Underland(23)

“That was not a suggestion. That was an order. Just be grateful I’m not beating you while I think of another way to train you.” He shoved her off the pile of metal garbage where they stood, and she slid down the hill ungracefully.

Kira stood, shrugged, and started walking the path to the compound. No one could change her outlook.





Chapter 10

Kira had found a way to pass the time by throwing rocks at an old outbuilding. Den hadn’t trained her in two stinking days. She needed to do something—something loud and angry at the same time. She was working through a plan to try and escape when she saw a large equine beast out of the corner of her eye. Kira stiffened.

Warrick.

His beady eyes stared at her accusingly. “Your recklessness has caused a lot of damage.”

Kira dropped the rock and looked at him. “She deserved it! Holly was trying to kill me. I was only defending myself.” Kira swore at herself when she realized she’d been goaded into talking to the beast. She had made a silent vow to never speak to the betrayer again.

“I’m not talking about the hedge witch. I’m talking about the zeke.” There was a moment of awkwardness as Kira realized her mistake.

“Oh, well, um. I didn’t do that. He did that himself.”

Warrick stepped forward, and Kira moved backwards. “He was injured protecting you.”

“Hey, I never asked him to. He should have let well enough alone. Then he wouldn’t have been injured.”

Warrick stomped his hoof. “You don’t get it, do you? Those injuries would have killed a human. They almost killed the zeke. It’s a good thing he didn’t leave well enough alone, otherwise you would have been dead.” Warrick pointed his tan finger at Kira.

“Haven’t you heard, ol’ man? I’m already dead!” Kira swatted the finger away irritably.

The centaur’s eyes softened. “I know you were chosen. And your first event is the gauntlet.”

Kira looked away from him and stared at the blinking exit sign down the hall. She swallowed and nodded slowly.

“Come with me, girl.”

Warrick took her to another wing of the compound, to a black gate. He punched a code and the gate opened.

A surge of excitement raced through Kira’s body. Was he letting her go? She could finally leave and try and escape. The moment lasted only that, a moment, before she looked down at her bracer. She’d never truly escape until she found a way to get this off of her. Even though her heart was ready to run her feet didn’t move.

Warrick must have read her mind. “I have permission to take you out into the city. You wouldn’t make it very far without me anyway.” Warrick held the gate open and waited for Kira to pass through. When it was securely locked again, he started down a tunnel.

So the waterway wasn’t the only way to get back to the city. She’d come from the city by boat to Remus’s home; now they were heading a different way. But not a way she’d remember in the near future. Every time the path came to a T, Warrick turned a different direction. There were no markings other than some form of ancient Greek-looking script scribbled on the wall. Even with her memory, it would take numerous trips by the same route for her to figure her way to the city.

But then what? What would she do? She would be even more in danger in a city surrounded by monsters. The memory of an animal feeding outside the Gamblers’ Market made her shudder and feel a little sick. She wouldn’t know how to traverse the waterways to make it back to the surface. It wasn’t like there were ladders and manhole covers to the surface every hundred yards or so.

From what she’d overheard, they were miles underground, and every entrance into the city and the surrounding area was guarded night and day by monsters similar to Nessie. Her only chance of survival was to stay here long enough to learn how to get out. Even if it meant pretending to forgive the stupid centaur and playing at being nice. She could do that, she guessed. It seemed to be working so far, because he was taking her out of Remus’s for a bit.

Now whether or not she should be thankful for that was another matter. She would wait to see if whatever surprise Warrick had in store was a blessing or a curse. Her legs were burning with exertion when she saw the tunnel begin to get lighter with colored neons. They were definitely getting near the city.

“Stay close. Don’t wander off. There are things walking around in daylight that are more dangerous than your worst nightmare.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not stupid. But if this is some sort of trap, I’m telling you in advance that it’s every girl for herself.”

Warrick turned and raised an eyebrow at her. His lip curled in silent laughter when he caught her nuance on the world girl and not man or centaur. “Duly noted and expected.”

When they hit the hub of the city, Kira was once again amazed by the beauty and the structure of the buildings. This time, since she wasn’t fearing for her life and future, she had the time to take in her surroundings and try to memorize markers.

She stared at a beautiful naturally-formed column thousands of feet in diameter that rose up in the middle of the city. It glittered and reflected the colors around it. When they moved, she noticed that it didn’t just glitter from lights, she was seeing the reflection of windows.

The column was a fortress of sorts.

“What’s that?” she pointed at the beautiful formation.