Free Life and Limb (The Ebon Chronicles) by Chris Capps

descended into a still steeper incline ahead.  And into what, we did not know.
    As we descended, Ebon said,
    "So what does the city have on you?  How did they gain your assistance?"
    I shifted, letting the incline slide me down a bit and moved to the next step, jutting my boot into it,
    "It's that obvious that I don't want to be here?"
    "I had a suspicion," Ebon said grinning in the flashlight beam, eyes still forward, "When the rope started shaking like a leaf above me."
    "You say you're here to build a better future," I said shifting the flashlight to my other hand and sliding to the next step, "And I believed you.  Why wouldn't you believe me?"
    "You don't seem like the last group I ran into from the spider cities.  They were calculating.  Cruel.  You seem like neither.  Like you've spent some time down on the surface.  Are you a slave of theirs?"  My laughter echoed dark into the cavern beneath us and died before it echoed back.  I slid to the next step, shifting uneasily and looking back up,
    "Do I seem like a slave to you?"
    Ebon shifted past me, experimentally moving to the center of the tunnel and pushing himself forward, sliding down a few steps where he rested at the end of my flashlight beam.  It was a few moments before I caught up, and when I did he was shaking his head,
    "Not a slave, no.  Something like one, though."
    "I was coerced into this," I said, "My blossom Tyche is being held at the rectory until I deliver news of what's down here.  This will get me enough money to pay her dowry and retire.  After that, I get permission to marry her."
    "You can buy women in your city?"
    "You can buy everyone in my city."
    "They didn't have confidence in their top explorers, then?"
    "I am among their top explorers," I said.
    The flashlight slipped from my sweaty hand as I unexpectedly shifted on my bad leg.  It flew spiraling down the corridor into the darkness and shot like a comet to where the tunnel took a steeper turn before disappearing from sight.  Ebon glanced over to me,
    "Was that a joke?"
    The descent was slow, lasting the better part of an hour before we finally could see the point at which the flashlight had disappeared.  As it came into view in the distance below, we looked down and saw that the floor leveled out slowly, incrementally.  It smoothed out to where we could have stood up.
    "Hang on.  Wait up," Ebon said huffing as he rested again, "I'm not made for this sort of thing anymore."  He pulled from his coat pocket a cigarette, and lit it with a handheld lighter, puffing it stoically as he looked down.
    "It could be very easy or very difficult, depending on what method we choose at this point."
    "The question is, which is which.  If we keep climbing it'll be at least another hour before we reach the bottom.  But then we could slide the whole way.  This floor is smooth.  Smooth enough to carry us down to that flashlight and a bit further."
    "The momentum," I said holding the back of my hand against my nose, "Would take us further than the point we can see.  We don't know what's down there."
    "You've heard of the interrogation drones, the nightmare men?"
    "Nightmare men?" I said, "No, I haven't heard of those."
    "The Keterling.  Tell me you haven't been wandering the waste without hearing stories about them."
    I shook my head.  Ebon breathed deep, uncertainty crossing his face as he shrugged.  He tossed me his flashlight, reaching across the space between us.  I gripped it tightly, shining it back to him as he slid out near the center of the divide between us, still suspended by his hand.
    "What are the Keterling?" I asked him as his face grinned and started sliding down the center, "Hey Ebon!"
    He moved fast, sliding with a loud whoosh that quickly grew quieter with each passing second.  Moments later I stared down at the point where he had descended and saw someone pick the flashlight up and shine it back at me.
    "Something's down here.  Hurry up!"
    Instantly I had pushed