Red

The small rocky cave Red stood in felt more like the space between massive boulders than the opening to a deep cave. Reggie squatted, unpacking the gear from a large duffle bag, laying its contents out on the floor of the cave. Red scanned the cave with the headlamp on his helmet but didn’t see any indication of life, human or otherwise. “Are you sure no one will mess with my car?”

“Your precious car is under a tree down a dirt road in the mountains of Mexico that no one uses. It’ll be fine. Besides, I paid off the local cartel and no one knows about this entrance. Well...no one above ground anyway. Even those who do know about it won’t use it because, well as you are about to find out, it isn’t a very user-friendly entrance.”

Red picked up a climbing harness from the gear Reggie had unpacked. “And why couldn’t we just use a portal from a different Spader society that Mistress Kreeg hadn’t slammed the door on? The Wreckies have good relations with most of them.”

Reggie looked up at Red, blinding him with his headlamp. “How did you survive this long being so ignorant of the politics of the world?”

Red turned to the side. “Because I stay topside.” And he didn’t like confined spaces, at all. Not that he was going to admit that to Reggie.

Reggie let out an exaggerated sigh. “If they know we are here, we will never find out who grabbed the house, let alone where the Root, Nina, or the kids are. And if we took one of the portals, we would have to go through border control, and they would know we are here. So, the only way we do that is to go in undetected and keep a low profile. Which also means...” Reggie threw a small bundle of material which hit Red in the face, “time to get some ink, as they say in the common vernacular.”

Red pulled the bundle off his face and rubbed the silky material between his fingers. Its airy texture reminded him of very slick pantyhose. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Reggie again looked up, blinding Red with his headlamp. “Strip, put it on, give it a little ESH and voila, you have a full body active tattoo. Oh, and you might want to trim that mustache too, those aren’t in fashion down there.”

The faint patterns in the material featured serpentine figures and stone carvings accented with feathers, gold, and jade highlights. He unrolled it and doodled bird and animal caricatures wound around the leg and waist portion of what was a full body suit. He pressed his lips together annoyed. At least the whole thing looked kind of badass. “I swear Reggie if you are putting me on about this, I’ll beat your ass bloody.”

Reggie threw a climbing harness down and stood up, throwing his hands to his hips. “You know Red, I have done nothing but help you since Lisa was captured. How much intel have I provided to you over the years? Huh? And now I am going on this journey with you, leaving my livelihood and very busy schedule, for you. And you think I’m putting you on.”

A sliver of guilt twisted in Red’s chest. But, screw Reggie. He’d always been an assclown; nothing would ever change with him. “You’re doing this for Lisa, not for me, and I didn’t ask you to come. You took it upon yourself. So don’t act like this is some noble deed.”

“You’re such an asshole, you know that?”

Red smiled. “Coming from you I’ll take that as a compliment.”

The pair continued preparing for their descent in silence. Red stripped and put on the body stocking tattoo as instructed. With a touch of ESH the image transferred to his body. It didn’t even hurt, to his surprise.

Reggie applied his own tattoo to his torso and arms and paired that with a solid black shirt. He held a disposable razor out to Red.

Red shook his head but snatched the razor from him. With a tilt from his canteen, he wet his hands and then his upper lip. He’d had his mustache for decades. It was an extension of him. It was him.

No, it was just facial hair. He took a deep breath and shaved. The scrape of the razor against his course hair almost echoed through the tiny cave. He scraped and scraped, pausing only to rub water on his increasingly naked lip until...it was done. He rubbed his finger over the spot his old friend had been for so long. It was bare-naked and chilly like a bandage had just been removed. He didn’t have a mirror. He sighed he’d have to ask Reggie. “Well, did I get it all?”

Reggie’s light blinded Red yet again. Reggie’s voice beamed with delight, “Look at Mister Handsome over there. I didn’t think you could look so sharp.” He gave Red two exaggerated thumbs up. “Aces!”

Fucking Reggie.

Next, they donned foil thermal suits. Each was equipped with a portable cooling unit built into the belt, sealed helmet, and thick face shield.

Reggie’s voice boomed in Red’s helmet. “Mic check.”

“Yeah, I hear you. So why are we wearing these again?” Red put on his climbing harness and tightened it up.

Reggie did the same. “We are going through the Crystal Cave of Naica, which just happens to sit above Cuāuhtli City, the capital of the empire. It's powered by a magma tube. So, it’s going to get hot, real quick.”

“Okay, but Houston is like 500 miles away.”

“If you know of another entrance to the Cuāuhtli Empire I am all ears. But you don’t, so shut up and let’s get going. The batteries on these suits don’t last forever. Oh, and watch out for the creepy crawlies. They don’t like to be disturbed...and don’t fire any ESH through the suit, you’ll damage it and end up like a bag of steamed veggies.”

Red pulled the straps of his backpack over the cumbersome suit and fastened the belt for his sheathed sword around his waist. It would make reppelling down awkward, but better than being unarmed. “So why do we need the Bizzy Batteries if we’re climbing down? I was saving those for when I went after Lisa.”

Reggie’s snorts came over the microphone into Red’s helmet. “You really are like a little lost lamb in the woods, aren’t you?” Reggie leaned over the edge of the drop, pointing his headlamp downward. There was nothing but cave walls surrounding a black hole that didn’t appear to have a bottom. “You said it yourself, Houston is hundreds of miles away, but the kingdom is still littered with those old gates. We are probably going to need them, assuming they haven’t all been buried.”

Reggie snapped the carabiner onto his haul bag and then another his own harness. He tugged on the rope and anchor point he had fastened to the ceiling of the cave. It didn’t budge. Reggie gestured to the pit. "Age before beauty, plus you have the sword.”

Red adjusted his harness one last time. “Okay, what are creepy crawlies?”

“Oh, don’t worry about them, we probably won’t even see them. But if we do, don’t let them bite the suit. Nothing a big strapping Wreckie mage such as yourself can’t handle.”

Red maneuvered the handle of his sword ensuring it was easily within reach. “You said don’t use ESH in these suits.”

“Well if you’re being attacked you have to defend yourself, duh.” Reggie pointed downward. “Now come, you can ask stupid questions during the descent.”

Fucking Reggie. Red attached himself to a portion lower on the rope than Reggie. He grabbed the line and jumped. The rope slid through his gloved right hand. He squeezed it to slow his descent, bouncing off different rock faces with his feet. The visibility of the visor was good, but looking downward was a bit of a challenge because of the stiff suit. Hanging from a line below Red, a bright lantern lit the way, several body lengths below.

Hanging from a rope in a shiny thermal suit, wearing a climbing harness, with a sheathed sword, wearing a backpack, and a helmet, Red felt like a damn Christmas tree ornament trying to climb down to the bowels of Hell. Still, this wasn’t as weird as fighting off the massive shrimp in Ethiopia. But the day was still young.

Stolen story; please report.

Red checked the external temperature reading on his wrist. It was still a pleasant 77F/25 C. As they continued lower, small pockets of pure white crystals clung to the nooks in the reddish rock. The deeper they went, the more crystals they came across. Another few stories deeper and the crystals started to cover most available surfaces. Lit by the lantern it was almost as if they were in an underground winter wonderland, except instead of snow there were sparkling white crystals. Their descent became a maze of thick crystals as wide as cars crisscrossing their their path. It was beautiful and challenging as they had to focus on not getting their ropes tangled in the jumble.

As they kept descending, the light hanging from the rope below Red revealed a massive room beneath him. At first glance it was probably big enough to fit a small building, not that Red got a good look before his eyes closed involuntarily. The vast space made the hairs on Red’s legs stand up. It was like electricity coursed through his body. His heart thumped in his chest. His hand gripped the rope like his life was about to end. His descent jerked to a stop before the entrance. It’s okay. I’m fine. He slowed his breathing. Stay calm...just breathe. Stay calm...just breathe. Stay—

“Why’d you stop?” Reggie’s annoying voice cut in.

Stay calm...just breathe. “I uh, wasn’t expecting the opening. Do we have enough rope to make it to the bottom of this room?” Stay calm...just breathe. Stay calm...just breathe.

“Oh good, this is the Crystal Palace. We made pretty good time. The rope we have won’t quite make it to the bottom, so I’ll set a new line here. That should be enough to make it to the bottom. Just go down a little further so I can reach a flat rock face.”

Stay calm...just breathe. “Okay,” Red said trying to will his hand to open, but it refused. Come on. Not now.

“Any time now...Remember the suits don’t last forever.”

Red checked the external temperature.135F/57C. His hand clenched even tighter. His neck and shoulder muscles tightened. Why did he look now?

“Oh? Is the big bad Red afraid of a little ole cave?” Reggie mocked, adding a chortle at the end.

“Now is not the time, Reginald.” Red twisted his head trying to relax his neck. He opened his eyes briefly to focus on his hand. He visualized it opening. Relax. You’re fine.

His hand responded finally, and his descent continued. He immediately clamped his eyes shut, that way there was no massive chasm for him to fall to his death. He could do this. He didn’t need his eyes open. There were no walls to bound off anyway. There was nothing around him. Plus, he didn’t dare open them lest his hand decide to clench shut. “Just tell me when to stop.”

“Just a little more,” Reggie replied.

Red focused on his hand staying exactly as it was to maintain this current pace when something tore into his shoulder.

Evan

Evan tensed. He held the beam of the flashlight on the man. He was bare chested and flat on his back with his feet straight up in the air. His chest danced with moving figures. Tattoos. Tattoos that writhed around his body like the scene of a great battle, attacking and fighting each other. The top half of his face was painted black. On both cheeks were images of round masked faces with angry eyes and gritted teeth.

Evan released a sigh. “Those moving tattoos scared the crap out of me.” But his moment of ease vanished. He was still staring at a dead body. This man, good or bad, was alive just a few minutes ago, and now he wasn’t. Evan turned the flashlight away and faced down the tunnel. He didn’t want to look back at his home anymore.

“Hold on,” Nina said setting down the dolly. “I need to check him for anything we might need. I know it may not seem like it, but we are essentially stranded in the woods, far from civilization.”

Evan’s voice was weak as fear choked his words. “How far?”

“I don’t know, but maybe he has a map or something on him that will give us an indication.” She kneeled next to the man. “Light please.”

Evan pointed the light at the dead man but closed his eyes. He couldn’t take it. That was already too many dead bodies he’d seen that day. First the Sovs that had attacked that Nina had dispatched, then the Sov that fell victim to Adelfried’s death barrier, not to mention the blonde-haired man Zarg and Kae had disarmed. Would he make it?

After a minute Nina’s voice was suddenly next to him, calm and soothing. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re going to get through this, right?”

“Right.”

“Here.” Nina handed Evan a reddish-brown handgun. It was heavy, like his dad’s sidearm. His dad had let him help clean it once. Oh, how he wished his dad was here. But this one was rounded and plain, lacking any real indentations or markings. The gun was also rough to the touch, like it was made of stone.

“Is this a like a ray gun made of clay?”

Nina snorted. “Kind of, it’s a pulse pistol. They’re common in Spader Society, capable of knocking someone on their ass. Now I don’t know if you’re going to sap that thing of its energy so here.” She fastened a belt and holster around his waist. “He won’t need any of this.”

Evan turned the gun over in his hand but didn’t see any markings, only a small vent at the back.

Nina pointed to a red nub just above the trigger. “That’s the safety, make sure to press that before you fire. And you know, don’t fire unless you need to.”

Evan slid the pistol easily into the holster. “Do you think I’ll need to?”

Nina shrugged. “I hope not. Now one more thing.” She dug in the pink purse Evan had on his shoulder and pulled out a sharpie. “I need to give you a little decoration, to hopefully make you not stand out as much.”

“Okay...”

Nina started to carefully draw on his cheek. Her face inches from his made his skin tingle. His eyes found hers. She smiled and he almost swooned.

“Don’t move,” she snapped playfully. “I got to make this look real.” She looked back at the man and back at Evan’s face.

“So, what—”

She put her hand on Evan’s mouth. “Shh! No talking.”

The delicate tip of the sharpie tickled and teased his cheek as her intense stare made his heart flutter in his chest. After finishing her drawing, she blew gently on it. Goosebumps sprung up across the length of his body. He never wanted to kiss a girl so badly in his life.

She switched to his other cheek, again her face close to his. Her breath made the hairs on his temple stick up. It was divine torture.

“All done,” she said snapping him out of his daze. “Now what did you want to ask me?”

“I uh...oh, what did you draw?”

“I was copying some of the characters on that man’s chest. This snake like thing and this guy with a staff. Not my best work, but it should hopefully be convincing enough. Now, let’s get moving.”

Nina lifted the end of the dolly and started down the tunnel. He pointed the light ahead of her, but it seemed to go on forever in a straight line. Their footsteps and the squeak of the dolly wheels echoed down the tunnel. They weren’t sneaking up on anyone, that was for sure.

Wait. Where was Zarg? “Zarg? Zarg?” Evan turned the light back on the house and spotted Zarg curled up on a blanket that Adelfried had left for him in his lab. It had fallen out in all of the chaos. “Come on boy, time to go.”

Zarg didn’t move; a sadness smothered him. He didn’t want to leave the smells of his family and his home.

“Look the only way we are seeing Adelfried or anyone else is if we keep going, okay?”

Zarg put his head down.

“Look I tell you what, we can bring the blanket, okay?” Evan tugged on the blanket prompting Zarg to finally get up and head towards Nina. A bitterness filled him, but maybe he understood too. Evan threw the blanket around his neck. “I know, buddy. I know.”

After catching up to Nina, Zarg finally got with the program and took the lead position. He remained on high alert, training his ears and sniffing the air intently.

The tunnel they travelled in was impressive. An extremely hardpacked soil covered the perfectly round tube, like cushioned concrete. Adelfried would be impressed. He did love his materials. Were they okay? Of course they were, he was a wizard, and he had Mistress Kreeg to protect them. Evan just needed to focus on helping Kae. And Nina, of course, not that she would need it. “So, what do you know about these people?”

Nina replied, “If you mean the people who stole the Root, nothing. If you’re referring to Spader society, a little. We are in the Kwatle...quattley, I can never pronounce it, the empire that’s directly descended from the Aztecs. Or as I like to think about it, the modern Aztec empire, that just happens to be completely underground.”

“Wait, so you’re saying there’s a whole civilization living underground?” The thought of it was just so damn interesting, but also crazy. Then again, at the beginning of the summer the idea of real-life wizards was crazy too, and yet they existed.

Nina adjusted her grip on the dolly. “More than a few, actually. But don’t worry, they’re not usually this hostile. If I had to guess, they found out about the Root somehow and that was their target.”

“Yeah, but didn’t you hear them say no survivors?” As Evan said those words fear gripped him by the neck. What were they doing walking towards the people trying to kill them? He stopped.

“We don’t have a choice,” she said without breaking her pace. “If we stay here, Kae...won’t make it. And eventually we’ll run out of food and water.”

Damn it. Evan picked up his pace and caught up.

Nina said, “Don’t worry, I should be able to handle most any Spader’s we come across, if they’re not friendly. But most of them are just people trying to live their life. People are people, ESH or no ESH. We just need to try to not draw attention to ourselves and steer clear of the authorities. Which I’ll be honest will be hard. Dogs are rare down here and almost everyone has some kind of body art. Which for Kae and I shouldn’t be a problem, once we find a place. I just hope people don’t notice yours is just a sharpie drawing. It’s a good thing you are wearing a long-sleeved shirt, that should help disguise you some. Kids don’t usually have that much art yet.”

They continued to walk in silence for several minutes as Evan’s head spun. It was all too much. Underground cities. Aztec empire. Tattoos and body art. Massive tunnels leading up to their house. Someone was trying to kill them. Again.

The purse, weighted down by the water started to dig into Evan’ shoulder. He moved it to his other shoulder and pressed on through the damp air. “And why is it so damn humid in here?”

“Oh yeah, it’s a steam driven society. Can’t exactly run gas engines down here, we’d all suffocate from the fumes. Plus, electrical devices are easily corrupted or controlled by ESH. Don’t worry, they’re not like stuck in the past. They have everything we have topside, it's just most of their society is powered by steam and geothermal energy. Their capital, as I recall, is situated right near a magma chamber. All the free energy you would need to power a society that’s entire economy is based on hunting ESH diamonds. Crazy, huh?”

Evan felt tension build in Zarg. He shined the flashlight to right and found Zarg standing still staring straight ahead.