I set off the explosion as planned, but now everything seems to have gone horribly wrong. The explosion was stronger than I anticipated. One of the tunnels to our meeting place collapsed. And now that I’m finally here, Vol isn’t anywhere to be seen!

I stalk back and forth, going around and around in the cavern we chose for a meeting spot, debating in my head. Should I stay, just in case he is late, or should I go out into that mess of panicked Dwarves and look for him?

If I leave and he comes here, he might leave to find me, and then we could totally miss each other. Or he could just decide that I already left and so escape without me. But he also might be in some sort of danger currently, and need me to help him out. Or he might just have already left and be expecting me outside any moment.

The one way to tell him to wait here if he comes here would be to write a note to him. But, if I go and leave a note here, anyone could find it. So if I do leave one, I’ll have to write something that only he will understand. But what will I write on? There is no paper here, much less quills and ink, could I carve it?

The answer to that is maybe. It would certainly take time, perhaps too much. It wouldn’t be very good, it might not even be legible. I kick a pickaxe, abandoned for the night by some Dwarf who’s probably forgotten all about it now. It bounces a little then skids across the cave floor, coming to a stop near the center of the tiny cave. Behind it a white scratch is etched into the rocks where it skidded. That’s an idea.

Scratching a message would take way less time and be a lot neater. But what to write exactly? Nothing that could give us away.

Five minutes later I leave the meeting cave, glancing both ways at the masses of freaking out Dwarves. Behind me in the room there is a large scratched out V and below it a small note “gone to look for you-F” Vol should be able to figure out that he should wait for me based on that.

Now where to look for him? I hurry to the Dens first, looking for him among the crowds of panicked Dwarves. Wasn’t he supposed to be guiding them or something? I see other Dwarves doing just that, shouting, pointing the way, another rumble shakes the caverns and the panicked mob’s screeches drown out their commands and pleas. I don’t see Vol among their ranks. I try to ask one of them, but they brush me off, too busy to answer my questions. I don’t press because I don’t want to be remembered. I hurry on, going with the crush of Dwarves heading down to the lifts, but I don’t see him there. It was a long shot, but I had to make sure. After quickly ascertaining that he isn’t there, I dive back into the crowd. Another rumble occurs and the crowd presses harder creating a solid wall that I can’t penetrate. I can’t make it anywhere, and precious minutes are wasted trying to shove my way upstream. Instead of getting back to the dens, I quickly find myself pushed aside into an unmapped tunnel. It seems to run parallel to the main road though, and I’ll be a lot faster when I’m not having to make my way through crowds.

I grab the torch at the entrance and start running down the tunnel, it bends slightly to the left, and I follow its curve hoping that it will turn right again. It doesn’t though, and keeps twisting and turning on its own path. Eventually I can’t even hear the noise of the panicked Dwarves behind me. Everything is silent except for my thumping footsteps on the ground, my gasping breaths, and the occasional rumble. One of the side routes up ahead and on the right collapses with an ear shattering groan, and I run through the cloud of dust it stirred up. We really need to get out of here as soon as possible. If this route doesn’t turn right soon and join back up with the main passage, I’ll have to turn around and all this time will have been wasted!

I stop, chest heaving, and lean against the wall. The rock around me quakes again. I shouldn’t keep risking it all on an unknown tunnel like this. It’s really unstable and as I just witnessed could fall apart at any minute. I need to head back now, I can’t waste anymore time in an area that doesn’t appear to be a short cut and is collapsing more every second. I cast a quick glance around me, and something clicks in my head. This area is familiar. If I continue for a while and then take a left and a right I’ll end up at the showers. I guess it was actually a shortcut after all! At this point I should probably just finish the trip, heading back would be more dangerous because I’d be in these tunnels longer.

I start jogging forward again. I should probably stop by the showers just in case he is there before heading back to the meetup cave. He might have arrived there while I was looking for him. I smile, even as the ground rumbles again. My risk paid off.

As I run something feels off though, and my grin fades. Despite the now near constant rumbling, something is missing from the background noise. It’s too quiet. Shouldn’t there be an echo of my footsteps? I try to quiet my breathing and just run to test my theory. Nothing. Strange.

If my footsteps aren’t echoing now, where did the echo come from last time? Was someone actually following me? But who could it have been? Only Vol knew I was gone.

Suddenly Vol’s casual comments about my find, about the cave in general, his hunting for information on it at the beginning, all of our discussions and his little side looks stream through my brain and fill me with doubt. He would have had plenty of time to follow me to the cave and then go back and do the dishes. In fact he would have probably left almost as soon as we arrived to make sure he could get back and look like he had done enough work. So when I arrived hours later he was confused why it took so long, and asked about it. Then I explained to him that I had to mine the murdenblum itself. He was late because he had to mine it, instead of just picking it up like he originally thought.

But why wouldn’t he tell me? Why would he decide to do this alone? Did he think that I would disagree with him and prevent him from doing it? Did he just not want to share?

I can’t go down that path. Vol is my friend, my only friend here. I’ll look for him in the cave, and if I don’t find him there that will be the end of it. I won’t start endlessly questioning people I trust. I can’t stop these disturbing thoughts, but I can ignore them. We’ll get out of here together.

I turn around and head through familiar tunnels. The rumbling increases in frequency, until it is a constant drone in the background. I see a couple more cave-ins of nearby side passages, and speed up. I hope I’m wrong. I hope he isn’t there.

I charge into the last intersection, the passageway heading up is still unblocked, but the rumbling is getting louder. Inside the murdenblum cave I see a glimmer of torchlight. Vol is there, pounding away. I skid to a stop beside him as the ground beneath me quakes.

“I finally found you Vol, we need to get out of here. This whole thing could collapse at any moment!”

“We still have time!” Vol shouts back, hammering away at the precious metal “it’s not that bad.”

“It’s way worse than I thought it would be! We need to run!” I shout at him, desperate to make him see reason.

“Nonsense. You're overexaggerating!” Vol replies, dropping a large chunk of Murdenblum into a pile next to him.

“Please Vol, listen to me!” The whole cave shudders again, and groans loudly. Vol actually looks up from his work, frowning slightly “Fine! We can go. Just let me finish this chunk and pack up! I’ll only be a minute! You can go on ahead, I’ll be right behind you!”

I cast him a worried look as he hammers away a lot faster now. My warnings seem to have reached him at least a little bit. I don’t want to leave him behind, but I do as he says. It’s getting really dangerous now, I can’t walk properly because the ground is shaking so hard. I cast one last look at Vol, and then stumble to the cave entrance. The whole world is shaking, and as I start to exit the cave, the tunnel I took here collapses before my eyes. I freeze, shocked.

How are we going to get out now?

Suddenly from up above I hear a noise above the rumbling. It starts out as a creaking, then turns into an ominous rattle. I glance up, and see a large chunk of rock falling. I lunge desperately forward as the only entrance and exit to the murdenblum cave collapses.

I almost make it, but I’m not quite fast enough. The biggest chunks miss me, but something hits me on the head and my vision goes dark.

“Um, are you okay?” Says an annoyingly familiar voice. I groan in response and try to rollover. But my legs are trapped. I open my eyes and my vision swims into focus. Golik is standing above me, a concerned look on his face.

“I’m fine, but I’m stuck. What happened?” Something important, but I can’t think. My head seems foggy, but at the same time I have a splitting headache.

“I think you fainted.”

“No way.” I say flatly. “Something hit my head and knocked me out.” Probably. Otherwise why would I be feeling this way? Something is wrong about this conversation, but I can’t think.

“Tiny pebbles hit your head, like the stuff you’re buried in.” Golik offers me a hand. “But you were only out for a couple minutes. If you were knocked out, you’d have been out for hours.” A couple of minutes, I could still help Vol! That’s what was wrong with this conversation, it’s too relaxed. I need to help rescue Vol.

“We need to help Vol.” I tell Golik as I take his hand and he pulls me, dislodging my legs from the rubble pile.

“Faladel, that is impossible. We don't have the time to--” Golik starts, but I ignore him and start throwing handfuls of the tiny stones behind me. More stones fall down from the top to take their place, and the whole cavern quakes again, dropping me to my knees.

“Faladel please!” Golik shouts, swaying from the rocking of the cave. “He’s already gone, and even if he wasn’t there is no way you can reach him before he suffocates! Besides, he betrayed you, ruined what I’d assume would have been a brilliant escape plan, all to get some shiny stones which you would have shared with him if he had asked. Is it really worth your life to try, and probably fail, to save his?”

I freeze, staring at the pile of stones in front of me as I consider what Golik said. The shadows cast by the torch that had fallen out of my grip when I was knocked out dance and sway with the rocking of the cave. I had forgotten about all of that. Golik, sensing that he is getting somewhere, pushes harder.

“I know you may have considered him a friend, Faladel, but he obviously didn’t feel the same way. A friend doesn’t betray you for a sack of stones!” His voice cracks into a higher pitch- a very un-Dwarvish pitch- as the cavern rumbles again. I watch as the stones I had picked up to throw aside slip between my fingers and drop back into the pile. The clatter of their fall is lost in the noise of the quaking cavern. “We don’t have time to save him anyway, we need to get out of here, preferably two minutes ago!” Golik shouts at me.

My brain numbly recognises the truths of his statements. Honestly, Vol could already be dead. But this doesn’t make me feel any better about leaving. I look to Golik, and I’m sure my face shows all the confusion, despair, and sadness I feel.

Golik simply says gently. “Let’s go Faladel.” and offers me his hand. I take it, and follow his gaze to the last exit out of this cavern, the one going up. “Well,” he says “When you hit rock bottom, and then go below that, there’s only one place left to go. Up.” He glances at me. “Get it? Rock bottom?” I assume he is trying to make a lame joke to cheer me up. But I don’t even feel like pretending to find it funny.

Together we start making our way up the tunnel. It is a slow process. Every step away from Vol feels like a betrayal and a stab to the gut. The whole cavern continues shaking, making it impossible to run. And then the ceiling starts getting lower and lower, until I can’t walk upright anymore. And then Golik can’t walk upright either. And soon we have to go single file. At one point we have to crawl through a tiny passage, which I barely manage, and then it collapses after me. The upwards slope keeps getting steeper and steeper. In some places it is more like we’re rockclimbing instead of walking, so Golik has to hold the torch in his mouth. The passage never splits though, and eventually it gets wider. It is always going up. I suppose this is a good sign. At least it means we are getting closer to the surface, which is a lot better than the other option.

My thoughts are snarls of confusion and hurt. They are still working out exactly what happened the past few hours. Vol not telling me his alternate plan, not trusting me, and now almost certainly being dead because he wouldn’t listen to me. Could I have saved him? If I had gotten there a little faster, worked harder to convince him, would he still be alive? Could we have even continued being friends after this?

I shake my head, trying to dislodge the useless hypothetical thoughts. Golik casts me a slightly confused glance, and my thoughts switch to a different troubling topic. What about him?

I barely know Golik, but he was part of a plot to kill me which he delayed, and now has saved me not just once but twice. He and I have never worked together here, but during this chaos has managed to find me and come to my aid. It’s almost like he knows I’m in danger before I do. I study his back as we head through another narrow part of the passage, behind us I hear a low rumble, but it is weaker and far away.

Golik is taller than most Dwarves, but shorter than most Elves. His hair is a reddish brown, rather uncommon for Dwarves, but not rare. He wears it long though, which is strange, most Dwarves prefer it short from what I’ve seen. And his beard looks almost to be a different color entirely, like a dark brown. His clothes are prisoner standard with an extra tattered old jacket, but the way he moves in them is different from most of the other Dwarves. Is different from most people actually. He moves like a well trained Elf fighter. Light of step, and almost always on the balls of his feet or his toes. Certainly not like Dwarven warriors who take a flatfooted stance so they can swing their axes with greater strength or hold a defensive line better.

“What?” Golik says.

“I didn’t say anything.” I reply.

“No, but you were looking at me.”

“Well, you are in front of me.” I say, “And there isn’t much else to look at. But I do have some questions if that is what you were trying to ask.”

“Please, ask away,” Golik says, gesturing openly with his hand that isn’t holding the torch. I move up beside him considering where to start with my questioning. How much should I tell him of my thoughts?

“Why didn’t you just leave me and get out of here? Why do you keep saving me?” I begin haltingly, but then my questions begin to crystalize and they come faster. “Why were you even there in the first place? How did you even find me? Why-”

“Whoa whoa, slow down. I can only answer one question at a time, Faladel.” Golik interrupts me, “Which one do you want me to answer first?”

“How you found me.” I respond immediately.

“Well,” Golik begins. “I saw you heading into the mines late at night after I was returning from the bathroom. I was curious, and so followed you. I saw you set off the explosion and then lost you for a while when everyone panicked. But when you turned around at the lifts, you pushed past me in the crowd, going the opposite direction from the exit. I wondered why you were doing all these strange things, and then I realized that you might have bought an exit out. I wanted to get out too, so I followed you.”

“Wait, how did you figure out that I’d bought a way out?”

“Mainly these beauties floating around the black market.” Golik says, turning around and pulling open his coat to reveal hidden pockets stuffed full of Murdenblum. I put my hand to my mouth, trying to stifle my laughter at the ridiculously proud grin on his face, but a chuckle breaks through. Then I remember Vol, who introduced me to the Black Market, and my humor dies. “I saw these,” Golik continues, seemingly not noticing how quickly my mood sobered. “and I asked myself ‘now who has access to Murdenblum right now?’ The only answer I could come up with was you!” He finishes triumphantly.

Around us, without my noticing, the rumbling has stopped, and the tunnel has gotten brighter. There are now plenty of shadows not cast by the torch, instead they are cast by a faint light coming from further up the tunnel. Are we really nearly out? Even though Vol didn’t make it, the pale golden light lifts my spirits. The tunnel has widened substantially, and Golik turns to me, a mischievous grin on his face.

“Last one to the surface is a rotten egg!” He shouts and then sprints off, dropping the torch as he goes. I dash after him, not fully committed, but still loath to be last.

For a while I’m behind him, but my long legs give me a slight advantage here, and as I get more committed I speed up. Soon we are running neck and neck, neither of us gaining the lead before we burst out into the bright light of dawn. Instantly Golik collapses into the tall grasses surrounding us and rolls around like a happy puppy. His words back in the dark right before we left wander through my mind again. It wasn’t my fault. I tried my best, but Vol decided not to go with our plan, and wouldn’t even come with me when the world was crumbling around his ears. He made his choice, and there wasn’t anything I could have done. Even though I considered him my friend, obviously that was rather one-sided because he didn’t trust me nearly as much as I trusted him. Even though Vol isn’t with me, I don’t need him to make it back home.

I stand outside the small tunnel leading back into the dark, squinting and trying to adjust to the bright light that my eyes aren’t used to anymore, a small satisfied smile on my face. It’s time to head home.