[Fanfic] Red West III. - Chapter twenty five
Title: RED WEST III.
Author: Kasumi
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Western, Drama, Romance, Adventure, Historical fiction
Warning: AKame pairing - AU; vulgarisms, violence, explicit content
Beta-reading:
atago4
Summary: A direct sequel of Red West II. - Masterpost
A strange company of three young gunslingers and one Indian is on their way to Montana, while the infamous Black Riders continue their fight against Silver King of Colorado… Will they succeed or fail in the clash with the cruel environment and heartless Governor? Will their friendship, brotherhood and love persevere or be destroyed by greed, bloodshed and vengeance?
Thank you: To Kamenashi Kazuya and Akanishi Jin, because this story wouldn´t have existed without them.
A/N: As promised - the next chapter done...
I´m grateful for any opinion or advice, you help me hone my writing skills with them.
Thank you for taking time to read this story. I´ll be happy if you reward me with a comment for it.
Previously:
Prologue // Chapter one // Chapter two // Chapter three // Chapter four // Chapter five // Chapter six // Chapter seven // Chapter eight // Chapter nine // Chapter ten // Chapter eleven // Chapter twelve // Chapter thirteen // Chapter fourteen // Chapter fifteen // Chapter sixteen // Chapter seventeen // Chapter eighteen // Chapter nineteen // Chapter twenty // Chapter twenty one // Chapter twenty two // Chapter twenty three // Chapter twenty four //
Silence
The cold breath of Manitou blew across the northernmost range of Montana in strong gusts, bringing forests about to sing their deep rustling songs. The ubiquitous natural force extended its invisible hands also to a large Indian village at the foot of Rising Wolf Mountain.
The sharp wind flapped with a buffalo skin covering the entrance to Shaman´s wigwam and fiddled with bright flames under the cauldron in the middle of it. The strong fragrance of its content filled up the space and dozens of various talismans hanging on long cords started swinging and jingling violently.
Disturbed from evening meditation, Cloud Dancing opened his eyes, but otherwise remained motionless. Tensely, he listened to the soft, asymmetrical melody, combined with humming of trees around the lake. He felt an odd tension in the air, but could not grasp the source of it. Manitou was still talking to him, but the old shaman was too tired to comprehend the meaning behind the spiritual hints. Recently, there was only one sign he was able to interpret clearly. Rattling whispers reaching his ears in the deepest part of the night - those were his ancestors summoning him.
The old shaman knew that the end of his time on this world was about to come and soon, he would join his predecessors, his brothers and sisters and his lovers in Eternal Hunting Grounds. He was not afraid. He had been expecting it joyfully, being aware that he could not keep up with all changes of the world around him anymore.
Another sharp blow came, shifting with the thin walls of his dwelling again and Cloud Dancing realized that there was something, which he had to do before his time came.
Slightly frowning, the shaman closed his eyes again, concentrating on the voices of spirits. Something was wrong. He had to find out what they were trying to tell him. His experience and guts were telling him it was very important…
“Father?”
Even though the voice disrupted his efforts just when he almost found the answer to the unknown mystery, Cloud Dancing was not able to get upset at his sweet little daughter. Raising his hand slowly, he invited Beara inside, carefully observing her troubled little face.
He slightly regretted that he became her father so late. He would like to see her growing up to a full-fledged, helpful member of their tribe, as he was certain Beara would turn out to be. It was his second life partner - Chenoa, aka White Dove who gave birth to the girl only to fall into the arms of Manitou soon after.
Remembering his dear wife, Cloud Dancing could not prevent himself from remembering also Hakan, his best friend and the first love of his life. He wondered if Hakan would be willing to see him in Eternal Hunting Grounds. Nevertheless, it was up to Manitou to decide if he was even worthy to meet his dearest brother and lover again.
“Father, Beara apologizes for disturbing you so late,” his daughter spoke in their mother tongue once she squatted on the warm fur in front of him.
Cloud Dancing returned the serious look of her big eyes: “Something troubles you, my child. Speak. What is it?”
The girl shifted restlessly, but spoke determined: “Beara heard voices… Whispering scary things.”
“You dreamt again?”
“No. Not this time, Father. Beara was awake.”
The old shaman studied the girl more interested now. Could it be she, who inherited the most of his ability to talk to the spirits in the end? His dear son Liwan was already fully able to make up for duties Cloud Dancing could not perform anymore, but connecting with Manitou never came easy for him. It was the result of years of diligent study and efforts. Yet, it seemed it came naturally for this little one.
“And what these voices told you?” he asked seriously.
Beara took a shaky breath: “They… they talked about Kame, Father. That something happened to him.”
Cloud Dancing felt the gripping coldness spreading from his heart to all his limbs.
This was what he did not understand. Their dear adoptive son and blood brother was in danger and he did not realize it. Before, not so long ago, he would knew right away, but now… His daughter began to be more sensitive to the messages from Manitou than himself.
“You must believe Beara, Father!” she urged, when he did not react.
“I do believe you,” Cloud Dancing nodded seriously. “Quickly, get Liwan, your brother. I must speak with him right away.”
***
Danny got back to the ranch quite late, but the faint light coming from under the workroom door showed him that his employer was still waiting for his report.
Mr. Cameron was standing by the tall window, looking out on the gardens around the house, even though it was already completely dark, so there was literally nothing he could see out there. Danny stopped at the door, hesitating. There was something radiating from the man, which tightened his throat and did not let him speak first.
“So? Is it done?” his boss asked in a deep voice, not turning away from the dark window.
Danny shook the strange feeling off and took a breath: “Yes, sir,” he confirmed. “Both telegrams were dispatched. I´ll let you know once any reply arrives.”
He did not consider necessary to mention that the city postmaster was not very keen to work overtime, so it took Danny come persuasion and excess fare to get it done. The only important fact was that the urgent messages to the US Marshals´ Office in Billings and to Horace Tabor in Colorado were on the way to their destinations.
“Good. What about those two brave fellows we had discussed before?”
Danny suppressed a surrendered sigh. It was clear that Mr. Cameron would not forget about this topic, but he was not exactly eager to talk about it anyway. It was not his fault that the survivors of the mine collapse attracted his boss´s attention. It did not matter that Danny conveniently forgot to mention they were even more than only familiar to him too…
Since there happened to be two of them at once, he was almost certain that the rest of Black Riders was probably in the city now as well. However, Danny made a promise to them once and he was not willing to break it and betray them. Not even for Mr. Cameron. There was a high probability that his boss might figure it out anyway, but he was determined to keep his mouth shut, otherwise he could not forgive himself. Even more after what happened to Kamenashi.
What he could and should say were the names they gave him. Though he doubted they were the real ones.
“One of them is the witness of that dynamite attacker - Tanaka. He´s hospitalized on Dr. Best´s clinic with a severe concussion, but the doc says he´ll recover. His friend, who had appeared right after the explosion, introduced himself as Kiddo. Last time I checked he stayed put at the mine, just as Akanishi.”
There was a short moment of silence.
“He was still working on the debris?”
Danny would swear he caught a hint of surprise in that question, but he could not be sure at all. There were not many things, which could catch Cameron Henderson unprepared, though this might be one of them. He saw Akanishi struggling with that collapse there with his own eyes and it was not a happy sight.
“As far as I know, sir.”
“All right. Good job, Danny.”
“Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No, you may go now and get some rest. I expect there will be quite busy days up ahead of us.”
Already on his leave, Danny realized that he did not exactly like how that prediction sounded.
***
A half-made bed. Dirty boots threw aside on one side of it. A carefully folded pile of clothes on the other. Many pieces of clothing just thrown over the chair. Hastily folded stack of working documents related to the reservations on the clean table, except half-eaten breakfast on two plates and two barely-drunk-from cups of coffee.
There were clear signs of two people living in this recently repaired house everywhere. One of them favoring order and tidiness, the other the very opposite. However, only one of them came back home last night…
Just a short tour around the cozy rooms brought Jane to tears. How came that it was always the nicest people, who got the worst from life? It was so incredibly unfair she wanted to scream in anger and pity.
Lost in gloomy thoughts, it took her a while to notice that the water on the stove behind her was boiling already. Wiping her cheeks hastily, she loaded a tray with ceramic mugs, kettle, coffee and sugar. She took a few deliberately slow breaths to calm herself down and only then, she proceeded outside.
They said it was not uncommon for that time of the year to rain in Montana, but that morning the sky was literally pouring waterfalls of water on the earth. The rain drummed on the porch roof with vigor of buffalo herd, but fortunately, it was in the lee, so it was possible to stay there without getting drenched. Which was the opportunity all the men used.
Even though four of them were sitting there - both Akanishi brothers, Cullen and Ryo - except the raindrops falling there was complete silence. Cullen was smoking, Ryo´s eyes were so red it looked like he was crying a short while ago and Leo was observing his motionless brother, who looked completely absent minded, just staring ahead.
Jane placed the tray on the table and returned the look of her fiancé. Leo smiled at her faintly and reached out to soothe her leg gratefully.
“Thanks, dear.”
She just nodded and slowly started pouring the hot liquid into mugs. Then she sat down on the bench next to Leo, with her coffee in slightly trembling hands.
Jane did not get much sleep that night and she could imagine the others were in no better shape. Strong coffee might help everyone to cheer up a bit, but it would not erase the horrific events of the previous day. She wouldn´t have ever thought that their reunion with the two latest members of the gang would turn out like this. How this morning was like for Jin, she rather didn´t even imagine….
After he had collapsed, they took him home on the litter dragged by Kuro. Jane treated his wounds as best she only could and they let him sleep, while the four of them made themselves comfortable in the salon.
Both she and Leo heard Jin getting up when it wasn´t even dawn yet. Her fiancé went to check on his brother, but returned before long. Jin had taken refuge on the veranda and did not talk. That obviously had not changed since.
Jane carefully sipped on the hot liquid and then focused her look on Leo´s brother. With the dirt and blood washed away, Jin did not look so horrifying anymore, but inner pain and grief changed his face so much it felt like she had not known him before.
Ryo chose one of the cups she had prepared and observed the dark surface in it thoughtfully. Then he took a breath and cleared his throat: “I´m going to check on Koki later, so if you need anything in the city, I can buy it,” he announced with both hands pressed against the hot mug.
Jane more than liked the idea she could actually do something and volunteered herself as well: “I´ll go with you.”
Ryo nodded gratefully: “Thanks. I´m sure he´ll be happy to see you.”
“Say hello to him from me,” Leo requested. “I´ll rather stay out of people´s eyes.”
“I can only approve of that,” murmured Cullen.
“Sure,” Ryo nodded and turned to the other Akanishi cautiously. “Jin? Should I take care of something for you? Maybe on the place where you work?”
There was a long silence, so long that they did not expect any reply anymore, but in the end, it came.
“No, thanks.”
Hearing Jin´s quiet, hoarse voice, Jane shivered again. Leo reached out and hugged her around the waist, but did not let his eyes off his brother.
“I´ll go to the city myself as well later,” Jin continued, otherwise still motionless.
The Black Riders looked at each other worriedly.
“Then I can keep you company if you like…” Ryo suggested.
“No. I´ll handle it myself.”
Leo was not so sure about that. More like he was damn worried about what his brother was about to do. It was Cullen, who uttered this thought aloud though.
“I hope you´re not planning to do something stupid, lad.”
As if a statue suddenly moved, that was like his brother seemed to Leo in that moment.
“Stupid like what?” Jin asked, looking at Cullen with unnaturally dark eyes. “Something more stupid than playing a hero in the fucking collapsing mine? I doubt anything like that even exists,” his voice broke with the last sentence into almost non-recognizable.
Everybody stared at him speechless as Jin got up on his feet and staggered a little, making Leo flinch toward him, but in the end he kept his balance.
“I´ll try to get some sleep,” Jin announced hoarsely. “Wake me up at noon.”
With that, he disappeared inside the house.
They all sat there, for a long while nobody willing to speak.
“Shit,” murmured Ryo, covering his face. “I hate this…”
Jane felt new tears in her eyes, stinging, pinching her through and through. She had no words.
Cullen did not comment it either and just lightened up another cigarette in an apparently worse mood than before.
And Leo wondered helplessly, if there was any way to get through the walls Jin had built around himself. With a tired sigh, he reached for his coffee, wishing there was something a way stronger inside.
*
The empty part of the bed next to him was cold. He ran his fingers across the sheets remembering the warm soft skin under them.
It hurt so much he did not know what he felt anymore. He was so tired his body screamed for rest, which it didn´t get during the night. He just couldn´t sleep peacefully. His mind was too flooded with the depressing ideas.
How should he go on without Kazuya? Just how?
He did not want to accept that his love was gone forever. His heart was literally pleading him not to as it shook in fear from breaking apart. However, his mind was more reasonable.
He knew what he saw, he knew what happened and he knew there was no chance for Kazuya. Even if he survived the collapse, he was trapped under the tons of rock, slowly losing energy and oxygen to breathe. Slowly dying. Maybe even in this moment. And there was nothing Jin could do to change that.
And worst of all, there was no one who would deny these pessimistic assumptions to him.
Damn. He hated how quiet their bedroom was.
His fingers squeezed around the pillow, which had a faint fragrance of Kame´s hair. He missed him so much; it was as if somebody stabbed his heart with an invisible burning knife.
Even though Jin closed his eyes firmly, the two tears found their way out and ran down, freezing his cheeks.
***
There was nothing, which felt like everything that ever mattered.
The soft waves of emptiness were carrying him into the infinite unknown.
Not bothered with anyone or anything, he was calm and reconciled and it felt pleasantly natural. At least, until he heard that voice…
He did not understand what it said, but he knew to whom it belonged. It was his mother´s voice and she did not sound happy.
Confused, not knowing what he had done to upset her, he tried to get closer, but he found himself unable to move or even speak.
Realization of not being free but helpless terrified him.
Then, came the pain…
At first, he hurt all over, unable to figure out the main source of that agonizing feeling. He didn´t know where he was, could not remember what happened.
He instinctively reached out to his right leg, sensing it was the part, which hurt the most. He also realized that he had a body, which was lying on the side on some hard surface and heard his own accelerated, short breathing.
Confused and scared, he was not able to breathe properly, until one small, sane part of his mind yelled at him to calm down.
He forced himself to remain completely still and hold breath, until he started feeling nauseous. Only then, he allowed his lungs to do their job again. Concentrating only at this one task, he slowly took deep inhales of ice-cold air, one after another. It helped a bit and he remembered.
Jin´s tearful eyes… The backs´ of his friends… The collapsing world…
Kame opened his eyes to complete darkness and silence. He was alone and in pain, but apparently alive. There was no way he would feel so damn bad in the afterlife. The thought terrified him. If his leg was still trapped under that boulder…
Fighting against the urge to start hyperventilating again, he tried to roll on his back. It went just fine; excluding the sharp stab of new pain in his right leg and a dull ringing inside his skull.
He moved his hands and carefully tapped around. The right one found only harsh ground, but the left one encountered the solid wall of stones. When he stretched them behind his head, he found another obstacle.
Shaking, he tried to reach up, as high as possible, but found no trace of that huge boulder, which trapped him on the spot before. Gulping down heavily, Kame closed his eyes even though it did not change anything about how he perceived his surroundings.
It was the legs turn. He tried to move with his left feet, which did not hurt so much. Taking another deep breath, he went to do the same with the right one. The explosion of pain made him yelp, but once it passed, he realized - he could move with all his limbs freely.
Kame focused on breathing again, preventing himself from acting recklessly.
One of the tremors probably dislodged the boulder and shifted with his body in some way, which allowed him to survive. Considering the last things that he saw, it was a miracle.
Nevertheless, it did not change the fact that he was still trapped in the collapsed gold mine. That was something he had to remind to himself even though his guts tightened in horror once he made himself consider that fact.
He may have survived the collapse itself, but he did not have exactly the best prospects to stay alive for long. He still heard his own breathing, but otherwise it was deadly quiet all around. He was buried alive under the mountain. There was no chance somebody would find and rescue him. He had been abandoned in the dark, alone and dying…
There was another strange sound, which combined with his breathing. It took Kame a while to realize that he started crying. Heavy sobs shook with his sore body making him feel even worse. He had never felt so lonely and hopeless in his life.
Don´t be… like this… Kazuya…
His eyes widened into the darkness. He would swear he heard Jin´s voice… But that was impossible. Jin surely got out along with Koki and Ryo.
He could not help but pry his ears, but no voice sounded again. Instead, he caught something else in the endless silence. He was sure he knew what that sound meant, but he could not classify what it was.
Jin…
If there was anyone, because of whom he should not give up so easily, it was Jin. He might be in deep shit, but he was still alive. If nothing else, he considered better to die trying to get out of here, than just wait for the death to come for his exhausted, beaten up body.
Okay, one thing after another…
First, he had to find out how exactly it looked around him, though he feared that sight.
Tensely, he searched along his sides. If he remembered correctly, he had his bag with the first aid kit when all things went down. It was still there, hanging on the strap. He was even partially lying on it, without realizing it.
He pulled it out and placed it on his chest carefully. He did not dare to lose anything what might have remained inside after he treated some of the miners, so he slide his hand inside slowly, searching around until he found the small box with matches. From the sound of them rattling, he could tell there was quite a few inside yet.
He felt his fingers were sticky with sweat, so he took one with extra caution. With his stomach clutched in anxiety, he stroked it against the stone, which he had found on his left side before. He had to blink a few times to recognize what was revealed in the flickering small light in his shaking hand. He was surrounded by quite a few huge stones, across which he could not see, there were also a few remnants of wooded struts, but above him there was nothing, just a vast empty space. Kame´s jaw dropped.
The short match burnt out, stinging the tips of his fingers. He threw it aside and remained still for a while, thinking. He did not get to check his leg, but he could imagine it was not a nice sight. According to the stinging pain, it was broken in two or maybe in even more places. He had to be extra careful if he did not want to faint.
He put his bag aside, rested on his elbows and pushed himself up slowly. He waited for a while and then went all the way to the sitting position, groaning. His head got a little dizzy, but the pain in the right leg remained the same.
Exhaling deeply, Kame grabbed the matches again and lightened one of them with more certainty, before raising it up. On his right, there was a huge empty space. High above him, there was a dark ceiling with tens of stalactites hanging from it. He moved a little to look around as much as possible and noticed the avalanche of stones on his left, which led somewhere up to the dark.
“Damn…” his voice was just a hoarse whisper, which once again ended the short time of light he had.
Now, he was sure. He did not know how that happened, but he was not in the mine anymore. He happened to fall down into some cave under the tunnels created by gold diggers. It had to be there from the beginning of time, without anyone knowing.
For a moment, he was once again overwhelmed by the fact he survived that fall. From what he saw, he would expect his body to be smashed to a pulp by stones. Though, from what he could feel, his right leg was in a bad shape and he probably hit somewhere with his head and back, but otherwise everything else in his body seemed to be in one piece. For the first time ever, he wondered if there was something or someone almighty watching over him.
Such a finding completely changed his perception of the current situation. Escape from the collapsed mine would have been impossible, but if he was in some kind of big underground cave, there might have been some way to get out. It was a gamble, a tiny chance, but he grasped it with all his might. Not all hope was lost yet; he might still see Jin again.
His brain had already started working at full speed. He needed to treat the injured leg; he would not get far with as it was. He had some things for it left in the bag, but he needed also some more permanent light to do it. Once he would be able to move around, he could search the cave and look for that strange sound properly.
With new hope and a clear task on his mind, Kame started to pull out more things from his precious bag.
***
Ned was gloomily supervising the cleaning up works around Henderson´s mine. After all, he came to like his job here and no matter the fatal finale, he was going to miss it.
The morning rain gradually eased up, but it was still drizzling in quite an annoying way and that didn´t improve his mood much.
“Boss?” Cooper drew his attention and made a significant gesture to alert him about something behind his back. “He´s here again.”
He turned around to see whom Cooper was talking about, though he already had a hunch. Shaking his head, he set off toward the young man in black coat and hat, who was accompanied by equally black horse. Jin Akanishi was standing there, staring at the disaster before the former entrance to the gold mine. He did not pay an attention to Ned, until he spoke.
“Man, I got you,” Ned emphasized emphatically. “Really. But enough is enough. Just go home. You´re useless here.”
Once Akanishi turned to face him, Ned thought he might have chosen some less harsh words, but it was too late to take it back. After all, somebody had to tell him.
“I know,” Akanishi admitted quietly without resistance.
Ned observed his stiff face frowning. There was no emotion on Akanishi´s face, but he could sense that he was defeated.
“So, what are you doing here?”
“I just… Just want to ask if…”Akanishi stuttered, stopped and continued after a pause. “If there´s any chance that the… the bodies will be retrieved from down there,” he finished with his eyes once again glued to impenetrable blockade.
Ned stared at him, not knowing what to say for a while.
Not even the wives of the deceased miners asked about something like this. He would have to be blind not to see and realize that Akanishi had quite a close relationship with Kamenashi and it hit the man hard to lose such a close friend. Usually, he would not expect from himself to care, but Kamenashi was a good fellow and he did not deserve to end up like this.
He stood by Akanishi´s side, choosing what to say more carefully this time.
“We tried to get there, from two possible places even. It´s hopeless. The mine´s lost. It´s not worth risking even more lives,” he summarized cautiously.
“I see…” Akanishi´s voice was no more than a whisper.
Suddenly, Ned could not bear standing next to him. It was too depressing.
“I´m sorry,” he muttered and rather promptly returned to his duties.
***
She was scrubbing clean each table, chair and shelf in their reception room, even though there was literally no dirt to get rid of on sight. Almost all her girls occupied the sofas and armchairs, slandering half the men from Bozeman. For once, Cora did not scold them for it and did not chase them to work. There was practically nothing to do anyway.
“Jin!”
“Jin´s here!”
Hearing the excited calls, Cora popped her head up to check on the incomer in the door. It was really her bodyguard; with his face half-hidden in the shadow of a huge hat.
“I´m so happy you´re back!”
“They say you were there in the mine!”
“Whoa, scary…”
“What it was like?”
Jin greeted the girls who surrounded him, by a short nod, did not answer any of their questions though and gently pushed through to get to the bar.
“Shut it finally, or I´ll send you all to scrub the back yard!” Cora hushed that flock of hens, upset they had absolutely no understanding or empathy towards their handsome helper.
The girls returned to their gossiping offended and Jin sat down on one of the stools, taking his hat off. Cora almost wished for he would not do it. She had never seen more creepy expression on anyone´s face and it did not fit Jin at all.
“Hi… I´m sorry for yesterday,” his voice was a way different as well. Hoarse and broken, making Cora shiver a little. He seemed to be even worse than she had expected. Ever since the moment she had read the names of those, who perished in the gold mine on the city board, she knew it would be hard on her bodyguard. But this…
“You didn´t have to come yet, I´d understand,” she reacted softly, realizing that Kamenashi had to mean quite a lot to Jin. “Business is quiet. Nobody´s exactly eager to enjoy some wassail with what happened.”
“Bad news spread damn fast, I see,” he noted without any emotion whatsoever.
“Unfortunately,” Cora reached under the bar and pulled up a huge bottle of whiskey. She hesitated while pouring a glass and then poured one more for herself.
“Here you go.”
Jin stared at the liquid in front of him as if he did not know what it was. Cora observed him worriedly, when he finally grabbed it and drank it in one go.
“Thanks,” he murmured even more quietly than before and placed the empty glass back on the bar counter.
Cora pondered his current state for a while, before she turned to the gossiping gathering at sofas.
“Girls, go up to tidy your rooms,” she ordered strictly.
Naturally, all of them started complaining at once.
“What?”
“Why?”
“There´s no need to!”
“Get out,” Cora hissed in a tone, which they did not dare to oppose anymore and one after another they left upstairs.
Then she walked to the main door and locked it.
When she returned to the bar, Jin was still sitting there in the exactly same position and did not seem to perceive what was going on around him. Cora pulled both glasses and the bottle closer and sat down next to him.
She took a deep breath: “If you want to talk about it…” she stopped when Jin shook his head wordlessly.
“Okay…” Cora sighed a little disappointed.
“Can I ask for one more?” he asked instead.
She was already pouring the next round before he finished the question.
***
Kame knew there was no use to rush things, yet it annoyed him how slow and clumsy he was. Already the very first stone in his way turned out to be almost insurmountable obstacle…
He managed to fix his broken leg between two thin plates he had made from the remains of the wooden props with a jackknife. While taking care of it, he swallowed all remaining dried berries from wintergreen plant. He got them from Cloud Dancing and given enough time, they worked against any kind of pain.
Kame felt lucky it was a closed fracture, but no matter that, to overcome the pain as he leant on it cost him all his strength. After overcoming the first boulder, he ended up sitting on the other side of it, suppressing tears, as he could not dare to lose any liquids and waited for the worst wave to pass over.
Now, after many endless minutes, he was finally moving, but slower than any turtle on Earth. With a makeshift crutch - made from the broken prop as well - under his right shoulder and with a torch in the left hand, he staggered forward one-step at a time. He was incredibly glad for the flickering light of his torch imitation, even though it cost him his shirt, as he tore it apart to stripes and wrapped them around a thick piece of wood. Fortunately, one of the props, which fell down with him, was made of freshly cut tree, so also full of tree sap, which he could use for it. Otherwise, he would use all the matches up soon and ended up in the complete dark. Like this, he could at least partially see the incredible view around him.
The hidden cave hall seemed to spread to infinity, though he knew it was just his perception, as he fought for each step forward. The ground under his shaking feet was irregular, full of dangerous holes and sticking out stalagmites.
Kame struggled to ignore pain and thirst and just kept moving forward slowly, until he reached a natural tunnel. It was a way smaller than the cave and quite narrow, but still big enough for him to walk upright. He knew that if he stopped and sat down to rest, he would not have got up anymore. Therefore, he continued and made breaks after each covered yard and looked around, searching for the source of that soft sound which he had heard before.
He had no idea how much time passed or what distance he overcame in the underground. His heart was already beating heavily and he felt dizzy, barely suppressing the urge to vomit. That would not help him at all.
So focused on moving forward, he noticed it only in the last second and stopped.
Surprised by the light reflecting from something, Kame raised his head and then the torch. The tunnel he had been walking through ended and the cave widened again. The walls on both sides split and another big space opened right in front of him.
He looked to the left and then to the right. Nothing except the flames reflection moved on the calm surface.
With his throat tightened anxiously, he slowly sat down on a convenient stone on the shore. He reached the underground lake.
Behind him, there was only the dark, silent heart of the mountain. In front of him, there was an unmoving, cold surface, surrounded by impenetrable rocky walls. There was no way out for him.
- To be continued -
Author: Kasumi
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Western, Drama, Romance, Adventure, Historical fiction
Warning: AKame pairing - AU; vulgarisms, violence, explicit content
Beta-reading:
atago4
Summary: A direct sequel of Red West II. - Masterpost
A strange company of three young gunslingers and one Indian is on their way to Montana, while the infamous Black Riders continue their fight against Silver King of Colorado… Will they succeed or fail in the clash with the cruel environment and heartless Governor? Will their friendship, brotherhood and love persevere or be destroyed by greed, bloodshed and vengeance?
Thank you: To Kamenashi Kazuya and Akanishi Jin, because this story wouldn´t have existed without them.
A/N: As promised - the next chapter done...
I´m grateful for any opinion or advice, you help me hone my writing skills with them.
Thank you for taking time to read this story. I´ll be happy if you reward me with a comment for it.
Previously:
Prologue // Chapter one // Chapter two // Chapter three // Chapter four // Chapter five // Chapter six // Chapter seven // Chapter eight // Chapter nine // Chapter ten // Chapter eleven // Chapter twelve // Chapter thirteen // Chapter fourteen // Chapter fifteen // Chapter sixteen // Chapter seventeen // Chapter eighteen // Chapter nineteen // Chapter twenty // Chapter twenty one // Chapter twenty two // Chapter twenty three // Chapter twenty four //
Silence
The cold breath of Manitou blew across the northernmost range of Montana in strong gusts, bringing forests about to sing their deep rustling songs. The ubiquitous natural force extended its invisible hands also to a large Indian village at the foot of Rising Wolf Mountain.
The sharp wind flapped with a buffalo skin covering the entrance to Shaman´s wigwam and fiddled with bright flames under the cauldron in the middle of it. The strong fragrance of its content filled up the space and dozens of various talismans hanging on long cords started swinging and jingling violently.
Disturbed from evening meditation, Cloud Dancing opened his eyes, but otherwise remained motionless. Tensely, he listened to the soft, asymmetrical melody, combined with humming of trees around the lake. He felt an odd tension in the air, but could not grasp the source of it. Manitou was still talking to him, but the old shaman was too tired to comprehend the meaning behind the spiritual hints. Recently, there was only one sign he was able to interpret clearly. Rattling whispers reaching his ears in the deepest part of the night - those were his ancestors summoning him.
The old shaman knew that the end of his time on this world was about to come and soon, he would join his predecessors, his brothers and sisters and his lovers in Eternal Hunting Grounds. He was not afraid. He had been expecting it joyfully, being aware that he could not keep up with all changes of the world around him anymore.
Another sharp blow came, shifting with the thin walls of his dwelling again and Cloud Dancing realized that there was something, which he had to do before his time came.
Slightly frowning, the shaman closed his eyes again, concentrating on the voices of spirits. Something was wrong. He had to find out what they were trying to tell him. His experience and guts were telling him it was very important…
“Father?”
Even though the voice disrupted his efforts just when he almost found the answer to the unknown mystery, Cloud Dancing was not able to get upset at his sweet little daughter. Raising his hand slowly, he invited Beara inside, carefully observing her troubled little face.
He slightly regretted that he became her father so late. He would like to see her growing up to a full-fledged, helpful member of their tribe, as he was certain Beara would turn out to be. It was his second life partner - Chenoa, aka White Dove who gave birth to the girl only to fall into the arms of Manitou soon after.
Remembering his dear wife, Cloud Dancing could not prevent himself from remembering also Hakan, his best friend and the first love of his life. He wondered if Hakan would be willing to see him in Eternal Hunting Grounds. Nevertheless, it was up to Manitou to decide if he was even worthy to meet his dearest brother and lover again.
“Father, Beara apologizes for disturbing you so late,” his daughter spoke in their mother tongue once she squatted on the warm fur in front of him.
Cloud Dancing returned the serious look of her big eyes: “Something troubles you, my child. Speak. What is it?”
The girl shifted restlessly, but spoke determined: “Beara heard voices… Whispering scary things.”
“You dreamt again?”
“No. Not this time, Father. Beara was awake.”
The old shaman studied the girl more interested now. Could it be she, who inherited the most of his ability to talk to the spirits in the end? His dear son Liwan was already fully able to make up for duties Cloud Dancing could not perform anymore, but connecting with Manitou never came easy for him. It was the result of years of diligent study and efforts. Yet, it seemed it came naturally for this little one.
“And what these voices told you?” he asked seriously.
Beara took a shaky breath: “They… they talked about Kame, Father. That something happened to him.”
Cloud Dancing felt the gripping coldness spreading from his heart to all his limbs.
This was what he did not understand. Their dear adoptive son and blood brother was in danger and he did not realize it. Before, not so long ago, he would knew right away, but now… His daughter began to be more sensitive to the messages from Manitou than himself.
“You must believe Beara, Father!” she urged, when he did not react.
“I do believe you,” Cloud Dancing nodded seriously. “Quickly, get Liwan, your brother. I must speak with him right away.”
***
Danny got back to the ranch quite late, but the faint light coming from under the workroom door showed him that his employer was still waiting for his report.
Mr. Cameron was standing by the tall window, looking out on the gardens around the house, even though it was already completely dark, so there was literally nothing he could see out there. Danny stopped at the door, hesitating. There was something radiating from the man, which tightened his throat and did not let him speak first.
“So? Is it done?” his boss asked in a deep voice, not turning away from the dark window.
Danny shook the strange feeling off and took a breath: “Yes, sir,” he confirmed. “Both telegrams were dispatched. I´ll let you know once any reply arrives.”
He did not consider necessary to mention that the city postmaster was not very keen to work overtime, so it took Danny come persuasion and excess fare to get it done. The only important fact was that the urgent messages to the US Marshals´ Office in Billings and to Horace Tabor in Colorado were on the way to their destinations.
“Good. What about those two brave fellows we had discussed before?”
Danny suppressed a surrendered sigh. It was clear that Mr. Cameron would not forget about this topic, but he was not exactly eager to talk about it anyway. It was not his fault that the survivors of the mine collapse attracted his boss´s attention. It did not matter that Danny conveniently forgot to mention they were even more than only familiar to him too…
Since there happened to be two of them at once, he was almost certain that the rest of Black Riders was probably in the city now as well. However, Danny made a promise to them once and he was not willing to break it and betray them. Not even for Mr. Cameron. There was a high probability that his boss might figure it out anyway, but he was determined to keep his mouth shut, otherwise he could not forgive himself. Even more after what happened to Kamenashi.
What he could and should say were the names they gave him. Though he doubted they were the real ones.
“One of them is the witness of that dynamite attacker - Tanaka. He´s hospitalized on Dr. Best´s clinic with a severe concussion, but the doc says he´ll recover. His friend, who had appeared right after the explosion, introduced himself as Kiddo. Last time I checked he stayed put at the mine, just as Akanishi.”
There was a short moment of silence.
“He was still working on the debris?”
Danny would swear he caught a hint of surprise in that question, but he could not be sure at all. There were not many things, which could catch Cameron Henderson unprepared, though this might be one of them. He saw Akanishi struggling with that collapse there with his own eyes and it was not a happy sight.
“As far as I know, sir.”
“All right. Good job, Danny.”
“Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No, you may go now and get some rest. I expect there will be quite busy days up ahead of us.”
Already on his leave, Danny realized that he did not exactly like how that prediction sounded.
***
A half-made bed. Dirty boots threw aside on one side of it. A carefully folded pile of clothes on the other. Many pieces of clothing just thrown over the chair. Hastily folded stack of working documents related to the reservations on the clean table, except half-eaten breakfast on two plates and two barely-drunk-from cups of coffee.
There were clear signs of two people living in this recently repaired house everywhere. One of them favoring order and tidiness, the other the very opposite. However, only one of them came back home last night…
Just a short tour around the cozy rooms brought Jane to tears. How came that it was always the nicest people, who got the worst from life? It was so incredibly unfair she wanted to scream in anger and pity.
Lost in gloomy thoughts, it took her a while to notice that the water on the stove behind her was boiling already. Wiping her cheeks hastily, she loaded a tray with ceramic mugs, kettle, coffee and sugar. She took a few deliberately slow breaths to calm herself down and only then, she proceeded outside.
They said it was not uncommon for that time of the year to rain in Montana, but that morning the sky was literally pouring waterfalls of water on the earth. The rain drummed on the porch roof with vigor of buffalo herd, but fortunately, it was in the lee, so it was possible to stay there without getting drenched. Which was the opportunity all the men used.
Even though four of them were sitting there - both Akanishi brothers, Cullen and Ryo - except the raindrops falling there was complete silence. Cullen was smoking, Ryo´s eyes were so red it looked like he was crying a short while ago and Leo was observing his motionless brother, who looked completely absent minded, just staring ahead.
Jane placed the tray on the table and returned the look of her fiancé. Leo smiled at her faintly and reached out to soothe her leg gratefully.
“Thanks, dear.”
She just nodded and slowly started pouring the hot liquid into mugs. Then she sat down on the bench next to Leo, with her coffee in slightly trembling hands.
Jane did not get much sleep that night and she could imagine the others were in no better shape. Strong coffee might help everyone to cheer up a bit, but it would not erase the horrific events of the previous day. She wouldn´t have ever thought that their reunion with the two latest members of the gang would turn out like this. How this morning was like for Jin, she rather didn´t even imagine….
After he had collapsed, they took him home on the litter dragged by Kuro. Jane treated his wounds as best she only could and they let him sleep, while the four of them made themselves comfortable in the salon.
Both she and Leo heard Jin getting up when it wasn´t even dawn yet. Her fiancé went to check on his brother, but returned before long. Jin had taken refuge on the veranda and did not talk. That obviously had not changed since.
Jane carefully sipped on the hot liquid and then focused her look on Leo´s brother. With the dirt and blood washed away, Jin did not look so horrifying anymore, but inner pain and grief changed his face so much it felt like she had not known him before.
Ryo chose one of the cups she had prepared and observed the dark surface in it thoughtfully. Then he took a breath and cleared his throat: “I´m going to check on Koki later, so if you need anything in the city, I can buy it,” he announced with both hands pressed against the hot mug.
Jane more than liked the idea she could actually do something and volunteered herself as well: “I´ll go with you.”
Ryo nodded gratefully: “Thanks. I´m sure he´ll be happy to see you.”
“Say hello to him from me,” Leo requested. “I´ll rather stay out of people´s eyes.”
“I can only approve of that,” murmured Cullen.
“Sure,” Ryo nodded and turned to the other Akanishi cautiously. “Jin? Should I take care of something for you? Maybe on the place where you work?”
There was a long silence, so long that they did not expect any reply anymore, but in the end, it came.
“No, thanks.”
Hearing Jin´s quiet, hoarse voice, Jane shivered again. Leo reached out and hugged her around the waist, but did not let his eyes off his brother.
“I´ll go to the city myself as well later,” Jin continued, otherwise still motionless.
The Black Riders looked at each other worriedly.
“Then I can keep you company if you like…” Ryo suggested.
“No. I´ll handle it myself.”
Leo was not so sure about that. More like he was damn worried about what his brother was about to do. It was Cullen, who uttered this thought aloud though.
“I hope you´re not planning to do something stupid, lad.”
As if a statue suddenly moved, that was like his brother seemed to Leo in that moment.
“Stupid like what?” Jin asked, looking at Cullen with unnaturally dark eyes. “Something more stupid than playing a hero in the fucking collapsing mine? I doubt anything like that even exists,” his voice broke with the last sentence into almost non-recognizable.
Everybody stared at him speechless as Jin got up on his feet and staggered a little, making Leo flinch toward him, but in the end he kept his balance.
“I´ll try to get some sleep,” Jin announced hoarsely. “Wake me up at noon.”
With that, he disappeared inside the house.
They all sat there, for a long while nobody willing to speak.
“Shit,” murmured Ryo, covering his face. “I hate this…”
Jane felt new tears in her eyes, stinging, pinching her through and through. She had no words.
Cullen did not comment it either and just lightened up another cigarette in an apparently worse mood than before.
And Leo wondered helplessly, if there was any way to get through the walls Jin had built around himself. With a tired sigh, he reached for his coffee, wishing there was something a way stronger inside.
*
The empty part of the bed next to him was cold. He ran his fingers across the sheets remembering the warm soft skin under them.
It hurt so much he did not know what he felt anymore. He was so tired his body screamed for rest, which it didn´t get during the night. He just couldn´t sleep peacefully. His mind was too flooded with the depressing ideas.
How should he go on without Kazuya? Just how?
He did not want to accept that his love was gone forever. His heart was literally pleading him not to as it shook in fear from breaking apart. However, his mind was more reasonable.
He knew what he saw, he knew what happened and he knew there was no chance for Kazuya. Even if he survived the collapse, he was trapped under the tons of rock, slowly losing energy and oxygen to breathe. Slowly dying. Maybe even in this moment. And there was nothing Jin could do to change that.
And worst of all, there was no one who would deny these pessimistic assumptions to him.
Damn. He hated how quiet their bedroom was.
His fingers squeezed around the pillow, which had a faint fragrance of Kame´s hair. He missed him so much; it was as if somebody stabbed his heart with an invisible burning knife.
Even though Jin closed his eyes firmly, the two tears found their way out and ran down, freezing his cheeks.
***
There was nothing, which felt like everything that ever mattered.
The soft waves of emptiness were carrying him into the infinite unknown.
Not bothered with anyone or anything, he was calm and reconciled and it felt pleasantly natural. At least, until he heard that voice…
He did not understand what it said, but he knew to whom it belonged. It was his mother´s voice and she did not sound happy.
Confused, not knowing what he had done to upset her, he tried to get closer, but he found himself unable to move or even speak.
Realization of not being free but helpless terrified him.
Then, came the pain…
At first, he hurt all over, unable to figure out the main source of that agonizing feeling. He didn´t know where he was, could not remember what happened.
He instinctively reached out to his right leg, sensing it was the part, which hurt the most. He also realized that he had a body, which was lying on the side on some hard surface and heard his own accelerated, short breathing.
Confused and scared, he was not able to breathe properly, until one small, sane part of his mind yelled at him to calm down.
He forced himself to remain completely still and hold breath, until he started feeling nauseous. Only then, he allowed his lungs to do their job again. Concentrating only at this one task, he slowly took deep inhales of ice-cold air, one after another. It helped a bit and he remembered.
Jin´s tearful eyes… The backs´ of his friends… The collapsing world…
Kame opened his eyes to complete darkness and silence. He was alone and in pain, but apparently alive. There was no way he would feel so damn bad in the afterlife. The thought terrified him. If his leg was still trapped under that boulder…
Fighting against the urge to start hyperventilating again, he tried to roll on his back. It went just fine; excluding the sharp stab of new pain in his right leg and a dull ringing inside his skull.
He moved his hands and carefully tapped around. The right one found only harsh ground, but the left one encountered the solid wall of stones. When he stretched them behind his head, he found another obstacle.
Shaking, he tried to reach up, as high as possible, but found no trace of that huge boulder, which trapped him on the spot before. Gulping down heavily, Kame closed his eyes even though it did not change anything about how he perceived his surroundings.
It was the legs turn. He tried to move with his left feet, which did not hurt so much. Taking another deep breath, he went to do the same with the right one. The explosion of pain made him yelp, but once it passed, he realized - he could move with all his limbs freely.
Kame focused on breathing again, preventing himself from acting recklessly.
One of the tremors probably dislodged the boulder and shifted with his body in some way, which allowed him to survive. Considering the last things that he saw, it was a miracle.
Nevertheless, it did not change the fact that he was still trapped in the collapsed gold mine. That was something he had to remind to himself even though his guts tightened in horror once he made himself consider that fact.
He may have survived the collapse itself, but he did not have exactly the best prospects to stay alive for long. He still heard his own breathing, but otherwise it was deadly quiet all around. He was buried alive under the mountain. There was no chance somebody would find and rescue him. He had been abandoned in the dark, alone and dying…
There was another strange sound, which combined with his breathing. It took Kame a while to realize that he started crying. Heavy sobs shook with his sore body making him feel even worse. He had never felt so lonely and hopeless in his life.
Don´t be… like this… Kazuya…
His eyes widened into the darkness. He would swear he heard Jin´s voice… But that was impossible. Jin surely got out along with Koki and Ryo.
He could not help but pry his ears, but no voice sounded again. Instead, he caught something else in the endless silence. He was sure he knew what that sound meant, but he could not classify what it was.
Jin…
If there was anyone, because of whom he should not give up so easily, it was Jin. He might be in deep shit, but he was still alive. If nothing else, he considered better to die trying to get out of here, than just wait for the death to come for his exhausted, beaten up body.
Okay, one thing after another…
First, he had to find out how exactly it looked around him, though he feared that sight.
Tensely, he searched along his sides. If he remembered correctly, he had his bag with the first aid kit when all things went down. It was still there, hanging on the strap. He was even partially lying on it, without realizing it.
He pulled it out and placed it on his chest carefully. He did not dare to lose anything what might have remained inside after he treated some of the miners, so he slide his hand inside slowly, searching around until he found the small box with matches. From the sound of them rattling, he could tell there was quite a few inside yet.
He felt his fingers were sticky with sweat, so he took one with extra caution. With his stomach clutched in anxiety, he stroked it against the stone, which he had found on his left side before. He had to blink a few times to recognize what was revealed in the flickering small light in his shaking hand. He was surrounded by quite a few huge stones, across which he could not see, there were also a few remnants of wooded struts, but above him there was nothing, just a vast empty space. Kame´s jaw dropped.
The short match burnt out, stinging the tips of his fingers. He threw it aside and remained still for a while, thinking. He did not get to check his leg, but he could imagine it was not a nice sight. According to the stinging pain, it was broken in two or maybe in even more places. He had to be extra careful if he did not want to faint.
He put his bag aside, rested on his elbows and pushed himself up slowly. He waited for a while and then went all the way to the sitting position, groaning. His head got a little dizzy, but the pain in the right leg remained the same.
Exhaling deeply, Kame grabbed the matches again and lightened one of them with more certainty, before raising it up. On his right, there was a huge empty space. High above him, there was a dark ceiling with tens of stalactites hanging from it. He moved a little to look around as much as possible and noticed the avalanche of stones on his left, which led somewhere up to the dark.
“Damn…” his voice was just a hoarse whisper, which once again ended the short time of light he had.
Now, he was sure. He did not know how that happened, but he was not in the mine anymore. He happened to fall down into some cave under the tunnels created by gold diggers. It had to be there from the beginning of time, without anyone knowing.
For a moment, he was once again overwhelmed by the fact he survived that fall. From what he saw, he would expect his body to be smashed to a pulp by stones. Though, from what he could feel, his right leg was in a bad shape and he probably hit somewhere with his head and back, but otherwise everything else in his body seemed to be in one piece. For the first time ever, he wondered if there was something or someone almighty watching over him.
Such a finding completely changed his perception of the current situation. Escape from the collapsed mine would have been impossible, but if he was in some kind of big underground cave, there might have been some way to get out. It was a gamble, a tiny chance, but he grasped it with all his might. Not all hope was lost yet; he might still see Jin again.
His brain had already started working at full speed. He needed to treat the injured leg; he would not get far with as it was. He had some things for it left in the bag, but he needed also some more permanent light to do it. Once he would be able to move around, he could search the cave and look for that strange sound properly.
With new hope and a clear task on his mind, Kame started to pull out more things from his precious bag.
***
Ned was gloomily supervising the cleaning up works around Henderson´s mine. After all, he came to like his job here and no matter the fatal finale, he was going to miss it.
The morning rain gradually eased up, but it was still drizzling in quite an annoying way and that didn´t improve his mood much.
“Boss?” Cooper drew his attention and made a significant gesture to alert him about something behind his back. “He´s here again.”
He turned around to see whom Cooper was talking about, though he already had a hunch. Shaking his head, he set off toward the young man in black coat and hat, who was accompanied by equally black horse. Jin Akanishi was standing there, staring at the disaster before the former entrance to the gold mine. He did not pay an attention to Ned, until he spoke.
“Man, I got you,” Ned emphasized emphatically. “Really. But enough is enough. Just go home. You´re useless here.”
Once Akanishi turned to face him, Ned thought he might have chosen some less harsh words, but it was too late to take it back. After all, somebody had to tell him.
“I know,” Akanishi admitted quietly without resistance.
Ned observed his stiff face frowning. There was no emotion on Akanishi´s face, but he could sense that he was defeated.
“So, what are you doing here?”
“I just… Just want to ask if…”Akanishi stuttered, stopped and continued after a pause. “If there´s any chance that the… the bodies will be retrieved from down there,” he finished with his eyes once again glued to impenetrable blockade.
Ned stared at him, not knowing what to say for a while.
Not even the wives of the deceased miners asked about something like this. He would have to be blind not to see and realize that Akanishi had quite a close relationship with Kamenashi and it hit the man hard to lose such a close friend. Usually, he would not expect from himself to care, but Kamenashi was a good fellow and he did not deserve to end up like this.
He stood by Akanishi´s side, choosing what to say more carefully this time.
“We tried to get there, from two possible places even. It´s hopeless. The mine´s lost. It´s not worth risking even more lives,” he summarized cautiously.
“I see…” Akanishi´s voice was no more than a whisper.
Suddenly, Ned could not bear standing next to him. It was too depressing.
“I´m sorry,” he muttered and rather promptly returned to his duties.
***
She was scrubbing clean each table, chair and shelf in their reception room, even though there was literally no dirt to get rid of on sight. Almost all her girls occupied the sofas and armchairs, slandering half the men from Bozeman. For once, Cora did not scold them for it and did not chase them to work. There was practically nothing to do anyway.
“Jin!”
“Jin´s here!”
Hearing the excited calls, Cora popped her head up to check on the incomer in the door. It was really her bodyguard; with his face half-hidden in the shadow of a huge hat.
“I´m so happy you´re back!”
“They say you were there in the mine!”
“Whoa, scary…”
“What it was like?”
Jin greeted the girls who surrounded him, by a short nod, did not answer any of their questions though and gently pushed through to get to the bar.
“Shut it finally, or I´ll send you all to scrub the back yard!” Cora hushed that flock of hens, upset they had absolutely no understanding or empathy towards their handsome helper.
The girls returned to their gossiping offended and Jin sat down on one of the stools, taking his hat off. Cora almost wished for he would not do it. She had never seen more creepy expression on anyone´s face and it did not fit Jin at all.
“Hi… I´m sorry for yesterday,” his voice was a way different as well. Hoarse and broken, making Cora shiver a little. He seemed to be even worse than she had expected. Ever since the moment she had read the names of those, who perished in the gold mine on the city board, she knew it would be hard on her bodyguard. But this…
“You didn´t have to come yet, I´d understand,” she reacted softly, realizing that Kamenashi had to mean quite a lot to Jin. “Business is quiet. Nobody´s exactly eager to enjoy some wassail with what happened.”
“Bad news spread damn fast, I see,” he noted without any emotion whatsoever.
“Unfortunately,” Cora reached under the bar and pulled up a huge bottle of whiskey. She hesitated while pouring a glass and then poured one more for herself.
“Here you go.”
Jin stared at the liquid in front of him as if he did not know what it was. Cora observed him worriedly, when he finally grabbed it and drank it in one go.
“Thanks,” he murmured even more quietly than before and placed the empty glass back on the bar counter.
Cora pondered his current state for a while, before she turned to the gossiping gathering at sofas.
“Girls, go up to tidy your rooms,” she ordered strictly.
Naturally, all of them started complaining at once.
“What?”
“Why?”
“There´s no need to!”
“Get out,” Cora hissed in a tone, which they did not dare to oppose anymore and one after another they left upstairs.
Then she walked to the main door and locked it.
When she returned to the bar, Jin was still sitting there in the exactly same position and did not seem to perceive what was going on around him. Cora pulled both glasses and the bottle closer and sat down next to him.
She took a deep breath: “If you want to talk about it…” she stopped when Jin shook his head wordlessly.
“Okay…” Cora sighed a little disappointed.
“Can I ask for one more?” he asked instead.
She was already pouring the next round before he finished the question.
***
Kame knew there was no use to rush things, yet it annoyed him how slow and clumsy he was. Already the very first stone in his way turned out to be almost insurmountable obstacle…
He managed to fix his broken leg between two thin plates he had made from the remains of the wooden props with a jackknife. While taking care of it, he swallowed all remaining dried berries from wintergreen plant. He got them from Cloud Dancing and given enough time, they worked against any kind of pain.
Kame felt lucky it was a closed fracture, but no matter that, to overcome the pain as he leant on it cost him all his strength. After overcoming the first boulder, he ended up sitting on the other side of it, suppressing tears, as he could not dare to lose any liquids and waited for the worst wave to pass over.
Now, after many endless minutes, he was finally moving, but slower than any turtle on Earth. With a makeshift crutch - made from the broken prop as well - under his right shoulder and with a torch in the left hand, he staggered forward one-step at a time. He was incredibly glad for the flickering light of his torch imitation, even though it cost him his shirt, as he tore it apart to stripes and wrapped them around a thick piece of wood. Fortunately, one of the props, which fell down with him, was made of freshly cut tree, so also full of tree sap, which he could use for it. Otherwise, he would use all the matches up soon and ended up in the complete dark. Like this, he could at least partially see the incredible view around him.
The hidden cave hall seemed to spread to infinity, though he knew it was just his perception, as he fought for each step forward. The ground under his shaking feet was irregular, full of dangerous holes and sticking out stalagmites.
Kame struggled to ignore pain and thirst and just kept moving forward slowly, until he reached a natural tunnel. It was a way smaller than the cave and quite narrow, but still big enough for him to walk upright. He knew that if he stopped and sat down to rest, he would not have got up anymore. Therefore, he continued and made breaks after each covered yard and looked around, searching for the source of that soft sound which he had heard before.
He had no idea how much time passed or what distance he overcame in the underground. His heart was already beating heavily and he felt dizzy, barely suppressing the urge to vomit. That would not help him at all.
So focused on moving forward, he noticed it only in the last second and stopped.
Surprised by the light reflecting from something, Kame raised his head and then the torch. The tunnel he had been walking through ended and the cave widened again. The walls on both sides split and another big space opened right in front of him.
He looked to the left and then to the right. Nothing except the flames reflection moved on the calm surface.
With his throat tightened anxiously, he slowly sat down on a convenient stone on the shore. He reached the underground lake.
Behind him, there was only the dark, silent heart of the mountain. In front of him, there was an unmoving, cold surface, surrounded by impenetrable rocky walls. There was no way out for him.
- To be continued -