The Gates of Thelgrim: A Descent: Legends of the Dark Novel (Descent: Journeys in the Dark) by Robbie MacNiven

Author:Robbie MacNiven [MacNiven, Robbie]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: swords and sorcery, Action & Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, epic fantasy, Epic, media tie-in
Publisher: Aconyte
Published: 2021-10-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

They stopped to rest in an old crosscut branching off the stepped tunnel of an incline shaft. The effects of the Viridis Seed had started to wear off on Shiver. He felt hollow, drained. His concentration was at the point of wavering, and that was the last thing he wanted.

There was a small ventilation shaft intersecting with the tunnel. Shiver had left Astarra sitting beside it. He wasn’t sure if the slightly clearer air was the help the human needed to stave off her exhaustion, but right then it was all he could offer. Neither of them had any food, and while Shiver, like most deep elves, could go days before feeling the ill effects from lack of sustenance, Astarra clearly did not possess a similar constitution. Though trying to hide it, she had clearly started to flag as they progressed deeper and deeper into the Dunwarr labyrinth.

“Sleep, if you can,” he advised her as she settled with her back to a support beam, her staff propped against the dirt wall next to it, still lit. He saw doubt flash across her face. It was still there, the fear and distrust he had first seen in Frostgate. Then it had been so potent she had almost lashed out at him instinctively. Exposure seemed to have taken the edge off her loathing, but the wariness remained.

“Your kind need more sleep than mine,” Shiver said, crouching in front of her, trying to be reassuring but fearing he was sounding condescending. He tried to change tack, aiming for something she might better understand.

“It makes no sense for me to betray you now,” he said. “If I’d wanted to leave you behind, I could have.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t need me for something in the future,” Astarra pointed out.

“Then trust me for now,” Shiver said. “Down here, we only have each other.”

Astarra said nothing, closing her eyes. Shiver felt a pang of sorrow as he looked away from her. He caught himself. He was seeking acceptance, he realized. Forgiveness. It was a trap he fell into so often. The desire to atone, even to those who knew nothing about him, knew nothing of his struggle.

There could be no forgiveness for him, no kindness from fellow travelers, not until his memories were complete and the last of his foul deeds had been atoned for in blood and ice.

Astarra was soon fast asleep, the light of her staff reduced to a dull glow.

Shiver sat beside her for a while, battling his own exhaustion. In truth, he needed to sleep as well, but he knew that to do so now would be unwise. There was always a chance the Dunwarr might still happen upon them, and the presence of groups of Aethyn clan deep elves still lingered on the edge of his senses. Besides, there were more dangerous things than elves and dwarfs in the Dunwarr Deeps. Of that he was becoming increasingly sure.

He roused himself a little way and walked to the edge of the cutting, looking down the rough timber stairs of the slope shaft.

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