Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (26 page)

Dor tried to smile as he placed the snow on the brake and quickly felt relief from the pain only to be replaced with the discomfort of the freezing cold snow.

  
              “Maybe we should stay here for awhile to let your collar bone heal some before trying to move on,” Tam offered, trying to be helpful while still feeling terrible about what she had done.

  
              “That won’t help us any,” Dor answered a bit more clearly this time. “We don’t know how far we’re going to have to go before we reach the end of this cave and find our way out. Best we start now and rest when we get there.”

  
              “Maybe I could go ahead and look and then come back and get you when I find it.”

  
              “Oh, no. What if you got lost or something? Then where would we be? Right back where we started.”

  
              “Now you see here DorMar...” Tam started but Dor cut her off, not in the mood for another lecture.

  
              “I’m not saying you would get lost easier than I would or anyone else for that matter. All I am saying is that it would be best if we stuck together.”

  
              Tam crossed her arms still feeling angry but conceded to his logic. “All right,” she pouted. “I guess you’re right. But you are to take it easy and stop trying to do everything. Agreed?”

  
              He looked at her stubborn face and knew that he wasn’t about to win any arguments at the moment so in the interest of time he nodded.

  
              “All right then,” Tam said, pleased with herself. “I’m going to get us some more snow for water and you can gather up what’s left of the food and put it in Thane’s quiver.”

  
              Dor moved slowly to complete his task knowing instinctively that he had just lost a major battle of wills. More surprising though was the fact that he didn’t seem to mind too much. “It looks like I may cheat death again.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

                 It had been less than an hour since they had ventured deeper into the cave and things had already gone from bad to worse. Soon after they left the entrance they lost all light denying them their inherent night vision. They had nothing to tie themselves together so they wouldn’t get separated so they had to settle for just holding hands. Dor felt a bit strange at first. He never realized a hand could feel so soft. He was glad the light was gone so Tam wouldn’t see the burning he felt in his face.  He was actually almost content with the whole situation until Tam suggested that she lead. At first he became angry that she would even suggest such a thing. After all, he was older and had more experience. Plus, she was just a girl. She wasn’t able to handle things like him, a Chufa man. Whether she liked it or not, he was her protector now that they were alone. It was his duty as a Chufa.

He argued with her, of course. He couldn’t give into her that easily. But, she finally convinced him that it was the best thing to do. Since he had use of only one arm he couldn’t possibly keep a hold of her and grope around in the dark at the same time. It only made sense. Dor hated how she always seemed to get her way with him. How did she do that? That probably made him angrier than anything else—she always seemed to win. It galled him to have to admit that she was right but he finally had to agree, cursing his luck for not only having a bad arm but for also being stuck with her. No amount of hand holding in the dark was worth all of this.

                 It was slow going at first. Without any light, Tam was forced to feel along one wall while pulling Dor behind her so they wouldn’t get separated. The walls of the cave were rough and cold and more than once Tam had recoiled when her hand brushed up against something wet and mushy. Luckily, the cave had stayed narrow and flat, the floor strangely smooth. With only one way to go, they had a better chance of eventually finding a way out. If they came upon any passages, or if the cave suddenly expanded out, their chances of survival would be greatly reduced. At this point, no choice in direction was the best choice.

  
              “If we keep this up,” Tam said softly, not wanting to disturb the silence that entombed them, “we’ll be out the other side in no time.”

  
              Dor grunted. “Not likely,” he said bluntly.

  
              “What do you mean? We’ve been following this same cave for some time now. I should think we’ve gone more than half way through the upper part of the mountain by now.”

  
              “Maybe,” Dor allowed though his voice sounded unconvinced. “But, in case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve been going steadily down and the cave has been changing directions on us.”

  
              Tam stopped, surprised by his statement. She hadn’t noticed either of those things. “How do you know that?” she finally asked, trying to keep her tone at a level that would not give away her ignorance.

  
              Dor sighed audibly and then muttered, “Experience.”

  
              “Don’t give me that,” she instantly retorted, feeling he must be putting her down. “You haven’t had any experience in a cave before. Under a rock, maybe, but don’t think you can fool me for one minute that you’ve been in a cave like this before.”

  
              Dor opened his mouth ready to blast her for her stupidity but then snapped it shut realizing it wasn’t going to get them anywhere. “Listen Tam,” he stated in even tones. “I hope you’re right and we do get out of here soon. Let’s just keep going.”

  
              Tam huffed and then lunged forward yanking Dor’s hand and eliciting a small yelp from him as she started stomping through the cave again. He could picture the angry look on her face and almost started to laugh. One of these days her head was going to explode from one of her all too prevalent tantrums and Dor hoped that he would be there to see it.

  
              They continued on in silence for what seemed like hours, although neither could say for sure exactly how long they had been traveling. Tam had been letting her hand glide softly against the rock wall when it suddenly slipped off into nothing. She stopped abruptly. Dor crashed into her pushing her forward a step and almost knocking them both to the ground.

             
“What is it?” he demanded, trying unsuccessfully to hide the edge in his voice. “Why are we stopping?”

  
              “Back up.”

  
              “What? Why?”

  
              “Just back up,” Tam huffed making no effort to hide her own irritation.

  
              Dor took a step back thinking how he’d like to put a footprint on her rear end instead. “There. Now, will you tell me what this is all about?”

  
              “Well,” she said, the mocking tone thick in her voice, “I just figured that with all your experience you would have figured it out already.”

Dor blew out a breath of air trying to keep his emotions in check. He knew enough to know that to fight back with her right now would only delay an answer to his question, which in turn would delay their moving on. He wasn’t sure how long it had been that they had been walking, but the fact that nothing had changed in that amount of time was beginning to discourage him. The idea that this was just a large crack in the side of the mountain that ended in nothing but a wall was beginning to wear on his mind.

Somewhat surprised, and a little disappointed, that Dor had not given her a rebuttal, Tam finally answered, her voice suddenly serious. “The cave opened up abruptly to the right and I lost my touch on the wall.”

  
              Dor’s frustrations with her instantly evaporated. “Do you have it now?”

  
              “Yes.”

  
              “Well then,” he said, some mocking slipping into his voice, “let’s go.”

  
              They moved forward slowly turning to the right and feeling their way around the opening.

  
              “Hello,” Dor suddenly shouted.

             
Tam jumped but quickly recovered. “What are you doing?”

  
              “Checking for size.”

  
              “Size?”

  
              Dor paused for a moment trying to gain his composure. He was quickly tiring of having to explain himself every time he said something.
And she thinks I have no experience
.                 “Well?” Tam said, as if sensing his thoughts. “Are you still there?”

  
              “The echo created by my voice,” he said through clenched teeth, “will give us an idea of the size of the cavern we are in. If it’s large, the echo will be also. If not, then the echo will follow suit. Now, do you understand that?”

  
              “Yes,” Tam spat. “You don’t have to be so snotty about it.”

  
              Dor ignored her and shouted again. The echo he got back made him believe they were in an extremely large cavern. He let go of Tam’s hand and felt the wall next to him.

  
              “Hey, what are you doing?” she asked reaching for him blindly.

  
              “Feel the walls,” Dor replied.

  
              Tam caressed the cold, cavern wall not really understanding the significance. “They’re smooth, so what.”

  
              Dor went on excitedly. “So, someone went to an awful lot of trouble to make these walls smooth for no reason. Feel up high.”

  
              “Why?”

  
              “Just do it,” he shot back, his patience suddenly at its end.

  
              Reaching up, Tam did as she was told and felt around with both of her hands. After a few moments she was about to give up, thinking Dor a complete idiot, when her hand hit something metallic. “What’s this?”

  
              “What have you got?” Dor asked sounding farther away then she thought he was.

  
              “I’ve found something that feels like metal.”

             
“Perfect!”

 
              Tam jumped. Dor’s voice was right next to her now. How did he do that, especially in the darkness?

  
              He rubbed up close and touched her arm with his hand. Then, moving his hand up, he reached the metal fixture and then went a little higher. “That’s it,” he said excitedly and then moved away.

  
              “What’s it?” she asked, tiring quickly of his game. “What’s going on Dor? Tell me.”

  
              She could hear him striking something on the ground to her left and caught a brief flash of sparks before her eyes were suddenly blinded in brilliant light.

  
              “This is what’s going on,” he said holding up a torch with a proud look on his face.

  
              Tam squinted, her eyes slowly adjusting to the sudden explosion of light that now surrounded them. She hated to admit it but she was impressed. “How did you know that was there?”

  
              Dor smiled. “Experience.”

  
              Tam’s eyes slightly narrowed and she opened her mouth as if she was really going to give it to him for his cocky behavior, but then she stopped short. Looking past him, it suddenly dawned on her that the light didn’t touch any other walls but the one that had held the torch. She looked around, her eyes growing in wonder. “Wow,” she breathed in awe. “Where are we?”