Another slap, it stung badly this time.

"Ow! Quit it already!" I said. I opened my eye to see a skinny Zoey looking at me, all worried. She was a scaredy-cat after all.

"What happened?" she asked, her high pitched voice back at it again. If only she could quiet it down a notch, I wouldn't be annoyed by her presence then.

"I'm fine," I said. "I haven't fully recovered, that's all."

I got to my feet. To my surprise, and Zoey's, I had fully recovered. There goes my lie…

I carefully walked around. My leg was fine, as though Sam hadn't broken it with one chop. Good, I could walk faster.

"Let's go," I said. "We have a long way ahead of us."

"Where?" she asked. "Look around you, which way should we take?"

"That one," I said. I pointed at the one Dif had told me about.

"How can you be so sure?" Zoey asked. She really didn't know when to give up. But then again, we both just escaped death. I understood her concern. I was trying hard not to get annoyed by her. I still attributed my earlier dislike of her to the possession.

"Listen carefully," I said. "Can't you hear water rippling in the distance?"

She walked closer to the tunnel and strained her ears. After a short while she turned to me. "I can hear something, but I'm not sure it's water."

"Where else would you go?" I asked. "It's the best lead we've got. Where there's water, there's life." I said those words, but I didn't believe them. If Dif was to be believed, some champion would be lurking down those tunnels. I hoped I wouldn't run into something I couldn't handle though.

Zoey gave me a resigned look then nodded. "Alright," she said. "I'll follow you. Don't leave me behind if something shows up. I helped you escape after all. Remember that."

Was she saying these words out loud for herself? Or did she really think I'd leave her behind? I chased the thought away. Now wasn't the time to think of this frail weak lady.

"We have to move," I said. "As soon as we get to higher grounds, we'll find a village or a city for you to settle in. I'm heading to dangerous places. I'm sure you wouldn't want to stick around to find out what that means."

"As long as you get me out of here," Zoey replied, "you won't hear me complain."

I prayed to all the G.o.ds, old and new, that she'd be a woman of her word. I couldn't deal with more of her babbling.

"Let's move!" I said.

We took the tunnel to my left and, according to Dif's instructions, followed the sound of rippling water. The glowing fungi on the walls provided a semblance of lighting. So we managed to get to the other side without trouble. The trouble began when we actually reached the stream.

We were filling a flask I had on me with drinkable water when I heard a voice in the distance. A man, middle aged by the sound of it, was speaking to someone I couldn't hear. I asked Zoey to hide behind a rock and went to inspect it. The darkness of the cave provided excellent hiding spots for eavesdroppers.

"Where is it Florian?!" the middle aged man asked. I snuck a peak from behind the rock I chose to hide behind. The man was barely visible by the faint light emitted by the glowing fungi. I couldn't see the other though.

"You think you can steal from me?" the middle aged man asked again.

My eyes had already adjusted to darkness. Nevertheless, I couldn't see who he was speaking to.

"Where's the G.o.dd.a.m.n Moondust!" the man yelled. "I know you took it. Where did you hide it?"

I saw him approach a boulder near the stream. Whoever he was speaking to must have been tied up since I didn't see any movement.

"Tell me, and I'll spare your beloved Shanya!" the middle aged man went on. "Tell me, and you won't suffer when I-KILL-YOU!"

No answer.

By then, I was starting to wonder if the man hadn't been speaking to himself in the dark. I decided to get closer, have a better look from a different angle. The rippling water m.u.f.fled the sound of my footsteps as well. I could safely get closer and see what the fuss was about.

I hid in between stalact.i.tes and observed the man, who was now about ten paces away from me. He was holding a scimitar. It struck me as odd. Scimitars weren't the weapon of choice in this region. People used long swords, staffs, daggers, but never scimitars, not in Arsalan. I strained my eye to find who he was talking to.

And I found him, or her, I wasn't sure. It would be more accurate to use "it" in this case though. As the person the man was talking to was already dead. There was no smell of rotting flesh, so the corpse must've been fresh.

I heard a loud splash on the other side of the stream, and the other man heard it too.

"Who goes there?" the man asked. "Is that you Shanya? Trying to rescue your boyfriend now, are you?"

s.h.i.+t! I told her not to move.

The man was quicker than me. He ran, faster than I'd given him credit for, and seized a soaked Zoey by the collar. He put his sabre around her throat and led her to the boulder. She was trying to fight the middle aged man. She tried to wrestle him off but he overpowered her. He was bigger and, more importantly, had a sharp weapon at hand.

What was she thinking?

"You'll pay for this you fool!" she screamed. "My friend'll come for you. You'll see!"

Oh great! Involve me too. And while you're at it, why don't you tell him where I'm hiding?

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Come to think of it, please don't look my way! Please don't tell him where I was hiding. The only way to get out of this was to take him by surprise.

"Your friend, eh?" the man asked. He was mocking her, I could tell by the way he led her to the boulder and laughed. "Do you mean this one?" He was showing her the dead corpse.

Zoey remained silent. She knelt beside the body and inspected it. She looked around, unsure if it were me apparently. Then, somehow, she spotted me. Our eyes met and I shook my head. I put my index finger on my lips. I hoped she'd understand this simple gesture.

"What did you do?" Zoey screamed at the middle aged man. I was glad I wasn't on the receiving end of that high pitched voice, for once.

Her outburst earned her a whack from the man's backhand. "Look at this Florian," the man said after Zoey fell beside the corpse. "A friends reunion! How convenient!"

He knelt beside Zoey and held his scimitar to her throat. "Tell me where he hid the Moondust, and I let you live."

"Go f.u.c.k yourself!" Zoey answered. I didn't think she'd had the b.a.l.l.s to pull that off. But it was my queue.

I snuck behind the man and caught his arm before he struck the Sister once more. He was startled by my sudden appearance. That gave me the second's advantage I was hoping for. I wrenched the scimitar off his hand and thrust it deep in his throat.

"What took you so long?" Zoey asked after I wiped the sabre on the man's clothes.

"You're welcome!" I said. G.o.ds! She could at least thank me for saving her stupid a.s.s.

"I-I didn't mean to be rude," Zoey said.

Well, that took me by surprise.

"I-I was just scared, sitting behind that rock all by myself." She seemed genuinely apologetic.

I smiled, although I knew she couldn't tell it was one with all the darkness that surrounded us and the ugly scars on my face. "How about some trust next time?" I asked. "I needed to know what we were dealing with."

"And you took your jolly time checking on this crazy man," she said. Here we go again, with her reproachful remarks…"What was with him anyway?"

"I a.s.sume he's gone crazy from consuming too much Moondust, or lack thereof…" I answered.

"Why would anyone try that thing anyway?"

"It's a drug," I said. "It's addictive. You can't beat the cravings once it's in your system. You've seen what it does to a person's mind when not consumed."

"You seem to know quite a lot about it."

"Is that sarcasm I hear?"

"Oh quit it!" Zoey said. "Thanks for saving my life by the way."

"You have good manners after all!" I said. I had a feeling I'd regret it the moment I said it though.

"Whatever," Zoey replied. "Can we get out of here please?"

"Not until I've searched these fools," I said. "They must know where we are. Or at least have a map or something. I have a feeling n.o.body comes to this place unwillingly."

I searched the middle aged man first. Apart from his scimitar, he only had an empty phial that used to contain the drug. The one tied up to the boulder had a notebook however. I s.n.a.t.c.hed it off him and got close to a glowing mushroom.

I browsed it quickly. The information it contained was worrying to say the least.

"Here, check this out," I told the Sister who was pacing about.

"The lost city of Orcupolis lays deep within this labyrinth. If we find it, our money problems will be over. I'll finally be able to build Shanya the castle she wants. The Children of the Forest are rumored to have fled underground when the first man settled above. Legend says that they'll grant any wish to the one who finds their secret hideout. I just hope Finegas doesn't do anything stupid."

"How does this help?" Zoey asked.

"Wait," I replied. "There's more. This is a diary. Look at the last entry."

"We've finally reached the last row of tunnels. It took us months to map this out. I'm worried about Finegas. He's run out of Moondust. He's become erratic and easily irritable. I hope we can find this city soon. I can't deal with the swarm of living dead that haunt this place."

"This can't be good," Zoey said. "Can it?"

"Judging from his corpse," I pointed at the man called Florian, "he's been dead for less than a day. This means they've just got here. If we're lucky, we should find the city they were looking for."

"What for?" Zoey asked.

"Umm…" I started. "Look behind you. It should probably provide a good incentive."

Zoey turned around then jumped back in surprise. Florian, the first man to die, was now standing before us. He slowly approached us. He knelt and picked up the scimitar I left lying on the ground. s.h.i.+t, I shouldn't have left it there…

"Join us!" he said in a hoa.r.s.e voice.