After another heated mental debate, I win the next fight for control of my brain. I pick up the canisters, flasks, and spear, and then take a few steps inside the tunnel. Pausing for a moment, I look back and call out, “Dark.”
When I reach the end of the passage, I don’t stop to scan the outside. Clenching my spear in both hands, I boldly jump straight out to the gully. If any Murkovin are nearby, I’d rather kill them now than play a game of cat and mouse. As I did before, I run a few hundred feet down the ravine and then stop to look behind me. The last thing I’ll let those cowardly bastards do is trick me into leaving the area so they can have their way with Tela.
While traveling to the south, I have trouble concentrating on the beams. My attention is constantly distracted by the hills that pass by me. To make matters worse, the milky light of the Barrens fades, the clouds tumble into one another, and rain pounds down from the sky. With my blood simmering with a fresh desire for sap, I madly search for a sustaining tree. I’d rip a limb from a trunk in a heartbeat to gratify the incessant hunger gnawing at me.
I spot a tree near the base of a hill and slide to stop. I can’t figure out why the limbs aren’t moving, but then I notice thin strands of black string hanging from the branches and blowing in the gusts of wind. It’s nothing but a thread tree like the ones that grow in the Delta.
After gushing into the few beams that I can find, I finally reach the transport. A shallow, fast-moving stream is now flowing through the wash. I climb over the rocks, jump into the water, and throw myself down beside the transport. Once my mouth locks to the spigot, I open the valve and drink until I’m nauseous from gluttony.
As I sit up, warmth spreads through my body. Like lit fuses sizzling inside my blood, heat spreads outward from my stomach to the tips of my fingers and toes. With the water still rushing around me, I lean over to fill the canisters and flasks with sap. Realizing that the water has risen almost to the spigot, I bolt upright.
The cavern could flood! I shout in my mind.
My heart pounds faster and faster while panic tightens my chest. I search for my spear, but it’s hidden somewhere under the water. Deciding to leave it behind, I sling the canisters around my neck and clip the flasks to my belt. I leap to my feet and bound out of the wash. Slipping and stumbling across the wet dirt, I lurch into a few dull rays.
Heading straight for the cavern, I swish over the bleak hills. I soon descend into the gully and tear my body out of the beams. Sloshing through knee-deep water, I lope towards the pile of rocks. The newborn river has risen almost to the bottom of the tunnel entrance.
When I make it to the crevice, I spring out of the water. As I jam my body through the entrance, my shoulders scrape against the sharp rocks. I barrel through the tunnel with the crash of water in front of me growing louder and louder.
“Light!” I shout once I reach the opening to the cave.
“Chase!” Tela calls out.
I storm through the entrance, drop to my knees beside Tela, and lock my eyes on the far end of the cave. What was once a trickle of water down the wall is now a thick, tumultuous spill. The pool is substantially larger than it was before I left and has risen to Tela’s waist.
After grabbing Tela under her arms, I drag her to the higher ground near the tunnel entrance. To keep her body as far away as possible from the spreading pool, I turn her sideways. I place the rocks under her knees again and slip the pillow under her head. She glares at me with flaming amber eyes.
“I could have drowned!” she hoarsely snarls.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I came back as soon as I could.”
Her eyes drift away from mine and stop on the waterfall. “I need sap!” she demands.
I open a flask, lift her head with one hand, and hold the steel to her lips. She downs sip after sip until the flask is half empty. After a few deep breaths, she looks at me.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you. It was the wild sap. Darkness makes it worse.”
“Don’t worry about it. I feel it, too. Go back to sleep. I won’t leave you again.”
I reach out a hand and brush long strands of hair away from her face. She used to have bangs that hung just over her eyebrows, but she’s let her hair grow out over the past few months. Her longer hair seems to make her look more mature—more womanly—and I’m not sure that I ever realized how truly attractive she is.
“Thank you for all you’re doing for me,” Tela whispers.
She immediately passes out. I lean my face down to hers and gently kiss her forehead. After scooting to the mouth of the tunnel, I stare at the swirling pool. It appears to have grown as much as it’s going to, so I don’t think there’s a threat of the cavern completely flooding.
Once I’m confident that the pool won’t reach Tela, I walk to the end of the tunnel to make sure the temporary river hasn’t risen to the entrance. Water surges through the gully, slams against the rocky banks, and sprays mud in the air. It doesn’t seem to have grown much since I got back from the transport, but I decide
