"What?" my feet jumped from the barstool before my brain had time to really register what was said. "Altan is-"
Cai scowled, "How did he get here so fast?"
~No kidding, this means he basically ran all the way to Kiziljer, turned around, and came straight back. And that means...~
"He probably knows I was involved." Cai finished my thought for me.
I swallowed, unsure what that meant. If Altan really knew that Cai was the one who helped me escape, if he was able to deduce exactly where we were in a matter of hours... then how hard would it be to actually escape from him?
My stomach turned with this realization, and words that Altan had once said to me rang in my ears: 'Even if you somehow escaped the Palace, there is nowhere in this world that I could not find you.'
~Is escape even possible?~
Cai grabbed my arm and my defeated voice came rushing out of me, "Cai, I don't know if we can-"
"Shut up." Cai stopped my words. he gripped my elbow and nodded at Naomi, "It seems that soon I will be in debt to you."
A small smile grew on Naomi's face, and she immediately spun on her heels leading us toward a part of the tavern we hadn't been before.
Cai pulled me with him. "Wait, Cai," I protested.
"No." he answered and didn't look back at me, "we don't have time for you to be giving up."
His words successfully shut me up this time.
~He's right. I'm giving up too easy. It may be harder to hide from Altan than I thought... But surely it's not impossible. Surely after long enough, he'll give up, right?~
I thought Naomi might take us to a back door, or perhaps a window we could jump out, but instead she took us to the end of a dark hallway. She squatted on her knees and began feeling around on the wooden wall until her nails found something to dig into. she pulled open a trap door and gestured for us to hurry in. I exchanged a look with Cai before he gestured that I should enter first.
"Keep following the tunnel." Naomi whispered as I got down on my knees and began to crawl, "It will take you to an alleyway."
~Am I claustrophobic?~
As soon as I was in the small tunnel, Cai was behind me. And as soon as Cai was in the tunnel, Naomi shut the door behind us. An unfamiliar feeling of fear enveloped my heart as the tunnel went nearly black with darkness.
~I don't think I was claustrophobic in my past life... but this body does not seem to like small spaces...~
My knees locked underneath me and the air in my lungs seemed to tighten. My instincts told me to turn around and go back the way we came from; to head back toward the little bit of light that seeped through the wooden planks of the doorway that Naomi had just shut instead of crawling forward into the endless darkness that was before us.
"Keep going." Cai said softly from behind me.
~I'm scared.~
The words formed in my mind and threatened to fall past my lips without my permission. I stopped myself before I could say the words. proclaiming my fear for the moment would not change anything. But what was odd about it, was that the voice that spoke those words in my mind didn't quite sound like my own...
~maybe it's the voice of this body?~
"Azul." Cai's voice grounded my flying thoughts, "We cannot stay here."
"I know." I mustered and my voice came out breathy. I willed my hands and knees to move.
It was dry and dark and dusty. The tunnel seemed like it went on forever, and I couldn't tell if I was having trouble breathing, or if it was just all the dust we were kicking up. It seemed like a very long time that I spent crawling aimlessly forward without anything up ahead to see.
~How is there seriously no light yet...~
"Ow!" I face-planted into a wall of packed dirt, "Ah shit!" I sat back and hit my head on the packed dirt that was the top of the tunnel and dust rained down into my eyes and mouth. "Dammit." I cursed again when I moved my head and more dust fell out of my hair.
I heard Cai behind me chuckle and I fought the urge to turn around and strangle him.
~I'm in a real crises here, and you're laughing at me?~
more dust fell from the ceiling and it did very little to help the claustrophobia I was already trying to ignore, because suddenly a new fear was unlocked...
~What if the tunnel collapses and we get buried in it?~
"Azul." I froze when I felt Cai's hand on my shoulder, he wasn't laughing anymore. "you need to breath a little slower." he said an I noticed my own panicked breathing. "We're almost out." he said again and I assumed he was lying to get me to calm down. "Look," he probably pointed, but I couldn't see his hand, "There's a light."
My head whipped in a circle at his words.
~Light? where?~
He was right. we were at a bend in the tunnel, that's why I had run into the wall, but to my left I could see an end to this nightmare. My knees took off before I could even think straight. I honestly could have probably won a crawling competition with the speed I was going. And when I finally reached the end of the tunnel and the outside light began to engulf me, I finally began to breath again.
I could see outside the tunnel. It was a hole coming up from the ground and over top the hole were several crates and other basins meant to disguise it.
I'm not sure what my plan was. Probably jump out of the tunnel and push aside all of the crates in order to get into free space as quickly as possible, then yell at Cai that I was never going into something like that again.
But before I could pop my head out of the tunnel Cai grabbed hold of me. I teetered on my feet then feel back on my butt somehow landing right between his knees.
"What are you-"
He covered my mouth, "Shshshsh." he silenced me, "There's someone out there." he whispered beside my ear and it did very little to help my already fast beating heart.
"Listen, I'm telling you this because I side with Ot Ulut, not Pani Rastra when it comes to the war." A familiar voice spoke and it took my mind a matter of seconds before I knew the owner.
~That Air Mage from the tavern~
Cai's hand on my shoulder tightened and I assumed he was regretting not killing the man.
"I don't care why you're telling me this." Another voice spoke and this one was all too familiar to me. It didn't take me any amount of time to connect this voice with it's speaker. It was a voice I had heard probably the most since I reincarnated in this world. It was a voice that the last time I heard it, it was speaking lustful words in my ears.
It was Altan.
My skin prickled with the memory, and my heart picked up beat so fast that my head felt light. I couldn't tell if my body was excited or scared nearly to death.
Cai, took his hand from my mouth and wrapped it around my chest in a gesture that felt... protective. It was a way that I never expected he would act around me. or maybe I was reading too much into it.
"Tell me everything you know." Altan spoke and his voice was frightening, it was the same voice he had used with the vendor in the streets of Kiziljer. "I care not where your allegiance lies, I will kill you all the same if I find that your withholding information from me."
I gulped and found myself leaning into Cai's chest.
~Who is this man speaking? He doesn't sound like the Altan I knew at all...~
The Air Mage sputtered at Altan's words, "She was in that old tavern that has no name." he answered quickly, "I don't know if she's the one you're looking for. All I know is she is a Water Mage and she was with the 4th Prince of Pani Rastra."
Silence struck the space outside the tunnel and I found myself holding my breath.
foot steps broke the silence as I assumed Altan stepped closer to the Air Mage, "Is there anything else?"
"Uh erm... Oh!" The Air Mage sounded more afraid than when he was talking to Cai, "He said he was her lover! The Water Mage Prince... He was extremely protective of her! But that's all! that's really all I know!"
More silence followed and I felt my stomach dip when I heard a sword unsheathe.
I flinched when I heard what sounded like metal colliding with skin followed by screaming then pounding footsteps, that left me and Cai alone in a tunnel and myself drowning in my own fears and questions.
Had Altan killed that man?