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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3358116" data-attributes="member: 143">Tomorrow's post will bring Book 2 to an end. I'll take a long weekend and start Book 3 on Monday. * * * * * Chapter 109NOTHING’S EVER EASYDar’s eyes widened, and he leapt forward toward Allera.  But Malerase was closer, and he helped drag the healer back, moments before the huge stone block smashed into the cavern floor.  The force of the impact hit them like a tsunami, knocking them onto their backs.  The tremors persisted, filling the chamber with a steady rumble, and the cavern continued to collapse around them.  The air was filled with dust, making it almost impossible to see, but as Dar staggered back to his feet, he could just barely make out the rope, still danging from above. “We’ve got to get out... now!” he yelled.  Shucking his shield, he bent down and snatched Allera up, slinging the healer over his shoulder.  He turned to see Malerase standing there, looking at him. Dar started to say something, but the elf spoke words of magic, and dissolved into a gaseous mist that was quickly lost within the swirling debris.  Surprised, the impact of several boulders the side a horse not three paces away startled him back into activity, and he leapt for the rope.  Even as his fist closed on that lifeline, he felt the ground shift beneath his feet, and only barely was able to keep his grip.  He felt Allera shift slightly, and heard a faint groan come from her. “Hold on, princess,” he said, grimacing as he pulled them both up, hand over hand up the rope.  The silk cord vibrated, either with the continued force of the earth tremor, or as it began to give under the strain of their combined weight; Dar wasn’t sure.  But he knew that he had to get them out of here fast, or they would not be getting out at all.  He was strong, and his physical prowess was enhanced by the magical belt he wore.  But he was tired, clad in heavy armor, and while Allera’s weight wasn’t excessive, it wasn’t negligible, either.  Dar had only covered about half the distance to the cleft in the ceiling when he nearly slipped, only a last-minute grab keeping them from plummeting back to the ground.  The floor of the cavern was now lost in the cloud of debris below.  Had Malerase gotten out?  Dar had no idea, and he didn’t waste any further thought on the elf; their own fate was too uncertain. He thought he heard a cry from above; it was impossible to be sure with all the noise around him.  Letting out a yell of his own, he pulled himself up, one arm’s length at a time, his jaw clenched so tight that he could taste his own blood in his mouth.  Something hard caromed off his helmet, and again he nearly lost his grip.  Despite the weight, he was glad for the heavy armor he was wearing; already he’d taken hits from falling rocks that might have killed an unarmored man.  Allera had stopped moving altogether, and he hoped that she hadn’t been struck.  The thought gave him added strength, and he dragged them up the last few feet to the cleft. The tremors had eased, but the chamber’s collapse continued.  Even as he dragged them up into the cleft, he could feel the stone beneath his feet shifting.  The rope was being pulled up, helping him, although he could see it fraying against the rocks of the shaft as it was dragged over them.  There was nothing to do but hope; the twisting shaft was near-vertical, and while having something to brace against helped, he still needed the rope to make the climb.  And then the swirling dust cleared enough for him to see the night sky above, and hands were reaching down, grabbing him and Allera.  The healer was taken off his shoulder, and he was pulled away from the opening just as the ground sagged beneath his feet.  He made it up a gentle slope about fifteen paces before the shaking of the ground ceased entirely, and then he fell to his knees.  His throat felt like it had been packed with dirt.“Allera?” he managed to cough out. “She lives,” Varo said.  The cleric looked around.  “Where is the elf?”“Turned himself into a cloud of mist,” Dar said.  Everything was starting to swirl around him, except for the pinpoints of light in the sky above, which somehow remained startlingly clear.  Varo asked something else, his voice urgent, but Dar couldn’t quite make out the words, as he stared up at those stars.“Pretty,” he said, then he toppled forward onto the ground, out cold. * * * * * A short distance away, Malerase watched his erstwhile companions as they recovered from the collapse of the cavern below them.  Concealed in a stand of brush that fringed a small cluster of scrub trees along the hillside, he was almost invisible in his dark cloak.  The moon was empty this night, but the elf’s lowlight vision made the starlight sufficient to see quite clearly. He couldn’t quite hear Varo’s words, but he could just make out the urgency in them.  For a moment, he considered revealing himself. But ultimately, the elf remained hidden, watching as the companions rested.  Finally they gathered themselves up, battered and beaten from their second narrow escape from the dungeons of Rappan Athuk.  Then, moving slowly, they moved off through the hills to the north. The elf remained until they were out of the range of his sight.  Then he drew his cloak close about his body, and headed off on his own, moving west.</blockquote>

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