Smoke and Shadow: The Fireweaver, Book 1

Chapter 10. DEALS IN THE DARK

CHAPTER 10. DEALS IN THE DARK

Do you even know where you're going? 

Dimarrah clutched his arm. His very solid arm. She gritted her teeth that she needed him in any way, but the physical touching was an anchor to sanity in the cloying, musty darkness.

I've been down here before. His answer came in a clipped tone.

That wasn't a resounding yes.

It's been fifty years.

Definitely not a yes. Something squeaked near her foot. So basically you're saying you're lost.

Not lost. Stop talking.

I'm not talking.

Stop thinking.

He stopped, turned her in a different direction, kept walking. 

Dimarrah wasn't sure which was worse; walking in total darkness, or seeing all the horrors as they slid by you.

There were greater smells now, of humans, and of filth, but also of foods in spicy, deep aromas. The miasma of it all with the pitch black made Dimarrah's stomach turn.

Not far now. 

Dimarrah had heard about Nom Coms. Anomalies who'd escaped to live underground; out of sight, to live freely and openly, without fear of scorn or capture or persecution. As a child she'd secretly wondered if her family would one day abandon her to one. But her mother would have never gone within a hundred yards radius of such a place. Always thought them the most sordid places on the face of the earth. The underbelly of the human race and the human condition. She'd told stories of those who'd wielded their powers so much it overcame them. That it robbed every shred of humanity in them.

They found an entire family gagged and bound... The way her voice went down to a whisper was almost more frightening than the gruesome details of the story itself. Accounts of animalistic behavior, of minds gone completely raving mad.

That is what happens when you use it. When you slip up. I tell you this, Marrah, because I want to protect you.

Rhoke moved steadily next to her in companionable silence. Almost too quiet, even for him. Was he listening in on her? She had not been careful to keep him out. If he had listened, he gave no indication. They kept a steady pace until finally she sensed it. An odd, diffused sort of light. Her eyes were now sensitive to the smallest amount.

Rhoke tensed beside her, jerking her to a stop.

Make yourself absolutely still. The command came like a whiplash, along with his arm shoving her against the wall. 

They stood frozen for a moment, when she heard the slightest echo in the tunnel. It was nothing like the normal skittering sounds of tiny claws, or the occasional drip of water.

This was slow and drawn out. The movements of a predator. Pausing, calculating, and continuing on.

We're being hunted.

Her heart thudded. A Half One?

No. He had his hand like a vice on her. Be still and it will likely go right by us.

Dimarrah gripped her dagger anyway.

What is it?

Like a python but bigger. Strikes fast. Swallows its prey whole.