Caroline wiped her eyes uselessly, trying to correct her oddly blurry vision despite the absence of tears, as she dashed quickly through the nearly pitch-black tunnel, her bare feet splashing the freezing puddles of water as she stomped through them, soaking the hem of her dress. This didnt deter her, though, as she tried to pick up her pace, listening desperately for the sounds again. All she could hear, though, were the constant drippings of ice water from the dank, rocky ceilings of the cave. Absent-mindedly, she noted she had no idea where she was now, how she got here, or how to get back where she came from, but her fear of this fact was trumped by her fear of not hearing the sound again. She got down on the ground, pressing her body against the rock and turning her head to the side to listen better.
At first, there was nothing but the continual dripping sound, a pebble rolling off the rocky wall somewhere in the distance. With a sigh, Caroline pulled her ear from the rock, but quickly pressed it back down as she heard the sound again.
Caroline the voice said, a mere whisper, but it was distinguishable, and finally Caroline recognized the sound. It was Luke. She hadnt noticed it at first, since Luke was normally an outgoing person, speaking proudly without becoming prude or showy. This voice, though, was so different sounding; she had never heard him like this. The voice was weak, questioning, uncertain. None of these were qualities she had ever heard come from the lips of the young man, and yet she knew it had to be his voice. She listened again. Caroline? it asked gently, barely audible against the seemingly deafening crash of each water droplet as she strained her hearing, waiting for another clue as to Lukes whereabouts. She had to find him. Even if she didnt know the way out, if she was with him, she knew they could do it together. And if not, they would be together all the same.
LUKE! she called out, cupping her hands around her mouth to project her voice. The sound echoed through the winding cavern tunnels, the halls themselves having impressively massive diameters. Caroline was reasonably certain they were nearly two stories high from ceiling to ground, which was all the more alarming when she considered how truly deep and long the tunnels went underneath the ground, leading to the valleys at the center of the Black Mountains. The caves were a twisting network of massive, nearly identical rock formations smoothed over thousands of years by the constant trickling of water from the rivers running above ground. LUKE! she called again, becoming more and more worried about what would happen if she didnt find him in time. She didnt want to think about it, but for all she knew he was already dead.
She pulled herself back up, closing her eyes, and walked forward, stamping back through the puddles while trying to register in her mind the direction the call had come from. She knew it was forward, not behind her, so all she could do was keep walking. Already, her legs were getting tired, her feet becoming pruned from walking in the puddles as if shed just taken a long bath. There was no way of knowing how long shed been in the tunnels, but from the reaction of her body, it must have been a while. She took a seat, leaning her back against the damp wall to catch her breath and rest her legs. However, as she sat there trying to regain a normal heart rate, she felt as if she was jamming a knife deeper and deeper into Lukes chest, wherever he was lying, by simply resting. She didnt take more than a minute before continuing on with renewed determination, moving at a decent jog down the tunnels. After a while, she heard it again, loud enough that she didnt need her ear pressed to the ground or even utter silence.
Caroline! came the call, sounding slightly more urgent but not nearly as energetic as Lukes voice normally was.
Luke! Im here, Im coming, Im she called out, hoping for a response. Answer me! I dont know where you are, you must help me, please. She stepped more slowly, straining her ears again, but she heard nothing. The feeling of helplessness flooding her was incredible; she was so close, she could hear his voice very plainly, and yet she couldnt reach him no matter how far down the tunnel she walked, no matter how quickly she moved, no matter how little she rested. Her mind refused to listen to her body, though, and Caroline forced herself to move her bedraggled body further and further into the twisting madness of the dark caves. In the darkest parts of the cave tunnels she had passed, it was pitch black, and she had been forced to feel along the walls in total unawareness until she managed to find an area lit by barely visible cracks leading up through the caves, where dim sunlight was allowed to creep through. This was barely enough to see where she was at checkpoints, though, and the majority of the cave, particularly this far into the tunnel, required her to feel along the walls with her hands. Had there been forks in the road? Alternate paths? Had she split off on the wrong one long ago, cutting off any chance of hearing Lukes increasingly weak cries? It was almost too much for her to bear.
CAROLINE! screamed the voice, very close. She reacted instantly, sprinting through the darkness, completely forgoing her careful plan of feeling along the walls. Almost immediately she tripped, painfully slipping on the slick, rocky ground, but she pulled herself up again, yanking her soggy hair out of her eyes. And with the aid of a small crack of light, beamed directly into a sharp corner of the cave, she found Luke, laying on the ground, unmoving.
Luke! Oh, please be all right please be all right she moaned, dashing to his side and dropping to her knees. She covered her mouth and gasped as she got a better look at him. His eyes were closed, his lips quivering. His fingers were clenched tightly together but were shaking. Across his midsection, he had three large slashes in the distinct shape and distance of the massive beasts terrible claws. Caroline placed a hand on his cheek, and was shocked at how icy it felt. Luke Luke, please wake up, please wake UP! she shouted desperately, running out of options. She placed both hands on his cheeks, trying to warm him, before moving to his equally cold hands and fingers and squeezing them. Caroline didnt even have the energy to cry or mourn his possible demise, so drained was she from the experience of finding her way down the tunnels. However, after a few minutes of gently patting at his cheeks and hands, he stirred, groaning in pain.
Luke! Oh she said, raising her head briefly up towards the crack of light. Thank you
She turned her attention back down to Luke, who hadnt even opened his eyes yet. Luke, dont speak, please dont speak, you must conserve your energy. Im going to get you out of here she said, sliding her arm around his shoulders. I will help you stand to your feet, Luke, but you must help me, I cant carry you alone. He groaned again but made no acknowledgement of the princess, no words or even a movement of muscle to indicate his effort to stand up. PLEASE, Luke, we havent much time. We must get you to a doctor, you can be helped, I know it, just please help me stand up, Luke, stand up.
But he didnt budge. Caroline placed a hand on his chest, and he cringed, but she kept it there, feeling his beating heart struggling to continue on. No she said weakly, feeling it come to a stop. No!
Sweat dripped off Carolines forehead, only the moonlight illuminating the Great Hall ever so slightly as she awoke. Ironically, she felt as if she had just fallen flat on a puddle like in her dream, because her back and face were covered in freezing perspiration, her heart pounding in her chest nervously. The effect was made even more uncomfortable by the fact that her clothes were feeling particularly tight against her skin, the flowing drapes of yesterday beginning to feel like a corset hugging her midsection almost painfully tightly. She pressed her hand against her midsection, the small flap of fabric still dangling by a few stitches on her stomach from where Rose had detached it to attend to her wounds, her cold fingers shocking the warm flesh of her stomach. The fabric was stretched very thin, similarly to the way her nightgown had been on the first night of her growth. She didnt even bother trying to be surprised or upset at this point, she already knew perfectly well why this was happening, so she simply laid her hand back on the cool marble and tried to regulate her breathing again. Her new height, whatever it was, wasnt the priority for the moment. Luke was.
She rolled her head back, pressing against the ground to lean up slightly, and looked upside down at the wall behind her. Despite the darkness, the dim lighting afforded to the corner by the moonlight allowed Caroline to make out the massive amount of fabric folded up, where Rose had been busily preparing the gigantic princesss garments for another growth. Most of it appeared to still be in one long piece, having not been altered from its original purpose of window hanging yet. The gears of Carolines mind were already twisting, constructing new thoughts about her options. She pulled herself into a sitting position and stood back up. The scratches still stung slightly, but it was only a mild distraction. Caroline turned her head to the wall as she stood to full height, her eyes rising above the windows. Once again, with no direct comparison of another human being, she couldnt be entirely sure of how large she was at this point, but Caroline was willing to guess her growth spurt had actually been a larger increment than any of the previous days. This thought alone normally would have terrified her further, but she was far too focused on the formulating plan in her determined mind. She strode over to the corner containing the folded drapes, her ears noting the slightly louder slam of her bare feet hitting the marble with each step.
She stooped, scooping up the thick, lengthy drapes with one hand as if it were a hanky and raised it up, the ends finally lifting from the ground as she brought it to her face, rubbing it with her fingers slowly. The material was very sturdy, made of satin-lined velvet around the outside but becoming thicker in the middle to withstand old age and wear. If it became needed, it would do. Caroline held it to the moonlight so she could see more clearly, moving closer to the large exit doors for the brightest square of moonlight being reflected through the windows (and so she wouldnt have to stoop to get the best view) and began bringing the ends of the drapes together, crossing them over and tying them together. With a few quick twists, Caroline had it knotted at two different ends. She then set about doing the same along the midsection, using the lengthy and rope-like tassels to attach the middle part of the drape together until it formed a large pouch shape of sorts. Gripping it tightly and gulping her fears out of mind, Caroline leaned down, pinching her huge fingers around the golden handle of the door and swung it open with ease, careful not to pull too hard for fear of snapping it off the hinges and awakening someone. A tingling sensation went up her arm as she did this; she felt almost as if she was a little girl again, playing with the incredibly sized dolls house her father had commissioned for her from one of the kingdoms finest carpenters. But it was a real door this time, and a pretty large one at that.
Caroline stared at it doubtfully. She had entered the room the previous day on her shins, her forearms used as support. She began to question how possible this would be this time. She flattened her body against the ground, her exposed lower legs feeling the coolness of the marble as she began inching through the doorway, propelling herself forward with her bent back toes. She got her arms through first, tossing the tied up drape into the hallway to give herself some room. Claustrophobia began to drift into her mind a bit, but she shrugged it off as she wormed her way through the doorway, pressing off against the outside walls of the hall with her hands to be pulled through. Her hips came last, and Caroline was a bit ashamed with herself at how she had a slightly harder time pulling them through, but they came a second later. Now was the hard part, her long legs still inside the Great Hall. She looked up through the cramped confines of the hall, towards the direction she had to go. The halls would become a little wider after this initial turn, and from there it was relatively easy to reach the entrance hall of the palace, which would in turn give her access to the front gates. And from there, she could leave the palace and go off on what might very well have been a useless search for Luke, wherever he was. Caroline didnt really know what kind of odds she had of finding him in the caves, considering the size and depth of them, and especially considering the fact that he would be even harder to spot due to the fact that he was less than a foot tall in comparison to the princess at that point. Still, after what she had seen in the dream and the pain in her heart, she knew she would never be able to live with herself if she didnt at least try to find him.
Pressing against the wall and inching herself along it to make a better angle for her legs to come through, Caroline reached the furthest point she could reach, her knees catching on the door frame. With a little wiggling, she pulled them through, allowing the rest of her legs and finally her feet to slide through, her toes bumped uncomfortably by the door. Now in the tunnel of the hall, feeling slightly warm already just because of the proximity of solid objects to Carolines body, she grabbed up the loose drape and began to crawl, stretching her incredibly long arms out before her and pulling forward, inching along, careful not to kick the walls with her feet and awaken someone. If this was going to work, Caroline knew she could alert no one. Her parents would never allow this. Ironically, she noted, there was little they could probably do to stop her in her endeavors anyway if they knew, but she at least wanted to have the decency to not have to directly defy them to their faces. Turning a final corner of the hall, Caroline found herself in the much larger and more maneuverable quarters. She crossed these quickly, passing by the many ornate doors and tapestries of the hall, finally reaching the opening into the entrance hall. She climbed out, reaching a leg over the edge of the one story staircase leading up from the ground, and easily climbed down, able to stand up at full height once again. As she stepped to the large doors, Caroline stooped once again and pinched at the door handle, having to try a few times to get a good grip in her thick fingertips, but she finally succeeded and was able to drag the doors open with some effort. As she opened it, allowing the moonlight to directly bathe her from outside, she realized with a little surprise that a steel hold had been placed in the door from the outside to prevent its opening by anyone without a key, but she had bent it cleanly in two and snapped it at the ends just by pressing against the door. She sighed, having a feeling her parents wouldnt have needed any clues to decipher what her plans were. Gripping the drape tightly in her hands, she brought it up to her head and looped it around her neck like a loose-fitting scarf, finally exiting as she bent a little at the waist to fit through the doors. The front courtyard was the final threshold. She figured she would be easily seen exiting through this gate by any townsfolk happening to be walking around, and she didnt want her exact whereabouts so easily discovered. She had a feeling that as soon as her destination was discovered, Richard would send out a search party for her, thusly endangering even more lives on her account, and Caroline was determined to cut off such a possibility. She took a leisurely stroll around the grounds of the palace. She passed several guards, but by bending over a bit she realized they were sleeping, leaning against the stone as if waiting for trouble to happen and awaken them. She giggled softly, the small guards looking like babies to her in their regal colors and sleeping so peacefully. Caroline had the sudden irresistible urge to pick them all up in her arms and put them to bed, as was often her job at the houses of the poor with the many children, but she quickly laughed this off, knowing she had to concentrate.
She reached the correct gate facing the forest and glade, followed by the long walk to the Black Mountains. Caroline considered the distance: she knew it was over a dozen miles to a normal person. Caroline figured, though, to her it would most likely only feel like a few, three or four at worst, if she kept a steady pace and went in the correct direction. She crouched down by the chain locks normally pulled either by a mule or one of the strongmen guards. With two of her fingers and a slight tug, she had the heavy metal gates rising up, sheer muscular strength being exerted through her soft digits. Once the gate was up, she stood back up and stepped out, grabbing onto the underside of the gate and allowing it to close slowly so it didnt crash to the ground and alert everyone. She smiled at her success of exiting the palace unnoticed as she allowed the metal grate to slip almost silently back to the ground.
Turning to face the challenge before her, Caroline took a deep breath of fresh air, gripped her hands tightly around her drape-scarf, and took a step.