The Traitor's Heir

Chapter Eleven

"At least." Lina echoed the words. "And yes, they are for single families. There are maps that have the family names and titles. And from what I've found it seems that many didn't even live here most of the time. Nearly all of the wealthy families down here below had manors or estates up above ground as well."

"I've never understood," Lina continued after they had walked a ways in silence, "why you would live under the ground if the world above wasn't poisoned with evil. I mean, before the wars and battles destroyed most of what was up above, why would anyone ever burrow down into the ground to live?"

"You know the answer to that." Quara was breathless again, as they climbed up and up, the houses growing smaller, although she could clearly see that up above they began to expand again as they neared the Palace's enormous walls.

"I guess I do. I mean, I know we've been told that the Caverns existed long before the war and were a center of commerce because of the wealth that lay below the land. And after a while, the Dome was so excavated that people decided that they might as well live there. And then it began to be built up. And when the war started they destroyed most of the original entrances, created new entrances and defenses and basically stayed safe in their little burrow while the world outside died, nearly altogether."

"Then you know why this city exists. Whatever they brought out of those mines that are below us now must have been a thousand times more valuable than what they've brought up out of the Dome."

"Maybe." Lina glanced from side to side and paused for a moment to look back out over the empty lake and the many levels of homes below them. "But maybe not. After all, who knows what the Dome might have become over centuries if it still had a market for its goods beyond its own population. Maybe it would have been this great too." Quara looked skeptical, but she was also relieved that her sister had paused long enough for her to begin to catch her breath and she wasn't going to waste it arguing over what might have been if the world above hadn't been almost entirely destroyed.

"We need to keep moving. We've got to start back before," whatever words came next were completely overwhelmed by the booming roar that shook the entire City, from the lake to the Palace to the light source overhead. Quara's right hand shot out and she reached for the wall next to her while dropping down into a crouching position, her left hand braced against the ground beneath her. Lina bent her knees slightly and stared out over the lake.

"An Earthquake?" Quara asked the question in a small voice, a few moments after the shaking ceased.

"I don't think so," Lina was staring out in the direction of the tunnel and dry waterfall. "But I do think that we should keep moving. If I'm right it doesn't make much difference whether we go forward or go back. In fact I think that the most important thing is that we stay away from the walls. Especially on the lake side of the City."

"Lina, what are you thinking?" Quara followed her sister's lead and stood, continuing the brisk walk up the steps while trying to ignore that fact that her legs felt like they'd been turned to jelly. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest, a fact that had nothing to do with the last hour's exertion.

"Do you remember what Dad was doing today?"

Quara thought back, but apart from her mother's glares and dramatic sighs, she could remember little from the conversation of the night before. She had been too wrapped up in her thoughts and in the worry that someone would ask her about her supposed trip to work in the Meadow earlier that day. As she cast a long look back over her shoulder one more time, she couldn't help but think that it felt like far more than a half rotation of the planet had passed. Lina sighed in exasperation at her sister's slow moving feet and grabbed her arm and began to drag her up the steep marble steps.