Read The Sword and The Seven Stones: Diamond Page 23

  Chapter 21

  Gavin didn’t sleep a wink the whole night. He watched as the fairy made his way back and tucked himself into Luc’s coat. He didn’t dare sleep in case the cat came back or the fairy planned something else for them. As each of them woke up, Gavin waited to see what the fairy would do. As he woke up, he sat up in Luc’s coat and stretched. Luc was happy to see that he would be fine. Gavin could see through him now but he couldn’t say anything until this thing brought them to the surface. Until then, he had to wait to see what was going to happen. Alman took the canteen he was offered and then walked over to Luc and the fairy.” We need to get to the surface today. Tell him that he has to get us up today.” Luc nodded and then turned to the fairy. They started talking in the weird language they used between them. At one point, Gavin could see the anger come over Luc’s face. “We need to find out what they are talking about.” Gavin turned to Alman. Alman watched as the conversation got worse and he walked over there. “What is happening here? Are you not taking us to the top?” Luc looked over at the prince. “He said that it is too dangerous to go up today. That we have to wait till tomorrow.” Luc looked back at the fairy and the fairy said some more things that got Luc angry all over again. “Wait a minute, fairy, how do you suppose that we eat if we stay down here? We are out of food and will be lucky to make it to the top before we starve to death.” He shrugged and walked away. Luc walked the other direction. Gavin walked over to Alman and Alman couldn’t believe that they were putting their lives in the hands of something that could fit in his. He turned and walked back to the men. “Since the fairy is not going to help us, we will need to find our own way out. Let’s pack up. There is no sense in wasting anymore time here.” As they packed up, part of Alman hoped that the fairy would make his way back to them but he never returned. As they left the clearing, Gavin told him what he had witnessed the night before. Alman couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He stopped and turned to Luc. “Did you know about this?” Luc did know but only until this morning when he had the argument with the fairy. He kept telling him that siding with the cat, he would die but the fairy believed that he could control the beast. The last thing he told Luc was that these people won’t last too much longer and that he should come with him. Luc couldn’t believe what he was hearing and was trying to show him how wrong he was. That was when Alman had walked up to them. Alman couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “And when were you going to let us all in on this, since it does affect each and everyone one of us?” Gavin knew that Alman had been thrown into this and he never had the training like the rest of them had gotten. Now they had to find their own way out and there was a cat that couldn’t wait to kill them all. Well, they would have to be extra careful now. Luc walked behind them and knew exactly how Alman felt. He had never had a fairy go bad on him before. He was the one who brought them down here and it would be his job to find a way out. He took out the map that Duclar had given him just before they left. He stopped and looked at the tunnel they were walking in now. There would be a fork coming up. If they went one way, they could get up easier but they would be too far away to get to where Alman needed to be to get to the sapling in time. If they took the other way, it would bring them almost upon the sapling but there where areas where they would have to be very careful. Should he tell them about this or should he try to get them as close as he could? Luc owed it to them all to get them to where they needed to go but he also knew that he couldn’t keep this from them. He would tell them when they stopped. Then they could all decided on what they wanted to do. As they walked through the tunnel, each were on high alert. They didn’t know what the fairy had in mind for them. Each crack of water that came through the walls made them stiffen, waiting for the paw to come through. Alman figured they had been walking for a few hours and they needed to take a small break. If they kept going, then they would be too exhausted to defend themselves if the time came. They sat down and drank some water that Jordon got from the pool before they left. He was the only one that had been going to the pools and didn’t experience anything from them so they voted last night that he was the one for the job. Gavin told him that they could go days without food but they wouldn’t last three if they didn’t have water. As they passed the canteens around, they could feel their stomachs cramp at the need for substance. Luc pulled out the map. They were going to come up to the fork soon and they would need to decide what to do. “Ah, the map, right, I thought I lost that when we went through the second pool. Why didn’t you tell me that you had it all this time?” Luc didn’t answer him. He knew that it would only lead to another fight and they really didn’t have time to do that. “This is where we are right now.” He pointed at the map. “The forks in the tunnels will be coming up soon. One will take us right up but we will never make it in time to get to the sapling. The other way will take us a half a day away from the sapling but the dangers are high in this direction. I can’t defend myself against these things and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life here either. I didn’t know that the fairy was going to do that to us. They have always helped the dwarfs. There was a decree signed between the two of us and he turned against us. I want to help.” Alman looked at the dwarf. He had helped them so far and looking into his eyes, Alman could tell that Luc spoke the truth. Gavin listened to the story and as he watched the others believe what this dwarf said, he was going to wait and see. He wouldn’t trust him yet. They discussed all of the pro and cons. The only option that they had was to go the harder of the two ways. They devised a plan so that if they did run into the cat again, they would position Alman in the right place so he could use his sword to kill the thing. After everyone agreed with the plan, they got up and started toward the worse tunnel of the two.

  Two hours later, they came up upon the fork. It was darker than the other tunnel. They would have to use their sense of feel and hearing to get through. No one talked as they started into the tunnel. They were so intent on listening to every sound that they didn’t smell the gas until it was too late. It engulfed them and Alman grabbed the dwarf as the others started to run. He didn’t know if he would be able to get through it before he passed out. He took three more steps and couldn’t hold it anymore. He threw the dwarf through the air and followed him. He couldn’t hold his breath anymore and opened it. When he thought that he would be breathing in the gas, he breathed in clean air instead. The others had stopped and were coughing just as much as he was. Luc got up off the floor of the tunnel. If he was on his own he would have died for sure. They kept walking, anticipating for the next thing to happen. They knew that they didn’t have much time left. They had been down there for over a day as far as they knew. Each of them sore and breathing in the gas didn’t help them either. It was as if the tunnel was breaking them down. The walls felt like they were getting narrower and it got to the point where they were walking single file. Gavin had a bad feeling and kept the dwarf and Alman between him as he walked in front and Jordon and Nelvil in the rear. Just as the feeling went over him, he heard a scuffle in the back of them. “Run!” was all Nelvil said. Gavin and the rest didn’t hesitate. Alman lifted the dwarf once again and started to run. There were loud noises and then a muffled sound. As soon as they figured they weren’t being chased anymore, they slowed down. “Nelvil,” Gavin shouted back. Jordon couldn’t hear him behind him anymore. The walls squeezed in closer and Gavin figured out that was how whatever was chasing them was going to take them. They couldn’t avoid whatever was at their back. Luc remembered on the map that there was a pool coming up. He hoped that the area would be big enough for them to move freely. “The next pool is up ahead. If we reach it we may have a chance.” As soon as they reached the pool, they stopped dead in their tracks. The pool glowed blues of every shade and the walls looked like the roots of trees flowing along the sides of the tunnel. The cat sat in front of the pool. The fairy by his side. Luc wanted to strangle the fairy. He knew that he brought the cat through the water. The cat’s fangs were dripping in
the anticipation of the feast it would have. The blue glass eyes never gave anything away. “Why would you risk the wrath of your king to do this?” Luc asked the fairy. The fairy walked around the cat with ease. He said something to Luc and Luc kept shaking his head. Alman had had enough. “What is he saying?” Luc looked up at Alman. “The cat has promised him his own kingdom. He is stupid enough to believe him. I told him that once we are gone, the only thing that cat is going to give him is death. He doesn’t believe me.” Alman knew at this point that he would have to trust the dwarf. The fairy walked away and the cat advanced. Now that they were down one more man, since Nelvil didn’t follow them after the scuffle, they would have to make sure that they did this right. The cat took a swipe at Gavin, it knew that it had to get the others out of the way so he could get his prize. Gavin swung his sword through the air and sliced through the arm of the cat. As soon as it sliced through, the cut disappeared. Alman took out his sword. It glowed and as he watched for the chance to kill this cat, he had to wait for the perfect moment. One after the other, the cat tossed them out of his way. Alman knew he would have to do this himself. He didn’t want to see anyone else die because of him. Alman waited till the cat was close enough. As the others kept the cat’s attention off him, he took the chance and slid underneath the cat’s belly. With everything he had, he took his sword and thrust upward. The cat stopped in its tracks. Just as Alman took the sword out, he ran out from underneath the cat and watched as it slid to the ground. “Is everyone okay?” He asked them. They called out to tell him they were fine and then Gavin shouted, “Alman, look out!”