It was hard to get to his feet without using his hands but he managed it, every move jarring fresh pain through his arm and shoulder. Imagining the light tethered to the top of his head by a silver cord as Master Thero had taught him to do, he managed to control it as he turned around to see where he could get out. The cave was very large, though, and he was going to have to walk around to find the tunnel exit. Under different circumstances he would have been entranced by the glimpses he got of animals drawn on the walls, but all he could think of was a ghost—or worse yet, a dra’gorgos—jumping at him out of the surrounding darkness.

He found the opening at last, and the dauntingly steep tunnel up. It wasn’t very big. He could stand in it, but only with his head down. Since he had to hold his broken arm to his chest with his good hand, he had to use a shoulder to brace himself against the side of the tunnel as he started the painful climb. He had no idea how far it was to the upper chamber. Before long, his light started to shrink. He just didn’t have the strength to keep it alive. With no choice, he kept going in the darkness, so black that soon he began to see colored stars whirling in front of him. He’d have been scared if it wasn’t for Master Thero telling him it was just a trick the eyes played in the dark.

Just when he thought he couldn’t go any farther the way became less steep and he felt a whisper of breeze against his face. Then he saw light ahead. That gave him the last burst of strength he needed to reach a chamber where a large lightstone glowed in a brazier. There was an old black stool there, too, and he sat on it, waiting for his legs to stop shaking before he went into the next tunnel. He’d just sit here a moment, then get out of here and find Master Thero and the others and tell them all that Klia had told him to remember. He felt better sitting down, even though his arm still hurt terribly. The longer he sat, though, the harder it was to think of getting up. Leaning back against the cave wall behind the stool, he felt more tired than he could ever remember. But he had to go on …