Trinda climbed to her feet and cast him an accusing glare. "You hurt me."
"I was trying to keep you alive," Sinjin said, but it didn't look as if Trinda believed him. At that moment, he didn't care. Brother Vaughn helped him stand, and with the herald globe wrapped in his robes, they moved deeper into the unknown at a near run, the light still seeming overly bright, especially with the howls coming from behind. Nothing more was said about the incident. Trinda seemed embarrassed and retreated even further within herself. Sinjin watched her closely, not wanting her to suffer. Though she annoyed him at times, Sinjin realized that all he really wanted was for her to be happy, and the fact that he could not bring her that happiness was what really made him uncomfortable. After a while they slowed.
Once he caught his breath, Sinjin said, "My mom had trouble the first few times she accessed Istra's power, and I'm not sure if she has ever become truly comfortable with it, except for the things she says just come natural. I think maybe that's how your singing works."
Brother Vaughn raised an eyebrow when Sinjin met his eyes, but then he just smiled, nodded, and said nothing more. Trinda looked at him sideways and shrugged. Sinjin had no more time to speak before the light revealed a chasm whose jagged edge made it appear as if the earth waited to swallow them. Brother Vaughn unwrapped the herald globe. The light danced from dainty, crystalline structures that looked like flowers with glass daggers as petals. They dotted the walls of the ravine. The dark rock they clung to drank in the light rather than reflecting it, which made the brilliance of the crystals stand out in greater contrast. Before them lay a bridge of sorts that formed a pathway across the chasm, but the closer Sinjin looked, the less he liked what he saw. The drop down to the top of the span was farther than he was comfortable jumping, and he wasn't sure they would be able to climb back up-here or on the other side. No solid surface topped the span. It was just a pile of stones that sloped downward on either side and into the darkness.
Brother Vaughn held the herald globe over the ledge, and Sinjin stepped back from the dizzying height, but he was drawn back by the shadows on the distant cavern floor. A pattern emerged from the nothingness, random yet orderly. Right angles and plumb lines made what he instantly recognized as a city. Moving the herald globe to the other side, Brother Vaughn illuminated more architecture, yet on this side there were nearly no straight lines. All the buildings formed curves, arches, and other structures that seemed drawn from nature. Sinjin sucked in a breath when some of the shadows began to move. The others had seen it as well, and all three turned to run back the way they had come, driven by instinct to flee the things that creep in the darkness.
The noise of the demons grew more clear and distinct, and panic set a lump in Sinjin's throat.
"We're going across," Brother Vaughn said after a moment.
Trinda just looked at him, but Sinjin could see she was trembling. "I'll help you," he said. "It'll be fine. You'll see."
Watching Brother Vaughn climb down was little help, as it was more of a controlled fall, arms waving and body dancing as loose stone provided unsure footing.
"You're next," Sinjin said, but Trinda just shook her head, not meeting his eyes. "We need to go, Trinda. Don't worry; Brother Vaughn will be there to catch you if you fall."
Trinda raised her head and looked him in the eyes, tears falling from her own. "I can't. I'm scared. I want to go home now." The last statement was said with a quavering, high-pitched note, and the tears came more quickly.
Feeling helpless, Sinjin was torn by fear, empathy, annoyance, and helplessness. There was nothing he could do to help her, yet he could not leave her behind. With a sigh, Sinjin stood with his back to Trinda and held his arms slightly out to his sides. He didn't have to say any more. Trinda scrambled up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and clung to him. Sinjin hadn't been certain he could do it, but she was much lighter when she was conscious, and he stepped over the ledge onto the steep incline, which ended abruptly where the larger stones were piled. Brother Vaughn waited, looking concerned. For Sinjin there was no more time for thought. Once he put his weight on his forward leg, the loose stone broke free and sent him skidding downward. Trinda buried her face in his neck as they fell.
Trying to make sure he did not fall backward, Sinjin kept his weight forward, and for a moment they skidded gracefully, as if on sleigh rails moving over snow, but the smooth ride ended abruptly as one stone refused to move. Catching his toe, Sinjin pitched ahead. Tucking his legs and throwing his weight forward, they rotated in the air, and Sinjin landed slightly forward on his feet, which sent him sprinting straight into Brother Vaughn, who gave a great woofas the air rushed from his lungs. The three went down in a heap, and larger stones rolled away, clattering down the steep sides of the pile. It took a moment for them to determine that no one had been hurt, but the need for escape kept the inspection brief.
With the herald globe wrapped tightly, Brother Vaughn led them into a landscape that consisted of only a pile of rubble and darkness. Distorted echoes made it sound as if enemies approached from every direction, a mourning wail mixing with the grunts, barks, and growls. As the demons drew closer, one gave out a deep roar that sounded like thunder. Moments later came the clatter of stones down the slopes, and Sinjin knew the demons were on the pile of rock and gaining on them.
"We've got to move," Brother Vaughn said.
Sinjin stepped in front of Trinda and again raised his arms out to his sides. She wasted no time in climbing up onto his back once more. It looked as if Brother Vaughn would offer to carry her, but when he met Trinda's eyes, she just buried her face in Sinjin's neck. Half running and half falling, Brother Vaughn and Sinjin made their way across the loose and shifting stone, all of it the same deep black. Nothing new emerged from the scenery, just ubiquitous stone leading off into the darkness. Always expecting to see the other side suddenly materialize became exhausting. Outside of the stone on which they tread, they could see nothing above or ahead. It was as if they had left the real world behind. Perhaps they were already dead, Sinjin thought, but then a chill ran over his skin, and a rumbling boom echoed for what seemed an eternity. Brother Vaughn stumbled when lightning split the air and showed a frightening landscape. The pile of stone continued for what looked like a day's walk, and on the other end, above where the stone pile met with a towering wall of rock, waited a city that dwarfed those in the valleys below.
"What kind of place has lightning inside?" Trinda asked.
Sinjin wondered if they had not somehow come out of the mountain to open air, but it did not feel that way. He could feel the land pressing down on him, its weight always a reminder that the world could come crashing in at any moment. Trinda weighed on him in more than one way. Her whispered questions deserved answers, but he had none; all he could do was run. When the world lit up behind him, Sinjin spun around in time to see a giant demon, its treelike arm raised in the air, blazing like the sun, a thread of lightning throbbing and pulsing as it poured energy from the roiling clouds above into a single point. The shape of it stayed in Sinjin's vision long after the lightning vanished. The giant rolled to the side and took what sounded like a dozen smaller demons with it. The darkness closed back in and left him blind for a moment.