The Travelers, part 7

After this, Thoren refused to say anything more, telling her only, time and time again, that he'd already said too much, and that it was safer for them both if he kept quiet about it.
"How will keeping quiet help Frank? I mean, how am I supposed to know what I'm doing if I don't know what's going on?" Taylor asked.
"You ask a lot of questions," Thoren said, frowning slightly as he made his way down the steep path. "It's dangerous to be too inquisitive."
Taylor was about to reply when Thoren suddenly held out his hand, motioning her to stop walking. Taylor listened but could only hear hers and Thoren's breathing, and her own heartbeat. Bum, bum. Bum, bum.
And then, splash.
"What's the--" Taylor whispered, frozen in place.
"Ssh!" Thoren ordered. "It's them. They're about fifty yards ahead. There's a stream up there, that they're crossing. They probably came in through another entrance and only recently came onto this path."
He whispered so quietly, Taylor had to lean in towards him.
"By them, do you mean--?" She began.
Thoren pursed his lips and nodded. He motioned for her to start walking again, but this time they made their way cautiously, trying not to make any sound. They came, finally, to the bottom of the steep path, and it curved, suddenly and tightly, around to the right. They crept along the now-level path, close to the wall. As they rounded the curve, a breath-taking sight met Taylor's eyes and she stopped in her tracks.
"Taylor!" Thoren whispered, urgently.
To the right was still the rocky cave wall, but, to the left, a chasm had opened up. It was hard to tell how wide the chasm was because of the darkness. But when she peered cautiously over the edge of the chasm, it dropped straight down, and she thought below she could make out dim, flickering lights, as if there were torches burning below.
"Taylor--!" Thoren said, again.
He came back and grabbed her arm. "We have to keep moving. No time for any more questions now."
Taylor began walking again, close behind Thoren, and (as he insisted) always keeping a hand on his shoulder.
"Now comes the time when it's very easy to get lost in here," he told her.
Taylor said, half-jokingly, that maybe they should hold hands (but all this talk about getting lost was making her nervous). But Thoren said he needed both of his hands: one to carry the torch, and one, he said, on his dagger. Taylor shivered. Then Thoren passed something back to her, and, upon unrolling the cloth surrounding the object, she found a curved, rather large dagger inside. When they stopped for a moment, so Thoren could better hear the Squad's movements, Taylor took the cloth, twisted it, and tied it to one of her belt loops. She then took the dagger, which had a leather sheath (much like Thoren's, only not with a belt clip), and hung the dagger from the cloth loop. She just hoped she didn't have to use it, but she had a sickening feeling that the time would come.
When they came to the stream, the Squad was gone, but their footprints were all around, and one precarious rock, protruding from the stream, still shifted the tiniest bit from having been used as a bridge. Thoren took out a water pouch, filled it, and handed it to Taylor.
"Thanks," she said.
She took a long drink and passed it back. Thoren drank, refilled the pouch again, and refastened it to his belt. He sat then sat down on a rock by the side of the path, and leaned back against the cave wall.
"You want to know about the chasm, and the lights you saw," He guessed.
Taylor shrugged. Thoren smiled.
"Come on, I know that look by now," he said, half-teasing, "you want information, but you don't think I'll give it to you. Well, this infomation I can tell you, because, well, you've come this far. The chasm you saw, that was the center of the passageways, the center of the cave. We are, right now, in the passage below the highest passage, the one we started out in. What you saw, down below, are the Halls of Light. It is so dark in the deepest passages, that torches are kept burning there, all the time. It is where they are taking Frank. Down in the Halls of Light is where the Squad operates from."
"So it's like some kind of secret, underground headquarters?" Taylor asked, dubiously.
She pulled her knees up to her chin, watching the stream pass by her. It gurgled cheerfully.
Thoren laughed. "Sort of, for lack of a better name. Well, they have names for it, but they're--well, sort of unpleasant sounding."
"Like what?" Taylor asked.
Thoren cleared his throat, sounding uncomfortable. "The Reckoning. The Hall of Terror. The Confession. Other...names like that."
Taylor's throat felt tight, and her stomach turned slightly.
Thoren had been staring at the stream as he talked to her. He now turned to face Taylor, his eyes sad. "The Squad is...well, they're an organization that works against your people. The Squad is trying to create a world where they are the leaders--a world that they can fit to their liking. In order to do that, they have to gather up information, and subdue those who get in their way. They see all. And, more and more, they know all."
Thoren turned his head slightly, towards the passage on the other side of the stream. "They're going down to the Halls of Light. We should get moving."
The Travelers, Copyright 2012, by Katy Allie. All rights reserved.