The dank atmosphere in the caves almost choked them. Taking a breath seemed like drowning. "Do these people actually live in this environment?" Emil asked.
"It's just this area. We're near hot springs that run through these mountains," Jayce said from up ahead.
His lantern lit the way to guide them. Tiet found it more difficult to maneuver than most. The contorting to move around in the tight spaces rekindled the pain of his injuries. Mirah remained faithfully at his side helping him. Occasionally he had to pause to catch his breath.
Kale looked back at him-watching his father panting for breath. He felt a pang of guilt. He had been the cause of this. Lucin had used Kale to bring his own father to this state.
Tiet caught his stare and appeared to shrug a little with a quiet smile as he gulped in air. Kale turned back quickly to the path and caught up to the others. What could he say?
Tiet looked at Mirah the light began to fade from her face. "He's still letting this eat away at him."
"What do you expect?" she whispered. "You would worry the same way if you were him."
He nodded. She was right. He straightened up as much as possible in the cramped quarters and went after the others with Mirah following.
"I guess its easier being a kid for this kind of stuff," Jayce said as he paused to make sure the king was still with them.
"He'd be ahead of all of us, if it weren't for me," Kale said.
"Kale, that's not true," Emil said. "I was there and you had no control over what happened. It would have been the same for any of us."
Jayce's interest in the full details of the story peeked, but this wasn't the time to ask questions about the king's injuries. He continued on through the winding passages like one who had made the journey many times. "It won't be much longer; maybe an hour more. The air gets better up ahead," Jayce said.
The rest of the children under Jayce's leadership had remained with the Equinox. Grod and Jael had stayed with them, just in case. They had taken the precaution of moving the ship into an area of dense foliage and then had set about covering it as much as possible with vegetation.
Tiet might have stayed as well to keep healing up, but stubbornness prevailed. If he was to lead the underground movement into an attack on the Agonotti then he had to be present to meet and negotiate with them. Anything less would be perceived as weakness.