfgirl. "I wish I'd never done it at all... I... I wish I could go back and change it... there's nothing I want more." My mind swam with mixed emotions; I felt as though I was falling through open space. All I wanted was for him to catch me.
Urist stopped and turned. I felt him take my other hand in his. "Vanya..." he said quietly, "that is all that matters. I, too, have done horrible things I greatly regret. But because I regret them, I won't repeat those choices. Your past does not determine your future."
As he spoke, far, far above, the clouds broke, sending a single ray of moonlight filtering through the caverns, shining through the roof. As if by magic, twisting, wavy reflections illuminated the walls, as the moonlight reflected off the surface of the pond in which we stood. I looked around in wonder, in awe at the incredible display of beauty... and then I looked back at Urist's face. His features... firm, clear-set... the handsome lantern jaw I'd once come to know him by...
"Urist..." I whispered softly, lost in his amazing bedroom-brown eyes. Suddenly I remembered what I'd wanted to talk to him about, and I looked away in shame. "About what I said about you... after the Ballpoint mission..."
"It's all right," he replied reassuringly. I glanced back at him, and he met my gaze, looking at me with a strange, thoughtful expression.
The moonlight shifted, and I felt it falling directly on my face. It made me feel more open, somehow. "I never meant to hurt you..." I continued, my lips trembling with regret, "I just... I..."
How does a person explain that they love someone who they can never have? I tried to calm my trembling lips; tried to still my beating heart, but to no avail. I wanted to laugh, I wanted to cry, but more than anything I wanted to throw my arms around him and just
be. "Urist, I..."
"Shhhh... It's all right," he repeated soothingly. "I understand." He had a look in his eyes I'd never seen from him before... a look that could only mean...
It was only then that I realized: Urist loved me, too.
The moonlight shifted again, throwing moonbeams upon the walls, glittering gems catching the reflections and throwing them about in a beautiful cascade of colors; the shining elven moonlight combining, intertwining, with the solid dwarven stone. I knew what was coming as he slowly moved his head towards mine, and I arched my neck in return, my lips tingling in eager anticipation of the inevitable kiss. Time was meaningless. I felt his arm behind the small of my back; I pressed closer towards him, my fingertips brushing lightly against his chest. The troubles of the world melted away. I closed my eyes, in a world of bliss. Somehow... amidst all the chaos, amidst all the worries and problems of my life... there was peace... so sweet, beautiful, and serene... and I'd finally, finally found it.
"GRRRrrrrrOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!"
Urist pulled away from me, spinning towards the noise, his feet splashing in the water and sending muddy ripples everywhere, spoiling the reflections on the walls and darkening the cave. I felt my heart sink as I realized our moment had been ruined a second time.
From the shadows, an alien form stomped out - spindly legs, a round body, a gaping mouth and huge, slitted yellow eyes. "A gorlak..." I whispered, removing the little doll from my blouse and re-examining it. It was the first real gorlak I'd ever seen, and only slightly shorter than me.
"I will take care of it, Vanya," Urist said, taking up a well-practiced defensive stance towards the creature.
"Don't kill it!" I said pleadingly. He looked back at me for a moment, and then nodded.
The gorlak roared a second time and charged at Urist. That surprised me. From what I'd heard, gorlaks were peaceful creatures. "Urist!" I shouted in fright, covering my mouth in horror as the beast gored at him with its tusks. But Urist leapt out of the way with incredible skill, spinning around behind it and delivering a solid punch to its cranium. The beast moaned and fell to the floor, splashing in the shallow water and panting. Somewhere above us, a cloud seemed to pass before the moon, and the moonlight dimmed.
"I said I would take care of it," Urist said as he returned. "It was not a problem."
I nodded quietly, looking at the heaving form lying in the water. "Let's just go, Urist..."
"We need the guns," he replied negatively, taking my hand and leading me towards the edge of the pool, further into the caverns.
Before we'd walked more than three steps in that direction, we heard a low growl, and Urist slowed, signaling me to stop. Seconds later, several greenish shapes emerged from the shadows in front of us - gorlaks. I backed away from them, and Urist followed, but we didn't get very far before we heard a second set of growls from our left, and then more from our right. Dozens of them poured out into the little moonlit pool.
"We're in a gorlak nest..." I whispered in stunned realization.
"But how? So close to the surface?"
I didn't have an answer, and could only shake my head in dismay. "Let's run..." I urged him. "We can fight some other time..."
Slowly he nodded in agreement, trying to keep a vigilant eye on all of them. They growled at us, baring their tusks - they were clearly ticked off. When several of them investigated their fallen family member, their volume increased dramatically. I didn't have to know much about them to know they were murderously angry. We turned and fled for the doorway, only to find even more of the creatures blocking our path.
"There's no way out!" I whispered hopelessly.
Urist didn't seem so sure. "Vanya," he commanded, taking control of the situation, "Keep your back to mine at all times, and stay close! Do not be discouraged. We have a chance of surviving this."
For the life of me, I couldn't see how he could be so optimistic with forty toothed monsters ringing us on all sides.
☆
Poll
55 (71.4%)
Author
Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2279526 times)