If I Had a Heart

"That would make sense," Elias said stiffly. His feathers were still deeply ruffled, but he gazed unabashedly at Aumrauth as the elf changed. He truly was a well-kept specimen, and the burns were healing quickly. He'd be good as new in less than an hour, Elias wagered.
Elias took out his soaked pack of cigarettes and without thinking, took one out to light. Then he remembered and sighed wearily. "Shall we consult our new map?"

Ainsley took the bag. He knew he hadn’t been much help since they had split off from the other group, so he was relieved to have some purpose, even if it was just carrying the satchel. He definitely needed to up his game, but this was a start, he supposed.

Inside the bag were the climbing tools and map Aumrauth and Elias had mentioned. Ainsley took out the map just as the older man suggested. Using the reddish light of the ribbon on his wrist, he took in the twisting curves of the drawing. He took a moment to identify their location, then gestures towards the others.

“It looks like we’re here.” Ainsley pointed to the bottom left corner of the map.

Nikolai was about to hand it over, but suddenly he froze, looking back down at the notebook. A thought had just hit him. All of a sudden, he was certain of one thing, more sure than he'd ever been. He knew what purpose the notebook had. He had no idea how he was sure of it-- but it felt so right.

"This isn't for writing at all," he blurted, opening the book to flip through the pages, as if confirming what he thought to be true. Looking back up, Nikolai nodded, a bright look on his face. His voice was an excited whisper. "It's for drawing."

He turned it around so Raptor could see (and the old man would be able to, if he leaned in enough). What he was holding was more of a sketchbook than a notebook. The pages went by, all filled with drawings. The sketches were all breathtaking in their delicate, elegant detail, and they were of so many things-- faces, animals, landscapes. There seemed to be a pattern though-- many of them were of birds, for some reason. Most were done in light gray pencil, but a couple were in color, making them even more beautiful. It was the work of an artist who'd clearly been drawing for a long time.

And there it was, resting in Nikolai's hands.

Aumrauth came up beside Ainsley, looking over his shoulder. He hummed in thought.

"So there should be an exit across the lake, then," Aumrauth concluded. "Well... two different exits. There's the broad one and the narrow one, and we'll pass the former first if we go this way."

His finger traveled across the map, up the right side of the lake.

"Which we should."

"Why?" Elias asked, coming to join them. "The narrower one trails off like so. It could lead up to another level." How odd that the map didn't indicate such a thing.

The old man did indeed lean forward slightly, squinting. He seemed intrigued by the birds; his lined face softened and he reached out a bony hand before drawing it back, cheeks coloring slightly. He murmured something wistfully.

Aumrauth squinted at the map.

"That is possible. But do we want to bypass a whole level? We should go check that passageway out first. See if it looks like it goes up or down. Or if it's smelly."

Ainsley glanced at the others before returning his gaze to the map.

“There could be other chests on this level. We won’t know if we just blow past to the next one. We should head past the lake and to the broader exit. If there’s nothing there of use, we can turn around and head to the next level.”

Mel peered down the map too. Standing closely next to the others made her feel small.

"We have the map for this level, so we might as well explore and use it to our advantage," she said. "Seems theres, uh, lots to explore. These caves are a lot bigger than I thought..."

"Those...Those look amazing," Raptor managed to get out. The only art that he had seen that was remotely as good as Nikolai's belonged to a museum or the vault; he couldn't imagine someone he knew actually drawing something that seemed so professional.

He glanced at the old man.

The old man didn't seem as desperate to use the sketchbook now, but Raptor was sure he would change his mind once the initial awe faded. He reached into his bag and pulled out a tiny piece of chalk - the same one he had been using to mark the tunnels they had already gone down.

He placed the chalk in the old man's hand.

Elias could see the reasoning behind what they said. They were looking for whatever went in that god's chest, after all. That hadn't changed.
"The broader tunnel, then," he sighed. "And if we want to explore the whole level it looks as if the southern tunnel from there will be of most use since it curves up."

The old man, startled by the contact, nearly dropped the chalk. He stared at it for a moment, then slowly bent and began to draw.
First he drew the sun, a simple circle with rays coming off. Then came a head. This head was horrid, a mixture of different animals that fit together all wrong. The head of the statue. The third symbol was an anatomical heart.
The old man pointed to the head first. "Migh'nur," he said grimly. Then his finger moved to the sun. "Chakna?" It slid to the heart. "Sko drutni?"

Nikolai beamed at the compliment, closing the notebook back up again for now. He felt strangely proud for being able to do all that... and not realizing he was even capable of it. If he tried now, would the talent come back naturally? Or would he be back at square one? He wanted to try that out later.

He might get a chance soon, in fact, because now the old man was drawing.

Nikolai watched silently as the shapes took form on the cave floor. The sun, the statue head, the heart. The last one was a little harder to guess because it had to be more detailed and the man's hand was a little shaky, but they figured it out. Part of it made sense to him-- the statue was missing a heart. They knew that much already.

But what did the sun have to with it? They were underground. The sun couldn't do anything here.

Nikolai exchanged a confused glance with Raptor. Well, he gave him a puzzled look, at least. He couldn't tell if he was confused under the helmet as well.

"We're not looking for the heart, though," he murmured, giving the old man a slight shake of his head, hoping he'd understand their confusion-- and that searching for a heart wasn't exactly their objective.

Aumrauth pulled away. "Well. Looks like we're all in agreement, then," he said, starting off towards the big opening. "Let's go. Ainsley, keep a hold of the map and tell us what's ahead."

Raptor gave a slight nod in agreement.

As he stared down at the drawings, he started to get the horrible feeling that they wouldn't be able to leave unless they found the heart and put it into the statue. He didn't say his guess out loud. Even though the old man wouldn't understand what he was saying, he was terrified of the man confirming his suspicion.

The old man tapped the heart again and shook his head quizzically, then moved his finger back to the sun. "Chakna?" He drew a tree beside the sun, then paused, thinking hard. "Out," he said finally, the round word obviously a difficulty. "Out?" The old man gave them a hopeful look and pointed to the sun.

Nikolai's eyes widened when he heard the word. "Oh," he said, as the realization first hit him, then he said it louder. "Oh!" He meant escape, which was what they were looking for. Maybe this man could help them find the way.

He wondered what the world looked like on the surface. At least there were trees, which were familiar enough to him, but there could be a lot of different landscapes with trees. Hopefully that meant they wouldn't emerge in the middle of a desert, though.

Nikolai nodded, pointing to the sun and tree. "Yes," he said, then paused, trying to repeat the word the man had used. "Chakna."