I hoped she was right. I didn't know if I had the stamina to hold one of them and the baby. Anthony couldn't hold both them and Dumadi.
He'd grabbed two torches and handed one to each girl. We continued the way we'd come, and since we now had access to torches, we were able to use them to find the likeliest exits.
We continued on until we came to a split.Go straight or turn?Anthony dumped Dumadi and held the torches very still in the crossway of the passage. The flames settled, then a tiny, imperceptible breeze tugged them straight, so we kept going.
After several more times testing the passages with the torches, we finally began to feel a breeze. I hadn't realized how much I missed the feel of air moving over my cheeks until it tickled my face. The caves had been fairly cool, but stifling.
Our steps hastened with the promise of escape. After another ten minutes or so of walking up the same incline, we reached a door, painted green. “Could it be?” I asked.
I took one of the torches, shifting the baby as far away from it as I could. She'd eaten her fill along the way, relieving my aches and knocking herself into a milk coma.
Rattling the door handle and pushing slowly, he peeked out, then laughed out loud.
His laugh was followed by a loud, “Yes!” from the room beyond.
“I know that voice,” I said, grinning.
Anthony pushed through the green door, into the room with six colored doors. Elias sat on the floor in front of them, looking at us like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. His eyes darkened as he saw who Anthony held.
The purple door was open in front of him, and he held a rope in each hand. One rope was attached to the door handle and the other trailed through the doorway.
Jumping up, he tugged on the rope and yelled, “Come out, they're here!”
Axoular came out, followed by at least a dozen people I didn't recognize.
“What are y’all doing?” I asked, amazed.
“Looking for you and Linna,” Axoular said as he looked me over. Once he determined I wasn't in immediate danger of dying he took the torch, handing it off to a man that looked human, so he could be any number of creatures. When it was gone, he pulled me into a tight hug, curling around Linna.
I felt Elias behind me, pressed against me like I was his lifeline. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“I will be as soon as all of my children and you three are with me at home.” I laughed, overjoyed to be reunited with my loves with Linna in my arms.
The witches immediately opened a portal to the Junta, and we wasted no time going through.
We were met with applause and shocked cries. “Did you not think we'd make it back?” I asked.
I looked down at myself. The parts of me that were exposed were covered in dirt, as was my suit. It had done its job though and had even protected me from any scrapes or cuts along the way. I'd bumped into too many cave walls.
Dumadi was handed over to the Junta's prisons, with the promise he'd be extensively questioned, and they would be in touch once they figured out how to communicate with the general Leyak populace.
We gave the Junta a rundown of everything we could remember of the caves. The second-best part of the day, though, was watching Kára's face when she was brought into the room.
“They wanted to arrest her, but she laughed at them and told them they were welcome to try,” Elias whispered in my ear as her girls ran to her and she enveloped them in a hug. “But she was actually pretty hurt after our fight. We tried not to, but she wouldn't stop. We had to hurt her to subdue her so we could continue the search.”
“She seems fine now,” I replied.
“Yeah, she said she just needed time to commune with Frejya,” he said in my ear.
“That's really cool,” I said. “I wonder if they are a result of the portals too, like Supay and Mama Pacha.”
“Probably,” Axoular muttered, having listened in on our conversation.
Once Kára had a few minutes with her girls, she walked up to me and put her hand on Linna's head. “The Valkyrja owe you three life debts, Riley, leader of the Sárkány.”
“No, please. I just did what any mother would've done.”
“You are brave, and if you tire of this life, we'll find a place for you in the halls of Fólkvangr.”
