Ahren, his eyes peering everywhere at once, found himself regretting anew his decision; he was still bothered by their willingness to accept that the sweeper could help them. Or would, for that matter. That a machine that was at least part creeper would be anxious to help them seemed patently ridiculous. In his mind, he replayed the images the sweeper had shown them, reevaluating them, trying to get behind them to see more than he had been shown. The whole business felt wrong. He kept thinking that Ryer Ord Star would have detected any subterfuge, but the seer was so blinded by her need to reach Walker that he couldn’t be sure. Even if they found the Druid, how were they supposed to help him? If he couldn’t help himself, what use would they be? He thought about the missing Elfstones. If he had their magic to call upon, he might be able to do something, although even that wasn’t a given, since he had never used them and had no real idea if he could.
They walked a very long way without seeming to get anywhere, the tunnels and chambers and stairways passing in endless succession, all of it looking and feeling the same. Every so often he heard machinery at work, soft and distant, muffled by steel and earth. He kept thinking they would find something new, a chamber that would reveal something important, but it never happened. On the other hand, they didn’t encounter anything that threatened either. Time drifted away, and their strange descent wore on.
Finally, Ahren called a halt. They had walked for miles, and there was nothing to suggest they wouldn’t walk for miles more. They needed to rest. Ryer, he felt, would keep going until she dropped. He sat down with his back against one of the metal walls and took out his water skin. The seer sat down next to him, accepting the water skin when he passed it, then a small bit of bread and cheese from the little food that remained to him. The silence of the underground passageways seemed to echo all around them, a reminder of just how alone and isolated they were.
The sweeper took up a position in the center of the corridor just in front of them, lights blinking in sleepy cadence. It did not seem to be in any hurry.
Ahren shifted himself so that he was facing the young seer. “Do you have any sense of how close we might be to Walker?”
She shook her head. “I can still feel him, but the feeling isn’t any different from before.”
“Nothing? But we’ve been walking forever. You have to be able to tell something.”
“It doesn’t work like that, Ahren. Distance doesn’t matter. I can feel the same things whether I am very near or far away. Only the healing part has anything to do with being close. Then I have to touch the one who is in pain.” She tried a quick, reassuring smile. “Don’t be afraid.”
He was, though, and he couldn’t seem to help himself. Everything about Castledown felt like a weight pressing him against the earth, crushing him to nothing. He was embarrassed and ashamed, still carrying guilt for having run from the attack, for having been so petrified with fear that he couldn’t bring himself to help the others. Maybe that was why he was afraid. Maybe that was why he seemed to be afraid all the time.
She reached over and touched his arm, surprising him. “It’s all right to be frightened. I’m frightened, too. I don’t want to be here either. But we might be the only ones who can help Walker. We have to try.”
He nodded disconsolately. She was right, but that didn’t make him feel any better. Or braver. They rose and started off again, following after the little sweeper. It took them down new passageways and ramps, stairs and corridors, leading them on, deeper and deeper into the catacombs of the underground city. The journey was tedious and numbing; the world of Castledown was the same wherever they went. Fatigue set in, physical and emotional both. Ahren found himself wondering if it was still dark outside. He didn’t think it could be. He wondered if anyone else had come into the ruins since. What were the chances that someone else from their scattered little band would find a way underground as they had?