"It was pure luck, really, that this hadn't happened sooner. Two years of keeping out of his reach had really been testing the limits of fate, and the sane voice inside her head kept telling her she would have to face him eventually. The world was b...
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The walls were more barnacles than rock as they descended. The tunnel damp and winding, their footsteps followed by a tedious and never-ending dripping sound that seemed to be coming from everywhere.
The book had mentioned nothing about the potential for the tunnels to flood, and by the looks of the smooth black stone under her feet, the tunnel had once been carved out by a river of lava. Sanem wasn't sure which seemed more daunting; drowning in molten rock, or seawater. Lava would have been almost instantaneous, but the concept of burning flesh, even for a short while, didn't seem nearly as peaceful as the quiet of being surrounded by a familiar blanket of ocean.
She shook the thoughts from her head.
Bandit walked a short distance out in front. His tail flickering almost out of reach of the lantern light, black fur against black rock. Sanem had more than one moment in which she worried they'd lost him to the dark, but each time it happened he would turn and flash his yellow eyes against the glow of the candle light.
And so, Sanem followed Bandit. And everyone else followed Sanem. Guided by lanterns they'd taken off the ship that were illuminating barren rock walls and determined face, tinted with only the barest hint of unease. Though it would grow stronger the deeper they ventured.
It became clear that whatever display of confidence the little cat was putting on in leading the expedition was little more than a facade as they reached another crossroads, the sound of his padding feet dying out into the near silence of the damp tunnels, waiting for Sanem to catch up and direct them down the next path. Trotting on back ahead when she did.
It was a maze. A gridwork of twisting pathways, winding routes and dizzying redirections that would have sent a sane person mad or fumbling down towards something far more sinister than a dead end.
Minutes passed before they reached another junction. Bandit at her heels before Sanem led them down the left passageway, hearing his paws scurry off ahead again. She was left suddenly wanting him to stay so that she might have someone else to focus on as she felt Can approach, falling into step beside her.
"You found yourself another cat then." He noted gently.
Small talk. He'd probably realised that anything more adventurous would have gotten his hand bitten off. Still, he should have realised bringing up that topic was like poking an old stab wound. You're running out of lifeboats there, Can. But Sanem couldn't help noticing the slightly timid tone in his voice, it was the one thing that stopped her from snapping back at him.
She found herself struggling over a reply that wasn't barred with teeth. So she didn't say anything at all. Wishing the floor would be more interesting than it was so she might have a legitimate reason for staring at it so intensely.
He accepted her silence as far from animosity as he would get today.
"Sanem..." Can shuffled the bag on his shoulder. "You know I never intended to take Gypsy away from you, she must have snuck onto my ship, that night, before I went to join my mother. Before I..."
