• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

He holds it out a little bit and flexes each of the fingers. Though he grits his teeth in pain, he at least is able to move them which indicates it’s not broken. “I think I sprained it when we landed,” he says.

“Sorry about that,” Jiron apologizes.

“Hey, don’t apologize,” James tells him. “That was good thinking. We wouldn’t have survived up there much longer.”

Jiron settles down to the floor against the wall opposite James. Sitting there across from each other in the light of the orb, their situation looks pretty hopeless.

“Any ideas?” asks Jiron after several minutes of silence.

Shaking his head, he says, “Not really. We’re in a hole in the ground with at least fifty mages who collectively can kick my butt.”

“At least we’re alive,” asserts Jiron. “Until we are dead, there is hope.”

“I like your attitude,” agrees James with a grin.

Jiron returns to his feet and says, “You stay here and rest while I have a look around.”

“Alright,” James says. Before Jiron begins moving away, another orb blossoms to life and he hands it to him. “You might need this.”

Taking the orb, Jiron says, “Thanks. Be right back.” Then with a grin he adds, “Don’t go anywhere.”

James chuckles at that then leans his head back against the wall and closes his eyes.

Again checking to be sure no one is coming through the opening in the ceiling of the adjoining room, he moves back past James then heads down the hallway. The first door he comes to opens readily and he has to jump back fast as dirt spills out into the hallway. By the time it stops, the hallway is practically choked with sand. He curses as he works his way past the newly created obstruction.

Once past, he continues down the hallway and doesn’t travel far before the light from the orb reveals an open doorway on his right. He slows as he approaches it and comes to a stop. Peering through the doorway, he finds a small room no more than thirty feet by twenty. The walls and ceiling are still intact and the room is free of sand. He steps within the room and the light from the orb reveals the room is bare. Making a quick inspection, he finds no other way out but the doorway he just passed through.

Returning to the hallway, he continues down still further. Ten feet or so from the previous room, sand again appears in the hallway. A light dusting at first but the amount grows steadily the further he progresses. Suddenly the level of the sand rises dramatically just before another doorway appears on his left. As he draws close to the doorway, he discovers the hallway ends ten feet further down. The building must have collapsed at some time or the ceiling caved in for the hallway is blocked by sand.

The doorway is choked with a great deal of sand as well but checking with the orb, the room on the other side of the doorway appears to be clear. Jiron is forced to dig some of the sand out before he’s able to crawl through. Holding the orb out in front of him, he wriggles through to the room on the other side.

Another empty room of modest dimension, off to one side he finds a winding staircase descending to the next level. He moves over to the top of the stairs and shines the light down. The only thing revealed by the light are the stairs as it continues its descent. Figuring he’s seen enough, he climbs back through the choked doorway and returns to where he left James.

When he returns, Jiron finds him fast asleep against the wall. He moves past his sleeping friend to where the hall opens on the room with the hole in the ceiling. Peering around the corner, he gazes up and sees two figures silhouetted against the sunlight as they gaze within.

Realizing they are not going to leave anytime soon, he moves back and sits down on the hallway floor across from James. Letting him sleep a little while longer, he thinks about their situation.

In all the time since he first came to know James, this is the first situation that appears hopeless. How are they going to get out with a pack of mages watching the only opening? He’ll let James get