23
THAYU SET a cracking pace along the passages, following a map on her reader. I jammed the helmet back on my head and ran after her. Nicha followed me, with Raanu slung over his shoulder.
We went down long dry passages, rough and narrow corridors with puddles where I banged my helmet against the roof, up ancient stairs with slippery and worn treads and across an open space that might have been a train platform in a previous life, at least a few thousand years ago.
Some passages were natural, others were ancient and still others much more modern. We crossed a train line with rails caked with dust and grime, into another passage, until we came to a cave through which flowed an underground river. A light in the very highest point of the ceiling cast an orange glow over the water. The sur
