Within

THIRTEEN

'So, tell me about the hunters. Who are they exactly?' I asked while placing my hands and knees carefully on the bottom of the metal tunnel Lawrie and I were crawling through. Apart from breathing, it was silent. The tunnels seemed to go on forever, a twisting maze of metal.

After I helped Lawrie into the tunnel, he took the lead. We were unsure of what was below us, so we crawled about three metres apart, so that the risk of our combined weight making the bottom of the tunnel collapse was minimised. Though he hadn't told me to be quiet, I kind of guessed I needed to pad softly along the bottom. Lawrie also hadn't talked after I helped him up. I guessed he was lost in his own thoughts, or concentrating on the task at hand - escape.

The series of tunnels we crawled through were hot, small and fairly dark. The air was thick and dusty, even more so than in the small room somewhere below us. Crawling on my hands and knees, my head was just low enough not to scrape the top.

I could see Lawrie ahead of me, crawling soundlessly. After a few minutes' silence, he spoke. 'Are we doing this now? Who knows, someone might hear us from below. You better be quiet.'

'Sorry. I just wanted to know something about the people who know how to get me home.' I said, just as rudely as Lawrie. 'How will they get me home, anyway?'

I could almost imagine Lawrie rolling his eyes. 'Are you sure they are the ones that can get you back?' he asked.

'I - I heard some people - George and Margaret - well, one of them is a hedgehog, but you get it - I told you about them a few nights ago...... They were talking about how the hunters were the only people who could bring me back, but they were too dangerous. Is that true?' Lawrie turned a corner and for a second I was alone. Then I turned at the same place, and I was comforted to see Lawrie ahead of me.

'First of all, be quiet. If you can't do that, then hopefully it won't trouble you to whisper. And trust me, whatever George and Margaret were saying, too dangerous doesn't cut it. The hunters kill anyone who gets too close to their camp. I wandered too close once, and barely made it out in one piece. Have a scar on my back to prove it.

'There's more than a hundred of 'em. More by now, I bet. Many of them are farmers, or tradesmen, a few merchants stranded in the Redding Isles. Some are from King Theodore's council, before Marla took over. They crave vengeance, to see the end of Marla, who took their freedom away from them. There were rumours that they are planning to attack, once they gather enough of the population.

'I know some of the members are magicians, or potion makers, but I doubt that they can get you home, let alone are willing to.' Lawrie whispered, and I strained to hear most of what he was saying.

My hopes dimmed a little. We continued crawling, periodically turning left or right.

'Okay...... But we can -'

Lawrie stopped, cutting me off. 'Seriously, be quiet. We're almost at the exit.'

'How does being quiet solve-'

'If we're caught, we're done for. Given to the bears as snacks.' Lawrie snapped. He started crawling again, slower this time, and I followed. We went on for a hundred metres or so in a straight line before Lawrie stopped again. When I caught up to him, I could see he was trying to open a hatch or something.

'How do you know where we are?' I asked, hoping Lawrie didn't get too mad at me for talking.

He shot me an angered glare, and in the dim light I could see his greeny-brown eyes shone. He was annoyed. 'I know my way around here better than anyone.'

I nodded wearily and watched as Lawrie peeled off a segment of the tunnel. A beam of light burst through the hole and I shielded my eyes.

'Stay here.' I heard Lawrie say and then he was gone.

The light made the metal of the tunnel shine, and it felt like floodlights were blinding me. I lay on my stomach and peered down into the room Lawrie jumped into.

My eyes adjusted slowly.

The walls were a pale, pale blue, and lots of wooden crates were placed around the perimeter in a dishevelled manner. I could feel the air was thick with dust - even more so than the room we were trapped in before, or the tunnels. A desk was on it's side, papers and books scattered and crumpled. Lawrie opened the velvet curtain and more light floated in, the dust I was breathing suddenly turned visible, like tiny flecks of snow suspended in mid - air. Bookshelves were mostly empty, apart from a few trophies and hardbacks. It was pretty easy to see that every surface was covered with a velvet coating of dust. No one had been there for quite a while. I didn't even notice Lawrie rummaging in a chest of drawers to the side.

Oil paint portraits and landscapes were hung on one wall in a puzzle of colour and golden frames. One of them, a portrait of a girl in a humble faded frame caught my eye. There were many of her on the wall, but one was larger than the rest. She looked younger than me, with piercing gold and green eyes, pale skin, lips the colour of granite fruit and long, thick hair the colour of the night.

Lawrie walked in front of the portrait and stopped, blocking my view of it. I looked from him to the top of the painting. The girl had fairly the same hair colour as Lawrie, and as I thought about it, almost the same eye colour. Their faces were replicas of one another, just about. The same full lips...... The same sad eyes......

Lawrie sharply turned around and quickly walked towards one of the crates. I shifted my gaze quickly to the toppled desk, pretending to find it too interesting. He pushed the crate towards the hole in the ceiling and clambered on it. He reached his hands out and I took them, hauling him up to the tunnel again as best I could. A vision of that smiley boy from my dream appeared in my mind, hazy and disorienting. I almost lost grip of Lawrie's arms, but found myself just in time to help him get up.

It was obvious something was on his mind. I didn't dare ask, but I couldn't help but think that Lawrie had a connection to that room. Was it his bedroom? Was the girl on the wall his sister? I wanted to know, but I knew I couldn't ask. I didn't want another rude insult as way of brushing the questions aside. But maybe I'd gotten used to that side of Lawrie, maybe I didn't want to see the boy with the tears and the soft voice either?

'Come on.' Lawrie broke through my thoughts. 'Lets get out of here.'