needs only seven.”
“On the hand slap, you said the defender gets the points. How do you decide who moved first?”
“If there is an argument, then the round is replayed.”
He snorted. “Until someone yields. We did something similar but used sticks. Slapping of them was allowed. You only got points for full avoidance of a strike. Lost points for any flesh hits.”
“Flesh hits? I’m in.” Gorri threw himself into the seat beside him.
Although seat was being generous. At one time it might have been a bench, but twenty years of use and abuse saw it repaired in the oddest ways. Like the hunk of rock sitting under a crack in the worn wood, providing a brace.
“A new game that I can school you in,” Lila announced.
“Ha. You wish. Unlike some people around here, I’m not afraid to hit you.”
“Now if only you managed to connect,” Lila teased with a grin.
Despite himself, Cam enjoyed their banter. “My sister likes to hit, too,” he admitted to Gorri. “Little fists. They’re the worst.”
“They get stuck in your ribs, then you gotta pry them out,” Gorri drawled.
Lila offered a sweet smile as she said, “Wait ’til you see where you’re going to be pulling my foot from in a minute.”
That brought a chuckle to his lips, a loud guffaw that had him lifting his head and catching Kayda’s gaze across the room. No longer at a table, she leaned against a wall and watched him.
Was she still mad? He could have lied to her. Told her how great the Necropolis was and what a great job she was doing. And really, both those things would have been true. But only to a certain extent. The Necropolis would fall. Maybe not tomorrow, or the next day, but it would happen. As they dwindled in number, their enemies flourished. It was only a matter of time before they were hit by a wave of something they couldn’t repel.
Kayda seemed to have done well in keeping them organized and functioning. No small feat. The food, while not his first choice, filled the belly, the broth rich with fat and bobbing with spongy mushrooms that absorbed the flavor and hunks of meat. To drink, they had water, which, to him, still seemed a luxury. The water in Emerald had never been so cool and clear. He guzzled glasses of it quite happily.
“…Hale, Pelo, and Bea haven’t returned.”
Cam tuned in to Lila’s announcement and caught Gorri’s immediate frown. “They should have been back before dinner.”
“They’re not that late,” Lila replied with a slight shrug. Left unsaid was the fact this must be unusual, or they wouldn’t even discuss it.
“Weren’t they going to the lower levels to see if the shrooms had bloomed yet?” Gorri drummed his fingers on the table. “Only takes thirty minutes at most to get down there.”
“It’s going back up that fast that sucks,” Lila grumbled, but with no real heat.
“I hate stairs after supper.” Gorri might complain, but he was already standing to go.
Cam eyed them. “If you’re going to the lower levels, I want to come.”
“Why?” Lila asked bluntly.
“Because.” No more. No less. His gut told him this was the thing to do.
“We better tell Kayda we’re going and taking her Marshman.”
“I am not hers,” exclaimed a startled Cam.
“Don’t be so sure of that. All food gathered goes to the group. Anything else we come across is finders, keepers. So weapons, clothing, weird shit.”
“I take it I fall under weird shit,” was his dry reply.
Lila grinned, a dimple in one cheek. “Usually you would have fallen under clothing because we would have stripped you. But that’s usually from dead bodies. You’re the first live one we’ve run into while patrolling the tunnels.”
“I thought the passages were safe.”
“Better than outside. Nowhere is safe.”
He almost said Eden was, but that would just taunt them with the fact they had no way of reaching it. The despair in this place smothered him. They needed help, but he really shouldn’t let himself get distracted from his reason for being here.
His gaze strayed over to Kayda again. Her gaze was elsewhere, but as if sensing his sudden regard, she turned and met his glance. Something sizzled between them. He couldn’t explain the feeling. Only that he should probably ignore it. He broke the connection and stood.
“Let’s go find this hunting party.”
It was the handsome fellow who’d been talking to Kayda earlier who intercepted them as they left. “Where are you going?”
“Who are you, and why do you care?” was Cam’s