This ventilation tunnel led to a much wider tunnel with some ore car tracks. I figured this must have been one of the early mining tunnels that was dug before the Milago built the big cavern. We followed this tunnel for several minutes until it emptied out into a familiar space. It was the mine shaft where Osa and I first climbed down. When was that? It felt like a century ago, but it was more like an hour. We came out on one of the rock ledges and I saw that we were only three levels down from the surface. The familiar circle of blue light beckoned from above.
Loor stood out on the ledge and looked up. She was obviously debating with herself about something and it didn’t take long for me to find out what it was.
“Go to the bottom,” she commanded. “I will meet you there. Go!” She stared at me until I started to climb down the ladder. As soon as I started down, she began to climb up. Just as I figured. She wanted to go to her mother. I hung on the ladder and watched her climb to the surface. I know I should have kept going down as I was told, but I couldn’t. Osa had put her life on the line for me, and I had to find out how she was. So after wrestling with the decision for a few seconds, I started to climb up.
When I reached the last ladder before the surface, I heard something coming from outside. I didn’t know what it was at first, and when I finally recognized it, it made my heart sink. It was Loor. She was humming the same sweet song that I’d heard her humming by the river. I pulled myself up out of the mine shaft and what I saw then, broke my heart.
Loor was sitting on the ground next to the stone foundation. She cradled Osa’s head in her lap and stroked her hair while slowly rocking back and forth as if lulling a baby to sleep. I didn’t know if Osa was dead or alive. Lying next to her were the four arrows that had hit her. Loor had pulled them out. I stayed where I was because I didn’t want to intrude. Loor was a proud girl and I was sure she wouldn’t want me to see her cry.
I glanced around the clearing and saw that the knights were gone. The archers in the trees probably dragged off their unconscious buddies. The body of the Milago miner was still there though. He lay on his back, staring up sightlessly into the sky.
That’s when I saw Osa’s hand move. She reached out weakly and took her daughter’s hand. She was alive! I quickly ran over to see if I could be of any help. Loor didn’t acknowledge that I was there, except that she stopped humming her song. But Osa knew I was there, and she looked up at me with tired eyes.
“Do not be sad,” she said with a weak voice. “Either of you. This is the way it was meant to be.”
I had trouble holding back my tears. Osa wasn’t going to make it.
“I…I’m sorry, Osa,” was all I could get out.
Osa then took her hand away from Loor and reached for the leather pouch around her neck. It was the pouch where she had put the silver ring.
“Take this, Pendragon,” she said. “Use it as you see fit.”
I took the pouch and pulled out the ring. Osa nodded encouragement, so I put it on the ring finger of my right hand. Oddly enough, it fit perfectly.
“You are both at the beginning of a long journey,” said Osa as she grew weaker. “Pendragon, I know you do not feel you are up to the challenge. You are wrong.”
I nodded, but I didn’t believe her.
Osa continued, “Halla is in your hands. Remember that. Let it be your guide. Together you two will-” Osa caught her breath, gave a little shudder and closed her eyes. They would never open again.
This was a painful moment. Of course, I felt sympathy for Loor. The girl had just lost her mother. But I, too, felt loss. In the short time I had known Osa, I had developed an affection for her. She was the one voice of reason in the storm of confusion that I had been swept into. I trusted her. I felt safe with her. And my trust had proven to be well placed, for she had sacrificed her own life to save mine. That’s a debt that can never be repaid.
I wanted to comfort Loor but I didn’t know how. I struggled to find the right words, but Loor spoke first. “Go down into the mine, Pendragon,” she said. “I will meet you there.”
I wasn’t about to argue. I just nodded and stepped away. Before I climbed down onto the ladder I said, “I’m sorry, Loor.”
Loor didn’t acknowledge me. She just sat there, still cradling her mother. As I climbed down the ladder, I could hear that she was once again humming the tune from the river. I had to fight back my tears.
I climbed all the way down to the bottom of the mine and found my way into the giant cavern. Once there I saw that it was business as usual. There was no day here and no night. All signs of the excitement from the explosion were gone. I didn’t know what to do, so I found a quiet corner and sat down to try and think. To say that my mind was a jumble of conflicting thoughts was an understatement. I spun the silver ring on my finger. This strange piece of jewelry might actually be my ticket home. But as much as I wanted to use it, the idea of bolting out of here made me feel incredibly guilty. For some reason that I still didn’t understand, everyone was expecting me to help these poor people fight for their freedom. Stranger still, an amazing person had just given her life so that I could live to carry out that mission.
I wished I knew what to do. If there was something these people needed that I could deliver on, I’d gladly do it. But lead a revolution? That’s insane! I sat there for a while and even got a little bit of sleep. Finally Loor arrived carrying a basket.
“Come with me,” she ordered. So I got up and followed her. She led me down one of the mine tunnels that didn’t look as if it were active. A few feet along we came to an opening to a small room that had been cut from the rock. It was set up like one of the huts with animal fur bedding, a table, and candles for light.
“This is where we come when Kagan is looking for us,” she explained. “You will be safe here.” She then handed me the basket and I saw that it was full of bread and fruit. I needed to eat, but I didn’t have much of an appetite.
I took a chance and asked, “Where’s Osa?”
“She was taken to the village,” said Loor with no emotion.
“Tomorrow I will take her to Zadaa.”
Zadaa. That was the territory where Loor and Osa came from. So that meant Loor knew how to use the flumes to get around. And if she was going to bring her mother’s body back home, I couldn’t imagine she planned to climb back to the top of that mountain to get there. There must have been another way to use the flumes.
There was some serious tension in this little stone room just then. Loor was angry, but I wasn’t sure how much of that anger was aimed at me. I was upset and sad and to be honest, a little scared of her. She had a nasty temper and if she decided to take it out on me, there’d be nothing left of poor Bobby Pendragon except a stain on the wall. I decided not to push Loor by talking. So I sat down on the animal fur and tried to act invisible.
Loor was like a caged cat, pacing back and forth. What I feared was that her anger would build to a point where she’d explode and take me apart. In a strange way, that was exactly what happened. But it happened in a way that I never expected. She didn’t hit me. She didn’t insult me. She didn’t even scream at me. All of those things would have been understandable. But what she did hurt much more.
“I am taking you home tomorrow,” she said flatly. “You do not belong here.”
Whoa. That was thelast thing I expected to hear.
“But…what about the revolution?” I asked lamely.
“You think you cannot help these people because you are not a warrior,” she said. “But the Milago do not need a warrior. They need someone they can trust. You are not that person.”
This took me by surprise. Obviously I was not a fighter like Loor, and I was not exactly the brave, hero type. But trustworthy? Come on! I could be trusted. I was a good guy. Where did she get off calling me untrustworthy?