First Eclipse

Fauna clung to him like a small child. It had taken her time to pull herself up his body, using his belt and the straps from the backpack. Once she was high enough, he could use both hands to hang on and keep her from falling.

With her head on his shoulder and legs wrapped around his waist, he had enough room to move and try to get them closer to the bottom. Going up was impossible. There was nothing for him to get a hold of.

She held her breath each time he moved one of his arms. His breathing was labored as he sucked in air each time and then exhaled all at once. The shift of their bodies felt like they might fall each time he swung them. She felt stupid that the porter was in her backpack. She hadn't put it on because if she got close enough to an animal, the rubber smell would have frightened them.

Taking a deep breath, she squeezed her eyes shut at the thought that he smelled very good for a man who was sweating, grunting, and trying to save their lives. Maybe hanging around Karma was starting to get to her. She was all about the male population.

"Hang on. This one is further away." He took two deep breaths as he prepared himself.

Fauna squeezed her eyes tight, not wanting to see what his definition of further away was. For a second, she felt weightless when they were in midair, and then the sudden drop almost made her lose her grip on him.

He panted in her ear, and she wanted to ask how much more they had to go, but also, he was working his butt off to get them down safely, so she didn't want to seem ungrateful.

"There's nowhere left to grab onto." His breathing was very labored. "We might have to jump the rest of the way down."

Her eyes popped open, and she turned her head to look down. She could see the bottom now, so that was better than darkness. However, it looked like a good distance to drop. "How far is it?"

He made a rumbling sound in his chest. "Ten, fifteen feet."

She made a scrunched-up face. That sounded painful.

"You're tall. Shimmy down until you're hanging onto my belt again. Then, the drop won't be as far."

For someone who was dangling by his fingertips after falling through a cave-in, he sounded a lot calmer than she felt. "Okay." She nodded and then froze-no unnecessary movements. She loosened her hold on his shoulders and took a few deep breaths.

"If you slip, don't lock your knees. Use them to absorb some of the impact."

"Right." She wanted to tell him words like impact were not helping her confidence at all.

"I'll be right behind you, so roll or move out of the way when you reach the bottom."

"Okay." She blew out a few more breaths like she needed it to build up the courage. Letting her grip on his waist relax, she slowly straightened her legs until she was dangling by just the straps of the backpack. Briefly, she thought the brand of it was well made to hold her weight. If she lived through this, she would have no problem leaving the company a great review. Something like, 'fell through the earth, and your backpack held the weight of my body as I hung there trying not to die.' "Fauna."

"Mmm?" She moved down more and got a good hold on his belt with one hand.

"My fingers are tired. I can't hold on for much longer."

His tone said, 'Take your time.' His words sounded like, 'Hurry the hell up.' Later, when they both survived, she was going to have to discuss that with him. "Okay." She slid down, her arms screaming when she was dangling from his belt. "Here I go."

Fauna closed her eyes and then opened them immediately. Looking down, she almost changed her mind. He grunted, and she let go before they both fell. The fall was fast, but it felt like it was in slow motion at the same time. She grabbed her head, hoping to prevent hitting it. Her feet hit the bottom, and she let her knees buckle, hoping that was what he'd meant. Falling onto her side, she groaned and then lay back on the hard surface. "I'm good." She called out in a hoarse voice. "Move."

She bolted upright and shuffled backward. She heard him hit and wondered if she'd made the sounds he did. Sliding her hand closer to her leg, she realized it was cold stone. "Tim?"

"Yeah." He sounded out of breath. "Just catching my breath."

She nodded. He'd earned a pause. Wet earth and mildew were all she could smell. Looking around, she squinted, trying to see where they were. A chill moved over her, and she got to her hands and knees. "Talk so I can find you." She started crawling.

"Sorry, I was checking my phone."

She moved over until she touched what she assumed was his leg. "Phone. Shoot. Mine is in my backpack."

"I landed on mine, and I think I crushed it."

"Oh." She sat down and slid closer to the warm leg. "Is there anything in the backpack, maybe a flashlight?" She wasn't sure she wanted to see where they were, but sitting here wasn't going to get them out of this situation either. She heard him moving and figured he was taking the pack off. "Are you okay?"

"Mostly. Did you injure yourself falling?"

She frowned. Mostly? "Uh, I think I'm okay. Nothing hurts."

"Good." She heard zippers. Pulling her legs up, she hugged her knees. She heard a click, and then there was a bit of light.

"Smallest flashlight I've ever seen," he mumbled, then shone it in her direction. She closed her eyes when he moved it over her face. "Hold this. I want to see what else the little seer put in here."

She took the flashlight from him. It wasn't much bigger than a marker, but it was light, so she wasn't going to complain. She aimed it at the bag so he could look in it. When he did, she saw blood on his arm. "Your arm." She reached out and took a hold of it. There was blood on his hand and all the way to his elbow.

He moved it. "That first drop was rough. I just reached out and tried to grab anything I could."

She wanted to cry and hug him. "How much water is in there? We should wash it off so it doesn't get infected."

"It will be fine for a bit longer."

She glared at him, even though he couldn't see her, which still made her feel better. "Take the light." She held it out. If there was something useful in the bag, bleeding all over wouldn't be helpful. He took the light. She moved closer and slid the backpack over.

Feeling along the front of it, she felt two zippers. One was already open. He must have gotten the tiny flashlight from it. Opening the other pocket, she felt around in it. Not sure what she was feeling, she tilted the bag forward for him. "Shine it in here."

He did and then sighed. "She knew."

Fauna pulled out packets of gauze and tape. "Who knew?"

Tim sighed again. "The seer, Crissy. She knew we'd need food, water, and-" He aimed the light at her hand. "-we'd end up down here."

Fauna put it back in the pocket. "Why wouldn't she warn us?"

"I don't understand how it works," he scoffed. "Or how she figures it out, but she once said if she warned people, then it would change the outcome or something like that." He grunted, and the light shifted. "Whatever she sees needs to happen. Is meant to."

"Are you saying we had to fall down here? For what purpose?"

"I guess we'll find that out."

"We could have died-" She stopped. Freaking out was not going to do any good. She'd have a proper meltdown, tears and all, later when they weren't in a dark, creepy place. She jammed her hand into the small open pocket and pulled out whatever else was in it. "Light." He aimed it at her hand. It was a lighter and two small batteries. She could only assume that meant they were going to be stuck down here long enough to drain the first pair of batteries.

"Not a good sign." He said, no emotion in his voice.

Putting them back, she zipped up the pocket and opened the large area. "Hand me the light." He did. She shone it inside as she pushed protein bars and water bottles around. When she saw the small inside pocket, she held her breath as she opened it. Tim leaned closer when she reached into it. "It feels-" She pulled out a rubber strap. "—is this a porter thing?"

He took it out of her hand. She held the light over it as he turned it over.

"It is. One location programmed." He held it out. "Put it on. It's too small for me." He took the flashlight out of her hand.

She was shaking as she took it and put it around her wrist. It took her three tries to do it up. Blowing out a breath, she looked at him and froze. His eyes were red. "Um, Tim?"

"Ignore my eyes. The adrenaline, our situation-" He exhaled loudly. "It's fine." He grabbed her hand tightly and pushed it through the backpack. "Loop your arm through the backpack and push the button."

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Forcing herself to look away from his face, she nodded and did what she said. "Okay. Here we go." She pushed along the side of it like Kara had shown her to do with the one she'd left in her bag.

Nothing happened. "Am I pushing it in the right spot?" That meltdown was getting closer.

Tim sighed. "Yeah. My guess is we're too deep in the ground for the signal to work." "Signal? Like a cell tower?"

He chuckled. "Not quite. Underground, or with a lot of rock and cement, it blocks it."

She looked at the device. "Okay. So-" She looked up and shook her head when she saw how far the hole they'd come through was. Climbing back up would be asking to fall to their death. She looked around. "We explore and find a way out." "We don't have a choice. There's no way to climb back up the way we got here."

She nodded. "Let's take care of your arm."

He groaned like he was annoyed by the fact he needed attention.

"We can rinse it..."

"Save the water. It's bled enough to have flushed it out."

She cringed. "Okay." Feeling for the pocket, she found it and pulled out the packet of gauze. "Fair warning. I'm not much of a nurse unless you're an injured critter."

He snorted. "Just cover it. A little royal blood will heal it right up when we get back."

She paused and looked at him. "Like what Prince Victor did for Nova?"

"Yeah."

She made an icky face. "If I get injured-I don't care if I'm bleeding out. Don't let anyone feed me blood. It's..."

"To vampy?" he sounded amused.

She grinned. "Yes."

"No promises."

She hesitated with the gauze held up. He'd aimed the light at his arm, and it looked awful. The gash went from his wrist to almost his elbow. "That looks bad." If he hadn't done what he had, they would have fallen and hit the floor, and none of this would be happening because they'd be dead.

"It will be fine. I've had worse."

Eyes wide, she didn't ask. She could only imagine what he meant. They fought with swords almost as long as her legs. Worse sounded gory and something she never wanted to see. The stickiness of the blood held the gauze pad in place while she got the tape ready. She held it up to measure for length.

"Just wrap it around my arm. A few strips of tape won't hold once I start moving."

Nodding, she clenched her teeth. The thought of taking it off wouldn't be fun, as it would rip the hair out of his arm.

When she was sure it was covered well enough, she tried to rip the tape, but it wouldn't tear. Leaning down, she used her teeth to start it. She expected the smell of blood to make her feel nauseous, but it didn't. "Okay." She patted the tape gently to make sure it was in place. "That's the best I can do."

"Great."

She put the items back in the pocket and zipped it up.

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She nodded and stood up. Her hip and side hurt, and landing on the rock was likely the cause.

Tim grunted as he got up and shone the light around.

"Are you okay?" It sounded bad when he'd landed.

"I'm good. I hit the bottom mostly on my ass, so it's probably going to be good and bruised tomorrow."

She picked up the backpack and put it on. He was shining the light down what looked like a tunnel. "Is this man-made?"

"I'm not sure yet."

She felt goosebumps run down her arm at the thought of entering that space. "What I wouldn't give for a large flashlight and a can of pepper spray."

He snorted softly. "What are you going to pepper spray?"

"Anything that startles me." She shrugged and then grimaced. Her back hurt, too.

"You can sense warm-blooded creatures, right? Can you sense anything now?"

She frowned. "So we don't get startled?"

"That and if they're down here, then there has to be a way..."

"Out." She nodded. "Okay. Give me a second, my heart is pounding, and I need to relax."

"Take your time. I'll be right here."

Fauna grinned at his words and then shook her head and closed her eyes. It was hard to focus, but once she did, she realized it was going to be easy. With all the rock, she wasn't picking up some stray cat or dog three blocks away. There was definitely the stirring of creatures. "There's something, I think, really small."

"Rats, most likely."

She opened her eyes. "Is that a good thing?"

"Yeah. There's nothing to eat here but rock, so they must have a way in and out."

"Okay. Hopefully, it's big enough for humans to exit." She glanced at him and could only see his silhouette. "Big humans."

"Stay right behind me," he swore under his breath. "I wish I had my sword."

She nodded. "I'm almost wishing that too. What about the knife you brought?"

He shook his head. "That might be big enough to skewer a rat, but anything bigger, and we're in trouble."

She cringed at the image. "Hopefully, I can communicate with anything bigger."

He started for the tunnel and then stopped. "Right behind. Put your hand on my belt, so I know you're there."

She nodded and then stumbled on her way over to him. "Got it."