Sister Mine

One

He looked down, startled at the loud rumble beneath his boots, the ground seeming to shiver and shift.

"Riddick?" her voice was thin, frightened and he looked over at her, sweat suddenly standing out on his brow.

"Don't move!" his voice hissed out the words in a desperate command but too late.

The rumble grew to a dull roar and the rock beneath their feet caved and turned to gravel and powder. Riddick felt the earth vanish from beneath him and a cold sick feeling made his stomach roll as he began to drop.

"Riddick?!" As if in a dream he watched her start to slip, crumbling into the earth beyond his reach.

"Riddick!" Her scream was lost as they dropped into the black yawn of the earth as a cavern opened up.

Her voice echoed like a thousand wails against the walls of the abyss as they fell but his body was tumbling madly and out of control, boots over teakettle. He felt himself strike then bounce off a protruding rock of the chasm and something in him shifted, fire burning through his innards. She shrieked again, the sound coming from far away and he realized that he was below her, his heavier weight propelling him faster toward an uncertain destination. There was a brief instant when a new sound registered, the sudden cool moisture in the air before he hit, then Riddick plunged deep into an underground river with a loud splash amongst the debris of rock and dust. The current was flowing strong and fast and even as he struggled to the surface he was whipped along the subterranean waterway, spinning unchecked. Something struck his head in the black surrounding him and Riddick felt himself go limp, losing his grip on conscious thought.

"Riddick?" her voice cut through the fog around him slowly and the man groaned, reawakening.

The first thing to register was a throbbing pain in his side and he figured a rib, possibly two were broken. His head pulsed with each heartbeat and blinking open his eyes allowed in a vicious assault of sunlight. He swore softly as he clamped his eyes shut again.

"I hardly think that language is necessary Mister Riddick."

"Huh?" thoughts were swirling madly through his mind and Riddick took a moment to process fully what had happened. "Oh, pardon my language..."

He groaned as he gathered himself to move, pushing up with arms that had once busted a thousand pound steer on his own. Now they shook badly, feeling weak and watery. Gentle hands were under his arms, helping him rise to his feet. Again, he tried to open his eyes and found them better adjusted to the light. Once he caught sight of their surroundings he froze, his mouth hanging open in astonishment.

They were standing on the sandy banks of the now quietly moving river, facing toward an open grassy cove, richly green and lush. Ripe fruit trees were in bloom, and colorful flowers dotted the green cove in clumps of red, yellow and pink. What caught Riddick's attention was a small stone shack at the far edge of the clearing, which looked empty and abandoned. There was a water pump not far from the front door, a small shed sagging from neglect beyond it. Towering high above them were sheer walls of granite and lava, well over three hundred feet high. It looked like the only way in or out of here was the river, and that was not an easy way.

He looked up the beach then the other way, his practiced eye gauging the distance to the sheer walls of the granite towers. The beach was perhaps all of sixty yards long, and it was the narrowest point, the grass curving gently outward in a wider loop toward the shack. From where he stood Riddick guessed the distance across the cove to be not more than a hundred fifty yards, a shade more perhaps, and no wider than one twenty. It was small, lush, bountiful looking, but very small. He couldn't help but wonder how it had come to be here.