The Demon's Den

To her surprise, he said only, 'What's your name?'

It took her a moment to find her voice. 'Ari.'

'Jors.'

She nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see the gesture. 'Herald Jors.'

'Are you one of the miners?'

Why was he talking to her when he had his Companion to keep him company? 'Not exactly.' So far tonight, she'd said more than she'd said in the five summers since the accident. Her throat ached.

'Gevris says he's never seen anyone do what you did to get in here. He says you didn't dig through the rubble, you built a tunnel around you using nothing but your hands.'

'Gevris?'

'My Companion. He's very impressed. He believes you can get me out.'

Ari swallowed hard. His Companion believed in her. It was almost funny in a way. 'You can move your arm now.'

'Actually,' he gasped, trying not to writhe, 'no, I can't.' He felt her reach across him, tuck her hand under his chest, and grab his wrist. He could barely feel her touch against his skin.

'On three.' She pulled immediately before he could tense.

'That wasn't very nice,' he grunted when he could speak again.

She ignored his feeble attempt to tug his arm out of her hands and continued rubbing life back into the chilled flesh. 'There's nothing wrong with it. It's just numb because you've been lying on it in the cold.'

'Oh? Are you a Healer, then?'

He sounded so indignant that she smiled and actually answered the question. 'No, I was a mining engineer. I designed this mine.'

'Oh.' He'd wondered what kind of idiot would put a mine in a place like this. Now he knew.

Ari heard most of the thought and gritted her teeth. 'Keep flexing the muscles.' Untying the end of the rope from around her own waist, she relied it just under the Herald's arms. It felt strange to touch a young man's body again after so long. Strange and uncomfortable. She twisted and began to free his legs.

Jors listened to her breathing and thought of being alone in darkness forever.

:I'm here, Chosen.:

:I know. But I wasn't thinking of me. I was thinking about Ari... Ari...: 'Were you at the Collegium?'

'I was.'

'You redesigned the hoists from the kitchen so they'd stop jamming. And you fixed that pump in Bardic that kept flooding the place. And you made the practice dummy that ...'

'That was a long time ago.'

'Not so long,' Jors protested trying to ignore the sudden pain as she lifted a weight off his hips. 'You left the Blues the summer I was Chosen.'

'Did I?'

'They were all talking about you. They said there wasn't anything you couldn't build. What happened?'

Her hands paused. 'I came home. Be quiet. I have to listen.' It wasn't exactly a lie.

Working as fast as she could, Ari learned the shape of the stone imprisoning the Herald, its strengths, its weaknesses. It was all so very familiar. The tunnel she'd built behind her ended here. She finished it in her head, and nodded, once, as the final piece slid into place.