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197 - Nothing

Finding Kalikose was only half the battle. Faris’s maps showed the theoretical location of the lost city, not its contents. Accessing the underground district required a still-functioning gateway. And they needed to find it quickly, before the enemy reformed rank and swooped in to collect them. Alas, the only way to find a gateway was to go looking for it. Meaning that, even after nearly three days on the run, there would be no stopping. Just go, go, go until they either found the stairway or dropped dead trying.

Faris insisted they could rest once they were underground. Worn to bone, exhausted, and tempers flaring left and right, Rasp feared it would only be a matter of time before the others got fed up enough to put Faris in the ground, six feet under. Metaphorically, of course, as nobody had the reserves to dig a damn grave. Hop was already on the brink of no return, with June not far behind.

It didn’t help that every time June made a suggestion, her idea was shot down almost immediately. On the other hand, it probably would’ve helped had she offered sound suggestions and not moronic dribble such as:

“We should split up.” June slogged down yet another overgrown alleyway, pulling Rasp with her. He’d lost track of how many they’d searched so far. This one, like all the others before, was proving fruitless.

“No,” Hop and Faris chorused together. Although the two butted heads like mountain goats establishing dominance, they at least agreed that splitting up was a terrible idea.

“We’d be able to cover more ground,” June insisted. “Plus, we’re losing the light here. It’s going to be dark soon. Without night vision, you’re all going to be useless.”

“I was already useless,” Rasp reminded her ever-so-helpfully.

“We’re stronger as a unit,” Faris said.

June was ready with a snappy retort. “You know what would make us even stronger? Finding the damn stairway.”

Faris must have been worn down beyond belief because he folded the argument and issued a long, regretful sigh instead. “Fine, go ahead if you want. But stay within hearing, alright?”

“Finally, thank you.” June’s grip tightened on Rasp’s arm as she started off with fresh vigor in her step. “Oh, and by the way, I’m taking this one with me.”

“What?” Rasp squirmed for all he was worth to get away. Unfortunately, his sister had strength on her side, and dragged him along in her wake regardless. “Unhand me! I didn’t ask for this.”

“Really? You’d rather stay with them?” For the first time in days, June managed to sound something other than angry. Her tone practically dripped with amusement. “Granted, I don’t know what that tall fucker can do other than hide, but I know Faris can’t fight for shit. I’d take my chances with the bear, if I were you.”

Strangely, that actually made sense. Rasp ceased his futile struggle and fell in step beside her. “While you raise a good point, I fail to see what you get out of this.”

“You would fail to see that, wouldn’t you?”

“Hey! I’m allowed to make blind jokes, not you. We’re not that familiar yet.”

Too tired to lift his heels all the way, Rasp’s aching feet dragged through the patches of overgrown grass. The soft soil compacted underfoot, stirring the sweet smells of grass and soil into the air. Rasp kept his ears open and his head held to the side. If something gave Faris and Hop trouble, he didn’t want to be caught unaware.

“Then I guess this’ll give us a chance to get familiar, won’t it?” June said.

Rasp wasn’t convinced. He might have said as much as well, except the unnerving tickle on the back of his neck was back in full force. It spread from the neck down, lifting every hair on end, warning something was amiss. His surroundings were nothing more than a continuous green and gray blur, but he scanned the towering moss-riddled walls anyway, all while listening for something out of place.

“I saw what you did to that witch when Faris and I were under attack.” June continued talking, unaware of Rasp’s sudden bout of the heebie-jeebies. “If I’m going to be dragging someone else’s weight around, it might as well be the guy who can obliterate an opponent with a wave of his hand.”

Once more, Rasp’s search came up empty. He smoothed down the hairs on the back of his neck with his free hand, muttering, “So you admit it then. You are scared.”

“Fuck yeah. This place is giving me the creeps.”

Rasp chewed his lip, unsure of how much he wanted to share. The group already was on edge. And, despite the rough and tumble front June had been putting on, apparently even she was having reservations about traipsing through haunted ruins. “So,” he started, struggling to keep his tone casual, “do you feel it too, then?”

June stopped in her tracks. “Feel what?”

“Like someone’s watching us?”

She uncurled her arms from his and took a step back. “Shit, Rasp. Read the damn room. If you are fucking with me right now, I’m going to–”

“I’m serious.” He held his hands away from his body, palms out in the universal sign of ‘please don’t punch me’. She refrained, which Rasp took as his cue to keep talking. “Ever since we got here I’ve had this feeling like, I don’t know, we’re not alone, maybe?”

“Oh my gods,” June groaned. “This is how it starts, you know. First it’s a feeling, and then you start hearing things, and, before you know, the furniture starts moving on its own accord–”

Her rant was cut short as a part of the wall gave away only paces from where they stood. The collapse was small. Over almost as swiftly as it had begun. Rasp fanned the dust away from his face and sniffed, noting the sweet fragrances of grass and dirt paled against the sudden stench of stale air.

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Despite her choice of words, there was no anger in June’s voice. The same could not be said for fear. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Rasp reached for her. Partly because he wanted to get closer and needed a working set of eyes to do so, but also because the panic in June’s voice indicated she was mere seconds from bolting back the way they’d come — with or without him. Rasp’s fingers made contact with her wrist and worked their way upwards, cinching themselves tightly around her elbow. He urged her forward with his knee and was pleasantly surprised when she refrained from kicking him back.

“Feel free to clue me in here any time now, sis,” he said. “The suspense is killing me.”

“The wall next to us just opened? I mean, not that it was really much of a wall, more like a mound of rubble, but anyway, now there’s sort of a hole where there wasn’t and……” June’s voice trailed as she edged them closer.

Rasp heard the sharp intake of air through her nostrils. “And?”

“Stairs.”

“Is it just me, or does that seem convenient? Like, too convenient.” Rasp wanted to stop but his mouth was on a roll and it would say it’s piece, in full, whether he wanted to hear it or not. “We’re looking for a hidden gateway with stairs to the underground and, what do you know, one creepy feeling later, and it appears!”

Unless of course the stairs were to something else, which then rendered all of this one big fat coincidence and nothing more. Unfortunately, June’s next words killed this theory before it was given a chance to thrive.

“The stairs go down deep,” she whispered.

Gods dammit! Yes, he wanted to be the one to find the secret underground passage so he could rub it in Faris’s stupid, smug face, but not like this! Rasp mirrored his sister’s low whisper. “How deep?”

“Too hard to tell in this form.” June left Rasp’s side and, after what sounded like a brief struggle, was shoving a warm bundle of cloth into his arms. “Here. Hold these for me, will ya?”

Rasp’s question died on his tongue a split second later, when he realized it was a wadded up bundle of clothing. Still warm too, from residual body heat. Shrugging, Rasp swung his pack around to the front and unfastened the top, dumping the wad of clothing inside.

“Sorry, Whisper,” he said only after remembering he had a passenger curled up inside. He felt the fae’s little body flinch in protest, before it settled back down without complaint. That was worrying. Even in animal form, be it it hiss, snarl, or bite, Whisper always found a way to communicate their displeasure.

Rasp could hear the wet snap and pop as June’s bones shifted beside him. Her transformation wasn’t instantaneous, meaning he had a few seconds to investigate. Rasp closed his eyes and stirred his sixth sense from its slumber. It responded with the enthusiasm of a hungover man bent on staying in bed. Rasp persisted. He dug deeper, willing it into obedience until, at last, his magic sensitivity groggily flickered to life and spread, searching the inside of his pack for telltale signs of life.

Whisper’s faint blue magic pulsed within Rasp’s mind’s eye, allowing a small wave of relief to wash over him. His mentor’s power burned a little brighter than before. Sleep was allowing them to regain their strength.

A low grunt from June broke Rasp’s concentration. He shook his head, summoning the concentration needed to translate her animal sounds into something intelligible. The stench of water rot was coming from deep beyond the rubble, June insisted.

Rasp wove his fingers into her thick fur and ventured a tentative step closer. His nose was nowhere near as sharp as hers, but he could smell the unnerving stench coming from within the opening all the same. It was wet and rotten and reeked of death.

There was something else too, beyond the revolting smell. Static hung in the air. The sensation grew stronger as Rasp neared, sending the hairs on his arm on end once more. He closed his eyes and focused on what his sixth sense was trying to tell him. A faint amethyst cloud appeared within his mind’s eye. It rippled and writhed, growing stronger, as if it too sensed him. Like a faint lullaby lost to memory, the magic called to him, beckoning him inside.

June growled and started to back away.

“There you are! What happened to staying within hearing? We’ve been calling for…” Faris’s anger petered out as the soft, dragging scape of his hooves drew nearer. “What did you find?”

Rasp’s eyes snapped open. “Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing? I can see stairs, Rasp.” Faris pushed past to the front of the opening. “They’re intact, too. Muck me, I think you found it.”

Rasp seized the back of Faris’s tunic and yanked him backwards. “Don’t! There’s something down there.”

“What do you–”

“They’re here!” Hop thundered as he raced towards them. “They’ve reached the gate. We need to move, now!”

June huffed as her large paws stamped against the ground. Her fight or flight instinct was in full swing now and if they didn’t make a split decision, she was going to go full berserk on the advancing horde.

“Faris,” Rasp said, “We can’t go in there. There’s something down there. I can feel it.”

Croak! Father swooped in overhead, calling out his warning.

“Fuck.” The tightness in Rasp’s chest doubled as he translated Father’s message for the others. “They’re not just through the main gate. They’ve got groups moving around the rest of the city as well. They’re blocking us in.”

“What’s worse, Rasp?” It wasn’t a rhetorical question. From Faris’s somber voice, he was legitimately asking. “Facing an overpowered horde of witches? Or whatever it is that’s down there?”

Dread settled in his belly like a stone at the bottom of a still pond. Rasp turned his head in the direction of the gateway. He didn’t know. Fuck, how was he supposed to know? And why were they asking him? He should have been the last person to take advice from.

The clack of Hop’s hooves slowed as he neared them, huffing and puffing for breath. “Are we going or not?”

Fuck it. He wasn’t cut out to be some witch’s magical bitch.

“Everyone inside.” Rasp tightened his grip on June’s scruff, urging her forward with his knee. She clambered through the opening, guiding him up and over the lip of broken stone and into the slick stairwell beyond. Rasp stopped and turned, waiting for the others to follow. It wasn’t until they were inside that he decided how to ensure they wouldn’t be followed.

“Stay back,” he said. “Find something to hide behind if you can.”

“Oh, please no,” Hop whimpered, having caught on to what Rasp was doing well ahead of the others.

Croak. The call echoed against the wet stone behind him, filling the space with its ominous sound. Evidently even Father had his reservations. That said a lot for someone who hadn’t hesitated to gobble up a witch when given the chance.

Too late. There wasn’t any turning back now.

Rasp dug deep, deep down, summoning the last of his power. Faint gold and yellow magic sprang from his fingers and weaved into the air. With a flick of his hand, he sent it burrowing into the surrounding rock like worms to dirt. The entrance shook and rumbled as the stubborn stone bent to Rasp’s will.

The entrance collapsed. The gateway went dark. And a man, two fauns, a bear, and raven found themselves trapped in a world of pitch black. The soft rumble of shifting rock and debris slowly died away, making way for the most hair-raising sound of all — nothing.