“We need to talk. Just not while we’re focused on our mission.”
She glances at me. “Does that work?”
“It does. Thank you.”
Kaylein exhales dramatically. “Good. This looks so much easier when Berinon does it. But you can always ask me for advice. I might not be able to help, but the more I practice, the better I’ll get at it.”
“May I ask you something else?” I say.
“Of course, your highness.”
“Could you call me Rowan? Please?”
She laughs. “That might be even more difficult than giving you advice. But I’ll certainly try.”
I sleep amazingly well. Whatever anxiety I might still feel from abandoning the travelers has been drowned out by the relief of coming up with a plan for the Alianor problem. At one point, I wake to Jacko nudging my face and chattering. I’m so tired all I can do is lift my head and mutter something before falling back to sleep. I wake again to him doing the same, but this time, Malric silences him with a growl, and I’m too groggy to even wonder what’s the matter. It isn’t until dawn, as I’m slowly waking, that Jacko’s nighttime chattering comes back and I bolt upright, terrified that he needed a toilet trip outside, and I ignored him, and he went alone and has been devoured by monsters.
He’s right there, though, awake and watching me.
“I’m so sorry,” I say as I rise, whispering so I don’t wake the others.
I shake off sleep as Jacko hops over my legs, telling me to hurry. Then I blink hard. There’s a fire burning outside the cave entrance and Kaylein is sitting at it.
That makes me wonder why Jacko is in such a hurry. He could have gone out at any time last night and done his business under the careful watch of whoever was on guard duty.
I shake off the question. He wants me to go with him; it is dawn, and I’m fine with getting up a little early.
The cavern isn’t quite tall enough for me to stand up in, though I’m the shortest in the party. Head ducked, I walk outside and yawn as I greet Kaylein.
“You’re up early,” she says.
“Early bird gets first pick of breakfast,” I say. “And by this point, we don’t have many options.”
“Of course we do. There’s dried meat, dried meat or dried meat. It might even be three different kinds of meat if you’re lucky.”
I smile and reach for the food pack. As I do, Jacko slams his antlers into my knee.
“Hey!” I say, jumping back. “It’s a little early for ramming, don’t you think?”
He chatters up at me.
“You don’t need me to escort you into the forest,” I say. “And if you insist, give me a moment. I think there’s still some hard bread down here, and I—”
He whacks me again, and his chatters turn angry. I frown. Rhydd jokes that the jackalope is spoiled, but that just means Jacko gets his own plate of food and his own bed by the fire. He’s never demanding.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
He zooms back into the cave.
“Better see what he wants,” Kaylein says. “Before he wakes everyone, and they blame you.”
I snort my agreement and march back into the cave, ducking my head. The firelight outside actually makes it darker in here, as if the darkness swallows all light beyond the first step or two. I’m guessing that’s just because my eyes had accustomed to the bright flames.
Jacko chatters louder, and Kaylein’s right that I’ll be blamed if he wakes everyone. That is not how I wish to start my day.
I hurry to hush him. He’s at the back of the cave, by the tunnel Alianor explored. He zips in and out again, and chatters at me.
I struggle to remember what Alianor said about the tunnel. I glance over to see whether she’s awake, but they’re all silent lumps under sleeping blankets. My concern is whether something could be living in there. Or if the tunnel could connect to the outside, giving predators a way to sneak in. That doesn’t matter much now—I’m awake and alert for trouble—but it’s clearly bothering Jacko.
I sigh and jog back to tell Kaylein where I’ll be. I look longingly at the food pack, with that one piece of hard bread in the bottom. Then I take a bite of the dried meat in my hand, stuff the rest into my pocket and enter the tunnel.
Once in the tunnel, I wish I’d explored it last night with Alianor. Not just to check for danger but to enjoy an adventure together. This is exactly the sort of thing I love, and the fact that I skipped it shows just how upset I’d been. Now I creep through on all fours and marvel at the tunnel system.
We don’t have anything like this at home. There are a few mines, for digging up stone, iron and other resources, but they aren’t like this, rocky tunnels and corridors spreading out like a maze of unexplored possibilities.
I let Jacko lead, and I’m careful to leave marks so I can find my way back. While I don’t know if this system is big enough to get lost in, any delay on my part would annoy the others.
I don’t think the jackalope knows exactly where he’s going. He’s following a trail, sniffing every now and then, and pausing at branching paths to be sure he’s heading the right way.
It reminds me a bit of the jba-fofi tunnels. Those had been dirt, though, and roots, and while I see some of that, these are mostly rock. For the first hundred feet or so, I can see where I’m going. There must be vents to the surface, with faint light coming in. After a while, that fades, and I need to light a fire stick.
I find the bones Alianor was talking about, but when I pick one up, admiring its smoothness, how it’s been
