Heln was intimately aware of potential tons of rock and earth pressing down on them, enough that he pulled his shields down for just a moment, just to reassure himself that the scripts keeping the tunnels from collapsing were in place and they weren't in danger of being crushed at any moment.
They were there, thick and strange, but it was enough.
He was about to pull up his shields again when something tugged at the corner of his senses, something new. He frowned in concentration, trying to reach for it, but it was like trying to get a marble out of a thick pile of foam, his fingers just brushed it but it would slide away again.
He hadn't realized how long and hard he had concentrated on it until someone literally yanked him out of it. Bel and Rhyss had stopped and his sister had grabbed his arm.
"What?" He felt like he'd just woken up. Whatever he had been trying to sense was gone, so he reluctantly pulled up his shields.
"The tunnel splits." Rhyss gestured ahead of them. The tunnel they were in kept going forward, there were two tunnels branching off of the one they were in, curving away from Bel's illumination bubble. "Are you okay?"
"Fine." He did his absolute best not to snap at her. He almost succeeded. "I just thought… never mind. Tunnels. I'm guessing you were hoping I would have some sort of valuable insight? Because I don't."
"I'm thinking we each pick a tunnel then fight to see who's right." Bel grinned. "Of course, Rhyss would win, so Rhyss which tunnel do you pick? I'm getting a forge straight ahead vibe from you but tell me if I'm wrong."
"Shut up." Rhyss told her, but she started walking straight ahead, just as Bel had predicted. "Well? Are you two coming or are you going to live down here?"
"Don't tempt me, it's free!" Bel yelled back. She and Heln fell in line between Rhyss. She looked over at Heln again. "You sure you're okay?"
At least she hadn't yelled that part.
"Thought I felt something before Rhyss spoke to me. I don't think it's anything but it's too hard to figure out in this stupid tunnel." Heln wanted to kick the tunnel wall, but he decided against it. Breaking his toe was probably not conducive to fleeing for his life. Judging by their track record it was only a matter of time before he would have to.
The three of them took a quick break when Bel complained that her feet were actually going to fall off. Heln was tired, too, though it was more of a constant, all body ache that he had sort of grown accustomed to. He couldn't remember when he hadn't felt sore, exhausted, and hungry.
Luckily, or unluckily, Rhyss had shoved a bunch of moss into her bag and handed it around. It tasted even worse after being wrapped up for hours, but it was something and Heln wasn't going to be picky. At least the water wasn't awful.
"Question," Bel said.
"Possible answer." Rhyss looked at her expectantly.
"What happens when we run out of water? I don't know about you but my mouth tastes like cave already."
"We won't." Rhyss grinned a bit, setting the canteen down and twisting the cap until some of the marks on it lined up. They glowed briefly, a thin curl of mist swirling down into it. "As long as there's water in the air, we have water. And there is a lot of water in the air."
Bel let out a low whistle. "Okay, that's extremely fancy."
"Gift from my mom when I joined the Guard." Rhyss looked happy and smug. The expression looked out of place a bit, but it was nice.
"Second question." Bel smiled at Rhyss when her expression turned to annoyed. "What do we do when we run out of food?"
"You can live up to thirty days without food as long as you have water." Heln had to smile at the look Bel gave him. "Oh, relax, we won't be down here for thirty days."
Thirty days alive, anyway, but he decided not to add that. Honestly, between being crushed by a dirt pile or starving to death, he was pretty sure he'd rather be crushed.
"Okay, but assuming that I don't want to do that. Because I don't."
"If we run out of food and we are in danger of starvation, getting back to the other cave won't be hard,” Rhyss said. "We can rest, recuperate, and then try again. Does that please your highness?"
"Yes. Yes it does. I like having a plan and being referred to by my proper title; both are fantastic things." Bel ate the rest of her small portion of moss, surprisingly without complaint. She was even the first one on her feet, swinging her satchel over her shoulder. "Well, shall we?"
*~*~*
Heln was glad he hadn't expected Bel's attitude to stay positive because it probably wasn't even ten minutes before she started to complain again.
"It smells awful here."
"The whole tunnel smells awful, Bel, we all know." Rhyss paused, then glared at her. "Unless that was a jab at how we haven't bathed in a while, in which case I'll have to break your delusions because you don't smell like a rose garden yourself."
It didn't seem that bad to Heln, of course, he wasn't as sensitive as Bel and Rhyss were. To him, it just smelled like a shut in, closed place. The sour of damp stone, too, but it wasn't exactly offensive after he got used to it.
"No, I grew numb to that a while ago, this smells much worse than you ever could."
"Okay, so something probably got in here and died." Rhyss scrunched up her nose a bit. "Yeah, I smell it, too. We'll get past it."
"It must have been a big something."
