“Looks like we have no choice then, we’ll wait for her to find us,” Fallon decided.
Caden’s sigh was weary. “The clan leaders are going to have a shit fit over this.”
Fallon allowed real amusement to touch his eyes. “They are welcome to bring me their grievances.”
“Yeah and be eviscerated for them.” Caden’s words were dry, even as his mouth quirked in a half-smile.
*
Shea heard a distant rumble of sound. She stopped and listened. Voices. She thought she heard voices. She rounded the corner and nearly fell over an edge, the drop of which was shrouded in complete black. Shea grabbed the wall as her steps sent rocks skittering over the edge.
She counted. One. Two. Three. Four. She’d hit twelve before she heard the clatter of it landing. That fall would have probably killed her.
She looked around, searching for what she’d heard. It was possible it was nothing but the wind playing tricks. With the way this place echoed, it wouldn’t surprise her.
Bright, flickering light in the distance to her right drew her attention. She squinted. Those were torches.
She started to shout out, but hesitated at the last second. It was possible those lights didn’t belong to Fallon. Alerting them to her presence could be a death sentence, if it was an enemy. She bit her lip and looked back the way she’d come.
Trenton was waiting. After all her talk of not leaving him behind, she’d eventually had to make the tough decision, knowing she could summon help faster than if she tried to carry him. She suspected that if she took much longer to find a healer, she would be returning to a corpse.
She squared her shoulders. Time to take a chance.
“Fallon! Anybody there?” she shouted.
She waited a moment. No reaction from the torches. She didn’t let herself give up hope. It was possible that her voice hadn’t reached them or that the echoes had made the words indistinguishable.
She tried again. “Fallon, help! Fallon!”
*
“Do you hear that?” Witt asked. He stood and walked a few paces from the fire Fallon’s men had started to ward off the chill of the caverns.
“What are you talking about?” Eamon asked.
“That.”
They all listened. A voice reached them, the words almost indistinguishable except one. A name. Fallon.
Caden looked at Fallon. They both came to the same conclusion at the same time.
“Shea.” Fallon popped to his feet, grabbing a torch and rushing to where he thought the voice was coming from. “Shea!”
“Fallon!” Her voice was getting stronger and clearer.
“Where are you?”
“Up here! I’m up here,” she shouted.
Fallon looked up and saw a dim light high above.
“Of course, she’d be somewhere high,” Caden said in a sour voice.
“Any idea how we get her down?” Fallon asked.
Witt’s expression was doubtful as he observed the cavern wall. Eamon looked just as lost but equally unsurprised. Both men were well acquainted with Shea and her penchant for finding herself in high places.
Eamon nudged some wood lying broken on the ground. There might have been stairs at one time connecting the passage above to this great chamber, but they were long gone.
“Trenton’s hurt. He needs help.” There was a long pause. “I think he’s bleeding internally.”
“I can probably get up there,” Witt said. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to make a climb.”
Caden frowned at him. “Do all of you Highlanders make a habit of climbing cliff faces like mountain goats?”
Witt gave a careless shrug. “Those who spend any significant time outside the villages. Eventually, everyone comes to something impassable by normal means. It helps to know how to climb.”
Caden made a sound that prophesized the grumpy old man he’d eventually become, if he lived long enough.
“I’ll need supplies though. Between me and Shea, we should be able to fasten some sort of device to lower him down.”
Caden waved a man over to take note of everything Witt said he needed. Once the supplies had been delivered, he stood back with his hands on his hips to observe the wall.
“I’m coming with you,” Fallon said.
Witt gave him a skeptical look, one that was at home with the weather-beaten lines around his eyes. “No offense, Hawkvale, but I doubt you know what you’re doing. Best to just stay down here and wait.”
The expression Fallon fixed on Witt was the sort that had caused grown men to nearly piss themselves. It made his feelings on Witt’s statement very clear without a word having to be spoken.
Witt sighed and then shrugged. “Suit yourself. It’s only me who’s going to catch the sharp end of her tongue if you end up with a broken arm.”
“While you guys are debating who’s coming up here, I’m going to go back and get Trenton,” Shea called from above.
“You’re to do no such thing,” Fallon yelled back. “Stay right where you are.”
There was a grumble above and the distinct words of bossy, arrogant, and ass drifted down. The rest of the men carefully didn’t look at Fallon, whose eyes narrowed as Shea continued. He would enjoy exacting his revenge when he caught up to her.
Eamon, Buck, and Witt turned away to hide their grins, each having been on the end of a similar tirade before. Sometimes for having told Shea what to do. Sometimes for doing something she considered stupid.
“Question,” Buck said once her voice had died down. “How are you going to climb with no light?”
Witt looked at the other man and then back at the wall. The lights from the torches created harsh shadows. It would be difficult to discern hand holds in it. “This is going to be a problem.”
“Is there another way, maybe another passageway?” Eamon asked, looking at Fallon.
He shook his head. “If there is, there’s no guarantee that it won’t triple the journey or end in a maze of tunnels.”
“Guess the only way is up,” Eamon said, stepping back.
“You could always try holding the torch in your mouth,” Buck volunteered.
Witt snarled. “I’m not letting fire that close to my face.”
“Afraid you’ll scar your pretty mug?” Buck taunted with an arched brow.
“Enough. We’ll take our chances,” Fallon said. “Let’s start.”
“I’d like to go with you, Warlord,” Eamon volunteered. “Shea has taught me a few things about rock climbing so I might be an asset.”
Fallon nodded.
“I’ll lead,” Witt said, waiting for Fallon’s agreement before starting up the rock face. Fallon and Eamon followed soon after.
*
Shea waited as the men below made their ascent. It was tempting to disregard Fallon’s order and go back for Trenton. The only thing stopping her was the knowledge that she wouldn’t be able to move him very far without their assistance. Given his wounds, she suspected she might do him more harm than good if she tried to drag him through these tunnels.
After what felt like an eternity, Witt reached her. She bent down to help him over the ledge, and then stepped back as he offered the same help to Fallon and then Eamon.