Dani peered down the dark stairs and only then it occured to her to wonder if guards had been posted down there but all she saw was darkness and no glimmer of light. There was no guard, at least not at the foot of the steep stairs. The flashlight was in her hands and lit before she reached the passage and turned right. A torch marked the next juncture where the passage t-boned and turned right to the bathrooms and shower room and turned left going deep into the underground complex.

Maddie had told her nothing about the extent of the underground city where her people sheltered through the harsh winters, but Januise, that fount of information, had gladly described the underground habitat in depth while giving Dani a lesson in building a loom from materials she had to forage from the woods. At the end of the lesson, after Dani had built a loom that met with Januise’s satisfaction and a promise of lessons in weaving, Januise had escorted Dani back to Maddie’s tent via the underground passages, entering through the well house at the north end of the Peldyn a few hundred feet south of the Crucifixion Tree.

Dani had no way to measure the time it took to maneuver the dark passages, lit only at the crossings and junctures where passage met passage. She passed storerooms and more bath houses, and stairs carved from stone that disappeared into the dark subterranean chambers where the city lived out each winter deep underground or marked entrances into dwellings above. She counted the number of them, intersections, junctions, storerooms and baths in the reverse order that she remembered them. She took a wrong turn twice and had to back track, or on one occasion she got so turned around she thought she was headed back the way she had come, but eventually, using the markings on the walls at one intersection, Dani was able to sort it out.

Every moment was precious. It was only a matter of time before Brandyn regained consciousness or the sentries discovered him and raised the alarm. Once they figured out her escape route they might guess her destination and be waiting for her at the door of the well house. Then she came to the ladder that led up through a trapdoor into the well house and she pushed her way through the damp cool air and stepped out into the balmy wind of the night. No one was there to greet her.

The smoky, yellow light of the many torches lining the boulevard lit up the streets under the eerie beribboned streams of the blue glow of the moon. Dani put her flashlight away. The boulevard was deserted; it seemed the entire populace had turned out to enjoy the execution of Dreyden’s Disciple and was gathered at the top of the Peldyn. The mound was ablaze in the light of an enormous bonfire that burned hot and sent a stream of orange-white sparks into the reaching branches of the surrounding Fugharim. It lit the faces of the gathered crowd accentuating their hate filled expressions with leaping shadows. All this Dani saw as she approached the Peldyn at a dead run before she overtook the steps built into the hill laterally that came out maybe fifty feet from the area where the flowers and grass grew around the base of the Crucifixion Tree.

The din made by the jostling crowd, their loathsome screams was a sound that would haunt Dani’s dreams for the rest of her life. The bonfire was at the center of the clearing. The gathered crowd and a platform occupied the ground right up to the edge of the grassy ground surrounding the tree. The Matriarch, Maddie, several local officials, the victim and her family, the King and Queen viewed the execution from the elevated platform. At sight of Mama Dani felt a catch in her throat, along with an unexpected jolt of shock. She was so close to Mama and the stone was here, right here, but both were so out of reach in that moment.

Mama’s presence at this hideous place of execution was a dagger in Dani’s heart; so much for her influence on the outcome of the trial on Dani’s account. If ever Dani needed her mother to be Queen this was it. Theo was in mortal danger.

Dani had no time to dissemble. She pushed her way through the crowd until she was at the front line with a clear look at the place. Theo’s arms were bound by chains from elbow to wrist to a crossbeam like a scarecrow. The crossbeam was attached to the lowest branch by another shorter chain linked by hooks between two iron rings, one embedded in the crossbeam and the other belted to the stem of the branch. Dani had not seen the crossbeam on the tree during her earlier visits; the Lowlandians must have brought it out of storage for this special occasion.

Theo was close enough to the body of the tree that when his body swayed near enough he could brace his feet against it and push his body up and so make breathing easier. His body hung limp, his upper arms stretched to their limit. His toes pointed to the ground that was several feet below. Blood flowed freely down his torso and both legs. Theo’s head hung down obscuring his face. Was he unconscious? Maybe she was too late and he was already dead.

A rock sailed through the air and struck Theo high on his right shoulder. The crossbeam swayed, turned and bumped into the base of the tree and swung back around again. The blow forced an involuntary breath into Theo’s lungs. Finally unable to resist the urge to breathe, he pulled his body up using the muscles of his upper arm alone sucking in more air and relaxing his diaphragm enough to exhale. He took several desperate panting breaths until his shoulders could no longer bear his weight and he collapsed to dangle like a scarecrow again. The crowd whistled and jeered, pleased to keep Theo alive and suffering for as long as possible anxious to deny him option of a “quick” death by asphyxiation.

Another rock oared overhead and struck his thigh. Theos head came up. An arrow zipped out from the crowd and sliced across Theo’s ribcage below his left arm. The arrow hit the tree and snapped in half, its pieces dropped to the ground. A dark streak appeared on Theo’s side and more blood ran from the new cut. Another cry of satisfaction went up.

Strangling back a surge of despair, Dani looked for the Sapphire. It had not been returned to her nor had it been with Theo’s suit. She saw the dark glimmer of the stone where it hung at the base of his throat. Good. Her plan, if it were to work, depended entirely on the sapphire. Why they had not removed the stone was a question Dani shunted aside for later, why such care was taken of the suit but not the sapphire seemed strange and contradictory. Were they not concerned that the amulet would be damaged?

His body weight pulling down on his arms must be unbearable. A mental image of his arms being ripped from their sockets or his elbows flooded her body with adrenalin.

She broke from the crowd at a run and crossed the clearing making adjustments to her plan just a little as she hurried across the open space. No one tried to stop her. Maybe they were too caught up in the heat of the moment to realize that someone had broken ranks. Eventually she heard Maddie’s voice cry out. Dani increased her pace. In this case she doubted the Lowlandians would honor her relationship to the queen as they had so far and let her proceed unmolested. For an answer she felt a hard thud on her back that knocked her down. Thankfully her backpack absorbed most of the blow, but whoever had thrown it meant business; another smaller rock sailed by, grazing her cheek as she pushed back up on her feet and ran to the tree.

There was no way she could just climb up Theo’s body. He was naked. He wore no clothing she could grasp and hoist her body up on and he had no flab to grab a hold of either. Besides, such an attempt would only add more weight to Theo’s stressed shoulders and arms. Thankfully the crossbeam hung from the branch close enough to the trunk of the tree to make her plan doable. She hoped it would work. She had only this one opportunity to get it right. The noise behind her had risen to a deafening roar of outrage. Dani expected hands to grab her at any minute but none did. They were loathsome to her, these Lowlandians. She thought she would never forgive Maddie or Januise or Brandyn for being a part of this, for just being Lowlandian.

Theo’s boots thumped rhythmically against her chest and back as she ran and when she reached the tree she leaped and grabbed a large knot and found first one than a second foot hold. The ancient tree was full of creases and gashes, millennia of storm damage and the effects of the crossbeams of other crucifixions that had left scars. The instant her hand touched the tree she realized what it was and what it had once been.

Fugharim.

For a milisecond she forgot Theo completely as a spurt of unreasonable, inexplicable outrage shook her. This tree was a living entity. Her head filled suddenly with the voice of the Keeper of the stone. Maybe it was her proximity to the sapphire, maybe it was the tree that made the connection possible, but the surge of energy and the link to the Keeper’s mind zapped her so powerfully she nearly lost her hold on the tree.

Images flashed through her mind: a falling star; a primeval forest; a conflagration; the planet --Mneuthminn -- taking a deep breath; a smoldering bowl shaped basin several hundred miles in diameter and miles deep; a long deep winter; the Brothers sent to Keep watch, to wait. It happened faster than Dani was able to comprehend it, a flash of knowledge embedded in her subconscious to be regurgitated later, examined, dissected and understood.

She pulled herself up until she was level with Theo. She ducked her head to stay below the crossbeam when it swayed around and bumped into the tree again. Another rock struck her leg. She nearly lost her footing. Some fraction of the link with the Keeper remained causing Dani to scream her outrage. It welled up with ferocity from deep in her belly and shook her so thoroughly it could have dropped her out of the tree quicker than had enemy hands grabbed her legs and pulled her down.

“You are all devils.” Unaware, she spoke in the language of the Keeper.

Suddenly Maddie appeared at her feet looking up, her expression a mix of fear and rage.

“Get down from there.”

“You are all devils!” She spoke directly to Maddie looking down over her shoulder her voice shaking with fury, subliminally aware of the incomprehension in Maddie’s eyes. “You are the worst one of all.”

“Dani, you are only prolonging his suffering with this nonsense. Get down now.”

“Liar.”

Prolongiong Theo’s suffering was just what they had intended offering him crucifixion as a punishment choice. They knew he was full of remorse. They knew his ubermench physique meant he would survive the ordeal far longer than any ordinary man. They had counted on it, they wanted him to suffer long and deeply.

The crossbeam swayed out away from the tree during this exchange and Dani lost terrible precious moments waiting for it to swing around again until Theo’s body faced her. At any moment, Maddie could pull her down because her perch was precarious enough.

“I’m sorry Theo, but this is going to hurt.”

As soon as the cross beam swung back again over her head and bumped the tree she twisted her body and looped her right arm over it and the weight of it as it swung out carried her away from the tree and she was suspended in midair briefly hanging from the crossbeam by her arm while her grappling legs passed over Maddie’s head until she finally got them around Theo’s waist. The cross beam began to spin erratically back and forth, bumping the tree and turning and bumping the tree again. Dani feared she would lose her grip or one of the hard bumps would shake her loose, but neither happened. She felt Theo’s abdominal muscles constrict beneath her thighs.

Maddie cried out in protest. “What the devil are you doing!?”

The one arm on the crossbeam supported all her weight plus the weight of the two packs and Theo’s boots. The additional stress of her weight added to his would make his suffering worse so she put it off until the last possible moment when she would, however temporarily, transfer her weight to his body in order to carry out her plan.

“So this is your wish, to slowly suffocate?" She shook her head at him. "You idiot! Pray this works.”

She crooked her left arm around his neck and let go of the crossbeam. Theo’s head came up. His eyes startled, his lips were tinged blue. She slapped her hand to the sapphire, sandwiching it between her hand and Theo’s chest. She made a clear picture in her mind how she wanted the extraction to take place. She hoped that whoever made this strange mode of travel possible (Barb had called it teleportation but the Keepers called it traveling the rift) would have enough wisdom to take Theo but leave the cross beam and the chains behind. She had no means to remove the chains and did not want to fall on the other side and take the chance the beam would crush one or both of them.

She wondered very briefly for the first time and a sharp pang of fear, would they send her all the way back to earth with Theo in tow?

The stone was already very warm. The pain started in her hand and raced up her arm across her shoulders and fled up her neck into her head.

There was a thunderous crash accompanied by the rank smell of ozone and then they were inside the rift and out again so suddenly, there was only time for a brief impression of the scent of night flowers, the Moon and her twins, a wandering thought from Theo, and then they were falling in silence into pitch darkness. In the midst of the fall, Theo had the presence of mind to put his arms around her and turned so that they landed with Dani on top. The blow of the landing knocked them apart and she rolled and bounced for several feet before she came to a skidding stop.

For a moment she struggled to catch her breath, then jubilation sang out in her heart because her plan had worked. The jubilation faded though when her stomach rebelled. She rolled clumsily to her right, dragging the weight of the two packs and Theo’s boots with her and retched. She wished she had not eaten. Her eyes watered. She wiped her mouth with the back of one hand and her eyes with the other hand. She sat up. The darkness was unnerving. No light penetrated from anywhere. She heard water dripping, and further away water rushing, so she thought they were in a cave.

“Theo?”

The hollow echo of her voice was the only answer. She struggled out of her backpack and retrieved her flashlight. She directed the sudden beam of light at her feet and panned left and right. The floor dropped away mere inches from her feet into emptiness. She kicked a few stones over the lip and waited. It took a long time for the pebbles to hit bottom and when they did they answered with a distant splash. It was fortunate for her the floor inclined only a little, if it had inclined more sharply, gravity might have propelled her further and faster, right over the ledge into the deep. Loaded down with the packs she would have drowned, if the fall had not killed her first.

What about Theo? Had he gone over the brink? She layed of her stomach leaned over the precipice, looking for any sign that Theo had fallen but saw nothing but the dark glint of her light playing off the surface of the distant water source. Satisfied that Theo was not down there or nearby Dani hooked her backpack on her arm, turned carefully and crawled up the slope back in the general direction of her fall. She stopped when it leveled off. She swept the beam of light back and forth until she located Theo, flat on his back, his arms and legs spread out. Thank God he was nowhere near the drop off. She hurried to him. She held the light close to his face. The pallor of death hung over him. His complexion was grey. She felt for his pulse. It was weak but steady.

“Theo?"

He was out cold.

She wished she could see more, but there was no obvious source of light beside her flashlight. Judging by the echo produced from every sound her moves or voice made, they occupied a large space. She moved up away from Theo after satisfying herself that none of his visible wounds appeared immediately life threatening. The Lowlandian’s objective, afterall, had been to watch Theo die slowly. It was best to get a look around before she determined what to do next. First she covered Theo with her emergency Mylar blanket. She left the packs and boots with Theo because it was much easier to move around with their weight off her shoulders. Her head hurt, but she did not feel as ill as she had the first time she traveled by rift.

The slope led to a wide area littered with rocky debris where parts of machines, remnants of tools, one crumbling leather boot, a pile of bones – non-human -- and a wide circular space surrounded by stalagmite and stalactites. In the middle of this space there was a huge fire pit and a large supply of wood. There was a nearby water source, a thin stream of water that flowed from a crevice and had worn a narrow groove in the floor until it found another crevice into which it disappeared. Dani tasted the water. It was mineral rich, but looked to be running clear with no obvious pollutants. She made a small fire providing light and producing heat that the cavernous space sucked up before it radiated more than a couple of feet. With light to show the way she returned for the packs and wondered how she was going to move the inert Theo.

During the transfer of their packs to the fire she had an idea.

She laid out her tube tent like a tarp and rolled Theo onto it and keeping him covered with the emergency blanket -- it crackled lightly with every touch and move -- she dragged him to the fire. It took a long time. Once she had him beside the fire her legs and arms were trembling from the physical exertion. She cursed all the fundamental components that had worked to keep her weak and immobile since coming to Haven that her usual physical strengths were way below standard; the new circumstances had put to work a different set of muscle groups and those muscles complained heartily. In addition she suffered frequent mild bouts of stomach cramps and dry heaves.

She took assessment of Theo’s injuries, after catching her breath, while reviving her lagging energy with a long drink of water from her water bottle and with an energy bar that helped settle her stomach. She could see now the wisdom in Theo’s advice to reserve her supplies for an emergency; this situation definitely qualified as an emergency.

From the first she thought there was something wrong with Theo’s face and it took a while for her brain to communicate what the trouble was: his beard was gone. From the smell, she deduced that they had burned it; they must have doused it quickly because his face was not horribly burned. His brows and some of the hair framing his face had got singed. However his skin in spots was lobster red, his lips blistered and half dollar sized burn on his jaw line that was singed black, perhaps where the brand that had torched his beard had rested.

Dani wondered at the cruelty displayed by so-called civilized people.

She soaked a wad of cloth made from one of her undershirts in the icy running water and applied it to the side of his jaw where the worst burns were in an effort to reduce the heat and prevent continued burning.

She had to deal with his bleeding wounds, clean him up and get him into his second skin as quickly as possible. The air in the cavern was damp and chill and while the fire put off heat it did little to dispel the dank atmosphere. In his weakened state he might be susceptible to any number of secondary infections. Her biggest fear was that he would contract pneumonia. She did not know what lasting affects the crucifixion would have on his body, the low oxygen, the high levels of carbon dioxide, but at least his heart beat steady and strong and he was breathing. His arms were crisscrossed with livid blue-purple welts where the chains had been wound around and under those were a myriad of scratches that might have been made by fingernails.

It appeared that his trip from the Pavillion to the Crucifixion tree entailed the abuse of a mob. His body was heavily bruised. There was not an inch on him that was not injured in some minor or major way. At least his bones -- his ankles were heavily bruised and the skin there was rubbed raw -- were sound. His injuries ignited her fury.

She got to work, gathering tools, bandages, ointment and plenty of water from the flowing stream -- she drank the remaining contents of one water bottle and refilled it from the shallow stream and added a water purification tablet. She had no means to heat the water so she hoped no noxious microbes native only to Haven would prove resistant to the tablet.

She worked from his feet up: bathed him; tended his wounds; and struggled his second skin onto him as she moved from wound to wound. She applied a thin layer of the ointment from his amethyst box and stitched the three heavy bleeders. In addition to the arrow wound under his left arm his right thigh was sliced open from the rock and another deep cut slanted across his right forearm. Her stitching was uneven, but she thought her efforts would prevent infection and they would heal with minimal scarring. She didn’t bandage most of the wounds. They had so few bandages. She thought his second skin could serve as a kind of bandage.

Dani washed her hands repeatedly and rubbed antibacterial gel onto them from the small bottle she had in her backpack. The last thing she wanted was to transfer germs from her hands to Theo.

Several times Dani had to stop and turn Theo’s head while he regurgitated bile that foamed on his lips and dribbled across his cheek. It was the after affects of rift travel. Sometimes his body was wracked with shudders, but the vomiting and the shudders died down as time wore on and by the time she was ready to tackle the wound on his cheek, the spasms had stopped.

She used these interruptions to re-soak the cloth and reapply it to his burned jaw.

The badly treated wound under his left eye was red and swollen. She dabbed it with a scrap of bandage. It came away stained with a mix of blood and yellow fluid. She heated the tip of Theo’s blade in the fire, let it cool, rubbed the antibacterial gel over it and used it to cut through the careless stitching. The flesh appeared to be alive at the edges of the wound, but enflamed. She had to pick out the remains of the stitching and that opened new wounds along the turgid ridge. She flushed the wound, soaking another scrap of t-shirt and twisting the treated water into the wound as gently as possible.

Theo stirred and moaned, the first sign of activity in hours, but as glad as Dani was to hear him and see him react, she needed him to stay quiet. She pressed her hand to his forehead and smoothed his hair back the way her mother used to do when she had nightmares. His eyes fluttered open and stared at her blankly. His body shuddered once then stilled. His eyes closed and he was out again.

After she was satisfied that the cleaning had washed away dirt and the oozing infection, she sparingly applied pooke. There was precious little of it left. She left the wound open for the time being to let it drain while she washed his hair.

She poured bottle after bottle of cold water through the filthy strands. It took many trips to the stream but it was worth it to see the bright coppery highlights appear out of the dark cloud of oil, grime and dried blood that had accumulated in the last couple of weeks. In the process she felt several bumps indicating blows to the head he had suffered. Once she was done with the washing she laid out her flannel shirt on her lap and lifted his head into it and gently rubbed his head with the cloth. Between her efforts and the fire, his hair dried quickly.

The last thing to do was to allow the wound on his cheek to drain, so she packed it with a thick wad of bandages (applied with more pooke) that she secured with a long scrap of another t-shirt wrapped around his head, covering his eyes in the process and his broken nose. She tied it. She would re-stitch the wound later, after the infection was under control.

She used more cloth soaked in water to squeeze moisture between his lips. He swallowed reflexively. Dani covered him with the emergency blanket, thinking there had to be a better way to shelter him and accommodate the reflective surface to provide more heat but she was exhausted beyond the ability to come up with a creative solution to the problem. Later. She would deal with it later.

Dani lay beside him pressed close to keep him warm on the side facing away from the fire. His arm was curved over his stomach and Dani rested her arm next to his, linking their fingers from the top of his hand. Warmth radiated out from his body. The suit at least was doing a good job. She fell asleep with her head pillowed on his shoulder.

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Next Chapter: Chapter 24