Indi turned around just in time to see Amanda disappear. She heard a vague thud and a sharp crack from somewhere below but she couldn’t be sure exactly how far down it was.

A chill ran up her spine as she stared down the rock slope. Her light only shone so far and the cave was unnaturally silent without the sounds of their climbing about.

Indi wasn’t sure what to do at first. She tried to be calm, just as Amanda had instructed her when she’d been stuck earlier. Calm was a good approach but calm was also very difficult advice when one’s friend had just fallen down into a dark abyss. What was the practical solution? Rope ideally, but they didn’t have any of that. Radio, except they didn’t have one of those, at least she didn’t, maybe Amanda did? Her phone didn’t have reception this far out. That was more important for rescue though and Cat and Kass would be back in a day or two anyway. What if Amanda needed medical attention now? She could drop a first aid kit down but what if she was unconscious or couldn’t move?

It only took a few seconds for Indi’s brain to run though a large range of options. Indi was starting to wonder about the stability of the rock she was on when she heard a voice swear from down in the darkness.

“Amanda?” Indi yelled down hesitantly then scolded herself for being silly, of course it was Amanda, who else would it be?

“Yup,” a voice that was distinctively Amanda’s half yelled, half winced back

“Are you alright?” Indi asked.

Indi watched as a small light appeared down below her. She couldn’t see Amanda but she could now see that the rock sloped down to an edge and then it looked like there was a vertical drop beyond that. Amanda was somewhere below that lip, and seemingly not too far, but Indi couldn’t see how far down without getting closer.

There was a short pause, and then Amanda yelled back up, “I think my leg’s broken.” She sounded like she was in pain.

“Do you want me to come down?”

She heard Amanda give a short laugh and then a reply. “I think that might be difficult, Indi.”

“Do you want me to throw the first aid kit down?”

“I’ve got one down here in my bag.” Amanda was silent for a bit then shouted back up, “There’s a river of water next to me, I think it might be connected to that pool we saw earlier. It makes it a bit hard to throw anything down though, there’s a good chance it ends up getting wet. At least the temperature’s pretty constant underground. We might need to wait until Cat and Kass get back with the rope.”

“That could take ages.”

Amanda didn’t reply and Indi knew she was thinking about the same thing.

“Are you bleeding?” Indi asked. She could hear some noise from Amanda moving around, some shuffling of clothing and the scratching of pebbles and dirt.

“Well the bones not sticking out so that’s something at least.”

Indi heard Amanda give a wince.

“I don’t think anything else is hurt.” Amanda yelled back up.

“What are we going to do?” Indi asked.

“I don’t know, wait it out I guess.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come down?”

“How exactly are you going to do that?”

“I don’t know, maybe there’s another way down. You said you think it’s connected to that other pool.”

“I don’t know that for sure,” Amanda replied, “and a way down doesn’t necessarily mean a way up, you wouldn’t be able to climb out of where that pool was.”

“What about downstream?”

“The water flows further along a tunnel, I can’t see how far or if there’s even air that way, it looks like it might go under the rock. I think it’s better you stay up there, then you can show Cat and Kass where I am. The last thing we need now is for you to wander off and get lost or injured as well.”

Indi was quiet for a moment while she thought about what she could do. It didn’t seem right to just sit here and wait while Amanda was down there in the dar...

“Hey Amanda?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you using your fire for light?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened to your torch?”

“I just wanted more of a wide visual.”

“Is that wise?”

“I’m reasonably efficient but I’ll turn it off in a bit anyway.”

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“You’ve got the day pack right?” Indi asked.

“Yup.”

“How much food did you put in it?”

“Enough. I won’t starve before the others get back”

Amanda sounded calm but Indi was still worried. It wasn’t so much the starving, well it sort of was, using magic used energy. Using too much magic could speed up all sorts of nasty things like starvation, dehydration, or hypothermia. Sometimes entire people just imploded. Regular eating and keeping hydrated helped prevent the negative effects of magic overuse, although it wasn’t a guarantee. Either way Indi never liked to be without food so she hated when others were as well. Once back in high school her friend, Jackie had convinced her to try this crazy new diet which meant going without food until evening. Indi had fainted in gym class before they’d even made it to lunch.

“I could make a rope,” Indi suggested.

“Out of what?” Amanda asked.

“I could find some thin bendy branches. Probably not strong enough for you to climb up on but I could lower some food down?”

“That might work. If you can find something to tie it to I could probably make a rope strong enough to climb out on. There was some flax around, just get a bunch of that stuff.”

“Cool,” Indi said to herself then paused and frowned. She yelled back down to Amanda. “I’m gonna have to wait until it’s dark though.”

“That’s alright, I’m good here, we can chat.”

Indi glanced around herself. It wasn’t the comfiest spot. She couldn’t exactly sit down. Further along and just down the slope a little way there was a large foot hold that looked big enough to sit in comfortably. She considered going back and getting some food first but she didn’t want to leave Amanda just yet. She wanted to make sure she was actually okay. It was very much like Amanda, and Cat and Kass too for that matter, to just brush of injuries that they really should give more attention to. Unless it was someone else’s injury and then Amanda would always take things seriously. She never overdid it though which Indi appreciated.

“What shall we chat about?” Indi shouted down as she moved over to the makeshift seat, too many ideas instantly coming to mind.

“I don’t know, we could play a game?” Amanda paused as she thought.

“How about twenty questions?” Indi suggested.

“Or truth or dare” Amanda replied then added quickly, “actually no, in this place that’s a terrible idea. Twenty questions is good.”

“Okay, I have a thing, you guess.”

“Animal, mineral, or vegetable?” Amanda asked.

“Animal”

“Is it bigger than a horse?”

“Uhh, maybe,” Indi paused. “I think so, yes.”

Amanda chuckled. “Okay, um, is it a dragon?”

Indi laughed. “You’re guessing too early. No, it’s not a dragon.”

“A tiger?”

“No,” Indi laughed again then more seriously asked, “Are tigers bigger than horses?”

“Some are. Is it a bear?”

Indi went quiet then answered “Kind of.”

“A polar bear?”

“How’d you get that so fast?”

“There’s not that many animals bigger than a horse and you did just say ‘kind of’ to the bear question.”

“What! Yes there are, there’s deer and antelope and all sorts of things.”

“Antelope are smaller, so are deer,” Amanda replied then added, “except Elk and Moose, but I didn’t think you’d think of them.”

“What about unicorns?”

“They’re the same size. I was going to guess whales next.”

“Hmm, there’s miniature horses. Lots of things are bigger than them.”

“I think if you say bigger than a horse it implies the average sized horse. Anyway it’s my turn.”

“Arh fine,” Indi replied not mad at all but just putting on a show.

They played a few more rounds before they got bored and the conversation shifted to another topic.

“Did you say Sirius was looking after the farm this weekend?” Indi asked.

“Yup.”

“He’s not working?”

“He’s got a shipment that leaves Tuesday, then he’s away for a week, back mid-week the week after.”

“What’s he shipping?”

“I’m not sure what most of this one is, a local distiller’s got a bunch of rum he wants shipped down the coast.”

“You don’t go with him.”

“I used to sometimes. I do occasionally for short trips or if we’re moving horses. I’ve got a friend up north who brings in unicorns occasionally.”

“Brings in unicorns? Like he captures them? From the wild.”

“Sometimes, sometimes from breeders, there are a lot of regulations and restrictions on capturing them in the wild. I mostly trust him, you can’t always check though but we generally try to buy and sell to good people.”

“What do you mean generally?”

Amanda was quiet for a moment. “Sometimes money’s tight and the other offers are too good to pass up.”

“Other offers? Like people kill them?”

“Yeah, for the horns and the meat, the coat, mane, hooves...”

“To eat?”

“For magical properties mostly?”

“Is that real?” Indi had heard rumours but she wasn’t sure what the truth was.

“The horns yeah, the meat not so much but people have hard time letting go of myth, and the rest I have no idea. You can actually harvest the horn dust harmlessly but it’s difficult and time consuming, you need a tame unicorn for that. A few of the people we sell to are in that business and sometimes the training is the main part of what we sell to them, others are just filthy rich and want a fancy pet. I don’t often deal in unicorns though, they’re a pain in the butt, even if they are worth a bit. I actually had a unicorn try to set me on fire once.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad given your powers.”

“You would think,” Amanda replied with the implication it had been worse than it sounded. “They are tricky beasts.”

“I am both surprised and unsurprised that people eat them or that it’s legal to.”

“It’s not everywhere, and you’ll get more for them in those places, but it’s not really that different from eating cattle.”

“Unicorns are smart though,” Indi protested.

“Cattle are pretty smart.”

“Yeah but ...” Indi trailed off, “I guess, but you know I’m definitely okay with eating sheep because sheep are dumb as...” Indi trailed off again trying to think of a good word, eventually she just summed it up with, “you know.”

“You know I’m pretty sure I’ve met some sheep that can outsmart a few people I know,” Amanda chuckled.

Indi laughed in agreement. “Eugh, I am definitely never eating people though, humans or witches.”

“You’ve just never been hungry enough,” Amanda teased.

“And I never shall be,” Indi declared. “You’ve never eaten human or witch meat right?”

Amanda didn’t reply.

“Amanda? You haven’t right?”

Amanda chuckled and replied, “that’s classified.”

“You haven’t? I don’t believe you,” Indi replied but she sounded doubtful.

Amanda laughed. “I’ve had rat meat before, they’re pretty smart, it’s actually pretty good meat too.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I thought we were on the subject of food.”

“Yeah but ... you know I’m kind of getting hungry, I have actually tried rat before, not that I want it now.”

“Freak,” Amanda teased.

“Are you hungry?”

“I’ve got a couple of muesli bars here, you can go back and get some food if you want, just be careful not to slip or anything.”

“You’ll be alright here?” Indi asked.

“Yeah no worries. Are you comfortable where you are up there? You don’t have to stay nearby if you’re not.”

“Yeah, no I’m fine, I found a good seat.” Indi pulled herself up and climbed further up the rock so she could carry on back to the packs. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

“Okay, don’t rush or anything.”

“I’ll be careful,” Indi reassured her.