Chapter 2
"Alie!" Kaila hurried over and helped him up, looking at the wound on his arm with a horrified expression.
He didn't like the pain and couldn't stop himself from shedding a few tears, but he forced control over himself out of embarrassment. Angrily, he grabbed at the red stone and yanked with all his might. Surprise stole away his balance when the stone was effortlessly detached from the rest of the flower, unlike during his first attempts. He fell down yet again as a result of having put in too much force. He hurried back onto his feet, doing his best to show Kaila that a little pain was no big deal. Still, he'd rarely seen blood, and he'd never bled this much before. The scarlet trail reached all the way down to his wrist from his upper arm, small droplets trickling over his skin and onto the stone that he held in a firm grip.
While distractedly licking at his injury to see if blood tasted different than water, the light from the stone suddenly vanished as a final tingle crawled up his arm. It abruptly became hard to breathe, and Alistar fell to the ground in a fit of coughing.
He lost himself for a minute, his vision growing dizzyingly dark. This was a different and somewhat more worrisome sort of darkness than even that which currently marooned them within the cramped little cave. Just when he thought that the light from the lantern had gone out and that they were trapped in the darkness of the lower mines, his vision suddenly returned.
Kaila was crying again, sitting at his side with a face painted over with worry. She was always crying, so much so that there were permanent tearstains trailing through the usual mask of dirt that covered her face. Alistar knew deep down that most of the times that she cried were because of him, and that he was the reason why she was always getting into trouble with her parents. It was also his fault that they always found themselves in scary, desolate places within the abandoned sections of the mines. After thinking on it for a few moments, he thought about apologizing to her, but he didn't know what to say, so he kept quiet.
Brushing aside his confusion, Alistar told Kaila that he was fine and they both got to their feet. The rest of the flower remained as if it had never been touched. He tried plucking at it again before they left, and grew happy when he was met with no resistance. Maybe he could put it back together before giving it to his mother. For now, he tucked the stone into the little pocket his father had fashioned into the ragged cloth that covered his body, the scaly stem of the flower grasped tightly in his right hand. Finally having use for the pocket, his father's words filled his mind. Every man should have a place to hide something special, don't you think, Alistar?
Fleeing the darkness, they quickly picked their way out of the cave and came back out into the tunnel. They agreed to keep what they'd found a secret, and, thinking of his parents, Alistar led Kaila back the way they had come. He tugged her along after him, encouraging her with words of excitement about their chance discovery.
Kaila always made him hold her hand whenever they strayed past the active mine limits, and grew upset if he let go before they returned to the lit tunnels. She had a very hard time retaining her composure when in the lower levels. Perhaps it was because the distant corridors never seemed to change, always dark and full of dust, and silent as a sleeping mind. The lower regions certainly lacked the human presence of the upper levels, where wooden support beams decorated the walls and ceilings where men had dug into the earth in an effort to connect to the ancient tunnels. Despite the fact that the lower levels were off-limits, it didn't deter Kaila from tagging along with him every time he asked her for company. Although such excursions scared her, she always tried her best to be brave whenever they adventured around in the cool darkness.
Although Kaila's hand was cold, Alistar's mind was focused on the strain on his other arm as he dragged the heavy lantern along at his side. Despite the bitter temperature, he felt a strange warmth swimming throughout his body, warmth that felt as if it were a combination of the heat from the cook fires where he ate his daily meals, and the reassuring coziness of his mother's embrace. It was a good feeling.