Part 2

Chapter 3

Awakening slowly, he began to drift upward toward consciousness. Snug and warm in his blankets he had been dreaming of Catherine, one that in the not too distant past would have filled him with self-recrimination. His full acceptance of Catherine’s love had changed that. Now there was only a feeling of peaceful lassitude mixed with a shadow of regret that it had been only a dream.

Opening his senses, Vincent reached out to her and was reassured. She was safe and well and once again he felt deep gratitude for the unique bond they shared. He had been away for eight long days and was anxious to be home. If he pushed himself, Vincent thought that he would be there to greet Catherine when she came Below that evening.

Stretching mightily, he reluctantly left the cozy comfort of his bedroll. Dumping out his pack, Vincent retrieved the supplies he needed for a quick wash before starting on the last leg of his journey.

While quite refreshing to drink, the nearby spring was far too cool to be comfortable on bare skin. Gasping slightly, he finished his ablutions and wished briefly for the warm pool he had discovered.

He had much to share with Catherine and the others upon his return. Among these was a cavern that contained a mineral spring and pool that was less than a day’s travel from the central tunnels. It could only be reached by a narrow, inconspicuous passage which explained why no one had discovered it before. It was like no other place that Vincent had ever been. The heavy air had a rich, mineral tang that seemed to pulse with a life of its own. The water was hot enough to make perspiration pop on his skin and its slow ripples and currents sent warm, massaging fingers soothingly over tight muscles as he eased down the soft, black sand of the bank. Vincent allowed himself a small sigh of contentment as he dropped his head back and closed his eyes.

He did not remember falling asleep but realized he had been there for some time. He had seldom felt so relaxed and idly wondered if his flesh might fall from his bones if he moved. Only the knowledge of how much Catherine would enjoy this pool was enough to finally give him the strength to bestir himself and exit it.

Releasing that thought and shivering slightly, he eyed the clothing he had rinsed and set aside the night before. With a slight huff of distaste, he shook it out and pulled it on though it was still damp. Once he got moving he would be warm enough.

Munching some of William’s travel bread and dried fruit Vincent quickly remade his pack. Extra clothing went on the bottom and side to make it more comfortable to carry. He dumped the pieces of Hematite he had gathered at the warm mineral spring into the palm of his hand. Perhaps Mouse could be persuaded to polish them and make some earrings or perhaps a bracelet for Catherine. It was a little piece of him and his, their, world that she could carry with her while in the world Above. Wrapping them in one of his thick socks they were stowed in the pack. The rest of his possessions soon followed. The medical kit which he never used but brought along on Father’s, and now Catherine’s, insistence was put near the top as well as what remained of his supply of food. The last thing to be added was a slightly battered tourist flier that said "Visit Las Vegas" across the top. Vincent smiled to see it and wondered once again at the miracle of fate that had brought him the incredible woman that was now his wife. It only took a few minutes more to scatter the remains of his fire and fill his canteen before he was striding purposefully down the tunnel towards home.

Several hours of walking had brought Vincent to an expanse that was one of the joys of his journey. It was very near the surface and there were frequent jagged rents in the ceiling. The sunlight admitted by these fissures was sufficient to allow a variegated patchwork of mosses and a few shade-loving woodland plants to grow. The path he followed narrowed in spots and there were piles of rock that had accumulated in areas where there were ceiling openings. Accumulations such as this were a common sight to someone accustomed to living underground and dismissed without conscious thought.

Slowing his pace and then stopping, Vincent took the time to enjoy his surroundings. It was very rare to have the warmth of sunlight, albeit weak, on his face and spongy softness under his feet. Dropping his pack, he squatted to run his fingers along the delicate frond of a fern and then into the thick moss out of which it was growing, eyes drifting shut. His fingertips were very sensitive, protected as they were by the sweep of his long nails, and the sensation was one to be savored.

There was only the slightest rumbling overhead as a chunk of the ceiling cracked and then crumbled. Sudden pain, sharp and red, as rock buffeted his shoulder sent Vincent to his knees. Grabbing his pack he tried to scrabble up but the shallow-rooted moss ripping away under his feet provided no purchase, and he knew no more.

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Slowly, Vincent returned to heavy awareness. When the roof had given way, it had been no later than mid afternoon, now it was deep evening. He was cold, he knew, but did not really feel it. Some corner of his mind reacted to that with vague alarm. He should be shivering if he was cold shouldn’t he? And yet he was not. The damp clothing he had pulled on had only been a nuisance at the time but now presented a real danger. His heavy cloak had prevented it from drying completely and with Vincent lying trapped by cold stone; it provided a conduit through which warmth was being wicked away. This was leading to the complication of hypothermia in addition to the injury and shock his body had already suffered.

Muzzily he began to assess his situation, fighting his way to full awareness. He was lying partially on his side with his back against the cavern wall. Part of his upper body was free, allowing him the unrestricted movement of one arm. His pack had escaped intact and was within reach. Good! That meant he had access to food, water and other supplies. Continuing his examination, he found that his lower body and other arm were wedged in rubble under a largish slab of rock. This was partially covered with stone of various sizes ranging from pebbles to rocks bigger than his head. Although trapped, he had escaped being crushed when he had come to rest against the wall. His first reaction was to heave against his confinement in an attempt to drag himself out. Pain rocketed through him causing an involuntary cry. Relaxing with a gasp, Vincent carefully flexed his body, trying to determine if he had broken bones. Thankfully, it did not seem so but with the numbness caused by long hours of cold and unconsciousness he could not be completely sure.

Hours later, he had not made much headway in his attempt to extricate himself. Using his free arm, Vincent had managed to dislodge enough rubble to uncover the other one and remove the loose stone from the upper third of his body, the effort leaving him shaking with pain and fatigue. The large slab was still firmly in place and his lower body wedged into near immobility. Shivering and exhausted, he felt oblivion once again making its claim. His last coherent thought was an involuntary calling out "Catherine… I love you… I need you..."

Chapter 4

All that afternoon and evening Catherine had fought a growing feeling of disquiet. She was tired and her entire body ached. It felt as if she had come out on the losing end of a particularly intense workout with her old trainer and friend, Isaac Stubbs. That thought brought the ghost of a smile. She had not seen him for a while and resolved to drop in for a visit.

She and Vincent had been apart for almost nine days and she attributed her discomfort to that difficult separation. Not wanting to distract him from the enjoyment of the mapping journey, Catherine had tightened her emotions when she started feeling ‘off’. Now she was tossing in the bed that they shared and could not find any rest. Her ability to experience their connection through the bond was not as strong as Vincent’s but it had been growing. He was a warm, comforting presence in the back of her awareness; a bare background hum, never intrusive, just there. Catherine had found that recently, with effort, she could tune into that awareness to gain a greater sense of him. Hoping to find calm she did that now, only to realize that the dissonance and vague pain that gripped her was not hers but his. She heard his call. "I need you" and then…silence.

Flying from the bed, she ran to Father’s chamber with a hastily lit lantern to rouse him.

Startled rudely awake by the rough jarring of his shoulder, Father tried to unscramble his muddy thoughts.

"Catherine! It must be just barely dawn! What is it? Why are you here?"

"It’s Vincent! There is something terribly wrong. I don’t know what it is or where he is. We have to find him!"

A frisson of fear shot through him bringing him to full awareness. Jacob knew now to trust the bond these two people shared; it had once saved his life and that of his son when the underground community had been thrown into doubt and chaos by disaster.

"Tell me."

"It started this afternoon. I felt a shot of adrenalin but it happened so quickly, I just dismissed it. Several hours later I started feeling stressed and achy, like I was coming down with something. I blocked that from Vincent so that he wouldn’t worry. When I couldn’t sleep I reached out to him. It hasn’t been my pain Father but his that I have been experiencing. I felt him reach out to me as well and now… nothing. We have to find him!"

Catherine’s voice had started out calmly but was becoming more frantic as she spoke.

Father held her arm in a grip of steel, but did not realize it until he saw her involuntary flinch. Forcing himself to release her he asserted the personal control and authority that had served him so well in helping to found and then lead the underground community.

"You have to calm yourself and focus on the task at hand. This is not a time to give in to emotion if we are to find Vincent. You said that you had been blocking your… connection. If you concentrate can you re-establish it and give us any idea of where he might be? Without that we cannot even contemplate a search."

Catherine bristled "What to you mean… you can’t ‘contemplate’ a search! I know he’s missing and I know he’s hurt! He would do whatever it took if it was you or anyone else from this community. Are you just going to leave him out there??"

"NO! In your heart you know that to be untrue! We simply need to know where to best direct our energies. Without a starting point we have very little, if any, chance of success and my son would be the first to tell you that. If we are to help Vincent I need for you to concentrate on the connection you share so that we know where to go. I will organize a search party with the supplies we will need but we must have a direction in which to send them. That is something that only you can provide."

"I’m sorry Father. I did not mean to snap at you that way. I know that he is alive and in trouble, but other than that I can’t "feel" him. It could be because he is unconscious or it could be because he is trying to shield me from his pain. I am so afraid!"

"So am I my dear, so am I"

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There was a small group gathered in the library that held Father’s large desk. Supplies had been assembled there that would be needed when Vincent was located. Jamie was striding to and fro in a manner very reminiscent of the man who held so prominent a place in their thoughts.

"This is so hard. How can we just wait around and do nothing? He wouldn’t be if it was one of us that needed help!"

Father spoke in a calming though authoritative voice from behind the desk "We have been over this Jamie. We have very limited resources. Without a clear direction from which to start it would be a fool’s errand, doomed to failure and that we must not do!"

An agitated Mouse spoke up. "Mouse can go. Will find Vincent. Did before. Can do it again!"

Father’s voice rang out with an undertone of undeniable steel. "Mouse! Come back here! You cannot do this! Do you have any idea what it would do to him if something were to befall you if you went out looking for him alone? He would be devastated as would we all. If anyone can bring Vincent home you can but you need to wait until we have a general idea of where he is!"

Another voice was heard, this time it was William. "And if he can’t make it to the pipes to let us know where he is? What then? I say we start in the direction he was heading when he left on this trip and go from there!"

Murmurs of assent could be heard growing just as a white-faced Catherine appeared in the entrance.

"Father is right, it would kill him if anything happened to any one of you if you went out to look for him and were hurt or lost yourselves. I know he is alive and I know he is trying to come back to us. He will come back to us! We have to believe that!" Her voice broke "We have to."

Coming fully into the room Catherine slumped into Mary’s arms and laid her head on her shoulder.

Father shooed the rest of them out of the chamber to give Catherine some privacy.

Lifting her head, she stepped away from Mary. "I’m sorry. I did not mean to do that. I have to stay strong for him. Vincent needs to concentrate on himself right now, not worry about me."

Straightening her shoulders, Catherine took a steadying breath. "I felt him reach out to me. He is alone somewhere and hurt. I could feel his fear! I have never felt fear like that from him before! He is trying to protect me Father, even now. I can’t find him if he won’t let me!"

Giving her a piercing look over the rim of his glasses, Jacob decided a little levity was called for. "Yes, he can be very stubborn at times. I wonder where he gets that from."

Catherine looked startled for a moment then returned that look, with interest. "Yes, I wonder."

The mood had been significantly lightened and spirits boosted with new confidence as they went their separate ways.