Chương 80: 72. Food & Friends

"What the candidate enters is always older than what built the entrance. The doors of the work were carved by hands. What is behind the doors is a memory from the future." - Codex of the Long Watch, On the Older Floors Food & Friends The party exited the Hypogeum at sundown. Sarah had Arthur's good arm across her shoulders. He kept apologising and she kept telling him to stop. Donna was twenty metres ahead, axe lowered, her eyes reading the road, which was free of local mutated fauna.

Steve was last, ledger open as he walked, the pencil moving in short careful strokes.

"Almost there," Sarah said.

"Donna. How does it look."

"Empty," Donna replied without turning.

"Same as it looked when we left." Donna went in first.

"Clear," she called from inside after about ten seconds.

"Right." Sarah took Arthur's weight off her shoulder.

"Under the window. I want you horizontal in under a minute."

"Yes, mother," Arthur said.

"Don't get snippy with the doctor." Arthur opened his mouth, then thought better of it and moved inside. *"Settle in. I'll see what I can find to fill our bellies," Donna said.

"I'll get the fire going," Steve said, moving towards the hearth. Arthur's shoulder was inflamed and the deltoid had an ugly bruise. The forearm was a bigger problem. Sarah had splinted it in the chamber with a piece of bone, and she had to set it properly.

"This is going to hurt," she said.

"I assumed." She replaced the bone splint with two lengths of olive wood from the hearth pile, properly cut and padded. She aligned the fracture, which was thankfully clean enough, and bound it. Arthur sucked in his breath but did not react further.

"Almost done, just a little more," Sarah said, placing a hand on the deltoid and one on the fracture. Warmth flooded Arthur and his body loosened. He gave a small sigh of relief and closed his eyes.

"You'll live," Sarah said after about twenty minutes of channelling.

"Thanks. Turns out it's quite convenient having our own personal doctor," Arthur said.

"Hope you have good insurance," Sarah responded.

"Steve, your turn."

"Mmm," Steve responded, busy with his journal. He was sketching the Hypogeum's inner chamber.

"Steve, put the pencil down," Sarah said, kneeling down in front of him. She took his chin between her thumb and forefinger and turned his face towards the fire. The blood on his nose and ear had crusted over. His internal healing had already fixed most of the burst capillaries. Sarah sent a few small targeted pulses to help it along and stood up.

"I wish I could take a bath," Sarah said, looking herself over. Steve's pencil stopped scratching.

"I can't believe I did not think about it sooner," he said, getting up.

"Wait a minute, I'll be right back," he said, rushing out. Steve came back before too long, looking rather pleased with himself.

"There is a bir in the bitha," he said.

"Is that supposed to mean something?" Donna said from behind him. She was carrying a wicker basket with some figs, a stoppered clay jar, a large clay bowl, and surprisingly what looked like chicken.

"Found two chickens," she clarified.

"And a few other things."

"Did they try to eat your face?" Steve asked.

"Not even a little bit. They behaved like regular chickens," she replied.

"What were you saying when I got here?"

"Oh yes, I was saying there is a bir in the bitha."

"Steve, that didn't make sense the first time and it doesn't make sense now," Sarah said, laying out Donna's haul in front of the hearth.

"Bir is a rainwater cistern. Bitha is the internal courtyard," Steve said.

"And it has water in it?" Sarah said, turning around.

"Yes. With a bucket and rope."

"That's mighty convenient." Steve sat back down in front of his journal.

"This is everywhere in Malta. The Knights wrote it into Valletta's planning regs after the Great Siege. Every building had to have a cistern under it. They extended it island-wide later. The practice goes back five thousand years. The megalithic temples have rock-cut cisterns. The whole island sits on collected rainwater."

"You spent five minutes explaining a well in the courtyard," Donna said while plucking the chickens.

"It's not a well and it was not five minutes."

"Well, I for one appreciate you looking into the bath situation," Sarah said, moving next to Donna.

"I need to check your forearm."

"Mine?" Donna asked.

"Yes, you. All of you should get used to the fact that I can literally see inside you."

"That's rather disconcerting," Steve said, still scribbling.

"I'm a doctor, Steve. Doctors don't count." * If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. After Sarah had finished with Donna's arm, the two of them went back to the food.

"Arthur gets a pass, being broken and all. Why are you not helping?" Donna asked, looking at Steve.

"Steve could burn a popsicle," Arthur said without opening his eyes.

"That's rubbish and you know it," Steve said, getting up.

"Your signature dish is let's-order-pizza."

"On second thought, why don't you get some water from the well," Sarah said, blocking his way to the ingredients.

"Again, it's not a well." Donna had found a small jug of olive oil and a jar of salt during her scavenging mission. The slightly charred chicken with fresh figs dressed in olive oil turned out to be better than anyone expected. Without cutlery, they ate with their hands, and Sarah sat next to Arthur, alternating between feeding herself and feeding him. Arthur was looking at the ceiling.

"South rafter is sagging," he said, chewing.

"Don't," Donna said.

"It is though."

"It has been sagging for fifty years, Arthur. That rafter is probably older than the country. It will be fine."

"I'm just saying."

"Eat your fig, Arthur," Sarah said, stuffing one in his mouth. * They finished dinner bickering and bantering like only old friends can, Sarah firmly part of the unlikely group.

"I'm going to wash up," Donna said once the last scraps of dinner were devoured.

"And we should allocate before we sleep," Steve said. Donna went first. Once she came back, Steve took his turn. When Steve returned, he and Sarah helped Arthur out to the courtyard.

"I can manage washing up on my own," Arthur said, looking at Sarah.

"I'm sure you can, but I see no reason to aggravate your forearm." Arthur looked at Steve for help.

"For God's sake, Arthur. Firstly, I'm a doctor, so there is nothing you have that I've not seen a hundred times before. Secondly, I'm not asking you to take your pants off. Stop being a daisy."

"I'll be inside if you need me, Doctor." Steve chuckled and walked away.

"You are lucky, you know. The three of you. Having others you implicitly trust with your lives is rare," Sarah said after some time.

"Four," Arthur responded.

"The four of us. You are part of the group now and you are keeping us alive. Wherever we end up, we will have your back, just as you will have ours."

"Yes. The four of us," Sarah said with a small nod and a smile.

"Okay, I think you can manage walking back in on your own," Sarah said once she was done with Arthur.

"I'll be back in ten minutes."

"Steve tells me Sarah was cleaning you," was the first thing Arthur heard as he gingerly made his way inside.

"High school was almost two decades ago, Donna," Arthur said, lowering himself.

"I was just making an observation."

"Sure you were." * Sarah came back after what was nothing close to ten minutes.

"I thought you said ten minutes," Arthur asked.

"Donna was worried you got abducted by some caprid mutation."

"My screams would have alerted you," Sarah said, sitting close to the hearth.

"There is a lot of water down there and I was in no particular hurry."

"Okay, enough horsing around, let's allocate," Donna said. Arthur went first. One point each in STR, CON, and DEX.

"Are you going to make DEX a regular thing now?" Steve asked, updating his ledger.

"Not sure. The cones in the chamber gave me another reminder that I could benefit from moving faster, but I also know that my stats have to be STR and CON. I'll probably get it up to fifteen, then stop." Donna went next and mirrored Arthur. One point each in STR, CON, and DEX.

"I'll stop with CON for a while now. I think twenty is a good place to be. I would need more STR in the future," she said before Steve could ask.

"Also, your DEX and my ACU are closer to fifty than any of our other stats. If the first attribute evolution was at twenty-five, fifty could be the next," Steve said, looking hopefully at Archie.

"Archie?" he said when Archie didn't respond.

"Yes."

"Does fifty in an attribute trigger a secondary evolution of the attribute?"

"You will know it when one of you reaches fifty in an attribute," Archie responded.

"I would also like to point out that you would need to stay alive for several more levels before you can reach that stage."

"You are a regular cube of sunshine, aren't you?" Donna said. Archie did not take the bait and kept rotating indifferently. Steve put two points in ACU and one point in RES.

"I have been close to my pool floor four times in the last forty-eight hours. Convergence is expensive at the intensity I want to reach. I want a margin," he explained to no one in particular.

"Actually I will do the same," Sarah said, making Steve look up.

"My control is fine, better than fine really, but I almost ran out during the fight today," she explained.

"I need a bigger pool." Sarah put two points in ACU and one point in RES.

"You are very close to the first attribute threshold for both CON and RES. Are you excited?" Steve asked, writing down Sarah's numbers.

"Seeing Arthur's twenty-five for STR, no, absolutely not. But thresholds mean that I get to keep you guys upright longer, so I'll suffer for the greater good," she said, smiling. * Donna took the first watch.

"Archie," Donna said in a quiet voice, careful not to wake the others up.

"Yes." Archie's voice was low as well, which was weird for something that should not have emotional intelligence.

"We've been running around for weeks now. A puzzle, then a node, then fights. There is an end goal, yes?"

"Yes, I can confirm there is an end goal, if you manage to stay alive."

"I don't mind all the fighting. But I worry. For Arthur and Steve and now Sarah. Arthur will keep putting himself in front of everything and one of these days he might break for good. Steve still acts like he is in a university, more concerned with who painted a piece of pottery than the danger in front of him." Donna opened the door a crack and looked out to make sure the courtyard was clear, then closed it and continued.

"Sarah, I think, feels indebted to us and is trying too hard to be useful."

"What I'm trying to ask is, is this all worth it? Should I have stayed with Emma and convinced Arthur and Steve to stay put?" she finished, looking at Archie. Archie took a long time to respond.

"The candidate, and by extension those who chose to support him, will influence events much bigger than themselves. You are right to worry. That is part of why he is still standing." The geometry fell silent and then continued unprompted.

"I cannot tell you what you will face or experience, but I can tell you that it is bigger than anything you can imagine, and that it will affect everyone on the planet. Emma included. Assuming you stay alive, that is."

"Yes, don't die. Great pep talk," Donna said.

"Motivating you was not my intention."

"I wouldn't assume otherwise." Both of them fell silent, Donna absorbed in her thoughts, Archie probably calculating energy output from a supernova or something equally unhelpful. Before Donna went to wake Steve up for his watch, she looked at Archie.

"If you tell anyone about our conversation, I will turn you 2D."

"I do not have the human inclination to gossip." Donna smiled and got up. * They woke to a grey morning. Sarah did her rounds. Arthur's wrap had held and the bruise on his shoulder looked much better. She took off the sling and channelled healing while Donna and Steve gathered figs and prickly pears for breakfast. Arthur flexed his arms and smiled. His forearm still smarted when he made a fist, but what Sarah could do was miraculous. They moved through the Hypogeum levels without lingering.

The awe of the place was now marred by its history and purpose.

"Ready?" Donna asked, standing in front of the descending staircase that the pool had revealed.

"Ready," Steve said, adjusting his pack. Arthur went first, his shield raised, followed by Steve and Sarah, with Donna bringing up the rear. The walls changed as they descended. Limestone gave way to architecture older than human history. ARTHUR ASHWORTH — L16: STR 30 | DEX 12 | CON 29 | ACU 6 | RES 10 DONNA CALLAS — L16: STR 17 | DEX 35 | CON 20 | ACU 7 | RES 8 STEVE PARR — L16: STR 7 | DEX 7 | CON 14 | ACU 37 | RES 22 SARAH VASSILOU — L14: STR 7 | DEX 8 | CON 22 | ACU 18 | RES 23