Page 32 of The Delver
Oh, thank God.
“Great!” Callie replied with a smile.
As exhilarating as it was to finally be inside a real cave, it was also terrifying. She’d spent most of her life in the city, which had often felt claustrophobic, but at least she’d been able to look up and see that sliver of sky whenever she’d wanted. She couldn’t do that here.
And that wasn’t even taking into account the dangers beyond slips and falls, like cave-ins, deadly gas buildups, getting stuck in tight passages, flash floods…
And I wanted to do this for a living?
She probably wouldn’t have survived her first day.
Right now, it was Urkot that drove her onward.
Ahead, she glimpsed a spot where the blue glow was more concentrated. It seemed like a trick of her eyes at first, but as they neared it, she realized it was an opening into a chamber off the main tunnel. That was where Ahgratar turned.
He entered the chamber first, and Callie followed close behind. The thornskull called a greeting to the vrix within and declared that he’d come with food. But Callie barely heard their enthusiastic responses. Eyes wide, she could only focus on the chamber itself.
She understood then how thoroughly the vrix had shaped the tunnel they’d followed to get here. These walls were crude, uneven, natural. And they were covered in countless crystals growing in clusters and formations, bathing the space in brilliant blue luminescence.
This was like standing inside one of those geode lamps. Her brain insisted it couldn’t be real; places like this only existed in fantasy stories. And yet here she was.
The delvers had been gathered near the far end of the chamber, though most had ceased their work to come meet Callie and Ahgratar. She smiled and greeted them in their tongue as she and her companion pulled back the cloths over their baskets and offered food.
But even as the eager thornskulls took seasoned meat from her basket, her eyes drifted back to the pair who were still working—a large, yellow male thornskull and Urkot, whose blue markings had taken on a new radiance in this light. The two were hammering a rough-hewn log into place as a support, securing the above crossbeam against the ceiling in the process.
She found herself admiring the way Urkot’s muscles flexed and stretched as he worked. It wasn’t merely the power in them, it was the control. Amongst the shadowstalkers in their tribe, Urkot had always seemed the least agile, the least graceful, but she realized now how precise and deliberate his movements were, like each was carefully calculated.
“Zotahl, Three-Arm, come before the food is gone,” Ahgratar said, his booming voice carrying over the others’ chatter.
Zotahl gestured sharply with one hand in acknowledgement. Neither he nor Urkot looked away from their work until they’d adjusted the log a little more. Seemingly satisfied with its positioning, they turned toward Ahgratar.
Urkot’s eyes flicked to Callie and opened so wide it was almost comical.
Grinning, she raised her hand and wiggled her fingers in a wave. “Hi.”
His eyes narrowed to furious slits, and he stormed across the chamber. Before Callie could back away, he caught her armswith all three of his hands, his grip tight. The basket slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor.
“Why are you here?” he growled,
Callie gasped as she stared at him in shock. “Ahgratar was coming, so I?—”
Urkot’s head snapped toward Ahgratar, and in vrix almost too fast and angry for Callie to understand, demanded, “You brought her here? Damn your eyes, why?”
All the thornskulls were staring at him now, their eyes flared. One had paused his hand partway to his mouth with a piece of meat dangling from his fingers.
Ahgratar held up a palm to Urkot. “She gave aid, Three-Arm. There is no harm.”
“She should not be down here! It is not safe.” Urkot swung his gaze back to Callie and shifted back to English. “I said do not come.”
Callie quirked a brow. “No, you saidno. You never told me not to come, specifically…”
“It is not safe.Nois simple, yes?” He released her arm with one hand and dragged his palm down his face with a frustrated groan, leaving a steak of white on his hide. “You knew my words. Knew my meaning.”
“But that doesn’t mean I’m going to obey.”
“In this you obey!” Urkot snarled.
Callie flinched, stunned at the ferocity in his voice and his tightening grip on her arms, which she was sure would leave bruises. Fire sparked in her chest, quickly burning away her startlement. She glared at him. “Don’t yell at me, Urkot.”
