Page 67 of Spelunking Through Hell

“If you two are done, I need to know the plan,” she said.

Thomas took a deep breath. “We’ll do this in the throne room,” he said. “I’ll need as much space as possible, and everyone should be asclose as they can be. That’s the only space we have that can hold us all. Sally, tell the guards to round everyone up, and warn anyone with children that they’ll probably want to bring something to block out the screams. This is going to be brutal.”

I didn’t like his tone when he said that. Still, I shrugged, and said, “Works for me. Sally?”

“On it, boss,” she said, and turned for the door.

“Wait,” said Thomas. She glanced back. “Tell them to bring anything they’re interested in keeping. I don’t know how much stuff we’ll be able to carry with us, but based on our individual arrivals here, and Alice’s supplies, whatever we can carry will make the transit.”

“All right,” she said, slipping out of the room and leaving us alone.

I looked gravely at Thomas. He seemed too worried for what I understood of the situation, which admittedly wasn’t as much as I would have liked. “Hey,” I said softly. “Hey.”

He focused on me. “Yes?”

“What are you so worried about? You’ve gathered everyone who’s willing to be saved. You’ve kept these people alive as long as you possibly could, and you’ve done a better job than anyone could have asked of you. We have one more thing to do, and then we get to rest. We get to go home, and we get to rest.”

He laughed, soft and bitter. “I’m not sure I remember how to do that anymore.”

“Neither do I. So we’ll learn a new way of resting, together, and that’ll be nice for both of us.”

“Alice... this isn’t something I’ve ever done before. This isn’t something I thinkanyonehas ever done before. What if Naga has been torturing you because it was the only way to remove the pneuma without... withoutkillingyou in the process?”

“Then I die.” I shrugged. “I’ve been running on borrowed time since you sold yourself to the crossroads to save me. I’d rather not die when it looks like we’re finally going to be together, but it’s not like I didn’t know what I was doing when I threw myself into a killing jar looking for my missing husband. And I’d rather you didn’t have to live believing that you’re the reason I’m gone, but that’s because youwouldn’tbe. If this kills me, blame the crossroads. This is all their fault. They should never have accepted the bargain you offered them in the first place. But because they did, we got Kevin, and Jane, and all the grandchildren, and a few good years together.”

He smiled. “Theyweregood, weren’t they? I haven’t just been lying to myself to make this all seem like it was worth it?”

“They were the best.” I took his hand, raised it to my lips, and kissed his knuckles. “If this is how I die, it’s okay. I give you permission to do whatever you have to do to save as many of these people as you possibly can, and to forgive yourself after it’s over. Not that I think you will. You’ve never been great at forgiving yourself.”

“Neither have you.”

“Takes one to know one,” I said. He grabbed me then, yanking me toward him, and kissed me like he was kissing me for the first time and the last time and every time in between all at once. He kissed me like he was never going to kiss me or anyone else again. When he stepped away, staring at me wonderingly, I was still holding his hand. I smiled at him, squeezed his fingers, and finally did something I’d been trying not to do for fifty years. I finally let go.

It was time to end this.

Nineteen

“Your daughter will do amazing things, but you will never see them. I’m so sorry, Fran.”

—Juniper Campbell

Stepping into the Autarch’s throne room, preparing to get the hell out of this terrible, dying dimension

All the people Sallyand the guard had herded into the throne room looked bad, although the Murrays were the worst. Even compared to the others, they were malnourished and dehydrated, visibly unwell. They held themselves in rigid groups, clearly mistrustful of everyone around them, clearly scared out of their wits. Thomas’ people also stood apart, but they were easy to find; they were the ones who looked like they’d been eating regularly, even if not all of them had been eating enough, or who had clean faces, or small animals accompanying them. A little boy of what I’d guess to be around five, with horns and bright blue skin, clutched a chicken against his chest like it was the only good thing left in the world. The chicken, which was also blue, didn’t seem to mind.

They all murmured when the two of us emerged into the room. Thomas kissed me on the forehead. “Go to the throne,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

Then he turned and made for the door, vanishing into the hall with Sally close behind him. I walked to the throne as instructed, shrugging off my pack and placing it at the foot before flopping onto the cushion. The gasp from several of his guards was remarkably satisfying. I smiled sweetly at them and leaned back into the cushions, trying to relax.

It wasn’t happening. Thomas was distressed enough to keep me on edge, even if I hadn’t been steeling myself against the promised pain. Things always hurt more when you have time to anticipate them, andright now, I had nothingbuttime. I closed my eyes, shutting out the rest of the room, and listened to the rustle of bodies, the shuffle of feet. There were more people here than I could count, but definitely fewer than three hundred. It was so much larger of a group than I’d been expecting, but probably less than Thomas had been hoping for, given the size of his territory’s population. It was all too much.

Too bad we didn’t have a Johrlac. They could probably wave their hands and work some complicated math and just pop us out of here like popping the yolk out of a boiled egg, smooth and easy. A true Johrlac, anyway. A cuckoo couldn’t do it. The Johrlac we have back on Earth have been stunted somehow by their lack of exposure to the dimensional hive mind that controls all of Johrlar and guides the rest of them. I don’t pretend to understand it. I’m not sure any non-telepath could.

I had time to relax completely into the throne before I heard footsteps and cracked open an eye. There was Thomas, his arms full of our old friends, the swamp bromeliad. Sally was behind him, carrying a crate of what looked like ritual tools. He began laying the flowers out around me, careful to avoid the thorns. I started to sit up. He waved me back down.

“No, no, stay as you are,” he said. “This will go easier if you don’t move.”

Okay. That was a little ominous. I raised my eyebrows and just watched him, until he offered the last bromeliad to me.

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