Einherjar

21

The tunnel was constricting but there was enough room for a person to walk through, albeit hunched over if that person was Blader's height. There were no tunnels that branched off, just the one that twisted and turned its way ever deeper into the mountain.

They were almost out of cloth strips to burn, and they were no closer to finding a way out. Blader didn't want to think about what would happen once their fuel burned out. They would be lost in the darkness, with no way to know what lay before them, and there would be no escape.

When I thought about dying in the Reenactment, I never thought it would be like this.

"Skalfi." Wolfsted's voice came quietly in the dim light. "Another one, please."

"This is the last one," Skalfi said as she handed up the cloth. "What happens when it's gone?"

"We form a chain," Wolfsted answered after a moment of silence. "You hold on to my belt, and Blader, you hold on to Skalfi's. That way, we stay together, no matter what."

Skalfi nodded as Wolfsted lit the last piece of cloth, placing it on the end of the makeshift spear. Blader glanced at the hard stone walls surrounding them and knew their chances of making it out of the tunnel were slim.

It looks like our only hope is to find an exit before the cloth runs out....

The three recruits continued to forge ahead, Skalfi the only one who didn't have to hunch in order to avoid knocking her head on the stone above them. Blader took to running one hand along the tunnel wall, trying to adjust himself to seeing by feel. His fingers skimmed over the bumps and dips in the stone, feeling every rough patch, every smooth section, every pointed bit. Perhaps this could work, but it isn't as effective.

The light flickered, dimmed. Blader, Skalfi, and Wolfsted watched in alarm as the cloth shriveled up under the hungry tongue of the fire. Blader reached forward, finding Skalfi's belt and curling his fingers around it, Skalfi grasping Wolfsted's belt. And then suddenly, the firelight that had allowed them to see, if only in a limited capacity, died out and for a moment, only the brief flashes of orange embers chewing up the last bits of cloth were visible before they, too, winked out.

The tunnel was very dark.

The silence, which had been all right while the fire had shone, now felt stifling, like it was choking them.

"Everyone set?" Wolfsted asked. "I will keep the spear, just in case."

"Set," Skalfi said, her voice sounding small but firm.

"Set," Blader replied. "Use your free hand to touch the tunnel wall. That way, we'll be able to get an idea of our path."

"Good idea," Wolfsted said. "Blader, left hand on wall. Skalfi, right. I'll do left again, because I'm right handed and I'd rather have a strong spear thrust than a weak one." There was a moment of silence, and then, "Let's go."

Blader felt Skalfi step forward, felt the tug of the belt against his fingers, and he started to walk, slowly, matching her and Wolfsted's pace. His fingers on the wall, which had felt so capable of feeling out the path before, now seemed lost and weak, incapable of finding their way. Blader still felt like he was blind, as well as alone. And while there was no way to prove to himself he wasn't blind, there was at least one sign he wasn't alone, which was the leather of Skalfi's belt and her tunic rubbing against his fingers.

The three recruits shuffled slowly forward in the darkness, seemingly reluctant to lift their feet for fear of suddenly losing the stone beneath their boots. Blader kept his hand on the wall, the direction varying little at first.