Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide.
They were falling.
Actually that was not right, they were sliding.
Upon being forced out of the perilous room, which had almost been the place of their untimely deaths, the children were swept away on the tidal wave of water that had occupied the space with them. The onrush sent them all out the newly opened entrance that Mike Larabee had found and sent them through the doorway into what appeared to be a steep and narrow downward slope that disappeared into the darkness, they further down they went. Since he had been the one to uncover the secret of the door, he had been first out when the water had escaped through the door and now, he seemed to be in front of all the bodies that were sliding down the slope. They were like participants on a particularly sharp slide that no one wanted to be on. Behind him, he could hear the screams of Annette and Penny while a litany of curses seemed to be coming from the rest of his friends.
If it was not for the fact that they did not know where they were going or for that matter, what was up ahead, the entire experience might have been considered fun. However with nothing but darkness surrounding them and this whooshing sound that had built into a powerful roar, indicating the vastness of the chamber they were travelling through, the only coherent emotion that any of them to confess to, was fear. Mike's heart was pounding as they continued their speedy descent, trying not to let his terror get the better of him mostly because his companions were frightened enough without seeing him panicking.
"I think I'm going to be sick!" Tommy screamed out.
"I was sick a second ago!" Penny shouted.
"I know," Peter growled. "I'm telling mom you threw up on me!"
"What makes you think you're going to live through this!" Sam cried out just as annoyed.
"When are we going to stop?" Annette pleaded, obviously terrified.
Suddenly, their momentum began to slow and Mike could feel the slope starting to even up and felt a surge of relief in thinking that their ordeal was at and end. He had no idea how deep underground they were now and could only guess that it must have been so because of the amount of time they had travelled down this incline. Thoughts of how they were going to get out did not even cross his mind yet since he was presently occupied with the notion of where they would end up and what awaited him there. The idea of what lay at the end of the map started to wither as his heart rate started to slow.
Until he saw an edge coming up ahead and no way to keep themselves from going over it.
"Oh hell!" Mike exclaimed.
The next thing he knew, they were in a free fall. He could the screams become more desperate and singled out Annette's in his terror as being the most prolific. Fortunately, unlike the extended ordeal the ride on the slope had been, this was no way as lengthy. They reached surface with a loud, viscous splash that did not feel at all water but still served the purpose of cushioning their fall from the height they had fallen. The sudden stop of bodies in the substance created something of a splash upon impacting, sending heavy waves of it in all directions.
For a few seconds, none of them did anything but remain where they were, quiet and still. The shock of coming to a stop was too soon and for each of them had to acquaint themselves to the idea that they were for the moment out of danger. However, their new surroundings did not seem as pitch black as the former points in their journey. There was light radiating from the walls and the floor, enough to let them know what they had landed within.
"Is everyone okay?" Mike immediately asked and was rewarded by answers to the affirmative even though no one was very happy to be in the slimy pool that had mostly likely saved all their lives.
"What is this?" Elena Rose asked in disgust, wiping a smattering of it from her face and rubbing a glob of the substance in her finger tips.
"I don't' know." Tommy confessed, fascinated by the black puddle they had landed in so spectacularly. At first he had thought it was mud but it was not. It reminded of treacle but he knew it was not that, not judging from the smell that came from it. He thought it smelt like alcohol in its pure distilled form but knew this was not it. Alcohol was clear and this was pitch black. "Kind of feels like some kind of oil but nothing I've ever seen before."
"Its smells yucky!" Annette exclaimed and it was a statement agreed wholeheartedly by all her companions. "I'm getting out of it!"
"That's the first good suggestion I've heard today." Mike replied feeling it in his hair and wishing more than anything, they were back at that underground lake.
"Oh really?" Elena Rose glared at him. "You didn't think 'Mike this was a bad idea was not a good suggestion'?" She grumbled, not all happy to be in such a state of filth.
"What are you complaining about?" Peter retorted. "You're just covered in this stuff, you should have seen what Penny did to me!" His nose wrinkled in disgust at being covered with vomit and this strange oil as Tommy called it.
"It's was not my fault!" Penny declared.
"Hey and you thought you smelled bad when we blew up my dad's lab." Tommy chuckled with no sense of shame or sympathy whatsoever.
"Besides after what you almost did, I think you deserve it." Adam said just as unsympathetically.
"I'm sorry!" Peter gushed, perfectly aware that his curiosity had almost killed them all and he felt bad enough about it.
"Leave him alone," Sam said coming to his defense, perfectly aware that Peter was mortified by what had happened. "We were going to go through that place anyway. If Peter didn't touch those keys, one of us would have."
"She's right," Mike agreed. "We got through it in one piece, let's not start getting stupid trying to blame each other on the details." He used the tone of voice, which indicated clearly to the other children that this was all the discussion he would tolerate on the subject.
"So where are we now?" Kyle inquired eager to explore this new place even though the last one had been quite frightening indeed. Fortunately, like the rest of the children, the quest to find this treasure was just as intoxicating for him as the older members of the party. Jimmy soon followed him out as Kyle clambered to the edge of the pool and stepped onto solid ground, dripping with the slimy substance.
"I don't know." Mike replied somewhat pleased his brother had not started whining to go home because Kyle tended to do that as soon as things got tough. Very soon he and the others began making their move out of the pool themselves and joined the other Larabee child in the group.
"The walls are shiny." Annette pointed out looking upward.
"Yeah, I think its phosphorous." Tommy offered, knowing of only one substance that would radiate like this. "It glows."
"Well at least we don't have to burn any more of my hankies any more." Penny said clearly relieved. "Not that you could anyway.' She looked at herself with disapproval. "Everything on me is covered in this icky goo."
"But you still look better than you normally do anyway." Adam teased and earned a sharp punch from her in the side of his arm.
Mike saw Kyle and Jimmy starting to get ahead of them as they continued along the crest of the new cavern t hey had been dropped into. The duo was hurrying ahead, with Annette following close by and soon crested the little hill that led from the dark pool. "Wait up!" Mike called out.
The trio did not answer which only made Mike hastened his pace to catch up with them. He was half up the crest when he realised that Sam was following him closely. They needed not have bothered for Kyle, Jimmy and Annette had not progressed very far once they had peaked the slight hill. All three children were poise at the edge of what appeared to be the most enormous chasm that Mike had ever seen. It stretched a good two hundred feet across to the sheer wall on the other side and there was no way of accurately judging its depth because it was simply too deep to fathom.
There seemed to be no discernible way to cross the space other than a rope bridge that was strung to the edge not to far along the path that skirted the abyss. It was a construction of ropes and wood and it was so narrow that they would have to walk side by side to reach its end. The sight of what lay before them had dampened the enthusiasm of the three young children who stared blankly at it, appearing not all eager to go first.
"Mike..." Sam started to say.
"I know," he agreed with her unspoken sentiments. "We have no choice, we have to go out that way."
"I was afraid you'd say that." She groaned inwardly, not at all relishing the idea of crossing that fragile looking bridge that seemed to have been there since the dawn of time. She could not picture crossing that expanse without the added image of her falling to her death in that dark abyss and yet there was no way around it.
"We're going across there Mike?" Kyle looked at his brother fearfully.
"We haven't a choice," Mike tried to explain it so they would understand. "We can't go the way we came and we have to believe that across there is a way out."
"Oh my god!" Elena Rose exclaimed upon cresting the hill and being greeted with the same sight that Mike had come across only a few seconds. "James Darien Wilmington, you get away from that ledge!" She called out anxiously, not all pleased to see her younger brother so close to the edge of that horrifying deep chasm. The effect of her voice on such high ceilings was like a thunderous boom and the sound tore through the air like a crack of thunder.
Jimmy looked at his sister somewhat startled that she would use that tone of voice with him. For a minute, he mistook her for his mother and instinctively backed away, conditioned to obey that voice without question. "I'm okay Ellie." Jimmy responded after his surprise had worn away. "I'm being careful."
"I don't care!" Elena Rose replied just as automatically. "I want you at least ten feet away from there."
"Go on," Mike looked at the younger boy and then turned his gaze at Annette and Kyle as well. "Same goes for both of you."
"How long do you think this has been here?" Peter asked as he joined them, once again fascinated by everything he was discovering in this strange quest they had embarked.
"I don't know." Mike shrugged. "It looks pretty old though."
"Maybe we should look at the map." Tommy suggested, giving the rope bridge an unhappy expression of disapproval, hoping silently to himself they would not have to cross it.
"Yes, maybe we should," Penny swallowed hard, reaching for the parchment had set this entire situation in motion, secreted in her satchel, kept safe from the mud and muck that they had been immersed in a short time ago. With filthy fingers, she reached in and brought out the parchment into the cool air inside the cavern. There was still enough phosphorus on the walls for her to read it without a torch and she unrolled it and started reading.
"Please say there's another way around," Tommy started to chant under his breath while looking up to the sky he could not see to make a more silent entreaty to the deity that held his beliefs. "Please, please, please."
The Chamber of Openings was a test of the mind
Now across the Cavern of No Begining and No End
Will you find the answer to the test of courage.
"I swear if I get to the end of this stupid quest and find somebody I am going to beat the crap out of them for all these stupid clues!" Sam roared. "Why can't they be more sensible?"
"They don't want to make it too easy for us, Sam." Adam said as a matter of factly. "Don't you know that before you get the treasure you got to prove yourself? Like Jack and the Beanstalk!"
"This is not knowing how to keep your cow when someone offers you magic beans!" She declared.
"I wonder if dad ever tried that con?" Peter joked and found Penny nudging him in the ribs because they were discussing something important. Besides, daddy was just too good a con man for anything so stupid anyway, or at least that was how he told it.
"Look," Mike broke in, weary of this bickering and inching closer and closer to the notion of abandoning this quest, even though he made no mention of that fact to his companions just yet. "We have no choice, we have to go over that bridge."
"Mike its dangerous." Elena Rose tried to convince him. "The thing has been here probably forever. It may not be able to support us. It could snap."
"It could but the alternative is for us to sit here and wait for them to come find us because unless you noticed something I didn't Elena, I did see a way of getting out the way we came." He said sternly. He did not wish to be so pointed but sometimes she had a tendency to be rather stubborn and in this instance, she was frightening the others.
Elena Rose did not speak but fumed in silent annoyance because he was very correct. She had seen no way to go back the same path they had taken and so it was left only to follow the one that lay before them to its natural conclusion. Not to mention, she stung at the sharpness of Mike's tone with her, feeling a little guilty because she realised that perhaps it was not entirely undeserved, she knew herself well enough to know that she could sometimes speak without giving her words proper thought.
"So who gets to go?" Adam spoke up and the group went silent again since none of them was particularly eager to volunteer.
Mike let out another deep breath, knowing that there could only be one choice. He would not allow any one else to go so he braced himself to take the step forward when suddenly he heard Tommy speak.
"I'll go."
Mike looked at him sharply. The young man had already started towards the bridge, certain that he would receive no arguments on this matter but Mike was not about to let him do something so perilous without discussing it. "Tommy, I'll go." He offered instead.
"No Mike," Tommy looked over his shoulder as his neared the edge. "You have to get the others out of here in case something goes wrong."
"Something goes wrong?" Sam exclaimed, adding her voice to the mix. "Tommy if something goes wrong, you'll be dead."
"Sam!" Mike hissed before regarding Tommy again. "Tommy are you sure about this?"
Tommy glanced down into the abyss and felt the fear crawling up his spine but intermingling with that apprehension was also an underlying sentiment of certainty that would not allow him to back away and give into Mike's request. Mike had the ability to get them out of here, he knew that. Throughout this entire adventure and perhaps through most of their lives, Mike Larabee's talents seemed was best served coordinating them. Mike may not have Tommy's knowledge in chemicals, he might not possess Sam's gift to see trails, Elena Rose's practical sense, Penny's flair for dramatics, Adam's gift for storytelling or even Peter's ability to know how things work but he had something special onto itself. He could take all their talents and fuse together into something extraordinary, binding them into something invincible. With Mike around, they were a team. If Tommy allowed Mike to cross the bridge and he should get hurt, robbing them of his leadership, then none of them would escape because they would become separates at a time when they needed to be one most of all.
"Yeah Mike," he nodded as he placed both hands on the rough hessian ropes that made up the bindings of the bridge and stepped onto the wooden slates that made up its floor. He put his weight upon it and felt the strain in the wood and he inched more of himself onto it. Tommy kept his eyes faced on the other side of the chasm, telling himself that looking down was not going to help but hamper his progress even further. All it would do was make him afraid and falter his resolve and he refused to let his friends down by allowing fear to get the better of him. He inched further away from solid ground feeling the bridge sway a little as he stepped onto it.
"Be careful Tommy." He heard Penny's voice behind him.
"Don't worry," Tommy gulped, keeping his eyes fixed on the other side. "I'm not going to be anything else."
His heart was pounding so loudly in his ears as he made every nervous step forward, feeling the wood creak beneath him as he moved along. Despite the swaying of the bridge the further he progressed across it, the construct seemed to be holding well enough and Tommy started to feel a little better about making it across. Keeping a firm grip on the ropes, Tommy continued walking and becoming less and less afraid until he saw the edge of the ledge he was trying to reach drew closer. Feeling a swell of relief flooding through him, Tommy finally stepped onto the narrow ledge that ran along side the sheer face of wall and saw that it tapered into the an entrance in the rock. He was tempted to explore it but felt that he ought to wait for the others.
"Its okay!" Tommy called out. "Its safe!" He urged his companions. "You can come across!"
Although none of the others seemed any more eager than he to make the crossing, Mike soon organised the group into making the journey. Despite their fear, Mike managed to convince the younger ones like Kyle and Annette to go first mostly because they were lighter and would put less strain across the wooden bridge. After much convincing by Elena Rose, Jimmy was also coaxed into joining Tommy on the other side.
The older children began the same journey soon after with Mike going first mostly because he was the one of the oldest and in size, the one with the most bulk. If he could make the crossing without any difficulty, it ought to be easier for the others who lighter than him. Mike walked carefully taking measured steps for most of the journey and letting out a sigh of relief as he reached the other end without anything tearing or breaking. No sooner than he made it across, the others followed in his wake and finally only Sam was left. Like himself, Sam often took the rear, allowing the others get to safety before she thought of it for herself.
Whenever Mike saw her behave that way, he realised it was no wonder why Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner got along so well. They thought so much along the same lines it was scary at times. It was why he could tell despite that same unflappable expression on her face that infuriated his father to no end when Vin displayed it, she was still scared of making the crossing. It occurred to Mike that she might have been a little afraid of heights, just like snakes made him want to head for dynamite. Mike suddenly wished he could join her on the bridge to help her across, if that was indeed was making this so hard but knew the added weight would be a risk they could not take.
"Hey Sam," he started talking, trying to take her mind off the journey. "What do you think is on the other end of this map?"
"Hopefully a way out." Sam spoke, concentrating on keeping her attention on the faces of her friends and not the great distance beneath her. "Mike, we have to start thinking seriously about getting out now. We've almost gotten killed once already, maybe even twice. I don't want to think our luck is going to hold out."
"Yeah," Mike nodded somberly, having to agree that Sam was right about all this.
"After everything we've been through?" Penny said aghast. "How can you even think about giving up?" She looked at Mike and Sam with distaste. "I mean, we've almost drowned, got pounded by moving walls, gone down a slope that's so deep underground that no one will ever find us and to top it all off, we just had to cross that! Not to mention...."
"Oh great, here we go again," Peter started to say. "Not the...."
"I had to sacrifice my good handkerchiefs!" She exclaimed and Peter found he was not alone in when he let out a groan of exasperation as the others soon joined him.
"Jeez Penny," Sam opened her mouth to say when suddenly, there was a sudden crack of sound that seemed to freeze the moment and the next thing she knew, everything beneath her gave way with shattering crunch.
"Sam!" Mike watched in horror as the ropes holding the bridge together snapped when Sam plunged through the broken slats of the bridge floor. The force of her weight through the wood had been powerful enough to snap already worn fibers from their attachment in the rock edge and Mike could only stare as he saw the bridge crumble into a neat arch before slamming hard against the stone wall of the cliff. She let out a little scream as she impacted against the rock, clinging desperately to the wood with both hands, in no position to reach the dangling strands of rope that lay only inches away by might as well have been a thousand miles by her reckoning.
"We got to help her!" Mike step forward when Elena Rose grabbed him by the belt.
"Mike calm down!" She shouted, aware that he could get so caught up that he forgot that he was just as imperiled as the person he was attempting to save. "You need to think clearly about what we're going to have to do."
No such restraint held Peter back because he was at the edge staring down at the abyss and seeing Sam clinging on for dear life, her terrified eyes staring up at him as she tried hard not to start screaming, even though she was perfectly justified.
Mike nodded and hurried to his side. The older boy dropped to his knees and stared into the darkness below trying to assess the situation even though there was no much new information to ascertain from what they had already seen so far.
"We gotta help her!" Penny cried horrified. "You gotta hang on Sam!" She called out to her best friend. "We're going to get you out of there!"
"Hurry!" Sam responded just as frantically. Her hands were turning white from the pressure of tryign to hold on. The entire weight of body was pulling at her arms and the strain was biting at her muscles, coaxing her to let go. She clamped her eyes shut, too terrified to look down and not wanting to see if she was forced to let go.
Peter was thinking fast. He glanced at Mike Larabee and knew that the older child was tryign to decide what to do. Peter's feelings for Sam allowed him to plot a course of action much quicker and he immediately sat up right and called out.
"I need a knife!" He demanded.
Mike sat up just as abruptly, realizing that Peter had an idea and at the moment, he was not arguing the point.
"I got one!" Kyle said meekly.
"You got a knife?" Mike looked at him as his little brother produced a small pocket knife which Mike recalled seeing Kyle use to whittle whenever their father took the time to each him. "You know you're not supposed to carry that around unless you're with pa!"
"Hey!" Elena Rose swatted Mike on the back off the head. "This is not the time."
"Sorry," Mike said embarrassed, wondering what on earth was running through his mind as he took the knife away from Kyle and handed it to Peter. However, did he give his brother a look and added under his breath. "We will talk about this later."
Peter ignored all this and practically snatched the blade away. He examined the remnants of the bridge and realised that the Sam could not reach any of the more secure ropes because she needed both hands to keep form falling. He stared into the depths of the abyss and felt his stomach lurch at the thought but knew there was no other choice. To save her life, there was only thing to do.
Someone was going to have to go down there.
Taking a deep breath, he grabbed one length of robe that was dangling freely and tugged at it, ensuring that it was secure and made that it was more than capable of holding his weight. It had snapped where Sam had broken through and when extended would hang just close enough to reach her. As he tied the rope around him, Mike's eyes widened with realization.
"What do you think you're doing?" Mike demanded.
"What do you think?" Peter answered, not at all about to debate this issue as he cut free another strand of rope from the demolished and suspended construction of bridge. He had to ensure that it too was moored to safety and was capable of carrying Sam's weight when he brought it to her. After giving it an experimental tug, he looked at Mike once again. "I need you to lower me down. We got to get this rope to her."
Mike did not like this. He felt he ought to be the one to go but he was heavier and that would make it harder to pull him back up. He stared at the younger boy, conflicted for a moment before finally calling out. His voice escaped like air trapped in his lungs that he had to expel to catch another breath. "Tommy, Penny and Adam get over here." He ordered abruptly, still staring at Peter.
"I can't hold on much longer!" Sam cried out once again, skirting the edge of raw panic that Mike knew she was keeping under control in a Herculean effort not to make things any worse.
"What do we do Mike?" Tommy asked instantly, sounding not all like a child but very much like his father the doctor, just before he stuck a needle in your butt.
"Grab that rope." Mike ordered as he organized the others to get a grip of the rope around which Peter was using to lower himself down to Sam. "We have to do this very carefully." He instructed. "Elena, you keep an eye on the others and make sure they don't get in the way. We do this fast, okay?" He glanced at the others and saw them shake their heads in affirmative.
"Ready when you are." Mike said to Peter, who nodded and took another deep breath and stepped to the edge as the others secured their hands around the lifeline that would keep him from plunging to his death, the way he was trying to prevent Sam's.
"Be careful Peter." Penny said feeling a surge of sibling affection. He was her twin brother and had been there at her side all her life. Penny could not imagine Peter not sitting across her at the dinner table or running off together with grandma Maude to all those places there were not supposed to go, or not even sharing ice cream with momma when they went to visit her at the Emporium.
"I will." He said firmly and decided he would not think about being scared. Dad always said that no matter what, a gentleman never showed his real face when going into a tense situation. As he neared the edge and prepared to place his life into the hands of his friends, Peter could not help wonder if his father had a saying for every occasion.
"Sammie I'm coming down." Peter told her.
"Don't call me Sammie!" She cried out, her voice breaking, indicating the tears that were starting to come. "Only my daddy can call me that."
"Its okay Sam," Peter said reassuring her, knowing that her outburst was because she was terrified out of her mind. "I'm coming down to get you!"
"I don't need to be got!" She wailed back.
"Sure you don't," he said with a little smile, admiring her ability to joke at a time like this. "I tell you what, next time one of us falls off a cliff, it can be your turn to come get me." He said as he started down the side of the smooth wall. Looking up, he saw Mike in the lead, keeping control of the rope while the others lent their strength to the task they were attempting to accomplish. They worked together in almost synchronous harmony, watching each other carefully as they lowered Peter lower and lower, past the tattered remains of the bridge, until he reached Sam.
"I can't let go to reach you." Sam said frantically as she saw him dangling near her.
"I know," Peter answered. His own voice trembling. He was terrified but he was not about to fail her. "I'm coming to you."
Slowly, he pulled himself across towards hers, grabbing the wooden slats until he was able to slide his arm through a crack of wood to keep himself in position as he tied the robe around her slender waist. Peter could see the rips in her hands were splinters were tearing into her skin. Her nails were dug so deep into the wood that blood was seeping out from under them from the tear of her skin. She was biting down from the pain but her terror at falling to her death had frozen her grasp on her only handhold.
"Thank you Peter." She whispered, looking up at him with the most perfect blue eyes which stabbed at his heart, each time he saw a fresh tear roll past her lashes onto that perfect golden skin. "Thank you for coming after me."
"I'd go anywhere for you Sam." He said softly.
Instead of barking at him again as he fastened the knot around her waist, she met his gaze but said nothing in turn, choosing simply to stare as if she had made a strange discovery in the last few seconds as Peter secured the rope around her waist.
"You can call me Sammie." She replied with equal emotion.
"Okay," Peter called out to Mike, not knowing what to say to that and deciding for the moment, it was something that could wait until later before he gave deeper thought about it. "Let me go."
Mike nodded and looked over his shoulder at the trio behind him. "Grab the other rope." He instructed. He had no wish to simply leave Peter dangling there, relying on only the strength of old hessian fibers to keep him alive. Besides, Sam was lighter than Peter so he had to believe that Tommy, Penny and Adam were capable of managing. However, he need not have worried for Elena Rose who had been keeping an eye on the younger children, felt confident enough to leave them alone and lend her strength to this endeavour.
The line tensed in his hands as Peter's weight pulled the rope downwards once the others relinquished their hold on it in order to pull up Sam. Mike felt the muscles in his jaws tightened as he forced himself to provide reinforcement to the lifeline to which Peter clung. He could tell that Peter had been terribly frightened when he volunteered for the ordeal of saving Sam's life. However, Mike sensed that the same forces that were at work in his heart for Elena Rose also existed inside Peter for Sam and so he held on, determined that he would not let it end for either of them in this dark place.
"How you doing Peter?" Mike found himself asking.
Peter who was doing multiplication tables in his head as he hung suspended over the chasm, looked away from Sam as she was being hoisted upwards by the others, to give Mike a thumbs up sign that indicated that he was doing just fine. However, he could not deny that he was doing everything possible to keep himself from looking downward and becoming sick to his stomach at where he was at this present time. Of course, he held no regrets and though he was still plenty scared, he knew that if Sam made it to top and he did not, he would still be grateful because she would be alive.
"I'm okay."
"Hang in there baby brother." Penny sang out. "As soon as we get Sam out you're next."
"Well I'm not going anywhere." He deadpanned, displaying the trademark sardonic humor that seemed so indicative of Standish men.
The children worked hard in such perfect rhythm in their efforts to pull that very soon Sam had reached the edge and Penny immediately let go of the rope to help pull her over it. Grabbing her arm as Sam struggled to clamber over the smooth edge, the strawberry blond dragged her the rest of the way. Sam dropped to the sand, never more relieved to feel its comforting presence beneath her after what had almost happened. When she sat up and caught a breath, it was almost taken again by the warm hug she received from both Penny and Elena Rose.
"Don't you ever do that to us again, Samantha Christine Tanner!" Elena Rose gushed happily.
"We almost lost you!" Penny retorted. "Then I would never get to see that owl's nest you promised to show me!"
"Thanks?" Sam grinned happily before her expression changed and she turned back to the edge. "Peter!" She exclaimed, reminding them that one of their number was still incomplete.
She need not have worried because the boys were already straining to pull Peter to safety. The three girls immediately hurried to join them in their effort, determined to bring Peter back after his bravery at rescuing Sam. In a matter of minutes, they had successfully completed the task, bringing Peter to the edge of the ledge as they had done to Sam only a short time before. This time it was Sam who hurried to her savior to help him over the edge, with his sister following closely.
"You were so brave!" Penny embraced him hard, so proud of what he had done and at the same time grateful to have her brother back with her safe and sound. "I am so proud of you!"
"Quit it!" Peter groaned as she planted a kiss on his cheeks, wishing she would not get so mushy in front of the other boys. "I'm fine already. Stop with the kissing!"
"Thank you Peter," Sam said once Penny had removed herself from him. A similar show of affection had followed from Elena Rose, not to mention numerous slaps on the back from the rest of his friends for his courage at performing a rescue mission that would have been terrifying for an adult, let alone someone their age.
She did no react as the others had. She did not slap him on the back or tell him how grateful she was other than a simple acknowledgement of her thanks. However, what he saw in her eyes was worth more than that because for the first time in both their lives, she was looking at him and really seeing him. Not the person who was one of the children of her father's best friends, or a childhood companions with whom she had grown up with but him, Peter.
"Thank you for saving my life." Sam said once again, feeling a resurgence of the emotion that had first made itself known to her when they had been at the cascade, when he went off to face its dangers alone because he wanted to keep her out of harm's way. Suddenly, she understood why it was her father's eyes seemed to light up whenever her mother walked into the room and why she herself felt so warm and happy inside her soul whenever she saw her parents riding into the setting sun together on one of their sojourns alone. She stared at Peter and suddenly an insight flashed so brightly in her mind that she was rather astonished by its potency. She wanted more than anything to go home at this moment. She wanted to rest her head on her mother's lap and ask Alex to explain why she felt this way. For the moment however, one gesture could convey her feelings better than any other.
Sam leaned over and kissed Peter lightly on the cheek.
The young man stared at her in shock and his response was so different from when it had been his sister that the gesture that he had no words to express the moment. Mike Larabee knew the look well and to save his friend the embarrassment, he chose to intervene to guide them past the awkward moment.
"I think we've spent enough time on this stupid ledge," Mike spoke up. "Let's get out of here."
However even though they had turned away, Sam and Peter were still thinking about each other.
When Hank and Jesse Young arrived at Cullens Ridge, they knew that someone had already been there before them. The tracks they found scattered around the area were easy to read and were even easier to follow. The brothers had not embarked upon the quest to retrieve their property alone, having brought along the gang that had ridden at Hank's side more times than he could count. Although he would not say it out loud, he trusted his men more than he had trusted Jesse. They were tried and tested in battle while Jesse was not. Even though Jesse was his blood, Hank knew that his patience with his brother was reaching its limits. Until a year ago, Hank had not even given Jesse a second thought after leaving home but the young man had tracked him down after being booted from that fancy school that Hank's money had helped their parents put him through.
Jesse had been a thorn in his side from the moment he began riding with Hank. The other men did not like him much and Hank could not blame them, Jesse did not ride well, he was lousy with a gun, was bookish and tended to know everything, which mean nothing at all. Most of these character traits might have been tolerable if Jesse was not such a whiner.
"They're already gone!" Jesse cried out as they stood at the foot of the ridge. There was something of a trail leading up the side of the slope but it culminated at the mouth of a cave that was so small that if they were to enter it they would have to squeeze in at single file.
"I can see that Jesse." Hank said through his teeth. As it was, he found this whole idea of a map rather stupid and he had no idea why it was following through with it. If it not for the fact that the ridge in the map did appear to be Cullens Ridge, Hank would have given up the idea altogether. Unfortunately proving that it existed had fired Jesse's desire like nothing else and his sibling was determined they find what was at its end.
"Well we have to get after them!" Jesse snapped, not caring that he was making his brother look foolish in front of his men, even though it had not passed Hank's notice whose temperament was darkening by the minute.
Hank noticed his men frowning at Jesse, trying to understand why he would tolerate such behavior from a brother and could not begrudge them their feelings. He himself was fighting the urge to deal with his brother more harshly and soon returned with a response, directed at alleviating Jesse's tantrum not to mention showing his men who was really boss around here.
"We'll camp here." Hank said once they reached into the clearing that overlooked the trail where possessors of their map had began the climb up the ridge.
"Here?" Jesse looked at him incredulously as if he had gone mad. "Why the hell are we camping here? We've got to go up there and find them!"
"Were you or weren't you the one who told me that there were traps or something for those who tried to find the mine?" Hank looked at him critically and noticed that his men were keeping a close eye on the proceeding now, perhaps aware that Hank was about to show Jesse a thing or two about ordering him around like some dumb cowhand instead the leader of his own gang. This was a man who had ruthlessly cleared the land for the cattle barons and had made them all rich doing it. He was respected by those who rode with him too much for them to stomach his being ordered around by a snotty kid, even if that kid was his brother.
"Yeah...." Jesse remarked with a nod, disliking where Hank was going with this.
"Then we ain't going up there without the map because we'd only get our selves killed." Hank said firmly.
"But we can't let them get what's ours!" Jesse exploded. "It ain't right!"
"It ain't right," Hank steadied his rising temper. "But that's what we're gonna do."
"You're a coward!" Jesse spat viciously and crossed the line that until now had been the only thing that had kept his brother from doing what was needed to be done. Before he knew what was happening, he felt Hank's thick hand around his throat, slamming him into the slope that marked the beginning of the path up the ridge.
"Jesse, you're my brother and I ain't about to shoot my own kin but you best remember that I am in charge around here and what I say goes. I've put up with your smart mouthing more than any man should." Hank said hissing in his face as Jesse struggled unsuccessfully to pry those fingers from around his neck. "We do things my way or I'm gonna cut you loose and you can see if your smart mouth is gonna be any help to you then."
Jesse glared at his brother and then past him to the men who was sniggering silently to themselves as he received his comeuppance from Hank. Jesse swallowed the bile of humiliation down his throat and make a secret promise to make them pay some day, make them all pay. "Let me go." He asked contritely, his eyes shifting to Hank, pleading with his older brother by his frightened eyes not to make him beg to be released in front of the others present.
Hank read the expression on his face easily enough and still had enough feeling for his brother not to make him endure that kind of humiliation even though the discipline had been long coming. He unclenched his fingers from around Jesse's throat and heard the younger man gasp deeply with a sharp intake of breath once his lungs were free to do so. Hank watched dispassionately as Jesse staggered to his feet, clutching his throat and fixing the glasses on his face back to position. His men appeared as equally satisfied by his actions as he had been and he guessed that they had been waiting for him to put Jesse in his place for some time now.
"Now," Hank said after a moment, speaking in a cool tone that showed no indication that just a few seconds ago he had held his brother's scrawny neck in his hands. "We will wait here because whoever's got our map is gonna come back once they're done claiming our property. We will be waiting for them when they come back this way again and we'll let them know just how we treat thieves. Is that good enough for you Jesse?"
Jesse peered through his glasses at his brother, still massaging his throat from the chokehold he had just received. "Fine." His voice escaped in a raspy croak.
"Good," Hank nodded and turned away feeling Jesse's eyes burning into his back and having this strange premonition that one of these days, he was going to have to do the world a favor and just a put a bullet in the boy.
Not too far away, Billy Travis and Lilith King watched the scene with growing apprehension. It was bad enough that the men pursuing the children were of questionable reputations but now it appeared that they were not above turning on each other like a pack of wolves fighting over the last tasty morsel of food. With them making camp in front of the only means up the ridge which was undoubtedly where the children were headed, since Billy's tracking skills told them that they could have only gone up that way, Billy had no idea how he and Lilith were going to get past them.
"Damn." Billy said under his breath as he turned away from the scene and retreated into his hiding place behind a large boulder, where Lilith was presently waiting for him while complying with his instructions to keep her head down.
"What's wrong?" She asked quietly, making sure she spoke softly enough to remain anonymous to the men they were trying to get past.
"They're blocking the way into the ridge." Billy complained, trying to decide what to do. If his father and the rest of the seven were here, this would be easy. A distraction at the right time would allow him to get past those men without any difficulty. However, at the moment it was just the two of them, one if he did not count Lilith, which he was happy to do so if there were any other way. He wanted her as far away from here as possible but she had been right about what she had said when they were at the creek, Billy needed her help.
"Is there no other way in?" She questioned fearfully, feeling the intensity of her concern for the children they had grown up with and taken care of deepen.
Billy raised his head and studied the ridge before them and could see in the steep hills and treacherous craggy terrain that that there was not. Besides, he did not want to stray too far off the path taken by Mike and the others. If they were following a map then there would be very specific instructions where to go and his blithely utilizing another route could lead him on a path that would never cross theirs until it was too late. "Not that I can see." He said grimly.
Lilith thought quickly to herself and wished she was not being forced into the position she was now. However, she cared as much for the children of the seven as Billy did and she did not want to see them hurt. Ever since she had found the Book of Shadows, so long ago in her youth, Lilith had regarded the ancient manuscript with something of fear and awe. She knew that there was much power in it even then although at the time her efforts to use it had been disastrous. However as the years tumbled along, Lilith took a more prudent course in learning its use, never attempting more than she was capable of handling. At her present age, she knew that she had a great deal of power under her influence and while it might not be enough to bring the children back from wherever they were, it was more than enough to get Billy and herself past those men.
"Billy," she said after a moment, unsure of how he would receive her suggestion. While he had been most supportive of her powers as children, they were older now and he was a West Point cadet who had seen much of the world. Too much that perhaps what she practiced might be considered arcane by him. "I can get us past them."
He turned to her and met her gaze immediately, knowing precisely what she was talking about. "Are you sure?" He asked quietly. "I know you don't like to use it."
"I don't," she admitted, not all about to lie about that but there was no other way and they both knew it. "But we have to reach Mikey and the others."
"How will you do it?" He asked automatically. He could never believe that she was a witch or anything remotely evil. Billy could not believe that any creature as magnificent or as beautiful as his Lilith could be considered an apparition of sin simply because she was able to make wonder out of a world that lay beneath the surface of this one.
"A little bit of glamour." She said automatically.
"Glamour?" He did not understand.
"We'll just walk past them." Lilith explained. "They won't notice us."
"You mean we'll be invisible or something?" He tried to grasp the idea of it and knew that unless he was of the craft, its comprehension would always be beyond his understanding.
"No," she shook her head, placing a hand on his cheek at his willingness to let her try. Lilith could not have loved him more than at that moment. "It's just a little spell around us that will make them not notice us."
"Whatever," Billy shrugged. "As long as it gets us to that cave." He pointed to the top of the path that was barely visible to most. If it were not for Vin's teachings, Billy would have hardly known what to look for to find it.
"That cave?" Lilith stared at the opening he was pointing out rather dubiously. It could hardly be called an entrance and appeared more like a fissure in the rock. It was fortunate that she was of slight build while Billy was lean and fit for it would be a tight squeeze for either of them to make it through that narrow space. She could understand why Hank had chose to wait it out at the bottom of the ridge. With the man's considerable bulk, there was no way in heaven or earth he would make it through himself. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on one's perspective, the children would have had no difficulty passing through it.
"Yeah," Billy nodded. "Its a little small but I can think you and I can manage."
"You want to hope." Lilith said skeptically.
"Relax," he offered her a little grin. "I'm open to a little snuggling between the two of us."
Lilith rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "I thought you grew up at West Point."
"I did," he said mischievously. "Just not where you think."
She swatted him lightly on the shoulder and then bade him to remain silent. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the spell she had to conjure in order to descend the veil of illusion over herself and Billy in order to pass Hank Young's gang. Taking a deep breath, she took his hand in hers and began whispering softly in words that always-fascinated Billy when she spoke them even though he could not began to fathom their riddle and how they did what they managed to do.
I call upon thee Goddesses of Old
To Branwen, Rhiannon and Keridwen
Grant your discipline the oldest of the arts
The one to which was taught Titania and Mab, Queens of Faerie
I, Lilith, namesake of she who came before Eve
Possessor of the Sight and the old ways
Bestow upon me and he who is my favored beyond Beltane
The veil of illusion that allows us to part the mist unseen
Billy watched her chant those strange words and there was something in her eyes that was older than time and for a moment, his mind opened to possibilities so far beyond male understanding that he was left awed in its wake. There was no unearthly light or percussive demonstration by the forces of nature, just a slight shift in the wind and a strange coolness that rested on his skin which allowed him to know that something had changed. Even if he could not see it for himself, Billy just knew that it had worked even if he would not have proof of this until he walked through the Youngs' camp.
Lilith rose to her feet, not at all looking like the girl he was pledged to marry in less than a week but someone older. It radiated off her skin like the glow of a firefly at night. She smiled at him, taking his hand and appearing so different from the impetuous young woman who called herself the Clarion's star reporter only hour before.
"Come." She said simply.
Billy did not question her because he had seen this before and its power to captivate him was just as potent now as the first time she had summoned the three goddesses for their aid. He wondered who it was that was with him, when Lilith led him through to the camp where Hank and Jesse were waiting for Mike and the others, ready to spring upon helpless children like wolves on a gathering of young fawns. Billy was certain that it was not Lilith that walked with him but someone else, someone that only existed as that mysterious sparkle in her eyes that most people save him never truly understood.
Nevertheless, his hand instinctively remained on the gun that was in his holster as she held his hand and guided him through their ranks, completely unafraid of discovery. The men around him and Lilith seemed in a daze, seeing right through them as they walked past. The gang went about their business, making coffee, smoking their cheroots and basically keeping a vigil for their intended prey. Within seconds, Billy and Lilith were making their way up the side of the ridge and towards the mouth of the cave. By the time they had disappeared into it, Lilith had returned to him and the goddesses who had been of so much assistance would retreat back into the mists once again.