The Underground Witch (Incenaga Trilogy) (24 page)

He
tied a small jug to a rope and lowered it into the pit. Emmeline grabbed it from the air and gulped the contents in two big swallows. Careful not to let a single drop go to waste, she wiped her mouth and licked her fingers.

“Is that all?”
she asked.

“Is it
enough to keep your wits about you? The silence of this stink hole will turn me mad.”

“It’ll buy you an hour,” Emmeline
said.

The guard
lifted his chin and laughed through his nose. “I can see it will be water well spent.”

Emmeline
released the jug and the guard pulled it to the top. “Why are you so much cleaner than the night guard? In fact, you don’t look like you belong here. How do I know you weren’t sent here to report my progress back Tiergan?”

The guard
cocked an eyebrow. “Progress? What sort of progress are you supposed to be making?”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I will when you answer mine.”

“
I won’t play your silly games of irritation!” Emmeline scowled.

“I wasn’t aware w
e were playing a game.” A small smile escaped his lips.

“We are now.
Rules are, we each get a question, starting with me.”

“Who says you get to make the rules.”

“Must you make everything so difficult?”

“Must yo
u make up your own games?”

Emmeline lowered her
chin and turned her back to the man. She didn’t care that she had made an agreement with him. He irritated her like no other. Or perhaps it was the heat that irritated her? Or the fact that she now lived in a pit. Whatever it was, she was in a foul mood.

“I knew we would have fun irritating each other
!” The guard exclaimed. “Although, I must say, I’m doing a much better job of it that you are.”

“For that
, I will agree.”

“She speaks!
I figured when you turned your back that the conversation was over. Come now, I will play your game. What was the question?”

Emmeline released her folded arms
and turned around, her chin tilted up.

“What is your name?”

“That wasn’t your question.”

Emmeline scowled and
began to turn around again.

“It’s
Burungi,” he said.

“And are you here to report back to Tiergan
?”

“You aren’t following the rules.”

“Right. Right. Your turn.”

“I’m just saying.
You made up the rules; you’d think you’d follow them.”

“
Burungi!” She grinned despite herself, surprised at how easily his name rolled off her tongue, almost as if she’d said it a thousand times before. She had known this infuriating man for less than ten minutes, and yet she felt as though she’d known him her whole life, but had thankfully managed to avoid him until now.

“You d
on’t seem to have much patience,” he said. “Maybe that is just the pit talking. I’m going to assume you are usually a cheerful person. It is my turn. Hmmm. It needs to be good.” He pressed a finger to his lips and bowed his head. After a long minute, he looked up and grinned.

“And?” Emmeline leaned forward, curious. Would he be as
nosy as the previous guard and want to know what she’d done to get herself thrown into the pit?

“What is your name?”
he asked.

“
Emmeline.” She leaned back.

“I’m pleased to meet you, Emmeline.”

“Likewise.” Although, she wasn’t sure she meant it. The water had been helpful, for which she would be forever grateful, but he’d already brought her to a near boiling point in the short amount of time they’d been talking. But considering how willingly he’d broken the rule to give her water, she wondered what her chances would be to coax a flame out of him. She decided she could deal with Burungi’s irritating ways for a while longer.

“It’s your turn,” he said, interrupting her thoughts.

“Oh, yes. You appear to be someone who might actually know what it means to bathe, which leads me to believe you are not a regular guard here. So, I wonder if you were sent here by Tiergan to observe me.”

Burungi
remained silent.

“Well?” Emmeline
asked.

“Well, what?”

“Answer the question.”

“You didn’t ask one.”
He grinned.

Emmeline pursed her lips.
“Could you please be civil? You know what I meant.”

“Emmeline, I hate to break the rules,
especially your own, but for you, I will. Tiergan did not send me and I’m not a regular guard here. I guard the east wall. However when the usual day-guard was swallowed by his own filth, they sent me here. I’m not thrilled about it, but I like to make the most of my situations until I can change them.”

Emmeline smiled. “I didn’t
realize that sort of thinking existed under Tiergan’s rule.”

“What
sort?”

“
The hopeful sort.”

Burungi
shrugged.

“How do you keep so clean?”

A sly smile stole over his face. “I scrub off every night in the fountain.”

Emmeline
rolled her eyes and smiled. She couldn’t blame him, however. She’d do anything to wash the filth off, perhaps even bathe in a public fountain. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. How wonderful would it be to take a bath?

“You don’t look like you belong here either,”
he said. “Where are you from?”

Unlike the night guard who sought the next best story to blab to his
cohorts, Burungi seemed to just want to talk. Her irritation whittled away and she discovered that a small part of her liked him.

“I’m from Dolmerti.
I’ve been away from my home for a little under two months. Tiergan brought me here to serve him, but as you can see, I have not exactly met his expectations.”

Burungi
grinned and then his face turned serious. “What did you leave behind?”

She wanted to call him out for “breaking the rules
,” but his question was too painful for sarcastic remarks. She left Erick, that’s what she left behind.

“
My life,” she whispered. Her happiness. Tears stung her eyes and fell down her cheeks, leaving tracks on her dust covered face. She didn’t want to talk anymore.

“
You left your love. I understand. I will let you rest now,” he said before standing to leave.

Emmeline didn’t hear him return to his chair by the wooden door, but she knew he
had moved away from the pit. Consumed with grief, she hadn’t noticed she’d fallen on the straw until a rotted strand stuck to her face. She left it. Nothing could harm her more than the memory that she had left Erick. Her sobs echoed off the round walls and into the room above. She knew Burungi would hear her cries, but she didn’t care. He’d have to get used to hearing people cry if he remained a guard of Cantil’s Pit.

Her tears eventually dried, but her body
still went through the motions of crying. It heaved and shook as it attempted to expel the pain with each shudder. Her mouth turned dry and she thirsted for more to drink. Why wouldn’t Tiergan let her have food and water? What sort of game was he playing? Did he want her to die? If he was done with her, why couldn’t he just let her go? She licked her lips, but no moisture remained. She couldn’t bring herself to ask Burungi for more water. He’d want to bargain for another bout of conversation, and she didn’t have it in her. So, instead, she curled her body into itself and once again sunk into the saving oblivion of sleep.

Emmeline sat up, disoriented by the darkness. Something had awakened her. She felt around her legs and found only straw and dirt. No snakes. No rats. Her eyesight pulled up and she focused on the pale blue light illuminating the ring of stones at the top of Cantil’s Pit. It was night.

Leaning against the wall
, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Her breathing slowed and quieted until she heard nothing more than silence. No, a rumble. She heard a low, quiet rumble behind the stones. Her head snapped in the direction of the sound, near the bottom of the pit, and her heart thumped in her ears. And then it was silent again, long enough for her to question whether or not she’d heard anything at all. She slumped against the straw. Was her imagination running wild?

Another rumble followed
and she jumped to her feet with her fists at her sides. Whatever it was, it sounded closer. Another rumble. Dirt fell from the sides of the pit. Emmeline backed against the furthest wall from the noise and her hands grazed slime. Air whistled in through her teeth as she fought the urge to move away from the muck. If a snake broke through the opposite wall, she wanted as much reaction time as possible.

T
he sound stopped once again. And then began anew, the sound of stone scraping against stone grating against her ears. Tayve’s raspy old voice echoed in her mind.
“Watch out for the snakes. I hear there is a whole nest of em’ surrounding the walls of Cantil’s Pit. That’s how it gets its name, ya know. From the black Cantil Pit Viper. Extremely dangerous, I hear.”

The sound stopped again
and her shallow breaths filled the silence. Her mind raced. What was she going to do against a Cantil Viper? Swooping up a handful of straw, she wadded it in her hand. And then barked a laugh. What could she do with a ball of wet straw? Feed it? Suffocate it? She felt like a fool – a fool about to be swallowed by a snake.

The scraping and
rumbling began again and a good-sized stone at the base of the opposite wall wobbled. Emmeline’s heart plummeted to her feet. She snatched up a bigger wad of straw. If only she had a flame!

The stone shook
as if on its own accord and images of long, slithering snakes flashed into her mind. Big jaws, sharp teeth. She crouched, her hands fisting clumps of useless straw. Curse Demyan and his hold over the guards. Why did they have to fear him more than her? She needed fire!

The stone moved again,
picking up momentum as the edges freed from the surrounding stones. Small rocks tumbled to the ground and Emmeline braced herself for the swarm of snakes she knew would soon inundate the pit, twisting around her ankles, slithering up her legs and around her neck.

A
thick band of black space appeared around the grey stone and Emmeline realized with a sinking feeling that it had been pushed completely away from the wall. She crouched, knowing she had only seconds before the snakes emerged. As if on cue, two yellow eyes appeared on top of the stone, reflecting the small amount of light coming in from the top of the pit. At first neither the snake nor Emmeline moved. Although she couldn’t see much, she eyed it, assessed it, and it seemed to be doing the same. The eyes blinked.

Knowing she had the advantage of size
, Emmeline swallowed her fear and lunged forward, snatching a handful of loose rocks that had broken from the base of the stone. She hurled them toward the eyes and leapt back.

To her surprise, the snake disappeared
. Did it frighten so easily? Her shoulders relaxed.

The stone
moved again, scraping further across the floor. Emmeline scrambled for another handful of rock and raised her arm, her eyes wide. If the snake couldn’t get through the small opening before that meant only one thing. It was bigger than a normal sized snake.

Her fingers twisted the rock
s in her hand, turning her sweaty palm to mud. Just as she pulled her arm back to hurl it forward, a human head popped up from behind the stone. Emmeline gasped and dropped the rocks.

“
O’fin!”

“Sshh
! You’ll alert the guards!”

Sure enough, a set of pounding boots
crashed toward the pit.

“Quick!
Hide under the blanket. Get underneath the straw!”

O’fin
dove into the straw and burrowed into the center just as the guard came to a stop at the rim. His sweaty face peered over the edge.

“What was that
noise?” Tayve said with a deep scowl, clearly unused to having to exert himself in any way. His eyes darted about, never focusing on anything, and Emmeline knew he saw nothing but blackness.

“I thought I saw a rat,
” Emmeline stammered.

“A rat?
” Tayve laughed out loud. “You thought you saw a rat? You poor girl, you have no idea. ” He chuckled again and spit into the pit. “Prepare yourself. Before your time in Cantil’s Pit is over, you will become dear friends with the rats. Ha! You may even eat a few while you are down there. Although, don’t eat too many. The snakes feed on them and once they’re gone, they’ll come lookin’ for something else.”