Chapter 7:

The riddles of the deep

~Emma Taylin~

“Chief!”

Yuki’s distinctive yell echoed through the cave.

Startled, Emma fell from her small tripod chair with a grunt.

“Chief!” The yell came again.

Emma got up and looked to the tunnel the shouts were coming from. A frantic looking Yuki came running from the passage.

Seeing her like that, made Emma take notice. Something was afoot.

As the girl strode past her, Emma grabbed her arm and asked, “What’s going on?”

Yuki jerked as if she only then realized someone else was in the area. Her eyes were wild.

“Calm down, Yuki,” Emma tried again.

The girl took a couple of breaths, her eyes closed briefly as Emma waited patiently.

After a few moments, Yuki’s eyes flashed open and she said, “All the crystals in that cavern are sparking with light all of a sudden. It sounds like an electrical storm in there. All our equipment is going haywire. I need to tell your father!”

Emma threw her gaze back to the tunnel that led to the cavern Yuki referred to. What’s going on?

Without looking at Yuki, Emma barked, “His second in command is through the second tunnel to the right. Alan or maybe Selia might know where my dad is. If you see Forest, send him my way.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Yuki stammered and ran off.

A sigh escaped Emma. Sure she was the Chief’s daughter, but ma’am? That was a bit too much.

She shook it off and grabbed her knapsack and set off to go investigate. There was no time for panic. Every minute counted.

A hundred metres away from the crystal cavern, flashing lights filled the passage and loud popping noises reverberated through her. So much so that she had to steady herself against the wall. Unease settled on her. There was no training for this kind of situation…

But still, she moved forward.

Rounding the corner she was met with chaos. Sparks flew all over the place. The crystal veins in the rock walls were lighting up like little suns, obscuring the view of the sea.

Her hand flew up to shield her eyes as the closest crystal started flaring up.

A sudden tremor sent her sprawling to the ground, her one hand digging painfully into the ground. A yelp escaped her lips at the impact.

“Emma! You alright?” A shout came from the passage behind her.

She grunted and said loudly, “Yeah.”

It hurt getting up, but as she found her feet, Forest came jogging from behind, he stopped dead in his tracks as he took in the scene.

But Emma cut it short.

“Forest, we need to get out of here. I have a bad feelin—“

The earth shook violently sending them both to the ground.

What was worse, the lights from the crystals became so intense that they had to cover their heads while trying to brace for any debris as rocks came falling down, beating against them. The rocks lessened suddenly as she felt Forest move over her.

All she could do was bite her lip. She knew Forest was taking the brunt of the damage and she could do nothing!

Yet the shaking continued for minutes. Loud crashing bangs sounded all around them. The fear of being struck was real.

Sobs escaped her as the tension in Forest’s muscles lessened bit by bit, until finally, he dropped limply onto her, no sign of movement.

“FOREST!” She screamed in horror.

Then there was silence. A pressing silence…

Further into the cave.

~Yandré Skai~

“It’s no use!” Yandré grunted in frustration. It just hurt too much to make the climb up to Haven’s Scar so quickly. His ribs were sending all kinds of pain through him. Just breathing too deeply hurt. He eyed the entrance to the safe zone a ways up from him and sighed.

Worry was painted all over Eria’s face, who was hovering over him like a mother hen.

But he waved her off and said, “I know there are more of those quilled beasts out there, I’ve heard their growls, and we only have so much rope… But they weren’t as close as the one we killed, so relax a little, we have time.”

“I hope you are right…” Eria said as she eyed him, “If not, then we are in trouble.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see if my rib is just cracked or broken and hope that it’ll hurt less if I have to get up there. I’ll go search for water while I’m stuck down here.”

Eria stiffened and Yandré lifted his hand in question, but the girl stayed quiet.

It dawned on him then what she was nervous about and he smiled at her.

“I’ll be fine. You know me, and if I hear anything out of sort then I’ll come back.”

“Hey!” Eria exclaimed, “After all the narrow escapes the last two days, how can you be so certain you can run in that condition if something happens?” Her shoulders were squared and her stare was pointing daggers.

Yandré had been hoping to avoid that specific subject, but he just gave her an aloof shrug and said, “It’s me, so stop worrying. Do you need my lighter to get the fire started?”

Eria shook her head.

“I have my own… ugh, just be careful, okay?”

He grinned at that, but Eria got an accusing stare before pointing at him as she said, “I don’t where your confidence in this is coming from, but get going.” She tossed him her two-litre water bottle. It was quite sturdy for a water bottle, but that’s to be expected from the equipment needed in cave expeditions.

Yandré winked at her and was off to find water.

It took a while longer to reach the chamber where he had heard the sounds of water. It didn’t help that each unnatural sound that came every now and then, set him on edge. There was no way of knowing what else was out there. He just hoped that the predators of the deep were few and far between.

As he reached the crystal cavern, the welcoming light was quite a relief to the dark tunnels where only his headlamp lit the way.

The fear of never knowing when the quilled beast would show was somewhat gone and Yandré was happy to be able to explore a bit. The love of caves had been hidden under layers of panic and fear the entirety of the last two days, but now bits of it started bubbling to the surface.

He closed his eyes and listened.

Many noises filled the air. After a few seconds, the sure sound of Banshee Foxes running close by became apparent. He shivered, every aspect of those nasty critters were etched into his brain, the look, the sounds of their movement and their horrifying screeches.

If he didn’t run into one again for the rest of his life, it would be too soon.

He quickly cast his thoughts away from the foxes and listened what else might be deeper into the mysterious cavern. But nothing too loud came that was remarkable, so he set off into the underground forest. His initial estimate of the cave was off by quite a margin as it was more like three large caverns that converged into a big main one. Well, it was hard to make good judgements when constantly being hunted by a monster.

It expanded out in the different directions, each section almost as large as the main crystal cavern.

A shuffling noise startled him and a large cave rat came scurrying past. The thing would have quite a bit of meat on it. Though before Yandré could fully inspect the thing he froze as a Banshee Fox came charging out of the brush. He hurriedly checked for any hiding places if the fox should see him and screech. But it was focused on the rat and soon disappeared.

Yandré grabbed at his heart as he let a whoosh of air. To think such a small cute creature could get him so worked up. He shook his head. It was madness.

He opted for the exact opposite direction of the Banshee Fox and searched deeper in the trees. The sound of water seemed to come from the left expansion of the crystal cavern.

His footsteps made little noise, though he wasn’t as worried to catch something by surprise, but still, caution was absolutely necessary in this cave.

He lifted his waterproof digital watch and it was four in the afternoon. Which was quite jarring, time had gone by so slowly, yet Eria had been right, two days were almost done and dusted.

As he explored, the sound of falling water became louder by the second, and as he turned around a pillar a big crystal stuck out of the ground, he jerked as movement flickered through his peripheral vision.

But when he looked, his reflection was clear in the crystal. It looked almost like a mirror. Yandré laughed at jumping at his own reflection.

Though his laughing ebbed away the moment he walked around a massive pillar. There was a waterfall. Yandré beamed wildly.

Water!

He ran as fast as he could and stuck a hand into the icy water. As he brought it to his nose and mouth, it smelled fine and he tested it with his tongue.

Without waiting a second longer, he started gulping down fresh water with abandon. It tasted amazing and he sighed in delight.

After drinking his fill, he set his sword on the ground and started filling up the two water bottles.

It was a good find.

If they had food and water there was a chance to find a way out.

He used some water to clean his bruises and the few cuts he had. It was tedious and it stung, but that was to be expected. It had been a brutal couple of days.

Grunts escaped him as he pulled his shirt back on, but gritted through it. The more he moved, the more it was clear it wasn’t a broken rib, but maybe a cracked one. Still, it was going to take a while to heal.

He hoped beyond hoped the other quilled beasts —out in the distant caves— wouldn’t come anytime soon. He couldn’t run flat out with his rib in the shape it was.

As he picked up the water bottles, a soft noise tickled at his ears. It was close by. But he didn’t mind it too much, it didn’t sound big.

The twin two-litre bottles weighed him down a bit, though. And the grumbles in his stomach did little to distract him from his hunger. The thought of getting back to Eria flitted through him, monster meat or not, he was excited to chomp down on the meat she was preparing. His mouth watered.

And as he decided it was time to head back, the noise came again.

Yandré turned and there stood a figure in pitch black armour with green lines between the layers. A mask covered everything below the eyes and a dark hood completed the look of the stranger.

Shock lanced through Yandré and he spun around to pick up his sword. He gripped the handle and swung it around in the general direction of the intruder.

But no one was there.

Breathing heavily and ignoring the pain that came with it, Yandré cast his gaze to and fro looking for the stranger. But no sign was there that anybody had been there, except for a set of boot marks in the dust. Yet no footprints led away from that one single pair.

A chill ran up his spine.

This wasn’t good.

He needed to get back to Eria.

*

© Omri Hope 2016. All Rights Reserved.