Time passed incredibly slowly in that dark place. I couldn't tell if it were day or night. And, if it hadn't been for the iridescent blue mist that still enveloped me, we would all have been plunged into total blackness a great while ago.

The absence of light, any other time, would mean little to me. I'd lived so long in my candleless cell and roaming the poorly lit corridors of the kurku that I did not mind the dark. Yet now, as the the kurku was falling to pieces and water kept rushing through our only escape route, the dark seemed overwhelming.

If there were light we might be able to find another way of escape. But, I worried, as the other survivors reached the highest point in the rubble they could climb to without risking their lives, that we were all going to drown in the cold, murky water that was still rushing into the kurku.

"This is as far as we can go," Kai spoke to the others.

"I'm ready for a rest, anyway," Asa, the only other female among us, answered in reply.

She smiled warmly at me.

"May I sit with you Dhuuni?" she asked with respect.

Still unaccustomed to being talked to in such a polite way by freeborns I just stared at her a moment. I then heard Kai clear his throat and quickly looked at him. He was grinning at me and flicking his head indicating I should say something to the woman.

Feeling every bit an imposter, I simply replied, "Yes, of course Asa."

The older woman smiled with relief as she took up a seat beside me.

Kai took a seat on the other side of me and the other survivors sat where it looked most comfortable. Though, nothing looked safe or the least bit cozy in these conditions. They all closed their eyes and let out sighs as they relaxed into the rubble we were perched on. We could do nothing for now but rest, and I tried to convince myself to close my eyes like the others for just a little while. Only, my anxious heart would not let me. I felt compelled to keep an eye on everyone and the flooded exit.

Kai let out a great sigh as he tried to find a comfortable position. Looking at him in the light of the blue mist, I took note that he was a very young man. Perhaps no older than myself. I wondered if he had a wife, a child perhaps, waiting for him at home.

Were his family, even now, outside the Master's estate, demanding to know where he was? Surely hours had passed, maybe even half a day or more, since the first earthquake. I looked at the only corridor that lead to the surface. The door was quickly becoming submerged in water. Soon, we wouldn't be able to see the arched opening anymore. Looking at it, I wondered who was at the other end waiting and watching for their loved ones to crawl their way out of the kurku.

There was no one but Master Bangkai to wait for me. I shuddered at the thought and felt grateful that she was still overseas. I didn't need to worry about her right now, just those with me. As they slumbered in this forsaken place, I closed my eyes and prayed to Kinabuhi to guide us out of here safely somehow. Who but her could I hope in? 

                                                                ---------------

A voice woke me.

My eyes flew open and I called out "Yes?" in a bit of a panic to whomever had spoken my name. I heard the voice again, a masculine voice, and stood to my feet. This time I called out in a loud voice saying, "I'm here."

Takai, Asa, and the others, who were all still asleep, stirred awake. I grimaced. I hadn't meant to wake them, but I was sure someone had called my name. I looked around the kurku for the first prisoner I had brought back from the brink of death. He was sitting as far away from us as he could get but was still alive.

"Did you hear someone call for me?" I shouted across the dark cavernous space to him.

"It was a dream," he said. "No one is coming. No one has called you." Then, after a long pause, he got up from the rubble and declared, "We will die here. All of us."

I frowned. Our situation did look quite hopeless. He probably wasn't far off with his prediction. But I was positive I heard a man call my name. And if it wasn't anyone in the kurku, then perhaps someone had come to rescue us.

"What's going on?" Takai asked me.

"I, I heard someone call my name," I told him a bit reluctantly. I felt certain that the voice was real and not a dream. However, perhaps the prisoner on the other side of the kurku was right and I only dreamt it.

Asa gasped with despair and grabbed hold of my right arm with her cold trembling fingers. "It's gone," she said before sinking to her knees and almost taking me down with her.

"What's gone?" Takai asked.

With my free arm I lifted a finger and pointed to the exit. In the time we slept, the water levels had risen and the arched, double doorway was gone. Our only exit was finally submerged entirely in cold, dark, salt water. And that's when the whimpering and wailing began.

It was quiet at first, but then, as their collective despair grew, so too did the volume of their piteous cries. I looked at their hopeless, quaking and sobbing forms all illuminated by the blue mist that still enveloped me. My heart broke for them, for us. Was there truly no other way out?

I lifted my eyes up and found myself moving in the direction of my thoughts. What if there was a way to escape through the domed ceiling? It was the closest point to the surface here in the kurku. Perhaps there was a hatch that would lead to the outside world. I traveled, by the mist, to the top of the dome and searched every inc of it. it took me a long while and even after I'd been all over it once, finding nothing, I went all over it again, desperate to see something new.

"Come down," Kai called. "The water is rising. We need your help to get higher," he explained.

I came straight away.

Once at Kai's side again he gave me a queer look, like he was sizing me up, and then asked, "Do you think, if you take us one at a time, that you can move us up?"

"Up?" I questioned. Did he want me to carry them up the rubble? I doubted I could do much good. I was quite frail in body.

Then he waved a hand around me and said, "You know, with that blue light you are covered in?"

I looked down at myself a moment. Maybe it would work, if I held on tight. "Lets try, if you are willing," I replied to him.

"Forgive me then," he said with a sheepish grin as he bent a little at the waist and wrapped his arms around me tightly. I'd never been held in an embrace by a man and felt both embarrassed and surprised. "Go on," he said. "Hold onto me and lets see if the light will move us both."

I complied silently and then shut my eyes tight as I clasped my hands together around his neck. We moved the moment I thought of a higher spot along the wall. Kai never made a sound until he had found some secure footing at the top of a precarious looking pile of stone, brick and burnt wood.

"Amazing," is all he whispered as he grinned from ear to ear at me. "Are you alright?" he asked afterward. "Did carrying an extra person do anything weird to you?" he asked with some concern.

I shook my head no. I felt quite fine.

"Then try another," he encouraged.

The others were now looking up at us and waiting anxiously for me to return. I gave them a nod and came straight back. Asa was next to go, and Kai directed us to a good, safe looking location for her. At this height, we would all be scattered about the wall, sitting or clinging to singed debris that was piled here and there after the three earthquakes. Even the first prisoner I saved was willing to embrace me and find a footing several meters above the rising waters.

If another quake came we would be done for, but, in the same breath, if we stayed where we were, would would be swimming in cold sea water in no time. And, we were likely to die in that water. The cold would kill us. Takai told us the water would take all the heat from our bodies and we would slip under the water when we fell unconscious. No one would be able to help the other because we would all be in the same state. So, it was imperative for use to stay clear of the water until we simply couldn't avoid it any more.

Asa began to sing a song and the other freeborns joined in with her. This was how they passed the time as we waited for the water to stop rising. This was how they kept their spirits up despite our hopeless situation. And, this was how they kept themselves from falling to sleep where ever they had found a footing because falling asleep meant falling to their death now.

Slaves were not permitted to sing. So, I remained silent, and spent my time praying to Kinabuhi for a miracle.

                                                              ---------------

Just when things couldn't seem more hopeless, the ceiling above began to crumble in places. The mortar and stones gave way and we had to throw our hands up over our heads to protect ourselves from being struck by the falling debris. The singing stopped and the panicking began.

Asa was crying that she didn't want to die. Someone shouted at her angrily to be quiet. But, the more they raised their voices, whether to comfort her or criticize her, the louder she cried out that she did not want to die. She was terrified and rightly so.

There was a sickening cracking noise above us a moment later, and then a 'woosh' as an enormous piece of the ceiling gave way and fell to the waterlogged kurku below with a loud crash. The whole place shook and everyone had to grab a hold of something near or risk falling to their death.

One of the survivors, a former prisoner, was struck by the falling debris and began to tumble toward the kurku floor. But, another was able to grab hold of him and steady him. We all sighed collectively as the two men re-secured themselves. the man who'd fallen burst into tears and his rescuer right after him. Then the two men laughed with relief. I cried and laughed right along with them and was sure many of the others had.  Asa had stopped crying now and was quiet again.

"Glad to see you can still laugh," a stranger's voice spoke to us from above.

And it wasn't until that moment that I, or anyone else it seemed, noticed the kurku was flooded with daylight. Someone had broken through the ceiling to rescue us.

"How many are you?" another voice called down.

Takai answered back, mostly because it appeared to me that everyone else was too stunned to speak, "There are seven."

We heard a low whistle of unbelief from someone up above. And then I felt a familiar life force. It had been years but I would know his anywhere. I shielded my eyes from the light above and tried to search the three faces that stood around the gaping hole. I didn't need to look for a face though when I saw his full silhouette. It was Castor the Daaga.

"Castor?" I cried out suddenly with joy. I was never so happy or so relieved to see him. A thousand different thoughts, questions and feeling passed through me as I kept trying to wipe away my foolish tears. "Castor?" I called again. "Is that you?" I asked, though I already knew the answer to the question.

I thought there would be no one outside the kurku to greet me - no friendly face and perhaps not even a familiar one. But here was the Daaga, who I'd brought back from death many times when I lived in Master Goren's estate, standing there looking down into the kurku. He certainly would not be friendly, I thought with a laugh, but he sure was familiar and that was enough for me.

What was he doing here, I wondered with amazement as I watched someone throw down a rope and Castor swing over the edge and let himself down by a second. Was it just coincidence? Even if it was, I was ecstatic to see him.

He still hadn't responded to me though.

"Castor?" I called again now that he was working his way down to us. "It's me, Hashy the healer."

That got his attention. He whipped his head around in the direction of my voice. I supposed, since it had been over five years now since I'd seen him last, that he'd quite forgotten the sound of my voice. But, it moved me to tears to know he had not forgotten my name. Grinning from ear to ear, I met his dark brown eyes with a tear streaked face.

"Don't move," he commanded me in his cold brisk way. Some things never changed, I thought with amusement. "I'll come to you," he explained.

I didn't think it was the time or place to mention that I didn't need assistance to get out. Perhaps it was best to keep it to myself that the shroud-turned-haka that I wore had supernatural powers and had kept me floating in this particular spot along the kurku wall for hours now. No one else in the kurku seemed in a hurry to tell him that I could simply float right out the hole he made. So, I kept my mouth shut.

When he reached me I threw my arms around his neck without hesitation and kissed his cheek with warmth. He nearly lost his grip on the rope and gave me a disapproving look. I just grinned at him and then hugged him tightly. What could he do but drop me, and I was sure he wouldn't.

"I'm so glad you are alive Castor," I whispered into his thick neck as I was suddenly overcome with emotion. I was glad for his sake and not my own. If there was anyone in this world I wanted to see live, it was Castor. His will to live, through the most gruesome acts of brutality in the Auk, was inspiring in my youth but all the more so now that I really understood the savagery of the violent world we slaves lived in. 

He didn't protest or complain as I clung to him. Instead, he secured me to him with another rope and then silently climbed back up to the surface. I didn't let him go until we were standing on solid ground.

I let him go slowly and looked around. I was not the least bit prepared for what I saw. By all accounts, we should have been standing in the middle of Master Bangkai's beautiful, pristine estate and surround by man made pools of blue water and white walls. Only, there wasn't a pool of water anywhere to be seen and not one wall of her estate was left standing. Not just the estate was flattened to the ground, but as far as I could see, which was to the horizon from where I stood, the whole of White City had been leveled to the ground.

I stood, looking out at the devastation, with my mouth wide open in shock. What could have done this? What great calamity could flatten an entire city? Earthquakes toppled buildings and even whole streets, but they did not wipe them from the surface of the earth. As far as I could tell, the White City had been practically wiped clean.

My thoughts were interupted by Castor, who untied me from the rope tethered to him.

"I have to get the others," he said quietly.

There was no coldness, no haughtiness in his voice, which surprised me a little. I tipped my head to look up at him. He'd aged, but he still looked handsome to me. I was sure it was just because I was glad to see a familiar face. Any face I knew would look handsome right then, I told myself with an inward laugh.

"Your injured," I told him in my next breath instead of pointing out the fact that he'd lost some of his attitude with me. Since I wasn't sorry it was gone, there was no need to bring it up.

"I'll live," he replied with a slight upward turn of his lip.

That was as close as I'd ever seen the Daaga come to a smile. I was dumbfounded for just a moment and could only stare up at his face with surprise. Where was the frosty, impersonal Daaga I knew?

He began to step away when i realized i still hadn't healed him yet. "Wait," I told him, "I'll heal you."

His expression turned serious. "No, save your energy. There are others up the hill who will need everything you've got."

He was about to turn away when I caught his arm and smiled confidently at him. He was so sweet to think of me and the other victims of this city wide tragedy. When did Castor become so concerned with the welfare of those around him? It was out of character for the the man I use to know, but this considerate side suited him.

I grinned at him as I said boldly, "I've enough for all of them and then some." I'm sue it sounded cocky. I might even sound a bit like his old self right then. However, I could back up this claim and he would soon find out. Without waiting any longer for a response from him, I pressed my free hand to the middle of his chest and watched the gift burst brightly from my palm.

It only took a moment. I let go of him and he looked down at his chest as if he wasn't sure what just happened. I detected severl broken ribs and a great deal of bruising on his lungs when I first threw my arms around him in the kurku. These injuries might have been the result of a fight in the Auk, but were more likely caused from a fall during the earthquakes.

It was amazing to me that he could still function, and even rescue people, with such a painful injury. Living and fighting through the pain was the sort of thing I associated with the Castor I knew from my youth. So, not everything had changed about him. I smiled happily at him, at my handiwork, knowing his ribs and lungs wouldn't give him any trouble when he went down into the kurku for the others. 

"Go on now," I said to him with an encouraging smile. "The others are waiting."

"Your fine?" he asked a little hesitantly as his eyes looked me over good.

It seemed he remembered how healing him use to take the life right out of me. I was touched and gave him a reassuring look as I replied, "Better than ever. It's not like it use to be." I confided to him. "I've learned how to tap into the source now. Healing comes as easy as breathing now and doesn't trouble me at all."

One of the other men around the hole into the kurku called to him. I blushed because I'd kept him so long when he should have been back down there rescuing the others. He looked over his shoulder at the other man for a brief moment but didn't seem ready to leave my side just yet.

"I can take that off for you," he said.

The change in subject confused me.

"What off?" I asked with unease.

"The collar," he said as he reached out and slipped a couple finger between it and my neck.

"You can't," I told him in a whisper. "It's forbidden." I looked around nervously afraid one of the freeborns might have overheard him. They would beat him badly for even suggesting such a thing.

"They are dead," was his answer as he slipped his hands around my neck and pressed on some hidden point I knew nothing about.

"Who is dead?" I barely managed to whisper as my heart caught in my throat and my limbs began to quake with fear. I could not believe he was going to take my collar off? Was he mad? He was going to get us both killed. I slipped my trembling fingers over his rough hands in a last ditch effort to stop him from releasing the collar.

"The masters," was all he said.

My hands stilled and my heart, for a moment, ceased to beat. The whole world went quiet and I listened. I listened to the song of the life forces around us. I closed my eyes and let myself not only hear these forces but feel the flow of life all around us.

Masters, all of them, had a unique sound. Their life forces hummed in a particular way that set them apart from other freeborns and, of course, slaves. It was a sharp sound. I could not hear one sharp note. It was, just as he said.

I opened my eyes in astonishment as I obediently released Castor's hands. He slipped the silver collar from my neck and cast it into the kurku. It took a few moments, but heard the tell tale splash as it hit the water below and sank to the bottom of the kurku.

I was finally free.