Silna quietly waited for her death inside a cramped, water-filled cell deep in the Guryo tunnels used as a prison by Regaar. Curled in a fetal position on a rough outcropping in the hollowed-out room, the woman tried not to move. However, she inadvertently shook in the cool, damp air, lying on top of the cold rock that drained her body's heat. Silna was a bruised, battered mess with welts covering her body, and most of her clothes were gone. As her body tried to stay warm, each involuntary tremor caused her to feel each injury and bruised muscle.
Regaar took personal charge in beating the bound woman after seeing the dust come into the backroom from the tunnel. When he finished, the leader of the thieves had his men drag the unconscious woman to her cell. The one-eyed thug returned after confirming that he lost Nalith during the tunnel collapse.
While Regaar looked on, he had his men take turns beating Silna with their fists. As he explained Hilko cost him a fortune, Silna prepared herself for death. Just before she passed out again, the thug leader told Silna that they would give her to the Conclave of Chara in Hilko's place to die on the gibbets.
"You never were smart enough to realize that friendship gets you killed in this world," Regaar told her as he walked out. "You can think about that as you starve to death and die of exposure."
A mental image of Hilko came to her, but no tears fell. Apathy filled her as she envied his quick death. He would be free of the cruel injustices of Charax. Hilko would ride with the winds to places he always talked about in a world filled with many spirits. The very idea made her angry. She could have betrayed him and lived with her conscious.
At least I would live on!
Her thoughts took her back to the time when Silna believed the priests. They taught her of a world filled with wandering gods, evil spirits and the elements, and ancestors' souls. The supreme god called Zaarin, who cared for the world, held everything in balance. By making sure the numbers of good and evil spirits are equal, the god was the judge of a person's good and bad actions. Because of this need to balance the world, Zaarin either blessed a person richly or utterly destroyed those he disliked.
While she might not have believed such things before, she could see sense in what the priests told her with the end approaching. Silna knew she was not a decent person. In her world, there was no opportunity for such things. You did what you did to survive, even if it meant hurting a harlot on Regaar's order or forcing one girl to become a lover. Silna recognized that a good person would not take a bribe to let a group of merchants deflower each new girl who came in the door.
As she lay there, the woman could only remember the bad things she did. They seemed to be so much easier to remember. Silna suddenly wondered what Hilko's last thoughts were during the cave-in. He cared about people, including her and others, even the lepers. While the runner moved stolen goods between various points, she knew Hilko hated the injustice which covered the island. He particularly hated the idea of an island filled with people who believed themselves superior only because of where they were born.
Another shiver passed, leaving Silna to realize that Hilko's quick death came about because of his beautiful soul. As for her, Silna would die horribly to become an evil spirit. It fit with how she saw her life. Like their opposite ideas for the future, the woman believed Hilko and her might meet again on opposite sides of the spirit world.
~~~
After wandering through a maze of tunnels and reaching multiple dead ends, Hilko heard a large growl that stopped him and Thoma in their tracks. Then, the living man realized it was his stomach. The hunger pain finally reached him as he leaned against the cavern wall. Then he slid down to the floor of the tunnel.
"Curse the Nalith. Do you know the way out of here or not?" Hilko angrily asked his ghostly companion.
"I told you I couldn't go too far ahead. The energy from you won't allow it. It's like something from you just draws me in," the ghost replied defensively.
"Besides, I've found all the traps so far. I even found you that stash of old lanterns. Quit complaining; you're still alive and light for a while."
"Only to die of hunger," Hilko bitterly snapped as he watched Thoma glide around the next turn. It was quiet before Hilko yelled out, asking if the tunnel was another dead end. After a few moments, he got to his feet again.
"Another dead end, right?"
Hearing no reply, Hilko trundled forward, expecting Thoma to have moved farther away. As he came around the corner, he saw a huge burly man wearing a miner's cap and holding a pickaxe in his massive hands. Before he could react, the miner came after him, swinging the ax. Hilko closed his eyes and waited for the weapon to strike while throwing up his hands.
Then he heard the laughter.
When he opened his eyes, two ghosts hovered in front of him. Thoma stood next to the miner, whose throaty laughter gave Hilko the creeps.
"I told you, Jossop, that he'd fall for it," Thoma beamed happily.
"Yeah, you're both hilarious. Should be court jesters for Zaarin," Hilko groused while waiting for his heart to slow down. He looked at the lamp in his hand, happy that he didn't drop it.
"You're not a miner," Jossop growled in disapproval, his voice still creepy. "What are you doing in my mine?"
"Just passing through," Thoma spoke up for Hilko. "I'm trying to rest my soul, and he's trying to leave the island." The spirit bent down to pick up a small rock on the floor. His hand passed right through.
"Alive? Nobody leaves these mines alive," the miner ghost stated. "That's why I'm stuck down here."
"Really, I don't see a corpse around. How'd it happen?"
The morbid curiosity came out in Thoma as he partially lifted the rock, which fell back to the floor. He swiped at the offending pebble, skipping it off the floor before striking the wall. Thoma smiled broadly.
The miner slung his pickaxe over one broad shoulder to avoid the other ghost's antics. "I'm down at the end of this tunnel. Of course, it's nothing but a skeleton now, but I could knock down the secadem with the best of them in my time. As you can see, I built some of the best shafts on the island."
The spirit ran his hand along the smooth tunnel wall. Hilko had to admit the shaft was much more refined than the others they walked through.
"My partner killed me. Runt bastard knifed me in the back. Never understood why. I guess that's why I wander around the dark shafts here."
"So another spirit who can't figure out how to leave either, but you found some time to scare me," Hilko pointed out sarcastically. "Great to see how you spend your time in eternity drifting around a bunch of tunnels in the dark.
"Hey, this one thought it up," Jossop pointed to Thoma, who nodded energetically.
"Besides, don't think you're coming through here. This is my tunnel. You remind me of that partner who killed me. He was a sarcastic cuss like you," the burly ghost placed his ice-cold finger in Hilko's chest.
The smuggler wondered what a spirit could do to stop him, but the look in the ghost's eye made Hilko believe Jossop was not joking. The miner might just drop the ceiling on his head if he tried to force his way through.
Thoma tried to get his ghost friend to relent, but he wasn't getting anywhere fast. As he watched them bicker back and forth, Hilko shrugged his shoulders as he turned away.
"Ok, I'm fine with that." He thundered. "Obviously, it's just another dead end anyway."
"What do you mean, obviously?" Thoma interjected as he joined Hilko.
"Well, Jossop likes it here, since he can't leave. That's why he calls it his tunnel."
Hilko glanced over at Thoma, giving a wink.
"Therefore, he must have no way out. It probably collapsed, so his partner killed him, probably even ate the body."
Suddenly, the miner was in front of them, his face jammed close to Hilko, who stopped instantly.
"You saying my tunnels aren't the best? My tunnels might last for an eternity."
Steeling himself, Hilko pushed himself through the cold transparent man. The feeling reminded him of cobwebs and gave him the shudders.
"Well, I thought I would help you, but you have fun in your tunnels for eternity."
Hilko got nearly past the turn when he heard the creepy voice of the miner. "What do you mean, help me?"
"Do you know the way out of your tunnels?" Hilko stopped again, not looking back.
"Of course, I do. But how can the living help me?" The miner's voice was next to him, and the smuggler felt his presence.
"You know, it is nearly impossible for normal people to contact a spirit. Somehow, I have that knack. You saw how Thoma somehow uses my energy to travel. I'm willing to have you come along. I'm tired and hungry, so show me the way, or you can rot here with nothing but silence for your company."
The spirit gave a growl, which might have been a sigh.
"Follow me, living one," he said after a long pause. As the ghost floated away, Hilko heard his voice.
"And I still don't like you!"