"No!" Finn cried, on the verge of collapse. "Not again." She was losing hope of escape.
"Peace," Kristoff said. "I think..." he squinted at the map. "The exit should be only a little way ahead. We could try to dig through this. We shouldn't be far from freedom. Of course, that comes with risks. We can't be sure how secure the ceiling of the hallway is here. We could potentially trigger a further collapse by removing the stones."
The group received this news with mixed emotions. The prospect of freedom being so close and yet so far away was bittersweet. Each weighed the risks in their own mind, eager to be out, yet hesitant to make the situation worse.
"I say we try." Riley said. "We can take turns, one or two at a time while the rest stand further back, to minimize the risk to the entire group." He received slow nods of assent from the other men. Finn looked like a deer facing directly down the shaft of a hunter's arrow, unable to move for fear.
"That's a good idea," Kristoff agreed. "There's not enough room for all of us to work at the same time anyway, and it would be easier to get quickly away if another cave-in did begin."
Kristoff placed his lamp on the ground, and took off his jacket for the grueling work. The others backed away as Riley joined him. The two worked slowly and carefully, starting by removing the loose rocks near the top of the hallway and placing them out of the way.
"What strange work this is," groaned Riley. "I, personally much prefer working the top of the ground than the bottom of it."
"After this, I don't want anything to do with the ground whatsoever," Joe replied as he stood with the others. "Maybe I'll run off and join the Sea People, if they'll have me. It can't be that hard to learn to live on a boat."
"We know you won't," Kristoff said seriously, "You're too afraid of water to bathe regularly, how would you get near the ocean?"
The others laughed and the tension of the moment was briefly and blessedly broken.
Moving the rubble was a rather dangerous balancing game; it was hard to tell if a rock was simply heavy by itself or if the difficulty moving it was because it bore the weight of others that might come crashing down when it was removed. The work was excruciatingly slow, and being underground severely hampered Finn's ability to tell how much time was passing.
They traded shifts when each pair became tired. There were enough of them to justify frequent changes; there was no reason to keep anyone working all the way to exhaustion just yet. None of the men would let Finn take a turn, however. She would only hamper their progress, they insisted. She wanted to protest that she had climbed mountains, but her obvious fear seemed to be the greater obstacle.
She tried to distract her mind with thoughts of how she would try to contact Roland when she got out of the encapsulating tomb that currently trapped her. He was her only contact within the Rhone, and she needed to know about the royal line and whether it was intact or not.
It's possible no one knew. Klain had kept meticulous records, even though they were largely forgotten down in the labyrinth of underground tunnels. Rhone was a nomadic people and may not have kept track of things nearly so carefully.
But how could she get a message to him? The only possible plan she had would meet swift derision and a hearty eye roll from Mayra, if she saw the girl before making her way out. At least she knew she could use Jimmy to get out of the city, thanks to Gwen.
"Gwen, if you're watching this, we could use help moving these rocks," Finn whispered.
At that moment, Riley was pulling on a particularly stubborn piece of earth, sweat pouring down his face. It was large and heavy, wedged in at his shoulder height. Suddenly it shifted, and he backpedaled in case a chain reaction should begin.
It did, and Riley barely caught Kristoff by the arm to yank him backwards as the ceiling began to crumble. Everyone fled rapidly, unsure of just how much of the hallway would collapse. One of the lamps was smothered by the debris, leaving only the one Finn was holding to break the darkness.
The earth beneath them began to shift, and the group broke into a full sprint. Some cavern or tunnels below them must be collapsing as a result of the weight of the falling earth. How large a space that constituted was anyone's guess.
The prospect of falling deep into the ground and THEN being crushed by it made Finn panic further, and her legs began to burn with the effort of the run.
She gasped for air through the cloud of dirt being kicked up and held tightly to her lamp, continuing away from the noise of falling rock until it slowed and stopped. She'd moved a far distance away, and could no longer see back to where they had been a moment ago.
Lifting her light, she counted the faces and was relieved to see all of their little group around her. That could have been far worse.
"Well, let's go see how much damage I did," Riley said a little grimly. If anyone blamed him for the collapse, no one said so. He'd been working harder than anyone else, and no one had been hurt. They weren't in a demonstrably worse position than they were a few moments ago, and maybe the further collapse had shaken the ground enough for someone at the surface to investigate.
They moved back towards the area they'd fled, cautiously in case things were not yet stable. They climbed over the fallen rocks carefully, making effort to go slowly and gently. If moving one stone could do so much, the weight of one person could make a stable footing precarious.
The uneven ground made their progress incalculable. At times the tunnel became so narrow that they had to squeeze through. Finn's skirt got caught once or twice and she reluctantly pulled the back hem forward between her feet and tucked it into her belt to make it easier to maneuver. It wasn't like her male companions would be able to see much of her legs in the near-darkness anyway, she told herself.
Survival was worth a tiny bit of immodesty, wasn't it? Her face burned regardless. Thankfully, no one said a single word that would deepen her embarrassment.
"I thought the lamp went out," Kristoff said, "but it must have survived."
"The lamp definitely went out, it would be impossible for it to have survived," Riley coughed out the dust which still hung in the air.
"Then what's what glowing?"
Finn's emotion was rising again as she struggled to peer through the clouded air. There was indeed some sort of light up ahead, but it was not a lamp. Her heart leapt. Sunlight? Was that sunlight?
The group increased their speed, but not by much. Hope drove them onward, but caution pulled them back.
At last, they came to the hazy, dusty scattering of bright space. Sunlight it was indeed, but not ahead. It came from above. Riley scrambled up a pile of debris to see higher; the anticipation was killing him.
Looking straight up, Finn willed the detritus to settle faster so that she could see clearly. As it gradually did, her heart sank. The sunlight came from a small opening high above them. It seemed the shifting and crumbling had opened a path to fresh air, but it was no way of escape.
The opening was barely wide enough, she guessed, for a small child. Not for her and certainly not for the men with her. Beyond that consideration, it was far too high to reach.
Her eyes scanned around frantically; she had climbed mountains, could climbing in a cave be so different? Her search was fruitless. There was no scalable wall leading up to this hole in the ceiling of their world, and even standing on one another's shoulders, it would be hopeless.
None had brought rope or any other tools of cave diving; after all, they were merely walking through hallways, not spelunking.
She took a deep, slow breath.
"HELP!!!!" She desperately screamed, directly up at the distant puncture of light. "CAN ANYONE HEAR ME? WE'RE TRAP--" she broke off into a coughing fit as the dust caught in her throat. She fell to her knees weakly, continuing to have difficulty breathing the thick air around them.
Someone passed her some water, and she took a few sips gratefully as she tried to gain control of her lungs. Finally calm enough to speak again, she apologized.
"I'm sorry, I thought just maybe--"
"HELLO??? WE'RE TRAPPED!!! GET HELP!!" Riley echoed her cries for help.