was gross when it got in his mouth. It only tasted like dirt but he tried to ignore it, knowing what it really was and crawled as best he could into the hole the boy had fallen down. It took a long time, it felt like, several minutes passing, his foot going cold and then numb as he struggled to fit. Even his shoulders were too big for the second turn, one that took the boy down about another five feet. He made them fit anyway, a tiny inch at a time, skin ripping as he forced his way down, gasping shallowly, not able to take a full breath because of the pressure on his chest.
Great, the walls weren't strong enough to hold, but they could strip him bare of skin? How the heck did that work? Hardly fair. He would have yelled that at the walls, but didn't have enough air for it. The old waste stung when it touched blood and flesh, almost like salt in a wound.
The boy really wasn't too far down, about ten feet, but around a bend that hid him from view from the top. Tor lowered the rope and started working it around the boy's middle, under his arms. It didn't take long and there were, thankfully, no problems.
When the kid was tied off, he started crying, loud.
“It's alright, I've got you. No problem…. Here,” he slipped one of the two shields he had on over his head and worked it on to the boy, then activated it for him. The walls around the small boy pushed away a bit. It was the part of the new design to keep the wearer from being strangled too easily.
He called out then, for the man up top to start taking up slack. He scrambled back as well as he could, both of them inching up, his foot aching at the ankle from the rope.
Just as they started back around the first corner, he saw her.
A girl, tiny, maybe three or four, about two feet further down than the boy had been. Just as he noticed her the rope dragging up the uneven tunnel started a collapse and the line pulled harder in response.
“No, wait!” He called out. It sounded pained, because it hurt, but that wasn't why he was screaming. The girl! She'd be buried in a few seconds.
He pulled off his shield amulet and threw it down the hole, praying it hit. Praying that the field would cover her and not just bounce off. He hadn't built it for this, but didn't have anything else. The girl screamed at first, then her voice went almost silent and he and the boy were surrounded by darkness, in desperation he tried to do what he'd seen Rolph do. Generate a field, an organized sense of movement, of interlocking connectedness, between himself and the tiny child. Old shit rammed into his mouth and flesh tore and stretched at his ankle, in a screaming instant something there snapped. He almost passed out, but he couldn't. He couldn't let go.
There wasn't time for it.
Suddenly light surrounded him and the man above started to lower them to the ground.
“Go higher!” He screamed. If the man lifted them into the air, maybe he could use the connection to the girl to get her free. It came out as a weak gasp as the man settled them to the ground. Others came and surrounded them, pulling them both away from the imploding edge of the pit.
No.
It was not going to happen this way.
Tor extended his right hand and remembered the field he'd made at the beach, moving water from one place to another. He built one now, similar, but for something heavier. Dirt. It would have to be stronger. Much so. Dirt didn't flow well.
And it would have to be now. It wasn't possible of course, not for someone like him, but there was no choice. Not if the girl was going to live.
He firmed his voice as much as he could.
“Move.” His voice was flat, all emotion gone. Anger coursed through him, surrounded him in an instant. Rage. It was odd, being so angry at dirt, at the unfairness of it all, but it was what he felt, stupid or not. He said the word again, gasping softly, trying to yell.
“Move.”
No one did until Rolph screamed at them to run. It wasn't the most manly sound to ever come out of the large Prince's mouth, but people scrambled away fast, which was all that really mattered to Tor.
Then a fountain of earth moved, crashing through the air, a cloud of dust and things best left buried where they were, came up like a water fountain and finally, clutching a shiny piece of metal in a chubby little fist, the girl. She rolled end over end through the air for a second, crying. Then she connected with the ground and held in place as if stuck with glue or nailed down.
She was sobbing, a high pitched squeal.
Thank god.
That meant she was alive.
He dropped the field that he could barely hold and rolled over, gasping for breath. Tor couldn't breathe, fire ran through his left leg, and muddy blood dripped down his arms and chest. But he could hear crying.
The boy joined the girl in his sobs. Tor closed his eyes and smiled. For the first time in his life, other than at the birth of a child, it was a joyous sound. He nodded to himself, feeling a bit of moisture in his own eyes. Probably just trying to get the grit out.
Yeah, he really did probably have something in his eyes. The laugh that came out didn't make a sound, his lungs burned too much for that and he couldn't breathe through his nose at all, clogged with shit. He could pretend it was dirt, that was fine, right? He just lay there, crying and sobbing like a baby, but not because he felt sad. It must have been a hilarious picture to all the brawny workmen standing around, and the tough as nails guardsmen too.
He didn't care.
Tor didn't even care that he'd been left naked and bare on the ground, pink and bawling.
The world went black then. He wondered if he'd still be crying when he woke back up?
Chapter nine
Tor woke up aching and sore in places he definitely didn't expect to be, but it made sense when he thought about where the falling clods of dirt had to impact. Dangling by one leg, being pulled around upside down like that. Ouch. Well, he probably wasn't ever going to have children anyway at the rate he'd been going with women. So no big loss. It did smart though, he could have done without that part. His skin felt burnt and sore too and of course his leg was just in agony. But he wasn't crying. Heh.
He knew he was tougher than that.
Well, more accurately, he wanted to be tougher than that. He didn't know if he was or not. Hadn't at least.
The room he was in was nice, at least as fine as the one he'd been given in the guest house, but looked different. Older. More stone work by far and a bed large enough for his whole family to sleep in. He looked over towards the right edge and saw that it wasn't really true. He was in the center and the bed's edge was only about four feet away. Still, the biggest bed he'd ever seen.
No one else was in the room, it was dark inside. Not black by any means, but the deep brown wood and deep blue curtains blocking out the light through the window didn't leave him a lot to see by. It was daytime at least. Hopefully the same day, because he didn't have enough time to get everything done if he missed more than one or two.
Tor scooted to the edge of the bed and started to swing his feet out, noticing that his legs had been covered with loose pants that were made of soft white silk-like material, his left leg wrapped in a thick splint that felt like metal pieces on either side when he touched it. It ached still, but it was attached, so they hadn't had to amputate it. Good. He'd worried about that a little he realized. Being the one foot guy would have been annoying to say the least. Kind of lopsided. Survivable though.
He realized he was acting grumpy in his head, the pain getting to him a little. He chuckled and found himself laughing after a few seconds. Only he would jump head first into a cesspit. It would probably be the big joke when he got back to school. First things first though, he needed to get something to drink, water by preference, go to the restroom and then find some plates for the drought relief project and get to work.
Standing he noticed that the shirt he wore was loose and white as well. It felt nice against his skin. Soft and
