Sergeant Wendell Moore, who had some experience in caving, which basically amounted to a few trips as a child through caving tours, had suggested leaving a trail for them to find their way around. As they were limited on writing utensil Chase had decided to break open one of the glow sticks and use the liquid to write on the walls, it seemed like a good idea but had only lasted a few minutes before fading. So they had used the small packs of 10 sticks, borrowing about five or so from the others, creating a total of around fifty. They each had two on reserve for their sight, Chase holding on to two despite having his glow-stone and the rest had gone to marking the twists and turns they’d taken back toward the entrance
They had found no openings nor evidence that they could move the rubble to clear a path. Roberts estimated some of the stones to be around a few tons, which removed digging their way out as another option. The two looked disheartened but Chase would not give up, he had a card up his sleeve, Percy. What every crazy plan or Hail-Mary pass she had in the works he hoped she got there soon.
Having little reason to waste their resources on trying to move the rocks, the three men decided to head back to the hideout cave, ready to give their report and try to decide their next steps. Walking back the path they’d come they picked up the glow-sticks, Moore collecting them in his pockets, until they were in the larger cave off of which the other tunnels, like spokes on a wheel radiating out. Thinking that it wouldn’t hurt to leave the markers in place from this point on, Chase was about to tell Moore to leave the stick when a strange noise came from an adjacent tunnel. The sound reverberated so loudly echoing down the tube that Chase could barely describe what it could be. A loud crash then a light appeared which seemed to race toward them. At that point all three were rooted to the spot in shock, Chase and Roberts looked over at each other at nearly the same time and ran towards the erratic light as nearly incoherent yells echoed back at them.
They ran directly into two men, one wore the remnants of an off duty uniform, one of the recently missing soldiers from the base. The other appeared to be one of the young men from the village. From their ramblings and dementia it was clear they had somehow escaped from the Lamia, and had miraculously headed out toward the front caves despite their blind running. Both were weak, suffering from dehydration, starvation and what Chase could only guess were the milder effects of the Lamia’s toxin.
In their ramblings he kept hearing something about the light, he was far from the linguist Percy was and the concerned looks from the others, said that they weren’t getting much from the escaped men despite having a firmer grasp on the dialect. But the ‘light’ sounded familiar after a few words with Roberts, he is repeating back the translation as the men are describing another pure, blue white light they had seen. They seemed to recognize the light of his glow-stone and tell of the grey-woman who saved them. Then there was something about the children but the Lamia came and they ran. Chase was more than upset to think that Percy was in the caves alone, and if it proved true swore to paddle her behind. It was one of their rules, Rule Number Two: One did not go into danger alone.
Despite the looks coming from the two men, more than likely caused in part by his cursing a blue streak at Percy’s foolishness, while heading deeper into the caves to find her, disregarding the fact that he too was now stepping forward with no backup. Telling Roberts and Moore to take the men back to the Hide Out cave and have them seen to by Cooper, he was about to try and... quickly argue with them but was cut off as the Lamia’s scream was heard and an explosion sounded from further back into the caves.
The two weak men, nearly went comatose at the sounds of the Lamia screaming, but looked panicked as the blast shook the earth around them. Small pieces of rock and dirt rained from over head and the men made their decision. The four moving back, following the markers to the hideout, and Chase moved deeper ahead.
Things seemed to travel at the speed of light from there, as another less violent explosion echoed down the caves, this one dislodging only a handful of dirt compared to the previous one. Wondering if it was further back or just smaller, he contemplated what could be going on as the explosion was deeper back than any of the detonation teams had gone. Chase had the unmistakable feeling they had something to do with Percy and was equally sure she needed his help. He unmasked his glow-stone completely and began to jog down the tunnel.
It wasn’t too long before he had to chose a fork in the tunnel, deciding on one that seemed to gradually slant down and two the right of his current course, heading North and west, he hoped it would lead him deeper toward the direction the men would have come from.
Spotting a bloody hand print and inside another fork a..Dixie cup, he headed further down that tunnel, almost running in the now smoother tunnel. Perhaps not the best course of action.
Jogging down a tunnel, Still inside this God Forsaken Mountain, Asia 3:19 AM PST.
Percy was keeping up a low but constant dialogue all the while, telling him how she and the guide Yeong had freed the children who were down in a deeper cave surrounded by water and a mix of remains and old Lamia skins. Lowering a rope and helping them climb out, she sent the children and the young guide back through the maze of tunnels. Using... here she pulled out her glow in the dark, reflective tape, she had left on their way in as a guide. She had tried to find the two run away men but was forced to blow the tunnel as a vengeful Lamia tried to follow the men and children. With little worry that light would attract the Lamia, now that it appeared she had poor eye sight, and relied on her other senses to navigate. She had unmasked her glow-stone and let the bright light illuminate the way. She thought to herself that they would have made much better time at full light, but both Yeong and she had agreed that just enough to see by would be safer so they would not attract the Lamia’s attention.
Unfortunately she had come across the recently snatched men, having found the Lamia secreting a kind of mucus that appeared to be preserving the men for later consumption. Apparently the recent abductions had been more for a food supply rather than mating. Which explained why so many had gone is such a short amount of time. Chase felt guilty for leaving the two men’s bodies in the caves but made himself a promise to send someone back for them if it was at all possible, though it appeared the Lamia had the same idea and may have gotten to them first.
She was telling him that she was concerned that they had yet to find the clutch of eggs, where she suspected the remains of the male populace were with them, hoping to find a few of the young men still alive. She had told Yeong that she would continue to search for his brother who was not among those they had found in the lower cave. She bandaged up those she could, while she had talked with them trying to prepare them for the trek back through the caves. They had consumed her supplies, including a good deal of her water using her flask and stack of Dixie cups, ate the bars and been ready to leave feeling somewhat refreshed. Upon telling him this, she dug into the left side ribcage pocket of his utility vest and grabbed a flask from it. Opening it up and drinking a long gulp of water, she handed it to him continuing the story.
The water was cold and refreshing, giving him a brisk renewed filling. She must have filled both flasks up with Watyr, the Elfin equivalent of our natural water, whose magical properties helped heal the sick and gave renewed energy to the weary. Only Percy would drop a fortune on magical Watyr and give it to children and wounded men like it was nothing more than standard H.2.O.
On their way back through the caves, Chase noticed the soft glow of a marker down a tunnel and that Percy, whom he had been filling in with his side of the events saw it but chose another path in the opposite direction. In the middle of asking her what the plan was, the Lamia sprang from a shelf higher up, nearly landing on the two of them. So close to the Lamia they could see the scorching on the right side of her head, hair all but burned off.
Persephonii knew they have no real chance of defeating the Lamia in a fight and grabbed her taser. Taking off the human safety, the taser was now se
t for Paras level threats. She fired, stunning her from behind before the Lamia could attack. Pulling out a pouch of powder from her belt, she threw it at the Lamia, who despite her convulsions from the taser, reared back and started coughing. Persephonii grabbed Chase's arm and together they ran for the far cave tunnels.
As much as the running felt like a mad dash into the darkness, Percy seemed to take little time choosing which direction to go. A left here, hanging right here, she navigated them through the tunnels as if she has a destination in mind. And Chase hoped that she did. Otherwise they were terribly lost with an angry Lamia somewhere behind them, it almost seemed to Chase as if they were circling back toward the lower, deeper parts of the network, but he was sure he was mistaken. Until he looked at the compass snapped to his wrist and noticed they were once again headed Northwest. He was about to start questioning her, when she slowed, almost coming to a crawl, hesitantly looking at the cave floor in front of her.
“Schist,” was whispered back over her shoulder at him. He wasn’t sure if she was saying something, sneezing or if it was one of the rare times she was cursing. Stepping away from the middle of the tunnel toward the walls, which had changed from a smoother texture into something resembling chiseled out groves, she seemed to be studying them with an intensity Chase wasn’t sure they had time for.
“Gesundhiet,” was his answer. As he stepped forward, away from Percy, passed her by and stopped no more than five feet further down the tunnel. A strange crackling noise echoed around him, it reminded him of his rice-crisp cereal in the morning. Turning back toward Percy, still in scientific mode, he was about to ask what the holdup was when the static-y, crunching noise changed tone. Percy’s head whipped around so fast he wondered how she didn’t get whiplash. He knew he was in trouble when her eyes widened, it was conveyed in the highly exasperated, “Chase.”
“Muscovite, don’t move.” She inched closer, skirting along the tunnel wall.
“So what trouble have I gotten myself into this time?” He was sure some levity was needed as her eyebrows were disappearing into her helmet in both shock and from the wide eyes, he would was sure he could see... yep... annoyance.
“Weren’t you listening when I was giving the run down on rock formations and things to look out for in the caves?” It was more a rhetorical question, he knew and felt that he was about to get the whole half an hour long lesson again.
“ Yes....but in case a few things had slipped my mind....just tell me the cliff notes version of it again.” At this she was shaking her head, holding one hand out as if to both grab hold of him and ward him off. The other was gripped around a larger rung of wall that was sturdier than the rest, using it as a hand hold and anchor.
“Schist, in petrology, refers to metamorphic rocks that have a fissile character, are really highly crystalline rocks; fissile slates, shale or sandstones.” Chase was nodding in an, ‘and this is important why?’ sort of why. A deep sign from Percy had her continuing.
“Muscovite is a type of rock that forms an layers, often the total shelf and structure could be anywhere from millimeters to a few inches thick.” He still didn’t seem to be getting it, but had stopped moving to listen to her explanation.
“The transition from the tunnel floor to this section is rather pronounced don’t you think,” her extended hand pointed back to the wall closer to where they had stopped. The smoother more cave like rocks seemed to be transform into the ridged rock that she was holding on to.
“It appears that this might have been a shaft of some kind, most likely water, diverted through the tunnels. The rock has formed a sort of cover over the top, like a seal, blocking off what lays beneath.” She was nodding as if to say, ‘this isn’t that big of a leap Chase.’ But he was more focused on the stress in her voice, and the obvious signs that he should hold as still as possible.
“So what your saving is I’ve literally stepped in some Schist,” it was so bad they both were smiling at his joke. It was one of the things Persephonii liked about their unexpected partnership. He could take the most serious situations, break them down into the most basic parts and still laugh at the danger they were in. She was leaning forward, trying to brace her feet along the wall folia. The rare formations where usually found near or just below water tables, and acted as markers, recording the water levels. This section had combined with the rim-stone along the shelf to create a stable section almost level with the tunnel floor. What was cause for concern and why she had been examining the walls, was to try and determine if it was safe enough to walk on. If the schist was too thin and they broke through, the shaft below could still hold water or it could be any number of feet to a hard and painful stop.
A large bang sounded down the tunnel, making both of them jump. The movement broke through the Schist floor and they tumbled down a sloped tunnel, to land in a small pond like area filled with some questionable fluids. Untangling their limbs and ganging a foot hold, the two moved forward toward an opening in the bowl like cave. Percy reached the mouth first, gasping in what Chase assumed was awe as she surveyed the cavern beyond. Moving beside her, to look out the no more than five foot wide opening whose bottom ledge was around waist height, he looked out and had to agree.
Nearer to their cave opening, were deeper pools of heated sulfur infused water, steam rising into the air. Oranges and browns swatches of the earth around them shone clearly in the glow-stone light. Further out, just barely illuminated were large oval structures, nearly white in comparison to their surroundings. They had quite literally fallen into the Nesting Cave.
Climbing out of the bowl like cave, the two skirted the deeper pools at the center of the cavern, a few of which seemed to glow with a phosphorescent light. Persephonii moved closer to the eggs, whose leathery iridescent surfaces where nestled into sandy, shallow pools of warm water. The rim-stone shelves were only a few inches deep, the water several degrees cooler than the larger pools, whose bubbling surfaces suggested were feed by the main deep, hot spring.
Finding the Nesting cave had been difficult because the caves were tiered, with the lower sections holding more water and heat. The upper caves where solution caves, formed from dissolving limestone and sediment, but these lower caves were Erosional caves. Formed from the surrounding hard rock by thermal water from the hot springs being pushed up through fishers and cracks in the rock beds. They were literally stacked, one cave on top of another.
So close to the eggs, she took the time to examine them, world records had the largest egg, from an extinct Elephant Bird that measured around 12 inches long by 8 inches wide. The Lamia eggs were nearly double that, with a texture that resembled aged leather overlaid with iridescent scales. Disbursed throughout the pools, the eggs were ten to fifteen feet apart, the heat provided warmth allowing the eggs to be laid further from each other.
At the edge of the nearest pool a single egg rested. Climbing out of the water, the two looked back over the water counting the eggs, around ten of them. Though time was of the essence Persephonii knew that it would be decades, if ever, someone got close enough to examine Lamia’s eggs, so she closely inspected them to write about latter. She would add the information into her Lore Coda, a digital library she was compiling of the Paras and creatures of Lore. Examining the egg’s surfaces, the shelves they were on, even going so far as to remove a small piece of Lamia skin that appeared to be stuck to a nearby rock, probably left when the Mother laid her eggs, and told Chase to cover his light. Taking her glow-stone in hand she placed the bright light behind the closest one, candling the egg to see inside, careful not to touch its surface or disturb it. What was revealed in the glow of the light was incredible.
Inside, the light revealed the vein like patterns on the interior along with a shadowy silhouette. Persephonii called Chase closer having him hold the stone while she bent over looking closer at the egg. He grumbled that they should be leaving or at the very least destroying the eggs, but Persephonii shushed him, and studied what the light revealed. A cl
early humanoid head attached to a very long snake like body, the arms and upper torso were still in the early stages of development, but the shape and size where remarkable. Minus the tale, the upper body was relatively the same size of a human baby, though a little bigger. Persephonii would hazard to guess that this egg was closer to the last abductions, telling Chase her idea, she moved toward the shelf stone and columns holding up another higher level towards the back of the cavern.
Chase moved closer, knowing that Percy would need to get her investigative stuff out of the way before they could focus on making their way out of the cave. In truth her fact gathering had often proved its worth, but he keenly felt each second passing by. The Lamia was likely out in the caves, nearer to her eggs which meant that at any moment she could come in and find them. Moving closer to the back of the cave, bisected by an upper level, Chase stopped as his light flooded the dark area.
“How many eggs did you say she could have?” Chase’s voice was rather incredulous as he looked at the watery pools stretching underneath the higher shelf. Persephonii had to stop as at least fifty more eggs where revealed by their stone light, it appeared even more where hidden by the dark, farther back in the caves under the safety of the lower ceiling.
“Snakes lay anywhere from six to a hundred eggs at a time depending on the breed.” Chase looked at her with a very large ‘AND‘ in his eyes. Shrugging she continued.
“We’ve been basing the majority of our information off snake anatomy. That thrown in with what little I could find in the Beast Coda, about both Naga and Lamia I made a conservative guess.” She motioned with the hand not holding up her glow stone, as she spoke. Chases seemed to huff, though he’d never admit it, at her nonchalance.
At First Sight (Persephonii Waters Book 1) Page 33