Ashes of Twilight (17 page)

I cover my mouth so I don’t laugh out loud. Pace sees my smile and continues. “No, really, he’s quite interesting once you get to know him.”

I can only shake my head and grin. What would it be like to have a normal conversation with Pace? Without the thought that we could very easily die in the next few minutes? He’s so funny, without really trying, it’s just the way he is. What made him so? What was he like as a boy growing up? Just him and his mother. I hope they haven’t hurt his mother … the thought of Pace in pain is more than I can stand.

He pulls out my crock of goat’s milk and sniffs it before turning it up and drinking half of it. He wipes his mouth with his thumb and finishes the sandwich in another bite. Then he carefully searches for crumbs and drops them in the cage. Pip pecks delicately at his meal with soft chirps of satisfaction.

“What’s going on out there?” he asks as he starts on the crusty cake my grandfather packed in my pail. He’s serious now, his blue eyes intent upon my face. I feel my color rise as he looks at me. I can’t stop thinking about his kiss. Why did he kiss me?

“Filchers came below. They were killed and their bodies dropped into a bottomless pit. Now there are guards at every cross tunnel.”

Pace shakes his head. He understands what that means. “What should we do?” We’re sitting so close. My knees are beneath his, his ankles press closely against my hips. The only thing that separates us is Pip’s cage. I’ve yet to decide where to go from here. Back to where he was or onward to another place. I need to figure it out soon. I’ve got to get back to my home and my bed before my grandfather suspects something.

“I don’t know,” I confess. “You can’t stay here forever. We’ve got to find someplace where you can stay for a while. With supplies in case I can’t get to you.”

“Or you can just hand me over,” he says quietly.

I shake my head no. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. “They’ll kill you.”

“Am I worth the lives of your friends?” Pace picks up my hand. He does it so easily, almost without thought. I’m glad I washed them and my face before I left the stable. I run my other hand through my hair and wonder if it’s full of coal dust. He turns our hands so his fingers splay through mine. He doesn’t even look at them, just at me with his wonderful blue eyes that are unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

“You said they killed two filchers who came below and they’re prepared to kill any more that come down here. How long do you think it will be before one of your friends gets hurt, or maybe killed?” He squeezes my hand. “Wren, you know they’ll come with weapons the next time.”

“We have weapons.”

“Knives and clubs just like them. What if they bring a flamethrower?”

I shiver at the thought of flames shooting through the tunnels, possibly hitting a pocket of gas, with the resulting explosion. It’s a horrible thought. What if they find our cave and burn our homes? What could we do to stop them? But the alternative is just as bad.

I squeeze his hand. “I can’t just turn you over to them.”

He gives me one of his fleeting smiles. “I can’t live the rest of my life hiding in the tunnels either.”

“Just give me some time to figure things out. Everything has happened so fast.”

“I know.”

We sit, quietly, just looking at each other, and once more I wonder if he’s going to kiss me until Pip lets out a peep. It startles both of us. Pip flutters up to his perch, and beyond the wispy sound of his wings I hear a pebble bouncing.

I put my finger to my mouth and turn off the lamp. We’re plunged into darkness. My ears strain with the effort to hear and I silently pray that Pip will stay quiet. I hear Pace breathing, hard and fast, and I know his fear of dark, closed-in places is taking over.

I move my hand up his arm so I won’t startle him and touch his face. Then I lean my forehead against his, just as we did when we kissed. “Breathe with me.” I mouth the words more than say them. He nods and quiets, listening for my breath until he finds it and then echoing it with his own.

Voices sound in the tunnel. I try to identify them but they are too jumbled—two men, speaking low and fast. Has something else happened? They don’t seem to be in a hurry, their footsteps sound normal as they fade off into the distance. Just to make sure, I stay as I am, quiet, leaning against Pace, breathing evenly so he won’t panic. He shivers and I move my arms up around his neck to give him warmth.

“They’re gone,” I finally say.

“I guess turning the light back on is out of the question.”

“It is.”

“Can’t blame me for trying.”

“No. I don’t blame you at all.”

13

“We need to move
you someplace else.” He can’t stop shivering. “Someplace not so close to the main paths.”

Pace’s teeth chatter. “I thought this was off the main paths.”

“That was before they decided to post guards.”

“What if they catch us moving around?”

“They won’t.” I stand and grab my jacket, shrug into it, and hoist myself up. “Hand me Pip first. Then the pail and the lamp.” I lay prone next to the opening and stick my arms inside.

Pace moves slowly, feeling his way with his hands before standing tentatively. He picks up Pip’s cage and holds it up. We repeat the action two more times as he feels with his feet for the lamp and pail and then hands them up to me.

“You’re only about a foot short of the top,” I whisper. “Not even that much. Just jump and feel for the sides.”

“That’s easy for you to say.” His grumbles are lost in the hole he stands in. Pace jumps up and misses. “I can’t see.” He turns his face up to me. “How am I supposed to find something I can’t see?”

“Hold up your hand.”

“Don’t pull it off.”

I bury my face in my sleeve and silently laugh. My body shakes with the effort to keep quiet. The more I try, the worse it gets.

“Wren?”

I move my head enough to see him. I have to wipe the tears from my eyes before I can look. He’s standing in the chute with his hand up in the air waiting on me.

“What are you doing, Wren?”

“Laughing at you.”

“Pulling my hand off is funny?”

“No. The way you say it is funny.”

“Can we go now?” He sighs dramatically.

I reach down and grasp his wrist. He wraps his hand around mine and I pull. Pace braces his feet against the wall and walks up with my help until he’s able to leverage himself out of the hole. He comes out with one last powerful thrust and crashes into me. The top of his head hits my chin and I fall flat on my back with Pace on top of me. Lights dance before my eyes as I blink and try to catch my breath.

“I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun,” Pace says as he flops over on his back. “Lamp?”

“No.” I rub my chin. It feels like it’s shattered into a million pieces, but to my amazement it’s still all in one very tender piece.

He sighs. “So where are we going?”

“To the river.”

“With the glow fish?”

“No, but where we’re going you should be able to use the lamp.”
If we can get there …
I didn’t want to frighten him. I was scared enough for both of us.

“Are you sure we can’t turn on the lamp?”

“I’m sure.”

“Let’s go.” I hand him the lamp, which he stuffs inside his shirt. He takes the cage and I grab my pail as he stands. I take Pace’s hand and lead him forward. Once more we venture forth into the darkness.

*   *   *

It’s not easy guiding Pace through the escape tunnels. It’s difficult compared to earlier when we just walked through the tunnels. We have to deal with the cage and my pail, which I can’t leave behind for someone to find and get curious. So we bump and feel our way along through the narrow passages and winding turns. I can tell he’s frustrated because he snaps at me several times.

“Just let me turn on the lamp.”

“We can’t risk it.”

“You can’t risk it. Maybe you’d think differently if you were the one who was completely helpless.” He stops and pulls me to a stop with him.

I know I would be the same if the situation was reversed. Being helpless and dependent is not something I would ever want to be. I squeeze his hand. “Just trust me. I won’t let you fall,” I assure him. He follows me, but I’m not sure if it’s because he trusts me or if he feels like he doesn’t have a choice. Which he doesn’t.

We finally arrive in the cavern with the river. We come out above the ledge as I had before, as we’d gone up when we’d left the cave I originally hid him in. The water roars below us, ominously filling the darkness.

“What is it?”

“The river.”

“The sound … it’s big. How big is this cave?”

“Big … mostly long and narrow. The river is below us.”

“How far below?”

I take a deep breath. I don’t want to lie to him. But I don’t want to scare him either. “As deep as the tallest building.”

“Turn on the lamp, Wren.” He takes a step back. “I can feel the emptiness in front of me.”

I look around to make sure no one else is there. I haven’t seen or heard anyone since we left the old hiding place. People do come here occasionally, to fish, or just to tempt fate and the water. I’ve got to believe that everyone will be sticking close to the village now, as the threat of the filchers is very real. The light will help me to find a cavern below the ledge secure enough to hide him in.

“Don’t move.”

“Not planning on it.” It takes a moment for me to pull the lamp from his shirt. A moment when my fingers brush against the bare and chilled skin of his chest. I’ve got to get him a blanket before his chill turns into a fever. I flip the switch and the soft glow doesn’t do much to turn back the darkness. I hold the lamp out over the ledge and Pace lets out a gasp.

“You expected me to walk down that? In the dark?”

“Maybe it’s better when you don’t know what it is,” I offer.

“Like outside the dome?”

I’d been concentrating on the immediate so much that I’d almost forgotten about what got us here. Almost.

“There are caves down there?”

“Lots of them. They’re not big, but I think they’re secluded enough that you can turn on the lamp occasionally.”

“The sooner we start the sooner it will be over,” Pace says. He sounds weak, even with the light. The cold is draining him. I’m so used to it, I don’t think about it. I wear layers of clothing and stay warm by moving about. But he was stuck for a long time in wet clothes that robbed his body of its warmth. I would have to figure some way to get him a blanket. Or at least more clothes to wear.

I take the cage and give him the light. I lead the way down the ledge. He was right. It would have been dangerous to lead him down in the total darkness. More so when we get to the bottom, as the floor is covered with huge boulders. We pick our way through them, startling the minnows that live in the pools between the rocks when our feet slip in. Pace shines the lantern on the wall below the ledge as we make our way back.

“There,” he says finally. He points to an opening about eight feet up. The lamplight gets lost in its depths, which means it should be big enough to shelter him without anyone seeing him if they happen to come down.

“Boost me up,” I say. We put the cage and pail on a flat boulder. Pip chirps a questioning note as I stuff the lamp in my shirt. Pace puts his hands together and I step in them and up to the opening. I flop in on my stomach and pull the lamp out.

It ends about six feet back and when I stand my head brushes the top. I take a few steps back and to my surprise find that it curves to the right and opens into a small cave.

“Wren?” Pace calls out.

“Hang on.” I go into the cave and shine the light around the walls. It’s a good eight feet in diameter and ten feet high. It was probably a complete tunnel at one time as the far wall is tightly packed with rocks. I shine the light on the ceiling. It’s smooth, and it’s obvious to me that at one time the water coursed through here until the river cut a groove so deep that it changed course. There’s nothing to indicate that there would be any danger from a cave-in.

It’s the perfect hiding place for Pace.

I crawl back to the entrance. “Come on.” He hands me Pip and the pail and scrambles up. He bends over against the low ceiling and with Pip in hand follows me back into the cave. He turns a slow circle before he sits wearily in the middle of the floor.

“No one should see the lamp from outside.” He’s tired and worn and I don’t know what else I can do for him.

“It’s perfect,” he says. “It will make a great tomb.”

I sit down beside him, so that I face him. Our knees are side by side as we prop our arms upon them. The lamp sits by his hip. The circles under his eyes are worse and his earlier good humor with the meal has been replaced with a morose futility. “This won’t be forever.” I hope I sound encouraging.

“Yes it will. They’re not going to stop looking for me and you can’t keep risking your life to protect me.” He sticks the end of his finger through the bars of Pip’s cage and looks at me from beneath his dark hair. “I don’t even know why you’re doing it.”

“I’m doing it because you know where Alex got out. I’m doing it because I hate to think that his death is meaningless.” I’m not sure if that’s what he wanted to hear. I know that’s not my only motive. I can’t stand the thought of Pace dying because he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I really don’t know how to tell him that. I’ve been so confused since he kissed me. Especially since he acts like it didn’t happen.
Why did he kiss me?

“What was he like?”

“Alex? He was always nice to me. Nice when others weren’t. He always made sure I was included when we were children.”

“Why were you excluded?”

His eyes are so direct. So piercing. They see things that I’ve never admitted to anyone, including myself. Or maybe it’s just that because he’s here I’m looking at myself differently. I can’t look at him. I’m afraid of what he’ll see, so I look at my boots and rub at one of the many scuff marks with my finger. “Because of my father.” I point to the roof without looking up. “Because he wasn’t a shiner.”

Pace nods. “Did you love him?”