He turned toward her, bracing one hand against the wall by her head as he fought against the people pushing against them. Grabbing hold of her arm, he pulled her against him as he shoved his way back through the crush, fighting against the seemingly endless sea of people. Her heart hammered painfully in her chest, she searched wildly for William, but she couldn’t see him amongst the wave of bodies.
They broke free; she inhaled the fresh air sharply, trying hard to get oxygen into her abused lungs. William was before her suddenly, he thrust her bow and a quiver of arrows into her hands. “We’re going to have to go out another way.”
Aria’s eyes widened. The tunnel behind them, the one everyone was shoving through, was the only one that did not eventually meet back up, in some convoluted pathway or another, with the main tunnel they had just left. There were ways outside through other tunnels that led off the main one, but there was a chance that the vampires could already be in any of those tunnels. To open one of the gates back up, and go into one of those tunnels, was a huge risk. It was something they had never planned on having to do.
She glanced back at the exit tunnel, it was jammed full of bodies pushing and shoving at each other. In the drills they had run, and practiced, most of the people were supposed to be halfway through the tunnel by now. But panic had hindered things; she was certain that there were people on the ground in there, people injured and hurt and being trampled.
“We have to help them.”
She took a step toward them but William grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her sharply back. “There is no helping them now Aria; we have to get out of here before we get trapped in here. We have to go.”
“The people,” she whispered.
“Will be fine, they have the safe exit, remember?” he retorted sharply. “Come on.”
He pulled her back toward the gate that they had entered the cavern through. “We just came through there,” she breathed.
“There are three gates closed between us and the main hall. It will be the safest one.”
His long fingers worked deftly over the locks, throwing them swiftly open. Three other men and one woman gathered with them, apparently deciding to throw their chances in with them, rather than the crushing mass of people on the other side. Aria did not know who they were, but the people within the caves changed often. Most of the rebels relocated constantly, preferring to stay on the move rather than remain cooped up in one place. It was a theory that her family often stuck to also, but her father had stayed here for far longer than normal. Aria knew it was because of her. Knew that he had wanted her to rest and recuperate in one place, and maybe even have some sense of stability for once in her life.
Aria had hated being stuck here, and now she knew why. She felt much safer moving constantly, felt much safer outside in the woods she knew so well. Yet, they had spent so much time over the years running in and out of the cave systems, that they knew most of them by heart. She always felt like a caged animal when she was within the caves, but knew them like the back of her hand. She had wanted to make her dad happy though, especially when he was so obviously worried about her, so she hadn’t complained about staying here. She wished she had now. The caves would have been raided, even if they hadn’t been here, but she couldn’t help but feel like this was somehow her fault. That she had somehow brought them here.
“Come on,” Max said softly, seizing hold of her hand.
They plunged back into the black tunnels. The darkness enveloped them; she could barely make out the back of Max’s head as she strained to see. She wished they could light at least one of the torches, but that was just begging to be caught and killed, or captured and brought back to the palace where God only knew what kind of horrible fate awaited her. She had the distinct feeling that if she was brought back to the palace, it would not go over well. In fact, although the prince was engaged, she thought she would be made to pay dearly for her escape. She knew how badly he hated to be disobeyed, and her escape had been the ultimate defiance, and she would be punished for it. Either that, or he wouldn’t even care that she was back there and just decide to let her go to whoever claimed her this time.
She shuddered at the thought. Her hand clung to the bow and quiver slung over her back. They were her specialty; she could shoot an arrow better than anyone else. She just wasn’t going to be able to do it in these narrow confines, and from the way that William was heading, she knew that it was about to get a lot tighter in here. She hated this route through the caverns because it was so narrow, but it was the one that made the most sense right now. It would be harder for the vampires to navigate through here also, and at this point the other tunnel options led out to a waterfall. It was a beautiful sight, but the sound of rushing water blocked out the noise of their pursuers, and they needed their sense of hearing most right now. Their sight was just about useless. The rocks were also slippery, and climbing them under the best of circumstances was dangerous enough, without adding the bonus obstacle of rushing.
William took a sharp right. The tunnel began to climb steeply upward. They were heading toward the back of the mountain, and what had once been an old coal mining operation, or so she had been told. Aria hated the old coal mines; they were creepy, dangerous, and filthy. Thankfully William took a left and began to climb toward the backside of the mountain. The air became easier to breathe, although the walls were still tight against them, she did not feel quite as pinned in.
Max’s hand tightened around hers. She was grateful for his reassuring presence, his solid strength and warmth as he led her swiftly along. William stopped suddenly, causing the woman to bump roughly into him. They stood silently, straining to hear anything within the dark, damp space. They were only a hundred feet from the end of the tunnel, only a hundred feet from freedom, or certain death.
“We’re going to have to move fast. Stay low and head straight for the woods. If we get separated for some reason we’ll meet up again at the south edge of the lake,” William instructed. “If we can’t get to the south edge of the lake, we’ll meet at the banquet tree.”
The banquet tree was a tree she and William had discovered when they were children. It was simply an extremely large apple tree, but it had seemed massive and wonderful to them as they spent hours climbing its massive limbs, and gorging themselves on the apples they picked from it. For a couple weeks every year they’d had an ample supply of fruit, and aching bellies. But it had always been worth it.