Bandits (28 page)

There was no way to fight against the power of the w
a
terfall. Nickel just took a deep breath and let it take him. He squirmed and held his breath for as long as he could. Just when it seemed he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, he hit the river below the waterfall. Grabbing a quick gulp of air before he was forced under water, he opened his eyes and fought to swim quic
k
ly out of the undertow.

The tide pushed him forward. “Ugh,” he muttered, coughing out water. Pulled under again, he forced his arm out of the foaming water. He kicked fiercely to stay above the surface, fighting the heavy current. Trying to get to the water’s edge, he briefly rubbed his eye and then took a deep breath and swam beneath.

The water was green, but clear enough to see through it. Large fish of blue, yellow and gold swam at the bottom. Nickel prayed they didn’t want to eat him. He swam faster. The map on his arm burned hotly to remind him his treasure was near.
What? The treasure is in this water? 
Nickel turned away from the water’s edge and swam straight ahead. He was more or less carried by the current in the direction of his treasure.

Looking to his left, he saw a large water cave. The cave looked to be carved out of a mountain buried under the sea. The map heated up like a scorching burn on his arm, and he knew the treasure could be found there. Thick green and yellow moss covered the mountain, and the cave that stood up was battered repeatedly by the crash of waves. It reached from deep within the sea to peek up above the ocean waters. Taking a deep breath, he swam with all his might to the water cave.

Water filled the cave’s deep bottom, and he looked up about six feet to see the mossy rock that carved out the tunneled underwater fissure. He floated while looking around the dar
k
ening structure.
Almost there.

He swam harder through the green waters and noticed the water cave was part of a large structure that seem to go on forever into a
dim
area ahead. Taking a deep breath, he dived beneath the surface of the water.

Quickly, Nickel made his way through the cave. The light that peeked in from the cave opening gradually disa
p
peared as he swam. The dimly lit tunnel snaked further into twilight and then blackness. Deep, and deeper into complete darkness he swam.

He coughed as he struggled to the top of the water to get some air. He felt as though he was smothering in the darkness. The claustrophobic feeling of the unknown choked within him. His breathing rapidly increased, and he forced himself to slow it down.

Stroking above water, he put up a hand in the dark. He saw nothing. He gulped down his desire to go back toward the light. Taking a deep breath, he dived below then closed his eyes and started to swim again as the map warmed to guide him.

Small sea urchins swam around him. He felt their small bodies rub against him. They traveled in swarms and it felt as though hundreds of them tapped, rubbed, and nipped at him at one time before they swam on.
Harmless, they’re harmless.
He swallowed and then pushed himself further into the gloominess of the cave. Fear of the unknown slithered up his back.

Darker, darker, and darker it became. The world around him felt void and heavy. His heart started to race even faster, and for a moment, he felt as though he wanted to give up. The feeling of hopelessness filled him.
Maybe the treasure’s not here? Not
h
ing’s here.
He fought to the top of the water. His head popped out from the black waters to the inky void above the water. He stroked quickly, praying the exit to the cave was near.

“Guh, uh…” Nickel let out a few bubbles of air. Som
e
thing had rubbed against him. Something big and long that he hoped wasn’t hungry. Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to stick around to find out. He swam harder. Following the hot mov
e
ment from the map on his arm, he navigated through the deep waters of the cave.

He pushed out of the moving stream of cool dampness to grab more air. Breathing hard, he forced himself to calm down.
I gotta do this for Daniel and for my Dad.
He took several deep breaths and relaxed.

Sharp, pie
rcing pain sank into his thigh.
Bubbles of air erupted from his lungs. He was jerked under the murky waters. Something had him, and it had teeth. He fought and struggled to grab his slingshot. His body was wrenched through the waters from side to side. His shaking hands fought to grab a weapon from his belt. Tears mixed with water as he tried to forget the pain while he fought for his life. Taking a pipen out of his pocket, he put it firmly in the slingshot.

“No!” He was jerked again. Teeth sunk deeper into the fleshy part of his thigh. He pulled back his slingshot and aimed at his thigh, where the snake-like sea urchin bit him.

He hit his mark, and the urchin bit down harder. Tears of frustration stung his eyes. He bit down on his lip in determin
a
tion. Taking his knife out of his belt, he stabbed down at the urchin connected to his thigh. The knife sunk smoothly into its supple head and neck. Over and over again, relentlessly, he stru
g
gled and fought to get away.

Finally, the beast released him. Dropping his knife into the water, Nickel broke free. Swimming as if he wasn’t in pain, r
e
newed energy pumped through his veins and he pushed himself to swim harder than ever. Tiny bumps from fish and sharp rocks scratched against his legs and arms. Just when he was about to tire out, he allowed the moving water to sweep him off to the left as the tunneled water cave split. Completely guided by the water’s slight push, he rounded a bend.
Finally.

A bright light showed up ahead. He’d wondered if he would ever see daylight again. A smile of relief slipped on his face and he swam with renewed vigor toward the light. Igno
r
ing the bumps and nips from the little fish surrounding him he pressed forward.

As he came closer to the light, he realized the tunnel opened up into a tall steep cave. He blinked his eyes as the sting from adjusting to the light irritated them. Stalagmites hung from the ceiling of the cave. There was a crystal at the top, carved in some strange design, and it spilled in light from the sun. Looking around, he saw twin statues of the beings they had met when they first came to Purgas. The statues appeared to glow from the light that poured in from the top of the cave. An altar stood up out of the water on a rock platform. Quickly, he swam to the steps b
e
neath the water, and walked up the platform. Looking at the treasure, he noticed it was multi-colored, and small enough to fit into his hand. It spun slowly on an invisible axis.

He swallowed, and reached his hand within the crystal box that held his treasure.

Crack!

The floor beneath him started to shake. He held onto the a
l
tar and fought with the invisible force holding the treasure to get it free. The harder he pulled, the more the ground and cave quaked. Rocks fell from the ceiling. Water rushed in from an unknown source with great force. Wave after wave of water hit him. Higher and higher the water rose.

“Ugh! No!” He struggled to keep hold of the treasure and pull it free while fighting to stay above water. The water in the cave elevated and splashed against his face then over his head in stinging sprays. Holding his breath, Nickel struggled to pull the treasure free. It wouldn’t give, not an inch.

The ground continued to shake. Large rocks plummeted into the water and he fought to hold his breath. He wrapped his legs around the altar. Holding on to the treasure, he refused to let it go as the entire cave began to immerse in water.

Tears filled his eyes, and his teeth clenched as he fought to hold the tittering reminisce of his last mouthful of air. Water completely filled the cave, and digging deep within himself, he called forth a picture of his father and Daniel.
Gulp.
Water filled his lungs, but he fought the nausea and pulled the treasure one last time. Just as he pulled the treasure free, his last breath e
s
caped.
I’m sorry Dad.
And then, the darkness came.

BANDITS

“Hell no!” Daniel yelled in frustration. He’d let Jade rest. Her wound started to bleed again, and he’d taken the time to look at his map to locate the others.

“What’s wrong? Tell me,” she said. She’d just finished rewrapping her leg and pulled herself up by his shirt.

“They’re gone!  I don’t know where the hell they are. We’ve got to go. The map timer is running out, and I can’t find them. C’mon,” he said and grabbed her by the hand.

“Are we going straight to your treasure?  We’re almost there,” Jade said and ran with Daniel. Pain stabbed her calf, but she didn’t falter. She only let out a subtle grunt as she tried to keep up.

“Yeah, we don’t have a choice, the others just seemed to - disappear. It’s the only way to save us all. Can you run? Fast?”

Jade ran at a moderate pace alongside him. She visibly took a deep breath. “I can. Let’s go!” Then she pushed off to run past him.

They ran at top speed through the tall grass, the trees, blood red flowers, and large insects that flew past them in a blur. After running through the marshy water leading toward the treasure, they broke through the thick forest of trees to a clear meadow of short thick grass. A large rock wall stood a mile or so in front of them. Huge statues of the aliens that brought them to Purgas flanked each side of the formation. The statues were brilliantly created in what looked like crystals, and the light from the sun illuminated them with light and moving colors.

Jade gasped. “They’re beautiful,” she said as they ran closer to the break in the wall. The statues appeared
to be luminous
stan
d
ing in front of the dull gray rocks that made up the structure ahead of them.

“Powerful and evil. My father sure can pick ‘em. Haden’s a great example of evil, the bastard,” Daniel said at the flas
h
back to Haden’s deceit.

“Yeah, Haden is a monster. I never liked him, you know. I don’t know about these aliens though. They don’t seem evil - just
suspicious of us
,” Jade replied breathlessly.

“Let’s slow down, regain some strength. I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”  Daniel put out a hand to slow her down to a quick walk. His chest heaved as he calmed his breat
h
ing and glanced at Jade.

He noticed Jade had been limping on her leg and knew that she needed some time to recover before the next part of their journey. They were several yards from the structure that had an entranceway about eight feet wide. The jagged rock wall appeared to be several miles wide and over twenty feet tall. He studied the construction to try and gage what they were wal
k
ing into. The statues were over forty feet tall, on either side of the entrance. There was a two feet high step carved out of rock
in front of them
.

She looked mesmerized at the two statues and tried to control her heavy breathing. “Thanks. I just need a minute. What do you think happened at home?”

“Haden’s probably dead, your father came. He told me to tell you that…that he loves you,” Daniel said.

She raised an eyebrow at his stoic face staring at the e
n
trance way and reminded him, “Your father loved you, too, D
a
niel. We are going to do this. I’ve got your back.”
Jade reach over and squeezed his hand.

“I know.” He smiled at her. “I admit that I’m glad you do. What does this place look like to you?”

They stood up and jogged forward toward the wall
.
D
a
niel put a hand up to stop Jade, and they took a moment to observe the formation ahead of them.

Jade bent forward to peer between the break in the wall while they stood at the entrance. “I think it’s a maze or a lab
y
rinth. I read about them. There’s not much on them, and not many are around. I mean, I’ve never seen one in my life. Have you?”

“No. You ready?” Daniel was concerned for Jade.

If he was alone, he would have just headed in, but he n
o
ticed what Jade wouldn’t admit. She was hurt, and badly. He’d tied her leg the first time, and she wouldn’t let him touch it after that. He remembered seeing that her calf was punctured clear through in several places. She’d insisted on rewrapping it herself when blood ran down her leg. He knew she wouldn’t be limping unless the pain was intense.

“Yeah, I’ve been ready.” She looked at him and smiled.

He couldn’t help but smile back. He leaned down and pulled her to him. Looking into her eyes, his gaze dropped to her lips and he kissed her. “I need some luck.” He winked at her. Her light nature calmed his angry heart. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed his gun.

They climbed up the first
step, and Jade gasped at the massive size of the labyrinth. There were intricately designed symbols in gold, silver, and copper dug deeply within the rocks. A wall stood in front of them, spanning over twenty yards, wide as if blocking their path.

“Which way do we go?  The location of your treasure isn’t on my map,” Jade said while she shook out her leg and stretched.

Daniel expanded his map and said, “I know. I didn’t know where Faulk’s or Nickel’s was either. Besides, it’s not just my treasure. It’s
ours
. You made it this far with me, so I’ll share it with you when we get it. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you not to come with me in the first place. C’mon. We start this way.”

They walked at a comfortable pace through the dim hallway to the left of an intricately designed symbol inlayed in the entrance wall to the labyrinth. Daniel’s arm seemed to burn brig
h
ter and deeper the further he moved. The walls of the labyrinth stood over twenty feet high and were constructed of large gray rocks. Initially, the rocks looked like they were just tossed into place, and were chaotic in order. Yet, the closer Daniel looked at them, the more he realized that every several yards or so, the design would repeat itself.

Jade kept up the pace Daniel set. Her face grimaced as she fought against limping. He wondered how she gritted through it. Spying her briefly, he watched her rub her hand over the rock walls they passed. She looked up at him and smiled, and he returned it just as they started to turn down another corridor.

“Here! This is the first turn. Hmmm, but it’s too quiet here.”  He lifted an eyebrow when he absorbed the differences in this passageway of the labyrinth. Thick vines of green and yellow clawed at the walls. The vines moved and snaked their way past them and into the corridor from which they came. Daniel watched the vines suspiciously while they walked. He noted that the strange vines didn’t appear to be interested in them, so he led on.

Jade immediately moved her hand away from the wall and moved to stand closer to Daniel in the middle of the wal
k
way. Daniel looked down at the grass in the passageway and did a small hop with his feet while he walked. An eyebrow lifted, and he surmised the grass was thicker in this corridor than it was in the one they left.

He grabbed his knife.“Take out your knife. I don’t like it in here. It sucks we don’t have a choice but to go this way,” he said, gazing around with an uneasy feeling creeping over him. He realized the once opened labyrinth now had a ceiling on it that blocked out any sunlight.

“Yeah, this place does look like it’s getting darker, too dark for these vines to grow. Maybe that’s why they’re moving to the light,” she answered, nodding at the moving foliage.

“Well, why are they just moving now, while we’re here? This place looks like it’s been here for centuries.”

She looked around again, “Yeah, that’s true, but with the i
n
telligence these aliens have, they could
’
ve just popped this in for us. Who knows?”

“You’re right. They could’ve and would have. C’mon…. let’s walk faster,” he said and grabbed her arm.

The once lit pathway, turned darker while they walked. Vines continued to move down the wall, and Daniel amazed at their size. “These vines are getting bigger and bigger the further we walk. Hell, some are bigger than my leg.” He watched a vine snake off of the wall, and into the thick grass.

“That one is coming at us! Look… that one over there too. And that one!” Jade pointed at several other vines that started to snake into the grass.

“Get your knife ready.
They
look like they’re about to a
t
tack,” he said and drew his knife up. He put his other hand on his gun.

Jade grabbed her knife and followed Daniel deeper into the pathway. She inched closer to him, prepared for what may
come next
.

He jerked her by the arm when one of the vines lashed out at her feet.

“Run! We have to turn at the end.
NOW
!” He pulled her with him as he ran, and was glad that she was able to keep pace.

Vines lashed out at them, no longer docilely snaking on the wall. They dodged, ran, then stopped and turned when one after another vine attacked them.

“Daniel
!
” Jade cried out when one of the vines grabbed her by the neck and yanked her back, dragging her to the wall.

Daniel turned and ran back after her. He watched the vines snatch her so hard against the wall that it knocked her out cold. They snaked around her to completely cover her legs and torso before he could get to her. He pulled out his gun and shot at the base of the vines wrapping around her. Other vines whipped out and tried to attack him. He shot them, cut at them while trying to shoot through the vines that held Jade.

“Wake up, Jade!  Wake up!” he yelled, hoping she would wake up and struggle to help him out. While he shot and cut at the vines surrounding her, he was relieved to see her head start to move.

“Daniel? Uh…,” she said, her head moving side to side as she came to consciousness.

“Fight it, Jade!” he demanded.

Frustration built in him. As he cut away one vine, a
n
other would quickly take its place. Other vines attacked him and he got distracted from her rescue, trying to fight the deadly vines off of himself.

Jade yanked her foot out of the vine and started to cut her way out. Squeezing her hand through the opening she’d cut, she grabbed her gun. She shot down into the vines, one after another and managed to free her legs.

Daniel shot and cut through the vines covering Jade’s arms and turned periodically to shoot at another attacking vine. They whipped at his arm viciously, leaving cut after cut on his neck, arms, and hands.

“Almost there!” he yelled at her and pulled her arm with a strong tug.

Jade fought and pulled her foot from the vine. She fell forward on Daniel’s chest when she broke free.

He held her tight with one arm. Then shot at another a
t
tac
k
ing vine. “Let’s run!” He pulled her with him.

They ran, dodged, and shot at vines. Their necks, faces, and arms bared whip marks from the attack. Daniel tugged her along Jade with him as he ran top speed into the next corridor. They jumped over the last attacking vine. Jade fell forward when it whipped out at her back. She stumbled into Daniel, and he held her steady while he pulled her into the next passageway of the labyrinth. He exhaled noisily, thankful this passageway was free of vines.

They ran down the new passage. This corridor walls were smooth in some places, with jagged rocks scattered within them. Daniel looked around briefly in the dimly lit passage with his gun in hand. He felt a tremor of movement in the ground beneath him and came to an abrupt stop. Jade stopped su
d
denly behind him.

“This place moves.” Daniel stood with his legs opened slightly like he was fighting for balance.

“The maze?” Jade looked around and moved past Daniel to study the new corridor more closely.

“Yeah, the maze. I wondered why the map on my arm was getting hot and then cold so fast. Then I realized the map is only helpful to a point. These passages have been moving, so the map goes from hot to cold fast like the way to the treasure is constantly changing. We can’t stay in the corridors too long, or it becomes deadly,” he said and started to walk again when the rumbling stopped.

“Where are the others? Do you feel them on your map?  I can’t feel anyone but you on mine. It’s like mine is deactivated. Just a hot tattoo on my arm,” she replied and started to walk alongside him.

“I can’t feel the others either. It scares the hell out of me, ‘cause I’m not returning without them – or you.”  Daniel looked ahead of him and figured they had about a half mile to go to get to the next passageway. The uneven rocky pavement beneath his feet jutted up here and there. He watched his step and eyed the u
n
even floor warily.

“Do you think Poppy went through this to get the p
a
keet?” she asked and watched his face for his response.

He frowned in thought. “No. Somehow, I think they cr
e
ated a different test for him. Seems to me they want to make specific test based on their chosen victims’ weaknesses.”