Delving Beneath the Surface

Chapter 9

"So, can we hurry this up?" Sam vibrated in his seat as he craned his neck in the direction Haley and Sebastian had gone. "What if the other two get too far ahead of us? I don't want to miss out on any of the action."

"You punched a wall. We'll meet up with the others when I say so,"" Verona deadpanned as she dabbed at his bloodied knuckles with an antiseptic wipe. He bared his teeth in a hiss and drew back. Her grip around his hand tightened, locking him in place.

"You're lucky this doesn't need stitches," she chided as she surveyed the cuts, "I doubt you'll be able to land anymore punches. Not for a few days at least."

"Luckily for you, I came prepared," he shot her a finger gun with his good hand and winked, "That's why I brought the baseball bat with me."

Verona scoffed as she pulled a roll of bandages from her kit. Why wouldn't he use the baseball bat from the beginning? He spent the last twenty minutes taking out a swarm of cave insects with his bare hands. Was he just trying to show off? She paused and considered that. He did look pretty cool punching bugs from midair.

"Just be sure you clean this tonight. If it looks infected in the morning, go straight to Harvey."

"You're really taking this healer role seriously, aren't you?"

"This isn't a LARPing session," Verona countered sharply, "I'm patching you up because blood was gushing down your hand and no one else thought to bring a first aid kit with them." She clucked her tongue irritably as she tied off the end of his bandage. Pink had already started to soak through the white gauze, but it would work for now.

He flexed his fingers thoughtfully, barely masking his wince of pain. "Not bad. You've got my vote for team healer," he pushed himself off the ground and strolled off, swinging his bat playfully from side to side. "Come on. I don't want them getting too far ahead of us."

They followed the twists and turns of the dark cavern. The path they had settled on had no supports – steel or wooden. Sebastian guessed that they stumbled across a series of natural caves that branched off the mines, which seemed like a reasonable conclusion. They were bound to find a few surprises this far underground. If there was going to be a place where dwarves wanted to hide a few things, this would be it.

She shined her flashlight around, in search of the chalk symbol Sebastian used to mark the way they had come. "Just in case we get turned around down here" – that's what he told her. It was a brilliant plan, if she were being honest.

She followed Sam as he wove through large stalagmites jutting out of the ground. The rock here was all the same shade of slate grey. It made it hard to differentiate one pillar of stone from another in the low light. Crack. The rumble of shifting rock caught her attention as it echoed throughout the cavern. She caught Sam by the back of his jacket. He stopped and peered over his shoulder with a questioning look on his face.

"Did you hear that?" They listened carefully. Nothing. "I thought I—"

A hand clapped over her mouth and dragged her back into the pillars of stone before she had the chance to scream. She had taken self-defense courses back in Zuzu, but every tip and trick she picked up from her teachers eddied from her mind as a crippling fear overtook her. She wriggled in a vain attempt to break free, but her assailant held firm as they dragged her back.

"Hon, calm down, it's just me," Haley whispered in her ear. Verona crumpled in her arms, tears burning at her eyes. Haley's grip slackened and she went to smooth her hair. She flinched away from her. Haley let her hand fall to her lap, an apologetic look playing on her features. "I'm sorry I frightened you, but we couldn't risk calling out to you."