Veils of Silk(156)
"Then we'd better get busy, hadn't we?" she said, icily calm now that she knew what must be done.
David capitulated. "I'll call some of the lancers to help look for caves on that mountain. I'll also go inside with you, if we find one, because I certainly will not allow you to go in alone."
He fixed her with a steely glance that reminded Laura of Ian at his most determined. "But if and when it becomes clear that further searching is hopeless, I'm going to haul you to safety even if I have to gag you and tie you to your horse."
She grimaced. "If it's hopeless, you won't have to do that. But as long as there's a chance Ian is alive, I'm staying here." Raising her voice, she called, "Kuram?"
The Afridi, who wasn't far ahead, came back at Laura's call. "Kuram, my husband was in a cave that ran deep into the mountain. Do you know if there might be other entrances?"
He frowned. "It's said there are several caves nearby. Perhaps they are really all one. But I know of no one who has gone inside to find out. Caves are accursed places."
So there were other entrances! Beginning to feel hopeful, she said, "Can you help me find another cave that's close enough that it might be part of the same system?"
He shrugged. "Inshallah." God willing.
That was good enough for Laura. She would put her faith in iqbal, for she had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
* * *
Sanity returned in the instant before the revolver fired. Appalled by what he was doing, Ian whipped the barrel away from his head even as his finger completed the reflex action of pulling the trigger. The gunshot was deafening at such close quarters, yet he scarcely noticed the sound or the shower of earth loosed by the vibrations.
Jesus Christ, what had he been thinking of?
He hadn't been thinking—that was the problem. For the second time in his life, he had succumbed to blind, hysterical panic, and his momentary weakness had almost cost him his life.
With trembling hands, he lowered the revolver and thrust it back under his sash. He wasn't dead yet. He wasn't even injured, apart from sundry aches and pains. It was time to confront his fears with the same kind of courage that Laura had shown in conquering hers.
The thought of Laura steadied him. He must do everything he could to survive, not only for his sake, but for hers, for she had lost too much already.
His mind functioning again, he took stock of his situation. The silence was absolute. Either the bombardment had stopped, or the earth was so thick that no sound could enter. The air was moist and faintly fresh, not musty, and there was still a trace of the airflow he had felt before. Though this particular entrance was closed, the cave might have others.
He had nothing to lose by trying to find out. The darkness—he wouldn't think about the darkness.
He probed the fallen earth and stones by the cave-in, but found nothing of value. His rifle was lost beyond recall. Worse, he couldn't find any food or drink. But moisture still trickled down the walls, and it quenched his thirst when he licked it.
Time to start moving. The cave was high enough to stand in, so he began walking back into the mountain, slowly moving his arms back and forth in front of his face and testing the ground ahead with his foot before shifting his weight.
The cave narrowed rapidly, and he cracked his head when the ceiling lowered unexpectedly on the left. Swearing, he folded over, seeing stars, then told himself with gallows humor that stars were better than the darkness.
He dropped to his hands and knees. The ground became increasingly moist, and soon the opening constricted to a tunnel so small that he would have to crawl on his belly to get through.
He halted, another wave of fear sweeping through him. What if the tunnel ended in a dead end and he became trapped, unable to move forward or back?
Reminding himself of the faint movement of air, he gritted his teeth and forced himself forward. Inch by cautious inch, he crawled down the jagged tube of stone.
Follow the air.
* * *
Though almost twenty people were combing the mountain for caves, it was the bats that showed the way. David saw several fluttering from the ground and went over to investigate, then summoned the others with a shout.
By the time Laura arrived, David had been far enough inside to know that the cave went some distance into the mountain. Though the entrance was much lower down the slope than Ian's cave, there was a chance the two were connected. She regarded the small dark opening with satisfaction. Iqbal.
A brisk discussion followed. David doubted the wisdom of going into the cave when it was dusk and they had all had a long, tiring day. Fatigue bred accidents. Driven by her sense of urgency, Laura retorted that it hardly mattered whether it was daytime since it would be dark inside either way.