Homeward

(Second labyrinth level.)

Drysia and Elmerin hurried through the tunnels of the labyrinth, heading as fast as they could toward the surface.

They didn't have all that much time. While Elmerin could call water, they were out of food. While some animals and plants that lived in the labyrinth were normally edible, if foul-tasting, their monsterized variants frequently weren't. And if affected by Bolat's energy, they were toxic. 

Elmerin was contemplating breaking out the reserve supplies he had in his item box, should it be necessary. The problem was Drysia finding out; based on her reaction to the Light Ball spell, she might not talk about it, but he was sure she'd manipulate his having 'lost magic' to her advantage if she could.

They reached a Y intersection, with their path the bottom bar of the Y. They knew both ways ahead would lead to the surface, but one was longer, with more intersections and chances of meeting trouble. 

As they tried to remember which branch was shorter -the dragons' map didn't cover this area, and the guild map was with Sky- they heard sounds approaching down one of the trails. Regular pacing by footwear of the same type. It could be soldiers -or dragons.

Drysia glanced around. "I know. Over here." She darted over to the wall where a long, skinny boulder leaned and pushed on the wall behind it. The wall pivoted. "In here." 

"More Cothmore secrets?" Elmerin kept his voice low as he squeezed his long frame into the space. 

"I don't think they know of this one." They heard more boots coming down the other branch, also marching. "Sit on that ledge, hurry!"

The space was very narrow -Falchan or Alexavier would have never fit. The ledge in question was to the left of the door, about 20 cm deep. Elmerin sat and pulled his feet in, allowing Drysia to push the wall back in place as she essentially sat in his lap. 

Even enclosed, the space wasn't dark. Twisting, Elmerin could see a horizontal slit in the wall half a meter above his head, letting in light from the labyrinth's light crystals.

"Stop that," Drysia hissed. Elmerin realized he was shouldering her into the opposite side of the cleft. 

"Sorry." He straightened, sitting as far back as possible on the ledge, with his knees brushing the wall opposite. 

"Loan me your shoulders. I'm going to look out and see who our friends are."

As she climbed onto his shoulders, he realized just how close she was… if she were wearing a skirt…

Stop it! What the hell was wrong with him?

Drysia was standing on his shoulders now in order to look down through the slot. Elmerin could hear the sound of men yelling now, and weapons in use. Sliding down, Drysia landed on his lap, brushing the dirt from her boots off his shoulders. 

"Dragons and royal troops," she said quietly next to his ear. "Fighting it out. If the dragons win, we can wait until they leave and take the path the royals came down. Though I doubt the royals will lose. The dragons look pretty beat up."

"We can show ourselves if the royals win." She was holding herself only an inch or so away -what was wrong with him? "Are you sure the Cothmores don't know about this?"

"I think it predates them being given the county." Drysia held her chin thoughtfully. "It's not on their maps that I ever saw, and I only found it by accident when trying to get some privacy from Falchan."

Elmerin kept his hands firmly on the walls. "One of his clingy phases?"

"And then some." Elmerin could feel her rolling her eyes. "That was when Kres was still in Tow. I ducked behind the boulder and must of placed my hand at just the right spot and pushed it just right by accident. Vell of Dark, it took me a long time to press it the right way again. But that first time-" Elmerin could hear Drysia smiling "-Falchan spent a couple hours running around trying to find where I went. Had to deal with a couple Ruby monsters all by himself, too."

"What if he'd gotten his ass killed?" Not helping Falchan would have technically been against the Code, but Elmerin found it hard to care. 

"Grabbed my stuff, gone back to Tow, grabbed Kres, left Cothmore, dumped Kres at a temple orphanage, gone on my way. Why?" 

Drysia would've been Ruby, Emerald, and Sapphire when Kres was in Tow. She'd hit Diamond the year after Firnen had started taking care of Kres. She could have been in a lot of hurt for not helping Falchan -but conversely, everyone knew that stepping into an infested labyrinth or a dungeon carried the risk of death. She wouldn't be the first commoner who ran after a noble in their party died. Outside of Cothmore, the guild would have probably administered a warning and fine and left it at that. 

What he was having trouble with was the apparent paradox of her seeming to care about Kres' safety, as long as she wasn't the one who had to take care of him, against her disdainful treatment of and outright theft from the boy. 

He nearly bit his tongue to keep silent as she leaned against him, her head on his shoulder as she sat sideways on his lap. "You know what's annoying?" she asked. 

"What?

"Everyone talks about what a terrible mother I am. But except for a few people like Firnen, only adventurers call Falchan out on being a lousy father."

Elmerin gritted his teeth. "Women often wind up doing much of the care of children in their first few years due to having to nurse. Focus is often disproportionately -far too much- on their effect. Cothmore and Korrum in general are bad about it." He took a deep breath. "Some of the Summoned made it worse than it used to be. They brought ideas from societies that valued men far above women. Poisonous seeds were planted, even though women and men share the same value, just as Idalin and Vikesh share the same sky."

"Stuff like that makes me think you really did spend time in a temple. Wonder what some of the Summoned thought about women who would of stomped them for that stupid."

"I have a question." He felt her stiffen. "Were you using aura outside the audience room?"

"Aah…" Elmerin could tell she was chewing her thumbnail. "I only figured it out recently."

"How did you manage to keep that secret?" 

"Carefully. Falchan drinks too damn much when not out hunting. Lisko's often off with one of his 'projects'. Borrowing your shoulders again." Climbing up, Drysia looked out the opening. "Looks like the royals won. Let's go."

*******

People mentioned in this chapter:

Elmerin

Drysia

Royal Guard

Golrins/Dragon troop