Chapter V3 Ch 3: The Raccoon
The raccoon kept her home on Sixth Down, where the natural caves held barely a pretense at shaping; a place that humanity and their militia had once come to, but never stayed in. And they’d certainly never left lamps behind. Aaron picked his way sightlessly down a stone slope after the others, sliding as much as walking, catching up against the next stalagmite, then the next, to stop himself from falling too far. He’d seen this path by lamplight, when he’d been younger: the way the stone pillars looked like candles badly melted, their centers stretched thin where stalactite and stalagmite met, their sides covered in drips that moved on a timescale no strict-kept human would live to see.
It was a place to pass through; a place that noticed them as much as a mountain noticed mice. Clev navigated it by the smells of others who’d gone before. The blacksmith and her folks trusted his soft calls to lead them on. Aaron checked the way they were being led against the little carvings the Faces had notched into the stalagmites’ bases. Rose breathed soft and steady against his shoulder, her grip tightening each time he skidded down. Lochlann was the only one behind him. Aaron waited for the man to near hit him before he moved on from each stop.
Careful, he could have said. But Twokins could speak for itself. The river rushed below them, loud in its hunger, and no one needed a light to know what lay at this slope’s final drop.
The water’s was misting up against them by the time they’d gone low enough to find the right crack to slip through. It was a quick close climb after that, on hands and knees, to one of the few properly carved out places down here. There were easier ways to reach it, but not quicker ones. A light shone around the edges of the fabric hanging in front. Aaron preemptively squinted as the blacksmith brushed it aside. Clever Hands stood up on his hind paws and stretched back up to human. He cracked his back at the top, all casually, like he wasn’t keeping one eye on the lieutenant and his red coat the whole time.
…Or Aaron, and his red coat.
“You’ll warn her we’re here?” Aaron asked.
Clev flicked an ear. Gave his back one last thump, and went inside.
Aaron gave it a minute. There was talking, all right, though he couldn’t much make out what it was. People didn’t tend towards talking loud, this far down.
“You with me?” Aaron asked, to the warm lump fogging up his shoulder.