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In spite of lessons learned and psychiatrists seen and the willfulness of a battalion of mules, Daniel has not overcome his phobia of subterranean spaces when the Hades Gang gets a hold of him, the lads gleefully prodding him through miles of tunnels and caverns. He’s half-mad by the fifth turn and desperate for unconsciousness by the fifteenth, but they don’t let him stop or sleep, jeering when he soils himself and jerking him forward when he shows any sign of sagging to the ground. In his haze of terror and humiliation, he can’t help wishing that they’d shoot him and have done. He desperately wants Archie to know what’s happened to him, but he also desperately doesn’t want anyone he knows to find him in this state. He wishes he had the strength to smash his head against the stone walls and stun himself.
Daniel’s unconscious by the time Archie reaches him, and he doesn’t respond when Archie cups his face and calls his name. The strain of the past three days is etched in lines around his eyes and mouth and in how his hands have remained balled into tight fists even as his mind gave way to deprivation and duress. Archie doesn’t go berserk, but it’s a near thing. He remains in control because the need to bear Daniel away to be properly cared for is stronger than the urge to break more necks.
They eventually settle Daniel in a sunny bedroom, with light pouring through the windowpanes. The kindly physician assures Archie that all Daniel needs is rest and comfort—that nothing is physically broken. Archie desperately hopes the doctor is right, and as he watches Daniel sleep, he recalls how his exertions at Peakholme repaired his tetchy knee. But Daniel’s mind is far more intricate than his, and Archie is honestly terrified of what the rough handling by the gang might have damaged.
When Daniel finally wakes, there is a fraught eternity where Archie can feel the sheer weight of shame threatening to bury Daniel alive, beyond recovery.
His hand involuntarily tightens on Daniel’s. Daniel sighs and shuts his eyes. After another eternity, he opens them once more, rewarding Archie with a steady gaze and a faint, wry smile. There is no happiness in his expression, but he is fully present, and Archie’s heart leaps as he realises they are going to be all right.