Part 24 (2/2)

'You're not afraid to go without the miners?'

'Don't like Peate. He is an angry man.'

'The rock is bad down here,' said Irisis. 'It might fall and kill us.'

'I know you'll look after me.'

Irisis sighed. 'Let's get to work.'

'Nothing here here either?' said Irisis about six hours later. The silent darkness of the mine was getting to her. She had been edgy from the moment she'd entered. either?' said Irisis about six hours later. The silent darkness of the mine was getting to her. She had been edgy from the moment she'd entered.

Ullii shook her head. 'Head hurts. Want to go home.'

'Let's just look around the corner first.'

Irisis trudged off. Ullii plodded after her. It was no wonder the seeker's head was aching; the air was really bad down here. It had a faintly sulphurous smell, overlain by the odour of stagnant water, though the map showed no water on the eighth level. Where could it be coming from?

Around the corner the tunnel narrowed between two bosses of ma.s.sive white quartz, free of any kind of crystal. Irisis held her lantern out. Ahead she could see only sheared pink granite in walls and roof. Wet mounds of crumbled rock, nearly waist high, partly blocked the tunnel. The roof must be really unstable. Water dripped all the way along.

'Well, that's one place we're definitely not going.' Turning away, Irisis rotated the half-shuttered lantern so it would not dazzle Ullii.

The seeker slipped by her and went up to the obstruction, staring into the dark and sniffing. Irisis kept going. Ullii needed no light; in fact, she could employ her seeker's talent better without it.

Irisis had been walking for some five minutes before realising that Ullii was not behind her. She held the lantern up. There was no sign of the seeker. No point yelling or cursing her, that would only make things worse. Irisis returned to the roof fall. Ullii was not there, though there was a small print in the clayey muck.

'Ullii,' she called, not too loudly.

Grit sifted down from a crack in the roof. Irisis felt afraid. Rotten wet rock was far more perilous than dry stuff. She squeezed through the gap, sc.r.a.ping b.r.e.a.s.t.s that were still tender from the previous night, and edged forward. A flat piece of granite detached itself from the roof, landing with a plop in front of her. Irisis shuddered and kept going.

The rotten rock continued as far as she could see, which was not far here. At a shallow bend, she peered around. Something crouched down the other end of the tunnel, but Irisis could not make out what it was. It might even have been a lyrinx.

At the thought, terror rose up within her and she almost screamed. Get a grip on yourself! A lyrinx would not even fit in this tunnel. She held up the lantern, the shapes s.h.i.+fted and became the seeker, crouching with her arms against the wall.

'What are you doing?' Irisis said crossly. 'This place is too dangerous. We've got to go back.'

'I can see see something,' said Ullii. something,' said Ullii.

Irisis resisted the urge to run. 'What?' she whispered when she got there.

'Crystal. Good crystal. Big Big crystal!' crystal!'

'Really? Are you sure?'

'Biiiig crystal!' Ullii turned around and around, as if searching for something she could not quite locate. crystal!' Ullii turned around and around, as if searching for something she could not quite locate.

'Where, Ullii? Which way?'

Her outstretched arm revolved, slanting down towards the floor. 'There.'

'Is it close?' Ullii could never be precise about distances, although directions were usually accurate. To be so fuzzy was unusual.

'Not ... so close,' said Ullii.

That meant down a fair way. The ninth level was also unsafe and partly flooded, the level rising and falling with the seasons. It had not been too bad last autumn: Tiaan had been able to escape that way. That could be different after a winter of heavy snowfalls that were rapidly melting. If the crystal was below the ninth level they might as well forget it, for the water would come into the excavation faster than their primitive pumps could extract it.

'Let's go, Ullii. We'll come back in the morning.'

For once, Ullii seemed reluctant. She lingered by the wall, feeling it with her fingers. Her face was animated.

Irisis felt the sleepless night catching up with her. She caught Ullii by the arm. 'Come on. It's late.'

The seeker resisted. 'Leave me alone!'

Irisis was so astounded that she took a step backwards. 'What's the matter?'

'It's talking to me!'

'What is it saying?'

Ullii gave her a strange look, somewhere between pity and contempt. 'You can't understand.'

Irisis did not have the strength. She squatted against the wall and closed her eyes, but sprang up as the rock shook and a crash thundered along the tunnel. Air rushed past, carrying a wet, clayey smell. More of the roof had fallen.

Irisis looked back the way they had come but could see no further than the bend. She inspected the roof with her lantern. It was fractured all the way along.

'Ullii?'

The seeker had not moved, nor did she answer. There was nothing to do but wait. Irisis settled down again. Her eyes drifted closed.

'I'm ready now'. Ullii was shaking her shoulder.

'What?' Irisis said thickly, roused from deep slumber. She opened her eyes to utter darkness. 'Where ' She remembered. 'What's happened to the lantern?'

'It went out ages ago.'

Irisis felt for it and gave it a shake it was empty and cold. It had burned all its oil. How were they going to find the way back to the lift shaft? The eighth level was a maze of intersecting tunnels.

'Ullii,' she whispered. 'I'm afraid. I don't know the way back. What are we going to do?'

The seeker made a m.u.f.fled sound in her throat, which Irisis took for a sob. Panic began to close her throat over.

A warm little hand found her cold fingers. 'It's all right,' Ullii said soothingly, the way Irisis had often spoken to her. 'I know the way.'

Being treated like a child was irritating, but Irisis tried not to show it. Maybe the seeker did know the way out. Perhaps she could see it in that lattice in her head.

Ullii pulled her gently along. 'This is the wrong way,' Irisis hissed, sure that she had gone to sleep against the right-hand wall, which meant that the way back was on her left side. They were going the other direction.

<script>