19 | Stone Sun Bees
Eli flinches at the pinpoints of pain, bending over to shield Klia, and pulling his pack over his head to spare his face.
In an instant, he remembers why this humming sounds so familiar, and more so when he plucks one of the creatures off the ground. A bee? Not one as he’s seen in ever so long a time—as he considers it, Eli cannot remember the last time he even saw one of the insects. And this can barely be called such a thing. Eli recognizes it by the shape alone, for the entire thing is made of stone, still somehow wriggling between his fingers, wings so thin of shimmering crystal Eli can scarcely believe they’re flying.
Well, they’re not so much flying as they are raining down upon them from their swarm in the ceiling. Now they’ve clattered to the ground in a shimmer of pebbles, they wriggle there. Eli straightens, keeping Klia close. She nudges some of the wiggling creatures with the toe of her shoe and looks up at Eli with obvious questioning in her eyes.
“I don’t know,” he says. “Let’s leave before they decide to get back up, yes?”
Klia nods vigorously, glancing between the hallways out with a frown. She shakes her head at him.
“You don’t know?” he asks, trying to keep his voice gentle.
Another shake of her head, with more panic in her expression this time. Eli crouches, ignoring the bugs tumbling over one another, and puts a hand on either of her shoulders comfortingly.
“It’s alright, don’t be frightened. Did you lose him like back at the river, or is it something else?”
Klia gestures wildly at the set of doors and shakes her head.
“None of the doors feel correct?”
She nods.
“But the way we just came does not either?”
She shakes her head.
Eli squints at the surrounding cave. There is light, but not much. Perhaps another door is hidden, though it would have to be rather large to fit even one of those monsters they are tracking. Carefully, he rises, considering the best plan of attack to search this place—particularly when he doesn’t know what will aggravate these strange, dying stone bees—and feels a sharp sting on his cheek. He flinches, thinking one of the creatures has stung him, and plucks it from his beard. It does not seem to have lost its stinger, only launched its tiny body at him.
All of them, covering every inch of the floor, begin making their way up off the ground. Momentarily, Eli feels panic knock at his chest, for running into one of the tunnels blindly will not save them, before remembering the trickling water he hears in the corner of the cavern.
Grabbing Klia’s hand, he shuffles through the swarming insects toward whatever underground river runs through this place. Klia’s shoes crunch on the stone bodies, and she gives off a weak shriek. Well, she can certainly make some noise—the sound of it reverberates off the ancient walls, and Eli flinches at the dozen terrified little voices beating down on them.
“Come here,” he says, and scoops her off the ground, groaning despite how slight she is to carry.
With his boots, he scrapes aside the creatures still floundering on the ground. Something stings his bare hand, and he ignores it.
It is a vaster chamber than he anticipated, and by the time he is reaching the opposite wall, the insects swarm about them in strange patterns, landing on Klia’s arms and face more than Eli’s. They don’t appear to be doing her any harm, but he swats at them anyway, for the girl is shaking, and Eli knows little else to do.
Darker on this side, his boot goes into the water without him realizing, and he nearly stumbles face-forward into the pitch black. Pausing, he sheds his bag and Klia’s little makeshift pack with her book, setting them on the edge where they won’t be ruined, and steps into the water. It is not a river, but a handmade aqueduct, smelling fresh of cold rock. It is chill as anything which has never seen the sun, and the bees grow more frantic, now driving themselves into Eli’s skin, pelting along his clothes, and Klia screams again, her face in Eli’s shirt.
Stone Sun Bees
-
A thousand wings, so strong in might, shimmering crystals in the light—
How entirely unhelpful, and very late, Eli thinks bitterly. This new Order may have unlocked for him, but it’s about as helpful as it was when it was fully broken
“Hold your breath,” he tells the girl and dips fully under the icy water.
At once, everything is cool and silent save the quiet roar of being underwater. Eli hears the gentle rush of it past his ears. Opening his eyes does nothing in the darkness, so he squeezes them shut. Counts to ten. He would stay under longer but knows not how long the girl in his arms can hold her breath atop all her panicking.
Peeking back above the water, he is assaulted with more of the tiny pebble bodies and sharp crystal wings. What are they even doing underground? What can bees—even mutations of what beautiful things they once were—sustain themselves on where sunlight never reaches?
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Eli doesn’t suppose he will find out. Again, he warns Klia to hold her breath and dips back down. Eventually, they must stop swarming, he hopes. There is no other place for them to go. Even down this river seems like an awful idea made for getting them both drowned. More than that, Eli doesn’t believe the girl will be able to hold her breath long, and Eli is concerned that since she cannot speak, she will be less able to articulate any injuries to him. He will have to be doubly careful with her, and underwater that is nearly impossible—
With the sound of a thousand little stones dropping into the water, they’re pelted through the gentle currents. Klia squirms against his shoulder, letting out a bubble of air. Eli breaks through the surface with her, patting her back while she coughs.
As before, the little creatures have pummeled down upon them.
This time, there is water they cannot escape from.
Though he cannot see them through the dark water, he imagines their little stone bodies tumbling over and over along the bottom of the aqueduct. When he was younger, he does not believe he would feel as sad over it as he does now.
Klia peers into the water as Eli sits on one of the stone steps leading into the waterway. In his haste, he did not pause to think how anything may be living down in the depths, but his feet scraped the bottom of it easily. It is not very deep, so perhaps there is nothing large to threaten them.
He wishes, not for the first time, that the magic with which he once identified foes was still available to him at a steady rate.
Patting him on the shoulder, Klia points down the aqueduct where the gentle stream of water disappears into the wall of the cavern beneath an intricately carved door barely visible in the dark.
“Do you see a monster?” he asks, nearly backing out of the water before the girl shakes her head.
Making the same gesture Eli remembers from the other day, she looks at him as if he’s supposed to understand. Considering the last time she used the little swoop of a sign with her hand, he asks, “Does that mean Thistle?”
For the first time since she realized Eli has the little mark of the magical Order on his hand, he watches her face grow into a huge grin. It’s slightly pathetic, with her clothes and hair dripping, but Eli’s in no position to judge. He smiles a little in return.
Well, that makes it a little easier.
Glancing down the dark water, he asks to make sure, “You think Thistle went down this waterway?”
She nods and pats her heart.
“Yes, you can hear his heartbeat,” Eli murmurs, staring thoughtfully down. If there is a gap running between the water and the roof of the tunnel, it isn’t impossible to go in that direction. If she still senses Thistle, this means he went down there and is still alive and well—at least, Eli hopes this is how it works.
He is feeling more and more in over his head and is acutely aware of how deep they are going within this place, how strenuous if not impossible it may be to return to the surface, especially with what little food they have. He has considered, more than once, that he should turn them back. Not risk the girl’s safety on top of Thistle’s. There’s been a thought in the back of his mind to leave her with some kindly woman back in the village until Eli could find Thistle, but such was quickly dashed. She must come with him, but Eli bears the weight of burden and guilt that he must take this younger child directly into such danger in order to rescue the older child, who by all means, knows better than to be as stupid as he was.
This isn’t a decision he should have to make, but he cannot choose one or the other, not when Thistle still lives. Eli is not hunting a body, he is hunting a living, breathing boy likely terrified out of his mind. If he were a younger man, he would bear the weight of this better—now, he doubts his ability to keep himself alive in this world, let alone two children, one so small as the girl sitting on his leg.
With a whine, Klia tugs on his arm, pointing again down the waterway.
“I know, girl,” Eli grunts. Then, because he loathes for these children to ever misunderstand him the way Abner seems to, he tells her, “I am considering how best to keep you safe at the time we’re looking for your brother.”
Those bees were certainly after her more than they were after Eli. Much as with the Unknown monsters, they only seemed to attack him when he was taking her out of their path.
Klia looks down, flicking at the water. They are still mostly submerged in it—it is cold, but not more so than the rest of the air, and neither are shivering. Yet. Eli must decide what it is he’ll do: listen to Klia and continue on down the waterway as far as they can or try to find a different path. He does not know where these other tunnels lead. Perhaps none will converge with the aqueduct again, and they would be forced to turn back.
Carefully, Eli sets Klia on the edge of the aqueduct eyeing the empty dark of the cave, and tells her, “Stay a moment, I’m only looking.”
She grabs onto his hand with surprising strength in her tiny, frail fingers, eyes widening.
“I’m only looking, I will not leave where you cannot see me.”
Slowly, she releases him, and Eli treads the water to the edge of the cavern, leaning against the cold, carved stone. Again, he does not recognize anything about the shapes and runes placed into these stones by ancient hands. Running his fingers over them, he feels their cold, raised letters. Squinting into the dark, he hears the gentle murmur of the water lapping the edge. Ducking his head in rewards him with plenty of air to breathe even if they are to walk fully into the tunnel.
It is, however, terribly dark.
Whatever lights this open cavern—a source he cannot determine enough to find a way to bring it with them—does not extend into the waterway. They must venture in by feel and hearing, and Eli is not particularly trusting of the latter.
Glancing back, he considers the light emanating from Thistle's skin, and the pool of ink which swirled in Klia’s eyes as she unlocked the strange new Order for Eli to access.
He wonders…
“Klia,” he says, leaning against the edge and looking the girl in the eye. “Your brother can make light, I know you know.”
She nods.
“Can you do anything of the sort? It is very dark in that place, and I cannot see well.”
Her eyes flicker down and away, as they have any other time he’s brought up her own magic.
“My dear, I know you do not wish to speak to me about this, but if you have something that can help us get through the dark, it can help us find your brother quicker, do you see?”
Slowly, she nods, then digs her book out and writes carefully away from the water, No light.
“You don’t have light, just your brother?”
Another nod.
Eli wishes partially to push her harder, to demand a further explanation of what her magic is. Even if she sees no solution, Eli may. But he is worried to drive her away from him entirely. With the things she’s certainly heard about her grandfather given Thistle's reaction, he’s surprised she likes him so much in the first place. He doesn’t want his unkind appearance mixed with accidental too-harsh words and questioning to drive her entirely within herself.
Breathing out in a huff, he leans against the stone steps, glaring into the dark water.
Everything just below his feet is slightly lighter than it was. Cocking his head, Eli stares at the faintest light around his boots, scraping at them with his heel until he realizes. He knew the cave seemed a bit dimmer after they surfaced from the water, but thought it was his old mind playing tricks on him.
“Hold on a moment,” he murmurs, dipping underwater and scraping a handful of the stone carcasses from the bottom of the aquifer.
When he surfaces, just the slightest bit of light is held in his hand.