I peeked my head into the next room, and let out a groan. I turned to the other three Coursers that were stood behind me. ‘Okay, so. As soon as we’re past this room, it will just be one straight uphill tunnel and we’ll be back aboveground. Unfortunately, this room sucks.’ Iceberg let out a little chuckle. ‘We’re going to have to walk single file along this rickety old bridge over an abyss, and when we get about halfway across, some of us, maybe all of us, will hear voices.’

‘Wait, what do you mean?’ asked Wulfe.

‘I mean that the last time I came through this room, two of our party heard voices talking to them from in the abyss, promising them power. I have no idea why only those two heard it, but one of them was fully prepared to jump off the bridge.’ I rummaged around in my saddlebag and brought out a length of rope. ‘I would recommend that we all tie ourselves together, and that way anyone who does hear the voices is going to have a harder time throwing themselves off.’

Iceberg looked at me. ‘And what about if we all hear the voices?’

I looked back at him, face serious. ‘Then we all have to hope that at least one of us will have the strength to not give in to what they promise.’

He nodded, and then tied the rope around his waist, before securing it around Arista. I noticed that he secured it around her twice, as though expecting her to jump. I waited until Wulfe was also secured, and he nodded at me and smiled.

‘Okay everyone, let’s go. The bridge looks like it’ll crumble any moment, but I promise it’s firmer than it looks.’

We set off, walking in single file over the bridge. Despite my words, I didn’t trust it enough to go any faster than a walk, though I’d have loved to gallop over it so that the voices wouldn’t have a chance to speak to any of us. We reached the halfway point, and I began to relax. Maybe we’d gotten lucky and none of us would hear the voices.

Right then, I heard a whisper. ‘Kraken, give yourself to us and we will give you the world.’

I glared at the abyss and continued to walk – until that was, the rope pulled taut. I took a look behind me, and saw both Iceberg and Arista staring over the side of the bridge. Wulfe, behind them, let out a sigh. He looked at me questioningly, and I nodded my head, telling him that I could hear them too. Concern covered his face, and he seemed to come to a decision. He pressed up against Iceberg, and bit him hard on the rump.

‘OW! I.. Uhh. Oh, sorry.’ As soon as Iceberg realised he’d been listening to the voices, he smiled sheepishly. They both moved up to Arista, who was now actively struggling against the ropes.

‘Kraken, we can offer you the world, we can tell you what you’ve been searching for.’

That got my attention. I scowled down at the abyss, and tried to shake the thoughts away. I’d find my own way, and that is just fine. I didn’t need some stupid voice to tell me what I didn’t know about myself.

‘Oh, we have no doubt you could find it alone, but wouldn’t it be easier to ask for help? Come to us, and we will help you.’

I stared down, tears brimming in my eyes. I thought about how alone I felt most of the time, I thought about how isolating it was to be surrounded by people who know their purpose, who know what they want. While I was just- OW!

I turned and snarled, right in the face of Wulfe, who’d bitten me. While I was staring into the abyss like an idiot, he must have squeezed past Iceberg and Arista – who was still fighting against both the rope and Iceberg – and made his way up to me.

‘Kraken, let me through, I’ll take the lead, we need to get out of here before she throws herself off.’ I nodded, and moved to the side as much as I could to let him through. Once he had passed me, he turned, and used his muzzle to wipe a tear off my cheek. ‘You’re amazing, Kraken, and whatever they’re offering you, you don’t need it.’

I smiled at him, unable to say a word, and then he began to pull. I’d known he was strong, but my god I hadn’t realised he was THIS strong. I quickly began to walk, but before I had, he had been pulling all three of us behind him, and it didn’t even look like it was much effort for him. I was admiring the muscles in his back, working hard as he dragged Arista behind him, and I chuckled when I realised that I was accidentally tuning out the voices in the abyss because I was too busy staring hungrily at Wulfe. At my chuckle, he turned his head and gave me a grin. I began to blush like a moron.

I heaved a sigh of relief when we reached the other side. Poor Arista was bleeding where she’d desperately fought against the rope, but the minute her feet stood on the cold stone, she stilled, coming to herself.

‘Are you okay?’ asked Iceberg as he carefully unwound the rope around them both.
‘Yup!’ Came her reply. She looked into the tunnel ahead of us, and saw the faint circle of daylight at the fair end. ‘Oh, the way out! Thank god, let’s go!’ She took off at a gallop.

Iceberg turned to us, and shook his head. ‘She is who she is. I give you my eternal thanks for keeping us both safe, if there’s ever anything I can offer you, it is yours.’

I smiled at him. ‘No need. Just go, and live a good life.’

He smiled back, and then took off after Arista at a gallop.

Wulfe and I smiled at each other, and started walking up the passageway.

‘Well, I’m glad that you didn’t hear the voices, or we’d have been pretty screwed.’

He looked at me and laughed, the noise echoing all around us. ‘Oh I did hear the voices.’

I stared at him, dumbfounded. ‘What do you mean??’

‘I heard the voices Kraken, but they didn’t have anything to tempt me. Power? I’m the Heir to the Land, power is literally what I’m trying to get away from.’

I hadn’t thought about it that way.

‘That’s fair enough. What are your plans when we get up to the surface?’

He looked over at me. ‘I want to spend a week or two up there, but I was hoping we could maybe.. spend some time together while we’re up there?’

His face was furiously flushing, and he was staring straight ahead. Fig seemed to be cheering in his own way atop Wulfe’s head. I blushed myself and smiled at him.

‘I’d really really like that.’