~
After an hour of navigating the uneven ground through the tunnel, Isobel was in need of a rest. She stopped, sitting down on a jutting boulder.
"Can we rest a moment?" Isobel asked. She hung by one thin filament of sanity. The only thing she had left was Ash, the clothes on her back, and the guilt of Montgomery's certain death.
"My desire to get you to safety makes me inconsiderate. I apologize," Beatrice said. She reached into her bag, and pulled out a bottle, handing it to Isobel. "Here, drink this elixir. It'll stave off the hunger and fortify your weary bones."
Isobel took a whiff of the elixir before taking a small swig. Deciding it wasn't half bad, she took several deep gulps. Offering some to Ash from her hand, he lapped at her palm eagerly and waited patiently for more.
Beatrice joined her and pulled another bottle from the satchel, uncorking it with her teeth.
"Why didn't I recognize your voice from the other night?" Isobel asked, taking another drink.
"The same reason you don't recognize the voice now speaking to you. It was telepathically relayed," Beatrice said without speaking, swallowing.
Isobel pulled back in surprise. "How'd you do that?" she asked, a curious fluttering in her brain making her laugh.
"I didn't. You did. You're the mystic receptor," Beatrice replied, her lips tinted red from the drink.
Isobel took another drink, nearly emptying the bottle. "What's in this elixir?"
"Better you don't know," she replied.
"We don't have elixirs. Nothing grows in Landgraevan. Is Moredea still under the freeze?"
"The northern most lands are still under the freeze. Not so much where we're headed." Beatrice stood, and slinging the satchel over her shoulder, said, "We have a long journey ahead of us. We can talk along the way."
Isobel handed her the thick, green tinted bottle as they walked and asked, "What was my mother's name?"
Beatrice smiled. "Cadence Phaelan. She was one of the most powerful mystic warriors in Moredean history."
"Do you know who killed her?"
"No. It was a mystic, though. Of this I'm certain. We live among mortals in Moredea, but no mortal could have killed her. She was too powerful."
"Mortal, like Montgomery. But we can't be immortal, since Cadence died."
"Death doesn't discriminate between mortal and mystic, Isobel. We are mystics because of our prodigious capabilities and powers, which doesn't include outsmarting death. We do have longer than usual human life spans, though," Beatrice said, turning into a side passage.
The thought of Montgomery being mortal and at war, probably fighting at that very moment, overwhelmed Isobel with sadness, and she wasn't immediately aware that Beatrice had turned. Ash walked ahead of her, intertwining between her legs, much to her frustration. She sidestepped him, continuing down the dimly lit tunnel.
"Isobel, the terrain is dark, dangerous, and you don't know the way. Slow down," Beatrice called out from the side passage.
Sidestepping Ash again, she saw what he was trying to protect her from. A massive hole lay directly ahead of them. "Right behind you, Beatrice," she called.
Isobel peered into the dark hole and held her breath against the smell of ancient rot drifting up from the inky black depths. Shivering, she rubbed the chill from her arms and turned to follow Beatrice, catching her foot on a jutting slab of concrete. She lurched forward to gain her balance, and smiled at the near miss. Looking down into the hole again, she laughed outright, having at least outsmarted something, but just as she turned, a sucking gust of wind grabbed her, pulling her head first into the abyss.
Chapter Nine