Endure - Sara B. Larson Page 0,41

where there was a pot we all had to use to relieve ourselves. Eljin and I had to wait and go last. The smell nearly gagged me when it was my turn. My stomach heaved, threatening to make me vomit, as I did my best to crouch over the pot. But because my belly was completely empty, there was nothing to come up anyway.

The sorcerers replaced their torches with new ones that were piled inside the small room, and then we continued on.

“Faster,” the one behind me barked after we’d walked for at least another hour. My legs ached, and my stomach burned with hunger. Weakness wormed through my body, driven by starvation, thirst, and lack of sleep.

“We need food, or at least something to drink.” Eljin spoke up for the first time.

“If you want to eat, walk faster,” the sorcerer repeated sharply.

I pushed myself to move as quickly as I could, but I knew I was getting slower and slower as they continued to march us through the never-ending tunnel. I despised feeling so weak, but without food or water, my body wouldn’t allow me to move any more quickly. I didn’t understand why they were forcing us through this underground pathway, why they weren’t feeding us or giving us water, when I knew the king wanted me alive for some reason. Where were they taking us — and why did we have to go this way?

Finally, after yet another hour or two, the man who seemed to be in charge let us stop. He again put us in a small room, but this time he said, “Sit here to rest for a moment. But do not sleep.”

The door shut, leaving us in the darkness once more. I slid down the wall, until I sat on the floor, my feet straight out in front of me, my head leaning back to rest against the dirt.

“Why are they doing this? Why are they forcing us to go through this tunnel?” I asked after a long moment of strained silence. I couldn’t see Eljin; I couldn’t see anything. Not even my own hands or legs.

“I don’t know.” Eljin’s voice came from my left side, and I turned my head toward him, even though it didn’t make a difference.

We were silent for another minute, and then I quietly said, “I’m sorry.”

He didn’t respond right away, and I could picture the anger and frustration that was probably on his face. When he finally spoke, the kindness and pity in his voice took me by surprise. “It was the only way we would have made it into Dansii alive. You did what you had to do.”

Before I could respond, the door opened and the torchlight outside the room revealed one of the hooded men walking toward us, holding a flagon in one hand and a small bag in the other.

“You must share.” He tossed the bags at us and then turned and walked out again. Just before the door shut, I scrambled forward to grab the items.

I fumbled to open the bag in the darkness.

“What is it?” Eljin asked.

I finally got it open and reached in to pull out what felt like a single hard roll and a small chunk of something softer. When I lifted it to my nose, the aroma made my stomach cramp. “It’s a roll and a little bit of cheese.”

“That’s all?”

I didn’t respond, my fingers clutched around the food. Even if I was able to eat the whole amount, it wasn’t nearly enough.

“You eat it,” Eljin said quietly.

“All of it?” I asked incredulously. “You can’t mean that.”

“It’s hardly anything. You have to stay alive — you have to save Rylan and get back to Damian. If I die, they won’t be able to use me to control you any longer. I’m not nearly as important —”

“Stop it,” I broke in. “Here’s your half. I’m not going to let you starve.”

I’d already torn the roll apart, and I stretched my hand out in the darkness, hoping he’d come forward and take it from me. There was nothing but silence for a long moment, but then I heard him moving across the small space toward me. When his fingers brushed mine, I pressed the piece of roll into his hand. Then I broke the cheese apart and gave him part of it as well.

“Thank you,” he muttered.

“You have to get back to Tanoori. And we still have to rescue your father. You have just as many reasons to live as I