Let's eat first

"Let's eat first." Cassia nods in understanding, but says nothing as you each eat a couple of the food bars that you found in the gateroom. The bars were hard and dry like stale bread, and tasted vaguely of salty fruit. Suddenly thirsty after eating the bars you drink deeply from the canteen. Cassia too takes a long drink from the flask, spilling some water over her lips and chin as she pulls the flask away. Some color has returned to her face, and she smiles good naturedly as she wipes away the drops from her face.

"I feel better now, Adonis." Cassia was kneeling by your side staring intently into your eyes. "I was so scared when those two things first saw us. Thank you for protecting me again." Her hand lightly touches your arm as she speaks and it feels like a spark of power raced from her touch to your heart.

"I didn't want my guide to be eaten." You reply modestly, really if it hadn't been for Cassia blinding one of the beasts you're not sure of how the encounter might have turned out.

"It's not being eaten that scared me the most, Adonis." Her fingers tightened painfully around your wrist. "Did you see how aroused the man-beast was?" You try to meet her gaze calmly but the thought of what might have happened to your companion had you fallen was all too clear. Cassia's grip on your forearm relaxed a little, but the warmth of her palm on your skin remained as she continues quietly.

"The whole world seems obsessed with sex now. It seems every path we take there are men and beasts who'd strip me naked and use me any way they felt for their pleasure." It was true, the gang who killed her friends, the mercenaries and slavers in the fire lit square and even the barely living beasts down here in the catacombs, each one seems worse than the one before.

"Except for you Adonis - thank-you for your gentle kindness." Cassia leans closer and kisses you on the cheek, her lips are soft and warm on your cheek and still moist from the water flask. "I would give myself to you again, eagerly, and without regret, were it not for the demons that roam the catacombs. I don't dare attract their attention." Suddenly stiff with desire you watch Cassia as she sits on the blanket, knowing she is probably right but hungering for her eager response. Not knowing what to say you wait, hoping the right words would come to you. Cassia sensing your unease pulls away.

"Don't worry Adonis, I understand your love for Eudora." I will not try to steal you away from her." Turning from you she lays down on the blankets "Can we stay here for another hour or two? Would it be safe?"

“It should be. You get some rest, I’ll keep watch” In almost no time at all Cassia’s breathing settled into a steady rise and fall of deep sleep. Your eyes dutifully pass from one empty doorway to the next, but soon you can feel the tedium of keeping watch settling in. More and more you find yourself gazing at Cassia’s sleeping body, the thick armor hides most of her curves, but the curve of her neck, jaw line and ear are as attractive as you remember. How would she respond if you lay down behind her and kissed the exposed skin of her neck?

Climbing sharply to you feet you walk away from the temptation of Cassia’s body. She sees you as her savior, how would she react if you became as mindlessly obsessed with sex as all the others? Better to clear you mind a little than to lust after your companion. Moving away from Cassia you investigate the surrounding rooms more carefully. The first room leading from the hallway where you ate is circular in shape, you can see your footprints in the dust and you follow them to the center of the room. Two of the three eliptical doorways leading from the room open into small spaces, perhaps storage space or a very small sleeping area. The other opening leads to the middle room. Looking back from this chamber through the rounded doorway you can see Cassia resting comfortably with her head resting on a bare arm.

Unlike its two circular counterparts, this space is egg shaped, the door directly ahead of you probably leads to the last of the smaller chambers you have already explored, but the opening to your left appears to lead to another even larger room, by far bigger than any you’ve seen so far in the catacombs. Just at the edge of the range of the bluelight you catch a glimmer of something that looks different from the otherwise drab surroundings.