Chapter Nine
Drew rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands. He lay still, feeling strangely disoriented and dizzy. Slowly, recollection began to filter through him. What had happened? They had fallen asleep after the most intense lovemaking he'd ever experienced.
Drew smiled, feeling her warm body curled against him, her breathing steady as she slept. Gently, he touched her breast, brushed his fingers against her arm. Feeling intensely satisfied, he opened his eyes.
He jerked upright, shocked. He grabbed his head, which felt like it was on fire. Something was wrong: very, very wrong. They were no longer in his bedroom or even in his home, but in some kind of cave. Gray, striated rock rose all around them, black horizontal lines scoring the cavern walls. A killer headache as if he'd pulled a drunken all-nighter, something he hadn't done since he was a teenager.
"Pandimora." He shook her gently. "Pandimora. Wake up." Drew's eyes adjusted to the muted light as she began to stir and stretch. "Do you know where we are?" he asked.
Pandimora also bolted upright, then fell back against him, pressing her hand against her forehead. Drew steadied her. "Easy," he said. "I felt disoriented when I first woke up, too." He pressed a palm against the smooth reddish surface under them, feeling the stone's warmth. In fact, the cave itself felt very warm, and maybe that was fortunate considering he wore only a pair of jeans while Pandimora wore a half buttoned dress shirt of his that landed at her knees. He frowned, trying to remember. After the tub, they'd gone back into the bedroom and snuggled under the bedcovers where sometime during the night they'd made love again, but this time it had been slow and sensual as they'd explored more about each other's body.
They both stood, steadying each other. Bemused, he looked around again. "Drew," she began hesitantly, staring up at the ceiling. "Somehow we have been transported --"
"Yeah."
" -- but I'm not sure where."
He too looked up at the stone ceiling. "Another dimension?" He cleared his throat. "We're in an underground cavern."
Pandimora gripped his hand tightly, her expression perplexed. "Could this be the cavern in my dream?" Her voice rose in excitement.
"Are you serious?" he asked, curious despite himself. The cavern had a muted light but he had no idea the source. Across from them was a high, narrow passageway in the rock in the shape of an inverted teardrop. Deep in the opening was more light. Was that a way out? "How did we get here?" he asked.
Pandimora began to make her way down across jagged rocks to a fairly level, sandy area below them. "Drew, this may be the opportunity I've been seeking all along. If we can find the missing crystal, I can finally get answers about my family. From the basic history I do know of Aisywel, this may be the last known location of the crystal."
He looked at her, shocked. "We're in your faerie world Aisywel?"
"No. I believe we're somewhere below the earth's surface, which in itself is relevant to Aisywel's history. I believe we were propelled here due to the energy of my dream."
"But how did you actually know to come here?" he asked, concerned.
"Irfin told me in the dream."
"Irfin?" That gave Drew a bad feeling. "I'm not sure that's a great idea, to be following anything Irfin says." In fact, he thought it was a really bad idea to trust Irfin at all.
She put a hand out to him. "I'm sorry you've been brought here. Something has gone awry."
"Somehow, I'm not surprised," he said, still thinking of Irfin's involvement. "Does this mean you teleported involuntarily?"
"It's never occurred before. I have always consciously directed myself where I wished to go." She looked up at the cathedral ceiling, a sense of wonder on her face. "I have no explanation as to how we slipped through dimensions."
Drew looked around warily. "Is there any chance we'll encounter goblins or anything?"
"Why would they come here? There is nothing here for them. Besides, there is a law of order, Drew. Lower realms don't pass into the higher realms."
"Well, apparently not everything abides by the rules," he pointed out. "You went to the goblins for help shifting into Aisywel, and Isidghe is lower than earth, but goblins are granted access to earth."
"That's true, but there's a special verbal agreement in place that allows goblins access to the earth only at specified times."
"You're kidding, right? Based on what I've read about goblins, they're a pretty lawless bunch. Are you going to tell me they never violate the agreement?" He gingerly followed her down across the rocks. The jagged edges bit into his feet since he was not used to going without shoes or boots. "Don't tell me," he added, "Goblins are granted access so they can scare the crap out of humans."
She looked at him over her shoulder, nodding with a slight grin. "On special occasions such as Halloween."
Pandimora had already reached the sandy area about six feet below, touching the stones, pausing, as if she were listening to something. Slowly, she climbed up the rocks on the other side to a long rectangular and upraised stone slab. Uneasily, Drew thought it looked like some kind of ceremonial table. The slab itself was surrounded by sandy ground.
"Why are the goblins allowed into our world?" he asked.
"A long time ago, the goblins were enlisted to keep more ferocious spirits from terrorizing the earth. What you would call demons. In return, they were allowed days of fun as long as they kept the demons away."
"Are there still demons?"
"They are mostly under control. So you see, the goblins do your race a big service."
"I'll take your word for it," Drew said. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to any of this lurking under what I used to think was a normal life."
Sweat beaded on his chest as the air grew even warmer. As he tried to decipher some thinly drawn pictures on the tall ceiling, the rock appeared to waver. He blinked sweat from his eyes. "Pandimora, the heat is rising. And do you hear that sound?" he added, uneasy. "Like a rumble under the ground." As he climbed to where she stood, the noise grew closer.
"It sounds like it's coming from under our feet," he said.
The ground trembled and they heard a muted boom. From behind a large grouping of rocks about thirty feet away, flames suddenly shot into the air.
"Get down!" Drew said. They dropped to the ground. Drew rolled, taking her with him as bits of rock spewed from the flames. The sound was deafening and the ground tremors were disconcerting. It reminded him of an earthquake he'd experienced while living on the west coast.
Quickly, they scooted backwards from the bits of flaming debris. "Come on," he said urgently, "let's get behind the stone slab." He heaved himself onto the slab and dropped down the other side. "There's a cavity here that might offer protection." He held his hand out to her. "Pandimora!"
She scrambled down into the depression and they waited just in case another eruption occurred, but after several moments everything stayed calm.
"That sounded almost like a gas explosion," he said. "Maybe there's gas pockets brewing in the stone under us."
Pandimora stood and leaned over the stone slab, offering a great view of her trim legs and behind. "I need to decipher the writing," she said.
Drew watched as she moved her fingertips across strange lettering chiseled into the stone surface, her brow furrowed in deep concentration. "I must listen to the rocks so that I may find their story." Pandimora closed her eyes and became very still. Patiently, Drew waited, remaining vigilant for other disturbances. Thankfully the ground tremors had ceased, but he remained uneasy nonetheless.
In the quiet, the wind began to wail through a cavern above them. He looked up at the stone formations that looked like thick icicles hanging from the ceiling. Most of them were reddish in color, but there were others that were a beautiful clear crystal.
When Pandimora finally opened her eyes, he saw her acute disappointment. "There was no information about my family," she said. "However, there is information about the crystal." She pressed her lips together. "The crystal lost to time is clos
e," she added in a whisper.
"Here?" he said, astonished. "If you find it, how will you hide it from the elder? Don't you think he's going to want it? I have a bad feeling about this."
"Of course he will want it, but you should know the crystal is very powerful by itself. It's been waiting patiently to be found."
"We have to be quick, Pandimora. I don't know about you, but the heat is making it difficult to breathe." Pandimora's hair, damp with sweat, had begun to curl near her temples, but she seemed otherwise oblivious to the heat as she began to dig, scooping the fine sand with her palms.
"Pandimora, your fingers are bleeding."
"I bleed in the earth realm," she said simply.
"Wipe your fingers on the shirt tails," he said. "Here, let me help you." He gently moved her aside and he began to scoop sand until he hit stones and larger rocks. He dug them out but the sand fell into the cavity left behind. "This might be a losing battle," he muttered. "Are you sure there's something here?"
Carefully, Drew lifted a stone as large as a bowling ball and rolled it away from them and managed to scoop the sand away before it filled the hole.
Pandimora reached down into the pocket and slowly worked free a thin white rod. Carefully, she wiped debris from its surface, but she began to shake her head. "This is not the true crystal," she said, clearly disappointed. "I would feel its power."
Drew watched as the crystal caught the light in the cave and projected it back against the rock. "It's still beautiful," he said. "But it's like it was buried there on purpose. Maybe as a decoy?"
She shrugged. "That could be, to draw attention away from the real crystal and discourage those less scrupulous." She came to her feet and looked around.
"What about that opening?" he asked. "It appears to be a passageway."
Pandimora closed her eyes again and quickly reopened them. "Perhaps," she said.
Drew helped her over the rubble of rock and together they went back down to the flat sandy area. A small stretch of shallow water had to be traversed to reach the passage opening. Drew stared at the water in concern. It appeared crystal clear, but he was learning fast that things were not always as they appeared. When Pandimora moved without hesitation toward the water, he quickly grabbed her arm just as she sank up to her knees. Drew pulled her back to him when she managed to get her feet free.
He went back to the rock rubble and picked up a rock the size of a baseball. He dropped it into the shallow water. The rock instantly disappeared, even though the water appeared shallow.
"It's some kind of quicksand," he said grimly. "We have to find another way in." However, the quicksand pool blocked the entire entrance. He looked up at the walls and toward the ceiling.
"The only other way is possibly to grab onto those rock formations hanging from the cavern ceiling." He looked at her. "Are you sure this is the way we have to go, into that opening?"
"For whatever reason, I feel it pulling me."
Pandimora began to pick her way along the quicksand's edge, and Drew followed, assessing the last eight feet or so to the entrance. "If we can get any of these stalactites loose, we might be able to lay one down and make a bridge across the quicksand," he said. "I don't see any other way. There's no toe or finger holds to follow the rock across to the entrance." Drew found a particularly long icicle type formation about six inches thick and hanging from the wall. He pushed against it but it was solid.
"May I?" Pandimora asked quietly behind him.
Drew stepped back.
Pandimora hugged the stone and then braced her feet. She pushed with all her might and suddenly Drew heard a sharp snap. "Wow. I forget how strong you are," he remarked.
"It was partially hollow," she remarked.
Drew grimaced. "Okay, if you say so. Let's lay it down and see how close we can get it to the entrance."
Together they managed to maneuver the rock bridge in place, but it fell about six feet short of the entrance and the end lay under the water. Drew watched to see if it would sink, but it appeared to be resting on solid ground just below the water.
"We can jump the remainder of the distance," Pandimora said.
Drew nodded. "Sure, as long as we don't miss and end up in the quicksand." He'd been a track runner in his high school days: he hoped he still had it in him to make a running jump.
"I'll go first," he said, "then I can grab you and help you across."
Taking a deep breath, Drew tested the stability of the stone bridge, then ran in bare feet down its length and took a flying leap from the end, landing on the ledge at the passage entrance. He slid several feet because of loose sand on top of the stone, but managed to stay upright. "Ouch." The sand under his feet felt like sandpaper. He turned back to help Pandimora, but she wasn't there. "Pandimora!"
"I'm here Drew," she said behind him.
He spun around. "You already jumped? Show off," he added, grinning.
With a quick smile she pressed up against him, then they moved down the passageway.
She paused several times then would move on again. The further they walked, the narrower the passage became.
Suddenly, Pandimora grabbed his arm and pointed ahead. "Look."
Ahead, the passage narrowed to where only one person at a time could walk through. The stalactites hanging from the eight-foot-high ceiling were all clear crystal. In fact, they looked like bubbling icicles. Drew touched them but found them dry.
"We can't go much further," he said. "Do you really think the crystal is here?" he asked dubiously.
Pandimora didn't answer but moved to stand between two thick crystals that reached from the ceiling to the ground, almost like pillars. She placed a palm against each pillar and Drew watched in amazement as the clear crystal formations changed to a subtle pink color.
Drew heard a faint crackle, like the sound of ice-coated tree branches moving in the wind.
"Here," she said excitedly, keeping her hands in place as she tried to peer into a small crevice between the pillars.
"Can you see anything? It's pretty dark in there." Then he remembered she could see in the dark. As she shifted around, Drew became aware of a new energy pulsing around them.
"Do you feel that?" He peered around them, and the walls seemed to be closing in. Was it his imagination or was he getting claustrophobic?
"The pillars are moving," Pandimora said. In the next moment, a thin gold beam of light shot past her.
"What's that?" he asked, alarmed.
"Drew, reach your hand into the crevice past my shoulder," she said. "Follow the beam of light. See if you feel a crystal."
Drew moved up against Pandimora, reaching his hand into the space where the beam seemed to originate. Pandimora remained with her hands on the crystal pillars and now they seemed to also be gently pulsing.
He moved his hand around until he felt a warm rod-like shape protruding from the cool stone wall. "It feels like it's attached to the wall."
"I'm going to move out of your way without losing contact with the crystal pillars." She crouched down and looked up at him. "Reach in and pull it out straight toward you."
Drew closed his hand around the crystal rod. "What if it breaks?" he asked, blinking as sweat ran into his eyes.
"It won't break unless it wants to," she said reassuringly.
Drew put all his strength into pulling the crystal free, his own momentum sending him backwards on the sandy ground. Smaller crystal stalactites rained down on his head. He looked at the crystal in his hand. The cloudy white crystal was about four inches long and perhaps an inch thick, he felt the powerful vibrations traveling from the crystal into his body. Thousands of light prisms swirled pinpoints of color along the crystal enshrouded walls. Mesmerized, he watched the light bounce.
Almost dazed by its power, he held the crystal out to Pandimora.
She dropped her hands from the pillars and came to her feet. As she took the crystal, a flash of white light snapped between them.
He blinked.
/> "Pandimora!"
She was gone. There was nowhere she could have gone without walking past him, but she'd just disappeared into thin air.
Drew ran down the passage way and back out to the cavern, calling her name.
No answer.
He ran back to the crystal pillars. Taking a deep breath, knowing Pandimora could be in deep trouble, he ducked his head and stepped between them.
Nothing.
A blurred picture formed before him in the air, about waist high, then it came into sharp focus. A small red-headed child ran forward, a toy lamb clutched to her chest. She wore an old fashioned blue dress with white dots to her knees and a cream-colored apron over the dress. Her legs and feet were bare. The lamb came alive, wriggled in the child's arms, and jumped to the ground. With a delighted giggle, the little girl ran after it as it cavorted through a small cottage, jumping over furniture before it disappeared under a small trundle bed.
The little girl went down on her knees to retrieve the lamb but a woman carrying an infant entered the room behind her, took her by the arm, urging her to her feet. The woman's movements were jerky, her eyes red and swollen; her hair as deeply red as the child's but pulled outward in wild, crazy abandon. She hustled the child across the small cottage.
The little girl's happy expression changed, her big blue eyes welling with tears as the older woman opened a floor-to-ceiling cupboard and motioned the child inside. The woman hesitated a moment, then she placed the swaddled infant in the child's arms. "Pandimora, protect your sister as I protect you now. I love you, my dear ones." The woman's voice sounded far away, muffled. Drew saw a star appear on Pandimora's arm and a triple spiral appear on the infant's shoulder.
The woman closed the door and chanted something unintelligible, then turned to a dark-haired young man of about sixteen who came up behind her.
"Mother!" said the young man, "are you crazy? Release the children from the cupboard!"
"Kirklas. It is too late. Too late." The woman thrust her hand and the young man Kirklas clutched his arm protectively to his chest, looking at her with disbelief. Pushing up his long black sleeve, he exposed his arm, bloodied from wrist to shoulder. The betrayal in his eyes was clear as he stumbled back, reaching to catch himself before he fell.
"There was never a choice!" the woman cried. "All this time, never a choice!" She spun around, her eyes wild as she ran out the cottage door. The young man looked dazed and tried to reach the cupboard door again, but he dissolved into thin air before he could do so.
The image slowly faded and Drew let out the breath he'd been holding. Feeling lightheaded, he leaned against one of the pillars.
A hologram of Pandimora, her sister and brother Kirklas. Confused, Drew wondered what this was all about. And where was Pandimora?