Chapter 18: I'm Fine

Corin Entered his office briskly. His calm demeanour broke every now and then in the form of a hidden clenched fist or a silent sigh. He had full faith in both Alice and Eli, but the old man couldn’t help but worry about his granddaughter and the boy. He silently cursed the fact that he couldn’t remain by the door they had gone through, but he had business to conduct. He pressed himself into his chair and braced for impact.

The doors of his office flew open revealing a fat man in a suit. His real chin was indistinguishable from all the others, his facial features were all too small for his bloated face, and his hair, so thin you could see skin beneath, was pasted to his forehead by all is bodily oils and sweat. “Corin!” his voice sounded like he hadn’t fully swallowed what he was previously eating.

“yes,” Corin answered, succeeding in concealing his rising frustration.

“All my superiors are having a fit and you’re here, what, slacking off.” The fat man waddled closer and dropped himself in a chair.

“I have some trustworthy people on the job,” Corin assured.

“I don’t care if you trust them. What if they don’t succeed. Tell me the contingency.”

“What do you mean?” Corin’s demeanour was slipping.

“I mean what if, I don’t know, they die. What’s the contingency?”

” Contingency?” Corin words were dark, “There is no contingency. They’ll get it done.”

“And as I said, that hardly matters.” The fat man’s lips continued to move but Corin heard nothing. He rose out of his chair and slammed his hands on his desk. The resultant thunder made the fat man jump.

“Get. Out.” Corin made sure to annunciate each word, his voice was low and menacing.

“Y-you maestro’s are all the same.” The fat man staggered through the door, “Criminals with licenses is all you are.” he said as he waddled away. Corin watched as the doors shut. He turned to the window.

“See, old friend,’ He murmured to himself. “I never said you were wrong.”

***

After seeing the open wounds on Alice’s neck Eli reached into his knapsack and pulled out a small unmarked jar with a clear gel inside. The gel glowed and steamed when he applied it to the wound, soon all damage was gone. “Wow, that’s some good stuff,” Alice while fingering where her skin was torn.

“Yeah, Corin said it he got it from Dibella.”

“Dibella!” Alice sounded surprised, “You’re using a healing gel from Dibella. Do you know how much you could sell that for?”

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“Does it matter? I think we need this more than money right now.”

“I guess you’re right,” Alice conceded upon remembering the pain she was just cured of. They sat and talked for a bit longer. Then they realized that they were doing nothing but delaying the inevitable. They rose and marched forward.

Even with Eli’s lantern, the passage was darker than ever before and only made the pair uneasy. Staring into the darkness Eli could have sworn he saw something move. of course, his first assumption was that the caves were playing tricks on his mind again, so he turned to Alice, and much to his surprise, she was staring into the darkness as intently as he was.

“What is it?” he asked her.

“I don’t know, it’s almost like something’s there.”

Eli looked back into the darkness, worried that whatever it was he was seeing was actually there. Suddenly, a tingle ran from the tip of his tail up his spine when pairs of lights opened up in the darkness. A small imp-like thing leapt out of the shadow and grabbed onto Eli who swat it away. More leapt out of the darkness, Their movements were crazy and hyperactive. They jumped all about with screeches and giggles. Eventually, they returned to the darkness as quickly as they appeared. Eli looked down at himself, other than being a bit disheveled he was unharmed. With a grin, he turned to Alice, but that grin quickly disappeared. Alice was on her knees gripping her right wrist. Blood dripped from her gripped hand through her clenched fist.

“Alice!” Eli’s eyes widened as he dashed to his friend’s side. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Alice said, sucking air through her teeth. “Got any more of that gel?” she asked light-heartedly. Eli hung his head.

“No, I used it up on your neck,” he said. “But we probably should treat it either way.” He reached in his bag and pulled out a bottle of water and used to rinse Alice’s wound. “Right, now all we need are bandages.”

“I have that covered,” Alice beamed as she pulled her sketchbook out and manifested a roll of cloth. Eli took it and dressed her wrist. Once again the pair moved on, but something was different. Firstly Alice wasn’t talking as much, and little by little, Eli had to slow down his progression to match Alice’s pace. Eventually, they had to come to a full stop when Alice doubled over to puke.

“I think we should stop,” Eli said.

“No I’m fine,” Alice assured, though she wasn’t very convincing on since her skin was pale and pasty. It glistened with cold sweat, and a horrid pattern of black green marks grew from under her bandages.

“No, you’re not,” Eli insisted.

“Eli, honestly, I’m fine, and it’s not like we can turn back.”

Eli knew she was lying. Her hair was pasted to her forehead from all the sweat that had been pouring out of her. Her eyes were dazed and her skin only got worse. Eli furrowed his brows. he wanted to argue more but there was no talking to her when she was like this. Besides she had a point, it’s not like they could turn back. Without waiting for Eli’s rebuttal she rose to her feet then immediately fell back down.

“You sure about this?” Eli asked.

“Yes,” she said as she rose back to her feet, determined to not fall back down.

Eli watched as his friend struggled to put one foot in front of the other. He wanted to turn back, to get help, but considering how far they’ve gone, that wasn’t an option. Alice trembled as she walked, occasionally staggering. When she did, Eli would catch her. His conviction slowly faded. For some reason, upon entering, he had an inexplicable feeling he was moving in the right direction, even with all the twists, turns and forks. But now it felt like he was walking in circles and Alice looked like she couldn’t walk at all.

His worries were halted when he saw movement in the darkness. He turned to Alice to see if she saw it too but in her condition, it probably took all her focus to just stand straight and walk. The darkness moved again, this time accompanied by pairs of glowing lights and an all too familiar sensation from the tip of his tail. Again, the pair was bombarded by troops of the imps. Jumping, scratching, and shrieking all about.

Eli wasn’t about to back down. He lost his temper and let out a ferocious fight which seemed to scare the imps away. Out of breath, he turned to Alice, but his stomach sunk when he realized she was gone.