Naked Empire

Chapter 32

Richard gripped the edge of the rock at the face of the opening to help pull himself up and out from the dark hole in the abrupt rise of granite before them. Once out, he brushed the sharp little granules of rock from his hands as he turned to the others.

“It goes through. It isn’t easy, but it goes through.”

He saw a dubious look on Tom’s face, and a look of consternation on Owen’s. Betty, her floppy ears perked ahead in what Richard thought could only be a goat frown, peered down into the narrow chasm and bleated.

“But I don’t think we can,” Owen complained. “What if . . .”

“We get stuck?” Richard asked.

Owen nodded.

“Well, you have an advantage over Tom and me,” Richard said as he picked up his pack from nearby to the side where he’d left it. “You’re not quite as big. If I made it through and back, then you can make it, Owen.”

Owen waved a hand up the steep ascent to his right. “But what about that way? Couldn’t we just go around?”

“I don’t like going into dark, narrow places like this, either,” Richard said. “But if we go around that way we have to go out on the ledges. You heard what Cara said; it’s narrow and dangerous. If it were the only way it would be another matter, but it’s not.

“The races could spot us out there. Worse, if they wanted, they could attack us and we could easily fall or be forced over the edge. I don’t like going in places like this, but I don’t think I’d like to be out there on a windblown ledge no wider than the sole of my boot, with a fall of thousands of feet straight down if I make one slip, and then have one of those races suddenly show up to rip into me with their talons or those sharp beaks of theirs. Would you prefer that?”

Owen licked his lips as he bent at the waist and looked into the narrow passageway. “Well, I guess you’re right.”

“Richard,” Kahlan asked in a whisper as the rest of them started taking off their packs so they could more easily fit through, “if this was a trail, as you suspect, why isn’t there a better way through?”

“I think that sometime only in the last few thousand years this huge section of the mountain broke away and slid down, coming to rest at this angle, leaving a narrow passageway beneath it.” He pointed up. “See up there? I think this entire portion down here used to be up there. I think it’s now sitting right where the trail used to be.”

“And there’s no other way but this cave or the ledges?”

“I’m not saying that. I believe there’s other old routes, but we would have to backtrack for most of a day to take the last fork I saw, and then there isn’t any guarantee with that one, either. If you really want, though, we can go back and try.”

Kahlan shook her head. “We can’t afford to lose any time. We need to get to the antidote.”

Richard nodded. He didn’t know how he was supposed to rid an entire empire of the Imperial Order so they could get to the antidote, but he had a few ideas. He needed to get the antidote; he saw no reason he had to play by Owen’s rules—or the Order’s.

Kahlan gave the narrow, dark tunnel another look. “You’re sure there aren’t any snakes in there?”

“I didn’t see any.”

Tom handed Richard his sword. “I’ll go last,” he said. “If you make it through, I can.”

Richard nodded as he laid the baldric over his shoulder. He turned the scabbard at his hip in order to clear the rock and then started in. He hugged his pack to his abdomen as he crouched to make it into the small space. The slab of rock above him lay at an angle, so that he couldn’t remain upright, but had to twist sideways and back as he went into the darkness. The farther in he went, the darker it became. As the others followed him into the narrow passage, it blocked much of the light, making it even darker.

The rains of recent days had finally ended, but runnels and runoff continued to flow from the mountain. Their wading through ankle-deep water standing in the bottom of the cavern sent echoes through the narrow confines. The waves in the water played gloomy light along the wet walls, providing at least some illumination.

The thought occurred to him that if he was a snake, this would make a good spot to call home. The thought also occurred to him that if Kahlan, right behind him, happened upon a snake in such cramped quarters, she would not be pleased with him in the least for taking her in.

Things that were frightening outside were different when you couldn’t maneuver, couldn’t run. Panic always seemed to lurk in tight places.

As it became darker, Richard had to feel his way along the cold stone.

In places where water seeped down the rock, the walls were slimy. In some spots there was mud, in other places dry rock to walk on. Most of it, though, was wet muck. Spongy leaves had collected in some of the irregular low places.

By the smell, it was obvious that some animal had died and was decomposing somewhere in the sodden grotto. He heard moans and complaints from behind when the rest of them encountered the stench. Betty bleated her unhappiness. Jennsen’s echoing whisper told the goat to be quiet.

Even the displeasure of the smell was forgotten as they worked their way under the immense curtain of rock draped over where the trail used to be. This wasn’t a true cave, like underground caves Richard had encountered before. It was only a narrow crack under what was, in essence, a big rock.

There were no chambers and different routes to worry about; there was only one narrow void under the rock, so lighting their way wasn’t critical. He knew, too, that it wasn’t all that long. It only felt that way in the dark.

Richard reached the spot where the way ahead abruptly started up at a steep angle. Feeling the walls all around to find places to grab, he started the difficult climb. In places he had to wedge his back against one wall and use his feet against the opposite wall to brace himself while grappling for any ledge or crack in the rock he could find to help pull himself up. He had to balance his pack in his lap as he went, and keep his sword from getting wedged. It was slow going.

Richard finally reached the high table where the rock from above had first come down. The hollow left under the mountain of rock was basically horizontal, rather than vertical, as it had been. Rock rested along the edge of most of the shelf, but there was one place with ample room for them to make it through, over the edge and then in under the slab above them. Once up onto the flat, he leaned over as far as he could, extending a hand down to help Kahlan.

He heard the grunts of effort from below Kahlan as the rest of the small company worked their way up the precipitous passage.

From his place atop the table of rock, Richard could finally see light ahead and light above. He had scouted the route and knew that they were close to being out the other side, but first they had to make it across the shelf of rock where the slab left little room above them. It was uncomfortably confining.

Richard didn’t like such places. He knew, though, that there was no other way through. This was the place he worried most about. Tight as it was, it was fortunately close to the end.

“We have to crawl on our bellies from here,” he told Kahlan. “Hold my ankle. Have everyone behind do the same.”

Kahlan peered ahead toward the light coming from the opening. The glare of that light made it difficult to see to the sides. “Richard, it doesn’t look big enough. It’s just a crack.”

Richard pushed his pack out onto the rock. “There’s a way. We’ll be out soon.”

Kahlan let out a deep breath. “All right. The sooner the better.”

“Listen to me,” he called back into the darkness. “We’re almost out.”

“If you make us walk through any more rotting animals, I’ll clobber you,” Jennsen called up to him. Everyone laughed.

“No more of that,” Richard said. “But there is a difficult spot ahead. I’ve been through it, so I know we can all make it. But you have to listen to me and do as I say. Crawl on your stomach, pushing your pack ahead of you. Hold the ankle of the person in front of you. That way you’ll all follow in the right place.

“You’ll see the light ahead of you. You can’t go toward the light. That isn’t the way out. The ceiling drops down too low and the slope of the rock starts pitching down to the left. If you slip down in there it gets even tighter; you’ll not be able to get out. We have to go around the low place in the ceiling. We have to go around on the right side, where it’s dark, but not as low. Does everyone understand?”

Agreement echoed up from the darkness.

“Richard,” Jennsen called in a small voice, “I don’t like being in here. I want out.”

Her voice carried a thread of panic.

“I don’t either,” he told her. “But I’ve been through and out the other side. I made it through and back. You’ll be fine. Just follow me and you won’t have a problem.”

Her voice drifted up to him from the darkness. “I want to go back.”

Richard couldn’t let her go back. The ledges, where they were exposed to the races, were too dangerous.

“Here,” Kahlan told her, “you come ahead of me. Take hold of Richard’s ankle and you’ll be out before the rest of us.”

“I’ll see that Betty watches you go through and follows,” Tom offered.

That seemed to break the impasse. Jennsen moved up to the ledge and handed her pack up. Richard, lying on his stomach in the low slit of the shelf, took her hand to help her up.

When she saw in the light how low and tight it was, that Richard had to lie on his stomach, she started to tremble. When Richard helped pull her up, and her face came up close to him, he could see her tears in the dim light.

Her wide blue eyes took in the way ahead, how low it was.

“Please, Richard, I’m afraid. I don’t want to go in under there.”

He nodded. “I know, but it’s not far. I won’t let you stay in here. I’ll see that you get out.” He cupped a hand to the side of her face. “I promise.”

“How do I know you’ll keep your promise?”

Richard smiled. “Wizards always keep their promises.”

“You said you don’t know much about being a wizard.”

“But I know how to keep promises.”

She at last agreed and let him help her the rest of the way up. When he pulled her all the way up onto the shelf of the mountainside, and she actually felt how the roof of rock didn’t allow her any room to get up and that she had to lie flat just to fit, and worse, that the roof of rock was only scant inches above her back, she started to shiver with terror.

“I know how you feel,” he told her. “I do, Jennsen. I hate this, too, but we have no choice. It’s not dangerous if you just follow me through the place where there’s room. Just follow me and we’ll be out before you know it.”

“What if it comes down and crushes us? Or what if it comes down just enough to pin us so we can’t move or breathe?”

“It won’t,” he insisted. “It’s been here for ages. It isn’t going to come down. It’s not.”

She nodded but he didn’t know if she really heard him. She began to whimper as he turned himself around so he could lead her out.

“Take my ankle,” he called back to her. “Here, push your pack up to me and I’ll take care of it for you. Then you’ll only have to worry about holding on to my ankle and following behind.”

“What if it gets too tight and I can’t breathe? Richard, what if I can’t breathe?”

Richard kept his voice calm and confident. “I’m bigger than you, so if I fit, you will.”

She only nodded as she shivered. He extended his hand back and had to tell her again to pass her pack forward before she did as he instructed.

Once he had her pack, he tied the straps to his and pushed them both on ahead. She seized his ankle as if it were the only thing keeping her from falling into the arms of the Keeper of the underworld.

He didn’t complain, though, about how hard she held him; he knew her fear.

Richard pushed the packs out ahead and started inching his way forward.

He tried not to think about the rough ceiling of rock only a hand-width above his back. He knew it would become narrower before they got out. The shelf of rock sloped upward to the right slightly, into the dark. The light was to the left, and down.

It looked like the easiest way out was to go straight toward the opening. It wasn’t far. They had to go, instead, up into the darkness and around the narrowing of the cleft in order to get around to a place where they could fit through. Forcing himself to go up, into the dark where it felt tighter and more closed in, rather than toward the light of the opening, felt wrong, but he had already scouted the route and he knew that his feelings were wrong about this.

As he moved deeper into the darkness, going around the impassable area in the center of the chamber, he reached the spot where the rock above lowered. Advancing in farther, it came down until it pressed against his back. He knew it wasn’t far, not more than a dozen feet, but, without being able to take a full breath, the cramped passage was daunting.

Richard pushed the packs ahead as he wriggled and wormed his way along.

He had to push with the toes of his boots and, with his fingers finding any purchase available, pull his chest through, force himself to make headway into the dark, away from the light.

Jennsen’s fingers had an iron grip on his ankle. That was fine with Richard, because he could then help pull her through with him. He wanted to be able to help pull her through when she reached the spot that would compress her chest.

And then she suddenly let go of his ankle.