They trudged around the edge of the water silently, headed for the Training Field Corridor. For the most part Quara stared at her feet as she placed them carefully on the smooth granite shoreline, but she lifted her eyes now and then to watch the small, squared shoulders of her younger sister. Lina stepped lightly, as if she weren't weighted down by two battered wooden buckets filled almost to the brim with water. Her head was tilted back, as if she were staring at the sky, and Quara glanced up , following her gaze, half expecting to see something other than the dark expanse of nothingness that cloaked the ceiling of the enormous room.

If they'd walked the other way, towards the water source, they would have eventually come to a place where the ceiling dipped low to meet one of the Cavern walls, a place where stalagmites and stalactites rose up from the ground and hung down from the ceiling, fused together in places where the enormous rock formations had met after millions of years of drip, drip, dripping.

She turned her head to look back in the direction they'd come, wondering if her sister was even capable of keeping her promise to stay below ground, and marveling at the number of words Lina had just said to reassure her. Sometimes weeks passed when Lina hardly spoke that many words in an entire day, let alone in a single a conversation.

Lost in her thoughts she didn't notice that she'd veered off slightly to the left until she felt her left foot slip on the slick stone. She fumbled, trying to regain her footing, scrambling for a moment before losing control of her long limbs altogether. There was a brief moment when she found herself in midair before she came crashing back to earth, managing to land flat on her back with a dull thud, the air forced from her lungs on impact.

Lina was immediately at her side, putting her slender yet strong arm around her sister's shoulders and telling her to stay calm, while she quickly looked the older girl over for signs that she was more injured than she appeared. "You're okay. You're okay." She murmured the words over and over again, sounding surprisingly like their mother. "You're lucky you didn't fall a bit further that way," she continued and as Quara's lungs finally began to fill with air, she glanced down and saw that she was inches away from plunging into the water. "Now can you see why I have to follow you?"

Quara was surprised when she met her sister's pale blue eyes and realized that she was absolutely in earnest. Lina really did believe that her sister would get into some sort of trouble down here on her own, although she couldn't help but think that if she hadn't been so distracted by the danger that seemed to cling to the younger girl's every decision, she wouldn't have fallen at all.

Yet she couldn't entirely blame Lina for her fall. Quara was known in the Caverns as a beautiful and yet incredibly clumsy young woman. She seldom made it through an hour, much less a day without bumping into something or stumbling, and she was frequently covered in bruises, especially up and down her long limbs. Her mother shook her head in exasperation that someone could bump into so many things just walking across a room, but her father laughed and said that she was a growing girl and that she reminded him of the puppies that they trained down by the Garrison, with paws too big for their bodies and legs going every direction at once.

Stretching out her legs she glanced down at her boot clad feet. They were large for a girl, or even a boy of her age, but if her lengthening limbs were any indication it was almost certain that she would grow into them. She was the tallest student in her level in the Upper Classroom and it seemed likely that she'd tower over most of the boys in the class by the time that they were all fully grown. She knew from the histories that she'd read in the library that the plains people had been known for their tall, lengthy figures and so she guessed that this was simply one more feature that had somehow managed to last through nine generations of life below ground. Quara couldn't help but wonder if her family would ever truly belong in this world below the earth's crust, or if they would always find themselves somehow set apart.

Her sister grasped her hands and pulled her up to her feet, brushing off her back and lightly touching her head. "I don't feel any bumps." She said finally, before coming round and looking at her sister's eyes again. It felt odd, looking directly back at Lina's sparkling eyes. They were always moving, searching for the next adventure and Quara could never really tell if her sister was listening when she was telling her something, or simply nodding while plotting her next move.

"I didn't hit my head. I landed on my back. I just needed to catch my breath, which I've done now." She stretched her back, which felt sore but fine and moved to help her sister pick up the buckets again.

"Don't worry. I've got it. Why don't you just focus on getting home in one piece." Quara studied her sister's face as she said the words and saw that they were spoken without guile and weren't a jab in response to her own obvious and constant worries about Lina's safety.

"I don't know how they do it," Quara said the words as she followed her sister carefully up the stairs, keeping one hand on the wooden railing that ran the length of the corridor. "The apprentices I mean. How do they get so much water up and down that long route without a yoke of some kind to help them carry it?"

"Easy," Lina replied with a laugh that echoed up and down the tunnel around them. "They carry buckets on their head for at least part of the way. I've seen them do it. I used to wait until you went into your classroom and I would hide and slip down the hallway and come down here and explore. You should see some of the things you can find if you go up past the stalagmites. And I used to sit and talk with the apprentices. I didn't even go to school one day during the year of my tenth winter."

"Lina Kalena! That can't possibly be true!" Quara's voice rang out in the steep hallway and sounded louder than she'd intended it to. "We walked home together every single day. You were always-" her voice trailed off and her eyes narrowed, but her sister picked up her train of thought and began to explain.

"I was always waiting right outside your classroom."

"But the teachers would have said something." Quara shook her head, trying to make sense of what her sister was telling her.

"Not really. It was old Rellie and her eye sight is horrible. Besides I think she was just so thankful that I wasn't causing trouble that she decided not to ask any questions that might make her life more difficult, like it had been the previous year when I just couldn't do anything without getting into some sort of trouble. And the trouble that year mostly wasn't even my fault."

Quara fought to keep back the scolding that had nearly left the tip of her tongue. She made a small flapping motion with her hand, as if she were shooing away the words, and realized that she was grateful that her sister was in front of her and didn't see her reaction to this particular bit of information. "Well that's," she paused and swallowed and cast around for a word that wouldn't end the conversation, "interesting. And I'm still not entirely sure how you pulled it off. So what did you do all day? I mean other than coming down here."

Lina paused for a moment and readjusted the wooden rod that ran across her shoulders, brushing off Quara's offer to help carry them with a quick explanation about wanting to get as much water home as possible, which wouldn't happen if they went flying down a staircase. "I just stayed outside until I saw you go into your class room and then I slipped down into the hallway and ran down the stairs. I hardly ever met anyone and when I did I would say that Mrs. Rellie was sending me to get water for the class room plants as punishment for breaking something or another. I always made up something really dramatic and good that I'd broken, so that it was believable. I mean people know that I'm always getting into some sort of trouble or another. I knew that if they asked Old Rellie about it she would just nod and say yes, because she can't really hear at all anymore, but she pretends that she can. And I'm sure that some of them did."

"Then I would come down to the lake and explore. I've walked all the way around the outer edges and I followed some of the caves that used to hold streams that aren't running anymore almost to the surface."

"You went up tunnels that weren't level?" Quara was far more horrified by this news than by anything else her sister had told her this far. "How could you tell that they weren't booby trapped? And if something had happened to you, we would have never known where to find you!" Her momentary resolve to stay calm nearly vanished as she learned about this particular danger. Her sister had defied a basic rule that every child within the Caverns understood.

And she's alive and well and walking in front of you, she reminded herself sternly. She took several deep breaths as she waited for Lina to answer.

"I could tell that they weren't dangerous. I can feel which ones are dangerous. And in more places than just the tunnels. Everywhere. All around us. I can feel danger deep down. In my bones. In my mind. If I'm about to get in over my head it's like a screaming, screeching horribleness that I just can't ignore."

"You jumped off a cliff." Quara blurted out the first thought that came into her mind.

"And it wasn't dangerous. I mean, I know how it looked to all of you. But I knew with absolute certainty that I would be fine. I wasn't scared at all. And I still think that if I had fallen, something amazing would have happened."

At these words Quara pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. Could Lina really believe that she was so invincible?

If Quara had felt afraid for her sister before, she now felt absolutely and completely terrified. Lina really believed that she was invincible. She believed that she had some sort of secret power that kept her from getting hurt. How could she keep someone safe who had no fear?

Taking a long slow breath she kept pace slowly behind her sister as they made their way up the stairs. After a moment she finally forced herself to ask another question: "And what exactly did you find in these old tunnels that you spent so much time exploring?" She was surprised that her voice sounded steady in her own ears, because in reality she was panicked at what she had learned.

"All sorts of things. I told you I almost made it all the way up to the surface once. I mean I was really, really close. I could see blue sky and daylight beyond some fallen boulders at the end of the tunnel. And I think I'm little enough that I could have squeezed through the opening easily. It looked like there was a little overhang that made it almost impossible to see the tunnel entrance from the outside." She offered the last sentence in explanation for why the tunnel had never been found, either by the Caverns Scouts and Security people or by the enemy's numerous search parties who had tried, time and again to find a secret entrance to a world that may or may not still exist.

"But listen to this. There's a little tunnel that goes back behind that set of rocks that looks like pillars that you can just barely see from the side of the lake where the Guild Hall tunnel comes out. It's really, really small. Like just large enough to fit my body through, or yours, and I was worried the first time I went into it that I might get a fair way in and have it grow more narrow, and have to back all the way out. But I braved it because I felt like it needed to be explored, and it didn't really feel dangerous, which as I've already explained is kind of important when I'm exploring. Besides I thought it might be more dangerous if no one explored it. And if I told someone about the tunnel we both know that they wouldn't let me explore it, and I don't think they have anyone, even in the Squires, who's little enough to fit the entire way into that tunnel. Well maybe they do, but I wanted to go."

"So I went on my own. And I knew that it couldn't be booby trapped because they wouldn't have even been able to get anyone in there to booby trap it if they even knew about it. It plunges down into the earth, and I could slide along until I was going quite fast. Going back up was less easy. But I managed it." Lina took a deep breath and glanced back over her shoulder at her sister, as if expecting a response of some kind.

Quara could hardly believe what she was hearing and so she looked down at the steps to give the impression that she was very focused on exactly where she was putting her feet as she waited for Lina to go on. "And when I reached the bottom I saw it. That little path went to another world entirely." Quara gasped, so she quickly continued to clarify exactly what she meant. "Not an actual different world. A different city. An ancient city that feels like it's almost frozen in time. There are no people there, obviously, but it looks as if once, long, long ago, everyone dropped whatever it was they were doing and left. And this city is huge. If I had to guess I would say that it's a hundred times bigger than our city. And for the most part the city is untouched. In many ways by time even. There isn't even dust settled over everything, the way that you would imagine. But it feels ancient. As if it's been forgotten for thousands of years. And how long do you think it would take to forget that a place like that existed?"

At first Quara wasn't sure if her sister actually expected an answer to her question, but as the silence settled in around them she was only half conscious of the fact that she was speaking, while the rest of her mind was caught up in a vision of this place that her sister had visited while she was sitting safely in a classroom. "I don't think it would take all that long to forget, really. Not if something truly terrible had happened back then. I mean, at one time the Walemont Caverns were one of the great centers of trade in the outside world and now the outside world seems to have forgotten us entirely. You've heard Dad say that when our family arrived here they were simply fleeing into the forest from the destruction that was behind them on the Plains and that they didn't really think that they'd find a city in these mountains. The most they had hoped for was sanctuary and moving from place to place, always on the run, always listening for boot steps behind them."

They had reached a wide spot with a bench, where those carrying water could pause without disrupting the flow of traffic up and down the long staircase. Lina eased the make shift yoke and buckets off her shoulders and onto the ground, rubbing the back of her neck hard, to erase the memory of the staff and the bucket's weight. The two sisters sat together on the bench, both staring down the corridor into the darkness. For a moment Quara felt as though by looking hard enough they might catch a glimpse of the city which they now both knew lay hidden, almost beneath their feet.

"In a way that gives me hope." Lina's words surprised Quara.

"How?" Quara rubbed her back as she said the words and felt a tender spot on her hip that must have hit the ground hard when she'd fallen.

"Because if there was a great evil that wiped a city like that out, so that not even a whisper of it is spoken of in our history classes, than maybe there's hope that someday the same thing can happen here and we won't have to hide anymore. Everyone says that we were happy before the True King and his family fled into exile, or were slain or captured, and if there was an evil that toppled that city than somehow that evil was defeated, even after it left entire cities desolate."

"We don't know that it wasn't just a natural disaster though. Like a rock slide or earthquake. Maybe it seemed as if the entire world was caving in and they fled. Or maybe it's even related to what happened that caused the darkness to fall. I mean the picture they paint in the history books of how it happened is so obscure and nonsensical."

"Maybe." Lina didn't sound as if she were convinced at all. "I don't think so though. Just wait until you see this place. It's huge. And they obviously had extremely advanced technology to build some of the things that they built down there. I don't think they would have been scared off by a cave in. Besides, I haven't seen any cave ins down there. The city is in perfect condition. And as for your other theory. We've never heard of another underground city playing a role in the resistance."

"Lina I can't go down with you to see that place. And you can't go back either." She turned to face her sister with these words, but Lina continued to look down the hall, and Quara caught an almost wistful expression barely hiding in her large, expressive eyes. "It's dangerous. There has to be a reason that an entire city packed up and fled, leaving all their belongings in place."

"But that reason is probably long dead and gone. Why are there abandoned cities all over Charcha right now? Why are most of the cities and towns in our land abandoned ruins? Because of an evil man and his followers. But though he has lived for centuries, one day, like all mortal men, he will be gone and then those cities will be reclaimed." She clung to this belief and pushed aside the thought that surely a man who had lived so long might just go on living, and could hardly be called mortal, even if there were stories from long ago about how he had been injured in battle.

"Lina, you have no idea why that city was abandoned. Maybe it filled with a dangerous gas like some of the mines that are way down in the deepest parts of the earth."

"I was fine when I was down there, so if there were gases, they've long since cleared. Besides, I think that the people who built that city could have found a way to vent it and solve the problem if it were really that simple. And it's not like there were bodies lying about. I haven't seen a single skeleton since I've been down there. It's in perfect condition. There isn't even dust!"

"Well thank goodness for that." Quara rolled her eyes and shook her head adamantly. "Something had to chase them away. Or devour them altogether." Quara said the words in a tone that she felt conveyed the finality of her decision to her little sister. She was just about to tell Lina that she was going to go to their father with this news if she said another word about it, when the small, determined girl stood and scooped up the buckets in one smooth motion and turned to smile at her widely, her eyes innocent and wide.

"Well, if that's how you feel I guess we won't go down there. Even if I've gone a hundred times and know that it's totally safe."

"Good." Quara smiled at her sister uneasily. All of her answers this day had been too compliant and her agreement too easily won. It was entirely unlike her sister and Quara couldn't help but distrust the ease with which Lina had agreed to abandon the city that she had discovered.