Page 46 of A Fractured Song

“I’m not sure you could call them subversive,” Zev said, folding his arms. “I’ve seen no evidence that they do anything to bring down the authority they claim to hate. Or any evidence that they do anything at all, really.”

“You must have forgotten Gorgon’s attacks on every singer he could get his hands on, including me,” Marieke said.

“I certainly haven’t forgotten.” Zev’s voice was dark, his brow lowered as his eyes remained fixed on Svetlana. “Or forgiven.”

Svetlana frowned. “I’ve already told you he acted without my knowledge or approval. And while we’re on the topic of young members of my community easily led astray by outside influences, I surely need give no more reason for not wanting you filling Trina’s heads with whatever agendas you came down here with.”

Zev seemed like he wanted to retort, but Svetlana didn’t give him the chance.

“Much as I’d love to stay and talk, I have other matters to see to. We will speak tomorrow, after you’ve slept.” She nodded to a man who’d just appeared in the doorway. “Someone will show you to a room. I repeat my warning about trying to leave.”

The next moment, Svetlana was gone, and the man had stepped forward.

“This way.”

He turned on the word, and they had to move quickly to keep up with him. He led them back into the main cavern, gesturing toward the cave with the spring.

“If you go through there, you’ll find asmall doorway to another area on the right wall, for ablutions. You won’t have another chance before morning.”

Marieke shot a self-conscious look at Zev, then cleared her throat.

“I’ll go first.”

She hurried into the cavern with the spring and found the doorway indicated. She hadn’t even noticed it last time. It led to a small cavern, lit with a single lantern. As soon as she entered, she caught the quiet sound of running water. A series of holes had been carved into the floor, and examination of them showed that they’d been cut right through to an underground stream that ran past below.

Handy.

Marieke relieved herself quickly, nervous of someone else coming in. After taking a moment to freshen herself at the spring, she moved back into the main cavern. Zev raised his eyebrows as if to ask,everything all right?She nodded and, after a swift and searching look at their companion, Zev strode into the room with the spring.

He was back so quickly, she suspected he was wary of leaving her alone with the stranger. But he needn’t have worried. The gray-clad monarchist had stood silently the whole time, staring at the far wall and generally ignoring Marieke’s existence.

“Ready?” he asked curtly, when Zev reappeared.

They both nodded, and their guide led them across the main cavern and through yet another doorway. He took them through such a labyrinth of tunnels that Marieke quickly lost track of the way back. She had the thought of trying to surreptitiously form a guiding song to track their path, but then remembered she couldn’t sing in the canyon.

Their path got gradually darker as the lanterns mounted on the walls disappeared. Before long, the flickeringglow of their guide’s lantern was the only source of light. A shiver went over Marieke. It wasn’t as cold as she would have expected a subterranean cave to be, it was just eerie.

When they finally came to a stop, Marieke felt her shoulders sag with relief. She was ready to get off her feet again. But that relief dissipated when their guide pulled back the curtain of dried reeds that formed the only door to the space in front of them, and revealed the cavern beyond. It was tiny, with nothing in it but two rolled up pallets, each with a blanket folded and sitting on top of it.

“Is this it?” Zev asked.

The guide’s expression was stony in the low light. “Were you expecting luxury?”

“I was expecting something a little more remarkable, given how far we had to walk to get to it,” Zev retorted. He glanced down the rough stone corridor. There were no other doorways visible nearby. “Isn’t there a second space we can also use?”

“This isn’t an inn,” the stranger said irritably. “You can’t reserve rooms. This is where you’re to spend the night, and someone will come and get you in the morning.”

He bent down, placing the lantern on the stone floor just inside the curtain, then strode back the way they’d come.

“At least he left the lantern,” Marieke muttered. She squinted at the darkness into which he’d disappeared. “Did he just go back into that pitch black maze without any light?”

“Looks like it.” Zev’s voice was short.

“Well.” Marieke shuddered again. “That’s a little…creepy.”

Zev’s face softened slightly in a smile as he looked over at her. “I get the sense that everyone who lives here knows this place very, very well.”

“Evidently,” Marieke said. “I didn’t see any signposts, and he seemed very confident in getting here, in spite of it being so far from the main cavern.” She frowned. “Do you think theybrought us to a cavern much further away than necessary, to make it harder for us to find our way out?”

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