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I couldn’t stop my replying smile if I tried.
“How far do you think we are from the others?” I asked.
“Far,” Yaanik declared. “A few hours walk at least. Those bugs can move.”
And kept moving. We stood in a branch that the centipedes avoided as they kept chugging away, following the canal.
“I wonder how long before they stop coming. We’ll have to wait for the tunnel to clear before we can go back and look for our friends.”
“And hope they don’t come chugging back through before we find a safe spot.” His ominous addition.
A good point. What if they reached a dead end and turned around? I didn’t want to get trampled.
“Will they come looking for us?”
He rolled his shoulders. “Maybe, but we shouldn’t count on it. It’s a big, twisty place. And they might have problems of their own.”
“Any idea where we are?” I asked. The spot we’d fallen into bore a slight downward slope. “Did we find a junction?”
“Side tunnel. But I think it might be an exit.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Can’t you feel it? The air is different up ahead.”
I closed my eyes to see if I could sense what he had. Faintly, a hint of moist, cool air. “Do they have oases underground?” I asked. I’d never left the desert to know.
“Don’t know about the desert, but underground lakes are common in other places.”
The thought of water had me saying, “Let’s go see.”
Yaanik led the way with his flaming axe, the tunnel wide enough we could have walked tightly side by side. It didn’t take long before the gentle slope steepened. It might have been more concerning if the sensation of moisture hadn’t intensified. My dry mouth cried for it. Still, when my foot slid, I halted, eyeing the steep incline. How far did it go?
“Don’t stop now,” Yaanik declared. “I smell water.”
“Me, too, but I don’t know if we should keep going. It’s getting pretty steep. If we were to start sliding, we might find ourselves dumped into a nest of monsters.” I hated being the voice of reason. Especially since Yaanik’s lips turned down.
“I guess we should be careful,” he agreed. “Guess we’re waiting for the bugs to stop running.” Which could take hours, minutes, or days while we dried out even further.
I shook my head. “Actually, no. There’s water down there. And we need it.” We had few supplies left.
Yaanik frowned. Not at me, but the slope above us. I glanced with him. I’d heard something too.
A scuff. A skitter. Had a centipede found us? Or something else…
I pulled my blade and readied for a fight.
Yaanik pulled his pouch of grease and dropped a glob in his palm. “Let’s see what’s coming.” I guess he meant to wipe it on the wall, only the oily funk slipped off his hand and hit the ground. He stepped in it and slipped. Up went his feet, his butt hit the ground, and he slid.
His yahoo echoed long after he disappeared.
My heart stopped until I heard a faintly yelled, “It’s all good. I’m—” His voice cut off.
I didn’t think twice. I took a running leap and lifted my legs before my butt hit and started sliding. Smooth stone didn’t mean unbruised bottom. Not to mention things got hot. Just when I thought my cheeks might ignite, the slope lessened and I finished with my legs dangling over a ledge that sat about twelve feet above the ground where Yannick stood.
Axe in one hand, rat in the another, Yannick grinned. “Hungry?”
I was. And not just for food.
