Twenty Four Shades Darker: The Hunt

(11) The Dead Provide a Sign

The cave burst into life. Suddenly shadows were flaring on the rocky walls, bodies scrambling in all directions. Jute and Erik were on their feet and pushing their way through Marisa and Blaire towards the scream. Satine, noting that they unwisely hadn't thought to pick up any kind of weapon, grabbed his sword and followed. If there was going to be a fight, he wanted to be part of it. And with any luck, perhaps Holly would have been taken out already.

Unlikely. She was still screaming. Maybe in the confusion, though...

He side-stepped Will, who seemed to have gone into his usual response to any kind of threat and had frozen, and pushed an alarmed-looking Blaire aside. She swore at him but there was no malice in it and her attention was aimed at the dark corner where the second cave lurked, her body tense and ready to bolt and Marisa crouched by her side. He had no major personal problems with either of them but they would rather run than fight and were therefore useless. He looked around for Link, grinned when he saw that he was following, and plunged into the darkness of the second cave.

Dark impressions. For a second that was all that there was; a hysterical sobbing surrounded by blackness, pierced by a shaft of yellow light that pointed at a not-particularly-menacing wall. There were some kind of drawings on it, lines seemingly daubed on in ash, the pattern of which was familiar in some vague and distant way. He didn't waste time thinking about it. Much as he disliked Holly, he had to admit that she wasn't the sort to scream for no reason. There was a threat here; he could be curious later.

The light was emanating from the flashlight, which was lying in a pile of ash on the floor. He picked it up and dusted it down, not letting go of his sword just in case, and pointed it towards the crying sound. It illuminated Holly, scrunched up on the floor and being comforted by Jute. The younger girl looked as though she might be about to scream again. Her face was ashen and her eyes, usually narrow and sarcastic, were shiny and wild. She glared up at him. She seemed to be unhurt, unfortunately.

He sneered back, just to make it clear that he had absolutely no sympathy for her whatsoever, and flashed the light around the rest of the cave. It was smaller than the other one, with just about enough room for the five of them; Link was having to squeeze close in to his back in order to fit in. Now that he'd noticed it was impossible not to. He forced himself to push it from his mind and aimed the light in the direction Holly had been staring.

A pair of dark eyes stared back.

He almost dropped the flashlight. If he'd been alone he might have, but Link's presence was invasive and he could feel Holly's eyes watching him critically and managed to get a grip just in time, trying to tell himself that the yellow beam didn't jump a little.

With only the slightest of pauses, he recovered himself from the shock and strode forwards, keeping his shouders back and his face as brave as he could. The skeleton stayed where it was, staring unseeingly back at him. The bones poked out from under layers of heavy woollen garments. It was propped up in a corner - whoever it was had been sitting when they had died - and the flickering of the bone-shadows as the light ran over it gave the impression that it was about to stand up and start moving. But still. To scream. How...lower district.

"It's just a skeleton," he said. "A dead thing. I've seen them before. Made a couple myself."

Link snorted. "You have not."

"I have so. What about Derreke?" Then, thinking that this was perhaps a bit low on impact, he added, "You could be next."

Something very cold and sharp was suddenly making its presence known in the base of his spine. His breath caught in his throat. He'd thought he'd been too aware of how close Link was before; now he was painfully conscious of it. The movement had been small and he didn't doubt that, with the cover of the darkness, neither Holly nor the two attempting to comfort her would be able to see that anything was amiss. Clearly Link had learned his lesson from the attempted attack on Erik.