The Fickle Winds of Autumn

53. The Other Side

Kira's body thumped down on a hard, uneven surface before her whirring, scrambled mind had time to react.

Her raw hands stung and absorbed the jolting impact; her knees throbbed and stabbed from their raking slide down the cavern wall.

She unwound her tangled limbs from the ungainly heap and lay motionless; her grateful lungs gasped down the happy air.

Well, at least she had found the floor!

Her landing had not exactly been graceful, but she had made it through the lacerating jaws of that crevice and was still alive.

She flexed her torn and weary arms and legs and reassured herself that she hadn't been seriously injured.

She fought back an irresistible urge to laugh.

She was free!

Her legs and arms and body might be sore, but she could move them in any direction she wanted without the intimidating, restrictive rock to shackle and bind her into position.

She rolled her neck - her head and cheeks were unhampered by the insidious pressure - the sound of her own breath no longer hammered back into her oppressed face.

A flurry of hope rippled through her.

This cavern could be a way out?

Perhaps the long, cramped days of despairing dark would soon be over?

Her nostrils delighted in their new freedom; she breathed deeply again.

The air was not fresh - but it was not the stale, immovable atmosphere of the tunnel either. In subtle moments, her nose caught a faint glimpse of odour - something high and thin and unpleasant - but after the endless, trapped dejection of the tunnel, even this veiled, musty scent was a welcome break from the dark monotony.

She strained her ears against the thud of her own heart - a shadowy rustling sound seemed to crinkle occasionally in the far distance - but after the tired days, snared by the echoes of the mountainous rock, she could no longer be sure if this was the dim sound of wind or water - or just the desperate, rushing noise of her own hope.

Her jaded body wanted to remain on the stubborn stone floor - to rest and breath and recover - but her companions were certain to be worried about her - she should at least let them know she was alive.

Her bleary legs did not feel trustworthy; she leant on the cavern wall and wobbled up to her feet; the thankful blood flowed down into her limbs; she stretched her back and shoulders and felt for the crack that she had just slid out from.

She stooped to shoulder height and called hoarsely into the dark gap.

"Ellis! Ellis! Can you hear me?"

A muffled, muted noise came back to her - she could not distinguish any words, but from the tone and timbre, it was definitely the comforting voice of her companion.

Her shoulders relaxed; she smiled; she was not alone.

"I'm alive! I'm safe!" she said. "And I think there's a much larger cave back here."

Some dulled, strangled words strained back to her.

"Can I get through?" they seemed to say.

Her bruised body still held to the resentful, squashed trauma of the numbing rock.

Would her companions be able to get through such a tight squeeze?

But her unwilling frame had dragged and scooped out a quantity of loose debris - she had hollowed out the gap and widened it.