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Quin

Quin looked up from talking with Leytara. Where’s Qatar?

He looked toward the shadows by the wall where he’d seen him last, but his brother’s tall form wasn’t among them.

Quin frowned, and stopped listening to whatever the girl was saying to him.

He scanned the walls, looking. Where could he have got to? Quin shivered in the growing cold. Leytara was shivering, too, but he didn’t notice.

Then he saw something, among the shadows toward the back of the cave. something moving. Something…

Qatar?

“Excuse me,” he interrupted Leytara in something she was saying. “This will sound rude, but I have to look for my brother. Usually he tells someone before heading off alone.”

Unless I was the only one to tell, he thought grimly.

He hobbled off in the direction of the moving shadow, leaving the stream and the little bit of light that hung around the people he had grown to care about in just a short amount of time.

I should tell someone…he glanced up. Qatar’s shadow was just disappearing into the darkness ahead of him.

But I’ll miss him if I stop to tell anyone.

He thought about calling his brother’s name, but shook his head. he’ll hate me if I draw attention to him when he wants to be alone.

The way was growing stonier and steeper, and Quin’s crutches sunk into the sliding stones, while his foot slipped and slid. Once he fell onto his knee, throwing tiny rolling pebbles down into the cave below.

He looked up. He couldn’t see Qatar’s shadow ahead of him anymore. Too slow–again. 

He struggled up, and half crawled, have walked up the steep incline of sliding rocks that ran to meet the cave wall.

He was breathing hard when he finally reached the wall and stopped to look around.

below him people were starting to huddle together because of the cold. Locran and Niarok were meeting and starting off  together on a brisk walk in his direction.

for firewood maybe? Quin shivered.

He looked up. The sliding rocks sloped up toward the roof of the cave straight ahead of him, but off to his right and ten feet higher up he could see a thin ledge that skirted the wall.

that’s my mark.

He left one crutch, and crawled up the rock on his hands and knees, sending sliding pebbles scurrying away from him, and almost sliding with them.

Then he heard something.

A  strangled gasp, followed a splash and rattle. Quin’s heart jumped, and raced on ahead of him into the darkness. He scrambled forward. Somehow, he gained the ledge and jerked to into a standing position, swaying dangerously on the small space.

There was another splash, louder this time–a double splash. And a shout that sounded muffled.

Qatar! it was his brother’s voice.

“Qatar!” he stopped caring whether his brother would hate him for disturbing him, and shouted his name wildly, but there was no answer.

His edging around the ledge was too slow by half. much too slow! he started a hobbling sort of run, heedless of the black chasm to his left, until the wall curved inward ahead of him, and the ledge narrowed to a few inches. his tapping crutch fell on nothing, and his limbs flailed wildly in the darkness. The back of his hand hit against the rock wall, and then he was falling.

First Mama, now Qatar. Because I’m too slow.

he wondered how much it would hurt when he hit bottom, and if anyone would ever notice that he were gone.

A blinding flash of light and a huge splash caught his eyes, just as he hit the floor with a sickening thud. Pain stabbed up his side, and darkness fell.