THIRTY - Esmarine

Upon learning frightening news, Esmarine attempts to save a life.

Riordan led the way through the city back towards his house with Esmarine close behind.  Neither of them had said a word to the other since leaving the castle, both deep in thought.  Vanderford’s curses echoed in her mind while she ran over potential options for finding Atherton.  Eventually the grunts and shouts faded away while she planned.  When she looked up at Riordan to speak, she was met with a severe look of concern.  I’ve never seen that look on his face before.  It frightened her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

That seemed to shake him out of whatever mood he was in and a smile returned to his face.  “Nothing,” he said.

“You’re lying.”

“You’re very perceptive.”

She waited for him to respond, but it seemed like he wasn’t going to.  “You really aren’t going to say?”

“It’s nothing you don’t already know.  I look around and I see a dying city.  The few people who are trying to help aren’t getting anywhere, and the rest of them complain and do nothing.  I’ve never seen it so bad.  And I’m worried about Vanderford.  He might stay down in that tunnel until he kills himself trying to open that passage.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.  And it’s not your burden to bear.  You’re just a child.”

“No I’m not.  I mean, I am, but I can help.”

“I’m afraid there’s nothing for you to do.”

“Well, what’s the plan, then?  Maybe there’s something I can do that you don’t know about!”

“There is no plan,” Riordan said.

She was beginning to get frustrated.  “How can you say that nobody’s doing anything to help when you aren’t doing anything either?!”  The words hung heavy in the air between them.  But Riordan just brushed them aside and continued walking without responding.  “Please!” she said.  “Just give me something to do.”

And then the tears began streaming down her face, coming as a surprise to even her.  Riordan turned and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

“It’s okay,” he said.  “It’s okay.  I’m scared too.  Believe me, I know exactly how you’re feeling.”

She buried her face into his clothes and cried harder than she had ever cried before.  “I don’t want everyone to die,” she said at last.  “But there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”

“Everything will be fine in the end.  We’ll make it through this.  If anyone is going to survive this, it’s you.  You’re strong.  Stronger than anybody else I know in this city.  So don’t worry about it.  And your friend might be alive, too.  So there are good things, too.  Don’t lose hope just yet.”

“You’re only saying that to make me feel better.”

“Maybe,” he said with a sly grin.

She let out a small laugh through her tears, which Riordan wiped away with his big, soft hands.

“You know, sometimes I forget how young you actually are.  You’re so much more mature than I was at your age.  If I made it through the tough times, you will too.  If I know anything, I know you’re going to be just fine.”

“Thanks,” she said.  There was a long moment of silence.  “I don’t know what to do now.”

“Just go home and get some rest.  You’ve already had a long day.  You don’t want to exert yourself any more than you have to.  You’re going to need all the energy you can spare pretty soon… things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.  You need to be prepared.”

“Okay,” Esmarine said.  “You’re right.”

They split up, each headed for their respective home.  Maybe I’ll come up with a new plan when I wake up.  How am I supposed to do any thinking right now?  It’s just too much to process after the past few days.

She pushed through the front door to her home and her jaw dropped.  There was Atherton, sitting at the table with her father.  They both turned to look at her.

“Atherton?” the word caught in her throat, coming out as barely more than a whisper.  She couldn’t believe it.  How?

“Esmarine!” Atherton said.  They ran to each other and embraced.  “It’s so good to see you.”

“Me?  It’s good to see you!  I didn’t even know if you were alive!  I mean, I hoped, but there was a part of me that thought you might be dead!  I didn’t want to believe it, I promise, but�"”

“Dead already?  You have so little faith in me.”  Then he stopped and turned back towards her father.  They quickly let go of one another.  “I’m sorry,” Atherton said sheepishly.

Silvan’s mouth was agape.  “So I was right.  You two do know each other.  And quite well, it would seem.”

“Dad, he’s my friend.  We�"”

“You’re friends with him?  Esmarine, he’s a criminal.  He was caught stealing food from someone inside the city.  How did you two even meet?”

They looked at each other, Atherton’s eyes pleading for her not to tell the truth.  “I met him before we moved,” Esmarine said.  “And sometimes the gate guard would let me outside and I would go meet with him.”

“He’s not the kind of person I want you associating with.”

“Then why are you associating with him?” she snapped back.  “I was friends with him before he was exiled, but you’re sitting here with him after.”

“That’s not�"go to your room.  This isn’t any of your business.”

“No.  If you don’t have to follow the rules then neither do I.  Riordan says I’m more mature than anyone else in the city, so I should be able to know what’s going on with my own friend.”

“Esmarine, I’m not going to ask you again.”

“There’s nothing you can do to me that’s worse than not being able to see my friend again when I thought he was dead.  Besides, if Xanthus doesn’t come back with some new way of getting food, we’ll all be dead.  And your punishments won’t mean a thing.  I’m staying.”

“Even if Xanthus figures out how people are surviving outside the city and starts bringing in new food, everyone will still die,” Atherton said.  “Things are a lot worse than you know.”

Silvan and Esmarine both stopped talking.  Esmarine turned to Atherton.  “Ath… what are you talking about?” she asked.

“I already told your dad,” he said.  “That’s the only reason he didn’t kill me, I think.  But the Dome is flooding.  Water is pouring in slowly from the outside.  I saw it myself.  It won’t be long before the entire Dome is under water.”

“Where?  Why hasn’t it come into the city yet?” Esmarine asked.

“Probably because it’s on the complete opposite side of the Dome, all the way across the Barelands.  It’s in the caves underneath the cliffs.  So even if the water made it all the way over here, it’s probably still deep beneath the city.  But it’s rising.  We don’t know how long it’s been happening or how much space there is underground for it to fill, but eventually, it’s pretty much certain that the city will end up at the bottom of a lake.

Something occurred to Esmarine.  Panic rose in her chest.  “Did you see where the water was going?  Which direction?”

“It was a little hard to stay oriented underground, but it was headed towards this big rock formation.  Draven said he didn’t know what was behind it.  The water was pooling up, though�"”

“Oh, no… the tunnel!”

“I don’t know if it was a tunnel,” Atherton said, “I guess it could have been, but like I said, there were a bunch of boulders and the water was filling in in front of them.  I assume the water had to be going somewhere, or it would have backed up a lot farther into the caves.”

It is going somewhere.  It goes all the way across the Barelands and comes up underneath the castle… in the cavern that Vanderford is trying to open right now.

She realized what could likely happen at any moment.  “I’m so sorry… I have to go.”  Without another word, she turned and bolted from the house.  She heard heavy footsteps behind her and knew that her father was giving chase.

“Esmarine, where are you going?” her father’s voice called out.  Yup.  She was faster than he was, so he wouldn’t be able to catch her.  Sorry, Dad.  I’ll have to explain everything later.  This is a matter of life and death.  She had to get to Vanderford before he opened the passageway.  If he managed to get even a single stone to budge even the smallest amount, water would start to pour through.  If the leak in the Dome had been happening for almost any amount of time, the pressure would kill Vanderford almost immediately.

Even if Vanderford managed to get it open, the tunnel would still be useless to us.  There’s no way to get through it to the other end of the Dome without drowning.  And if we managed to somehow get all the water out, the passage is blocked on the other end, as well.  I have to tell Vanderford�"the tunnel is a waste of time.

She sprinted through the streets towards the castle.  She jumped over rocks, wheelbarrows, and barrels, darting between buildings faster than she had ever been before.  She was thankful to have explored these streets so much as a child and had practiced her swiftness.  Nothing was more important than getting to Vanderford right now.

She reached the castle steps.  She wanted to turn to see if her father was still behind her, but she couldn’t risk taking an extra second.  If he was catching up, she couldn’t chance him catching her and stopping her from getting to the Passing of the Seventh.

His voice calling out confirmed her decision.  “Esmarine!” he shouted.  “Where are you going?”  But she was on a mission.

She took the steps three at a time and burst into the entrance hall to the castle.  Now, which way was it to the Passing of the Seventh?  She turned and ran, fairly certain that she had chosen the correct path.  But just ahead of her stood Thaddeus. 

She skidded to a halt, weighing her options.  He was walking quickly, fuming under his breath.  He hadn’t seen her yet, and she couldn’t allow that to happen. He’s still looking for me from earlier, but he doesn’t know it’s me he’s looking for.  She looked around to see if there was another way she could take, but the quickest way to Vanderford was directly past him.  I’ll just have to make it quick.

She got down and pushed off the floor with as much strength as she could muster.  Faster, faster, she told herself, and her body listened.  She flashed passed Thaddeus.  He had to have felt me go by.

“Who’s there?” he called.  She heard his footsteps begin clomping along behind her, and she knew there were now two men chasing her.  He doesn’t stand a chance.  She slid around another corner, gained traction, and began sprinting again.  At the end of the hallway was the room she needed to be in.  She could see the door ahead.  She reached it and smashed through.  She headed directly for the secret staircase when she remembered the door was still open, and nobody was supposed to be in here.  She turned around and slammed the door closed, whirling around and heading back for the stairwell.  Hopefully Thaddeus didn’t see which room I’m in.

There wasn’t time to dwell on it now.  If he had seen, she would just have to deal with the consequences of saving a man’s life.  She took the stairs down even faster than she had come up the castle steps.

“Vanderford!” she called.  “You have to stop what you’re doing!”

As she got closer to the bottom, she could hear Vanderford’s voice.  He was shouting; his long, primal bellow echoing up the staircase.

“Stop!” she yelled again.  “You’re going to get yourself killed!”

He was so loud there was no chance he could hear her over the sound of his own grunting.  “Almost… there…” she heard him saying.  “Come on, I can feel you moving!”

No!  Esmarine reached the doorway.  “Vanderford, stop!” she shouted.  She could see him ahead, his large arms wrapped around a massive boulder.  The light from his torch cast an enormous shadow of his figure up against the cavern wall, and she could see the muscles in his shadow straining.  “STOP!” her voice echoed, and Vanderford turned to see who had called.

Just as they locked eyes, a stream of water burst out from a small opening just above the boulder.  It shot across the entire cavern and rained down at Esmarine’s feet.

“What are you doing back�"” he started, but noticed the water.  He followed it with his eyes all the way back up to where it was coming from between the rocks.  At that exact moment, a different sound reverberated through the cavern, a buildup of water that had been pressing against these boulders for a long time had finally found its means of escape.  Vanderford took a single step backward, away from the sound, but then the boulder he had been struggling with erupted from the opening of the tunnel, taking him with it.  Before he even had a chance to react, his body exploded against the cave wall, crushed by the massive object.  The boulder fell back towards the ground of the cave, but left Vanderford’s unrecognizable remains splattered and hanging from the cave wall, a red smear on an otherwise black background.

For a split second there was silence, followed by the gushing sound of millions of gallons of water tossing aside the rest of the boulders like bowling pins.  A massive wave of water burst forth, and suddenly all of the rocks and water was coming directly at Esmarine all at once.

She screamed and turned to run back up the stairs.  In seconds, the cavern was completely submerged and the water shot up the staircase after her, chasing her to the castle above.  And then the water caught up and was ahead of her, lifting her body and thrusting it upwards through the stairwell.  The massive force of the water slammed her fragile body against the ceiling, knocking the air out of her lungs.

She knew better than to inhale, but now her body was spinning, the water pushing and pulling her body in every direction at once.  She lost her orientation, but tried to focus on holding what air she had left inside her body.  If I can just get to the surface, I can ride the water all the way back up into the castle.

She waved her arms wildly, trying to swim, no idea which way was up, realizing at the last second that this might be the end for her.

The water took hold of her again, slamming her up against the wall and dragging the back of her head across the jagged stone.  The water immediately turned red with blood.

Esmarine didn’t even have time to feel the pain before she slipped into unconsciousness.