Dani knew Theo shifted from his unconscious state into natural sleep when the white prairie dress dream returned and she woke with the usual spurt of long forgotten or suppressed memories and the sound of Theo mumbling in his sleep. She knew he was out of danger when he woke and asked in a raspy voice for water. 

By then Dani had explored the cavern and found a way to the surface. A narrow steep stair step was carved into the inside wall that opened into a small cave with a narrow opening that let in bright daylight. The bright light of day hurt her eyes at first but they quickly adjusted. The air in the upper cave stirred with a draft from outside that was warm and balmy, even a little humid. 

There was another fire pit, a much smaller one and there again was a stack of wood nearby, not nearly as old as the pile down below. She made a quick assessment of the chamber, seeing immediately it was a better shelter than the one in the belly of the hill. Its only drawback was there was no immediate source of water. The cave opened out onto a wide ledge that overlooked a thick forest. The ledge was high up on the slopes of a mountain, high enough that she could look out across the rough top of the canopy. 

 The first order of business was to provide better shelter for Theo so she spent some time in the near forest on the mountain’s steep slopes searching for branches long and strong enough to serve as tent poles. Less natural light made it through the densely packed Fughari and the canopy undulated with the opalescent shimmer even in daylight adding a disorienting liveliness to the shadows of the thick forest growth. It played tricks on her eyes and after a lengthy search with the poles she needed in hand she thankfully returned to the cavern to tackle the problem of constructing with her tube tent and the emergency blanket, combined with the poles, a shelter that would act as a buffer against the damp air of the cave and at the same time radiate heat into the tent. 

The cavern environment’s only support structures were the stalactites and stalagmites or the cavern wall, but none were positioned near the fire pit and there was not enough space between the mineral deposits for a tent except the space where the entrance to the fire circle was accommodated. For practical and safety reasons Dani decided it unwise to block that space. Her only other option was to drill holes in the floor to support her tent poles. She used Theo’s rock collecting tools: a pike and a steel hammer. 

The work of boring holes in the rock floor of the cave kept her awake and when sleep overtook her, as it inevitably did, she was so bone tired she slept like a rock. Sleep was to be avoided as much as possible. She did not want to give the King another chance to probe her brain looking for information that was none of his business. 

 Before she inserted the poles or raised the tent she had to move Theo. 

 She decided finally that Theo’s needs outweighed his privacy and quickly, but carefully removed the contents of his haversack. The garments at the bottom of Theo’s bag appeared to be religious vestments. These were wrapped in a green cloak made of light weight wool that was soft and certain to be warm. It would do. She removed the cloak; the rest of the garments she carefully returned to the bag. Dani put the emergency blanket aside and got the cloak under Theo and used it to drag him straight off the tent. During the move in spite of being dragged across the uneven floor Theo never stirred. She helped herself to some water before tackling the work of getting the tent up, arranged the tent so that it opened facing the fire. At the back she attached the Mylar sheet and immediately the air inside the tent warmed. By the time she had Theo back inside the tent and covered with the cloak she curled up beside him and slept, overcome with exhaustion. 

 When she woke she heard Theo muttering. 

“Corners like it’s on rails,” he said in flawless English, echoing her very thoughts in response to a memory of driving her Geo Storm on South Stream Road from Bennington to Pownal on the day Ethan had sold the car to her for $1,000 dollars. It had belonged to Aunt Birdie’s Great-Aunt Tildie, who had bought it new in ’93 and drove it around town until her death at the age of 99 in 2004. It was still like new and had under a thousand miles on it. Great-Aunt Tildie had not got out often, but she had doted on her “sports car.” Ethan had talked his parents into selling it to Dani as a graduation gift, cheap, and they had happily agreed. 

 She quickly backed out of the tent and stared, not at Theo, but at the dark winking blue of the sapphire.

 She busied herself at the fire – much smaller and more manageable now that the tent was rigged with the reflective emergency blanket. Only after her thumping heart quieted did she dare return to Theo. His wounds were healing nicely. His jaw was shadowed with the stubble of his returning beard, except the scabbed over burn spot on his jaw that had cracked open. The blisters on his lips had scabbed over and were healing quickly. Dani squeeze water into his mouth and applied the last of the pooke to the burn; it worked better than the triple anti bacterial ointment. The skin on his face had blistered and now it was peeling. Between that and the scar under his eye and hi newly arranged nose, he looked awful though most of the swelling and the redness in the cut under his eye was diminished. 

While Theo slept, Dani made short trips to the forest to gather wood from the nearby slopes. She could never tell until she got up to the top what time of day it was. On one trip it was night and she sat on the ledge and conjugated verbs in French while she enjoyed the flaring colored lights in the Fugharim until the cold started to seep into her bones. On other trips she looked for any natural resources that could be commandeered and put to practical use. (These she stored in the upper level cave.) She set two traps. She located a water source: a waterfall that tumbled recklessly down the steep incline of the mountain a few meters into the forest. Getting water from the source to the new shelter posed a problem. Her water bottles and Theo’s bowl and cup were not inadequate. 

 She discovered a log that when hollowed out looked big enough that it could be used as a bucket. She carried it back down to the cavern and sat beside the fire, using Theo’s pick to chop the interior meat of the log, and then hollow it out scraping with a wide circular slice of obsidian. She put the chips and shavings aside, to be taken back to the top later. The small bits and pieces of wood would make excellent kindling. 

Whittling kept her hands busy, but it left her mind free to wander. In the quiet of the cavern, the distant echo of water flow and the drip-drip-drip of mineral water was the only accompanying voice to her lonely thoughts. Her mind chased after unreachable answers to questions she could barely formulate. Why had Mama abandoned her? What about that letter? She struggled to remember had there been a letter with the box in the days following Mama’s sudden disappearance? Why had Maris changed so drastically and was it her fault? What motivated Theo? What was a Bond? Why did the sapphire frighten her so profoundly? How would she ever get Mama back home when her fear of it grew more profound every day?

 She wished Theo would wake up but that only started her worrying about how to get him to the top. 

When her wandering thoughts became too much for her she put the bucket aside and picked up the Psalter and read it aloud to Theo. The meaning of it was mostly incomprehensible to her, but all the same, somehow, it gave her comfort. She was sitting beside him, holding his hand and reading from the Psalter when he finally woke. 

“Danielle?” 

She immediately leaned in close to his face, gripping his hand. Her fingers were calloused and a blister had formed on her thumb from gouging out the bucket with the half-moon sliver of obsidian. It stung when her hand connected with his. His free hand came up and clawed at the bandage that covered his eyes. She pushed his hand away from his face. 

“Leave it.” She said. “Your wound was infected and I had to open it up and let it drain. Its healing nicely, but you’ll tear the new stitches out if you don’t leave it alone. How are you feeling?” 

For an answer he sat up and at the same time he pushed the bandage off and gingerly prodded the scar under his eye while he glared at her. She had anticipated this and welcomed his anger because sparring with Theo was preferable to being alone with her thoughts. His head bumped into the tent. He took in the shelter and what lay beyond which was the small fire and the greater darkness of the huge cavern. 

“Where are we?” 

“In a cave, deep in a mountain, the Lone Mountain, I think. There is a smaller cave near the surface that is warm and dry. It’s open to the summer breeze. We will move you there as soon as you are ready, before you are ready if I can think of how to get you up all those steps.” 

“Steps?” 

She poured treated water into his cup and handed it to him. 

 “Drink.” 

He drank greedily. 

“It tastes odd.” 

“That would be from the water purification tablet. Don’t worry its perfectly harmless.” 

He lifted an eyebrow but did not pursue the topic further. “How did we get here?” 

“The Stone brought us here." 

 “Why did you do it?” He whispered. 

“Don’t you know?” 

He shook his head. 

 What would it take to make him understand that he was important to her? She was furious, but she kept her answer neutral. 

 “You are my friend. I could not just stand by and let them kill you. “ 

“You still believe in my innocence?” 

She answered him bluntly to disabuse him of that idea. “You raped Ruby.” 

 He turned his head away. “Yes.” “

How could you?” It seemed to Dani that rape was about the most un-Theo-like behavior; beyond comprehension. 

“I was not exactly at my best.” It was a callous comment buffered only by the bitter self recrimination in his voice. There was no consolation in his answer and even less in his voice. 

“Bad,” Dani said at risk of sounding callous now too. “But certainly not bad enough to warrant the death penalty. Why did you choose it? Why did you give up? I can see you wanting to get away from me; but how could you give up on your promise to Anthony?” 

Sitting up, even for such a short duration had already sapped all his energy and he laid back and murmured just before he slipped into another slumber. “I did it for you.” 

 When Theo woke again later they ate roast quibshift and onion from a bunch Dani had dug up from under a leaning Wooknut sapling. He chugged water between bites. After, when he finally noticed his blanket was Anthony’s cloak he stared at it in silence but said nothing else about it. He examined the tent and studied the emergency blanket and its shimmering surface. 

She said nothing about his last devastating comment. 

 “Where are my clothes?” He looked around, suddenly aware that some of his things were missing. “Where is my pack?” 

 After Theo exhausted himself taking inventory of all the supplies Dani had left behind to save him, she left him sleeping and climbed to the upper chamber where it was daybreak and returned shortly to put together a simple breakfast of fresh berries and a fish that she caught, cleaned, filleted and then cooked on a flat rock beside the fire. She woke Theo and after he quickly devoured the scant meal he started complaining again. 

“You should not have interfered.” He said.

 “And let you die? Then what would become of me?” The funny farm was what, she thought, a visit from the men in white coats with a straightjacket and a long needle attached to a vial full of the sort of anti-psychotic cocktail that produced drool. 

Theo blinked. “You are about as likely to be institutionalized as I am likely to tell you about Anthony.” 

Her worst fear realized, Dani retorted. “Stop reading my mind.” 

“If only I could. You should have let me die. It was the only sure way to sever this bond.” 

“There has to be another way.” 

“The only other way is for you to take the Sapphire back, but since you fear it more than I do, that is not likely to happen.” 

She looked at him helplessly. How was it her fault? Was she to blame that the King gave her a magical jewel and never bothered to explain to her the consequences of putting it on? Suddenly, seemingly without provocation Theo’s temper erupted. 

“You should not have put the Stone around my neck.” 

That’s what she was to him, she thought, a millstone around his neck. Then her anger kicked in. 

 “You should not have stolen it!” 

“I did not steal it.” 

“Oh? You just borrowed it, I suppose? You let me think I was trapped here. You let me think it was lost for good and I had no hope of returning home.” 

“You knew I had it all along.”

“No.” She did not even bother to yell at him for reading her mind. 

“I do not need to read you mind to know this, Danielle; it became evident that you knew I had the Medallion when you stopped fretting about it. 

“From the moment you put that thing on you were bound to its Keeper. It draws you, but you resist it. Your desire for me, this show of loyalty, is nothing more than your need to restore your Bond to the Stone, except that desire is eclipsed by your fear of it.” 

“No!” She said again, more forcefully. Though his accusation made no sense at all it still bore the ring of truth. How could she be afraid of a thing, this object of beauty, this Stone of Power? Was the power behind it what frightened her? 

“When you transferred the Stone to me, you put me in the middle of that bond. I am not trained for this. I do not know what I am doing. It takes years of training to prepare an In Between. You should take this stone back, Danielle. Go to the foot of the mountain where the King’s guard certainly awaits you and let them take you to the King’s mountain where you belong. The King and his people will know where to find a skilled Thrithing’s practitioner.” 

She wished, oh how she wished she could read his mind and see why he had taken the stone in the first place. At the very least she deserved to know the reason. As far as she was concerned that unexplained detail lay at the heart of everything they had gone through since they met. But the bond only worked one way; she could not read his mind. It was so unfair. She was at a severe disadvantage. She could no longer keep Theo guessing about how much she knew about Anthony, there would be no keeping him off balance. He had the upper hand. He was in control. 

But worse than that, Theo seemed to think she had no feeling for him at all and she knew her love for him was real. She was a true friend and even without the complication of the Thrithing’s Bond and his crimes she would have risked everything to save him from the Crucifixion Tree. All he could think about was what a burden she was and after she had come so close to reuniting with Mama but instead had put his safety first. She threw herself at him with a snarl and with her fists flying. 

How dare he think so little of her. 

Even in his weakened state, Dani was no match for him. In very quick order he had her legs pinned beneath one leg and his two arms wrapped around her middle and her arms trapped beneath them. She waited for the scolding, for the rebuke that tantrums will not be tolerated, but he only spoke her name, in a tired and gruff whisper. 

“Danielle. Danielle. I sought not to rid myself of you, but to rid you of me.” 

After she stopped struggling he whispered in her ear. “It will be all right. I will not leave you. I will not leave you to deal with this alone.” He must have spoken to some deeply hidden fear she knew nothing about because his promise cut her to the core, her throat tightened and great sobs erupted and poured out tears of anguish so powerful her body shook under its power.

Next Chapter: Chapter 26