The Last Talisman by Licia Troisi

Author:Licia Troisi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mondadori
Published: 2015-11-19T22:22:54+00:00

23

Through the Water in the Dark

Even before she opened her eyes, Nihal could feel the dark coiling around her, seeping into her mouth and down her throat. A sharp pain gripped her abdomen, rousing her back to her senses. She wondered where she was.

When she opened her eyes, her hunch was confirmed: darkness. Just when they thought their month without sunlight was over. She touched her waist and felt a hand. After groping around for few moments, she came across a ruffled mop of hair. Sennar.

“Sennar,” she called out lightly. She shook him. “Sennar …”

He shifted beneath her hand.

“Everything okay?” the sorcerer muttered wearily.

“I’m fine. You?”

Sennar’s hand moved, and she heard his clothes rustling in the dark. “Everything’s okay, I think,” he answered. “Any idea of where we are?” he asked a few moments later.

“How about you give us a little light and we’ll find out.”

Sennar leaned on the rocky wall. “If my memory serves me well, didn’t you used to know a little magic? Between the Flying Spell and that sprint, I’m at the end of my strength. … Why don’t you take care of the light this time?”

Nihal conjured a frail blue flame. She kindled the fire in her hand, and a faint glow surrounded them for a few feet in each direction. They were in a sort of tunnel, and they must have tumbled a good ways during the fall, for the dirt surrounding them had been disturbed. The tunnel had such a low ceiling and was so narrow that it was clear they’d be forced to crawl on all fours to fit through. And it certainly wasn’t the work of Mother Nature: spade and chisel marks riddled the walls.

“It must be one of the canals linked to the underground water network,” said Sennar.

“I don’t hear any water. …”

“Ido hasn’t stepped foot in his native land in over twenty years. A few things might have changed since then. Maybe some of the canals dried up.”

Nihal turned toward Sennar. His face was pale and worn. “Maybe it’s best if we rest here for today. What do you think? We’ll get moving again when we have our strength back,” she proposed. The sorcerer accepted without protest.

But Nihal only managed to stay still for but an hour or so before she decided to do some reconnaissance. Leaving Sennar to his well-earned sleep, she went exploring. She didn’t have to travel very far to find her way to the surface. After only ten yards or so, the tunnel floor turned sharply upward and she saw the hole they’d fallen through. The light pouring down stung her eyes.

For a few moments, Nihal stared at the beam of light. Then she retraced her steps and explored the tunnel in the other direction. As she walked, the passage grew more and more narrow, increasingly difficult to traverse. At the first fork in the road, she stopped, fearing she’d lose her way, and pricked her ears. Far off she heard a sound, rhythmic, like water trickling through a fountain.

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