The mechanism whirred, loud in my ears as the room continued to revolve. Wulfe and I were crushed awkwardly together in the small space, and I could hear Fig squeaking furiously atop Wulfe's head. Luckily, after about a minute the blank stone walls opened up and we fell out into a large room. We shook ourselves and I did a quick check to make sure I hadn't lost any equipment in the chaos.
"So.." started Wulfe.
"So." I said, and then began to laugh.
Wulfe's face was the definition of bewildered. "What's funny?"
I managed to get out a few words between giggles. "Everything. Nothing." I giggled again, and Wulfe sat, clearly willing to wait till my laughing fit had passed.
With some effort, I got myself under control. "Sorry," I said, shooting him a grin. "I'm just relieved to have gotten away from those two, and I'm just ready to get out of these dungeons for a little while, how about you?"
"I wouldn't say no to seeing some sunshine." He smiled at me.
"Good. So let's eat, then we can get up and head back to the surface. There is one thing I have to ask though."
Wulfe's ears flattened, and he suddenly avoided my gaze, finding the ground very interesting. Fig rolled his eyes. "What's that?"
"Do you have any of that cheese left?"
Wulfe stared at me, confounded. "That's what you want to ask??"
I nodded.
He took a deep breath, steadying himself. "You don't want to ask about me being a Prince?"
I looked him right in the eyes. "Yes, Madoc told me all about you being a prince, and your father and your sister. But in all honestly Wulfe, it doesn't really matter to me. If you wanted me to know, you'd have told me, and I'd rather form my opinion of you based on the Courser I've been travelling with for a few weeks now, rather than some fancy title you hold. I think you're a good man, and that's good enough for me."
Wulfe smiled hesitantly at me. "It took me a very long time -too long- to realise that my title was my least favourite thing about myself, and I'm glad that you're far faster at coming to that realisation than I was."
I smiled back at him, then shoved my nose into his saddlebag to search for some cheese. Before I could though, I heard a noise, the mechanism behind us whirring again.
Fearing that it was Bull following us, I quickly drew my weapon and spotted Wulfe doing the same next to me. But even before the exit opened, I relaxed. I could hear voices, voices that I didn't recognise. I sheathed my weapon, and the exit slid open to reveal two coursers, who both jumped in surprise to see me and Wulfe standing right infront of them. The bigger of the two glanced around and let out a huge groan. "Are you kidding me????"
The other chuckled. "Come on Arista, we knew the chances of finding a route to the surface right away was slim."
"Yeah, yeah." Arista seemed to finally register that we were stood there. "Hey! Don't suppose you two know the way to the surface?"
I smiled at her. "Pretty sure I do, actually. I've been here before."
"Oh thank GOD. This way?" She indicated to the far end of the room, and at my nod, she started walking through the thin passage.
Her companion sighed. "Sorry about her, I swear she usually has more manners, but she's exhausted. She's Arista, and I'm Iceberg."
Wulfe answered before I could. "Its no problem, the dungeons are stressful and I've learned, no place for manners. This is Kraken, and I'm Wulfe."
"Nice to meet you both."
The three of us began to walk up the narrow passage. On either side of us were cells, the entrances blocked with chest high doors. Any Courser would be able to leap out with minimal effort, but the ancient skeletons that lay within implied that they hadn't had that option. Maybe the section of door that had previously blocked their exit had rotted away with time, or maybe it was something sinister. Who could know?
Iceberg made the error of looking into one of the cells. "Oh gods. What is this place??"
I shook my head. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I only passed through here once before, and it spooked me enough that I didn't stick around to investigate." Iceberg gave a shudder. "So, you're both heading back to the surface?"
Iceberg smiled. "I tried to tell Arista that it wasn't a good idea to come down here, but.. well, once she decides to do something, she's pretty much unstoppable. I came along to try and help her, but not sure how much help I've been. So yeah, we're headed out and hopefully this will stop her from thinking about coming down here again. What about you two?"
Wulfe gave a low chuckle. "We've been down here for a little too long, and we both agreed it was high time we spent a while in the sun."
We continued to walk, chatting in companionable comfort, and as we approached the exit of the room, I took comfort in the fact that we didn't have far to go before I'd be back at my beloved beach.