She inched forward into the hole, using her free hand to brace herself on the floor. Though she couldn’t move quickly, she was able to make steady progress. The torch flickered and warmed the cramped area around them, and she could feel her clothing drying more rapidly.
The tunnel narrowed the farther they crawled. “Can you make it?” she called back to Merrick.
He grunted in return and she smiled, imagining his large body compacted into such a small space.
After nearly an hour of torturous travel, she tumbled out of the tunnel and onto the floor of another cavern. “Careful,” she warned, but she heard Merrick tumble out behind her, cursing under his breath.
She held up her torch to illuminate her surroundings and could only make out that they had entered a similar room to the one they had just left. She walked forward, swinging the torch from left to right in an attempt to see anything.
“Over here,” Merrick called.
She whirled around and quickly walked to where he stood. He lit a torch that hung on the wall and walked a few spaces more to light another one. Soon the room glowed with the light of a dozen torches.
Once again she unfolded the map and studied it intently. On the map, the room they were currently in was identified with a moon. Made sense. The last room was the sun. This much darker room was the moon. From the moon, a line was drawn to the right. She looked toward the left then the right. Both had passageways leading from those directions.
Carrying her torch, she headed for the right tunnel. Though the passageway was narrow, they could both easily stand and walk which made the going much faster. When she stepped out of the tunnel and into a larger open area, she paused and waited for Merrick to catch up.
As she moved her torch slowly from right to left, she heard a noise that sounded like hoof beats. Then she realized it was the flapping of wings. She barely had time to duck before hundreds of bats swarmed over her head and into the tunnel Merrick had just stepped from.
She placed her hand over her chest, trying to still the thundering of her heart. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath. Surely a year had just been frightened from her.
Merrick slid an arm around her and squeezed reassuringly. “You are doing fine.”
She smiled and moved forward into the small room, looking around for torches to light. To her surprise, as she neared the far end, she discovered that this was not the small space she had thought. Indeed it was an enormous cavern. They were just on a small ledge with a large gap between them and the rest of the cavern.
As she neared the edge, she looked down into the darkness. She kicked a stone listening for when it hit bottom. But silence was the only thing she heard. Gulping, she backed away from the edge.
“Looks like you have two options,” Merrick said, gazing out over the chasm.
She moved in his direction and took in what he was looking at. There were two bridges leading across the drop off. Both led into a tunnel on the opposite side. But neither was accessible from the other bridge. A huge stone outcropping jutted outward over the gap, isolating the two passageways from one another.
It appeared she had another choice to make. She consulted the map, but she already knew it wouldn’t be any help. It was more a general guide to keep her on the right path. Any choices to be made would be hers to make alone.
“This one isn’t safe,” Merrick spoke up.
She put away the map and walked over to the rickety rope bridge that led to the other side. Her gaze went to the other option. A natural stone bridge spanned over half the gap and where it ended, sturdy logs had been laid to complete the path.
Definitely the safer of the two.
She walked over to inspect the stone bridge but was nagged by a feeling of doubt.Faith. The monk had said she needed faith.
She quickly spun around and bumped into Merrick. “We take the rope bridge.”
“Are you mad?” he demanded. “You’ll get yourself killed.”
“Faith, Merrick. Father Ling said I must have faith.”
“Faith isn’t about going blindly to your death,” he retorted. “Faith is nonsense. It’s for people who have nothing else.”
She gave him a troubled look and reached out to cup his cheek. “You sound so cynical.”
“Faith is merely setting yourself up for inevitable disappointment,” he said bitterly. “It’s a useless attribute.”
She started to reply but he cut her off. “I won’t let you do this, Isabella. It isn’t worth your life.”
“Where is your faith, Merrick? Didn’t you have it once, maybe long ago? Is it buried beneath that solid wall of responsibility and duty? Do you always go about expecting the worst?”
“I have none,” he said shortly. “And if I expect the worst, I am never disappointed.”
