by Jamie Davis
Jaycee had taken to sleeping right next to Cari. When she woke the next morning, the little girl had snuggled up against her. Cari realized she had one arm wrapped protectively around Jaycee.
Cari tried to work out from under the small girl without waking her so she could go out and stoke the fire, but Jaycee woke up as soon as she moved.
“Where are you going?”
“I was just going to throw some fresh wood on the fire. It would be nice to have a hot breakfast I think before we start down into the ravine.”
Jaycee stood up and started toward the cave mouth with Cari.
“I can go gather some wood.”
“You may go, but don’t go too far. Stay where I can see you.” Cari watched as the girl scampered up the slope next to the cave and started gathering sticks from beneath the small pine trees there. Cari threw the few remaining branches they collected the night before on the fire and blew on the remaining coals until flames popped up again. The wood was soaked in pine resin and the branches caught fire quickly.
Jaycee returned with a handful of branches before going back upslope to make another trip. She couldn’t carry much, but she was willing to work to help out and Cari appreciated that.
While Jaycee made another trip, Cari cut two slabs of meat from the haunch of venison and skewered them on their camp spit suspending the meat over the flames. She would have them roasted and ready when everyone else got up.
Jaycee brought another load of branches down and set them on the pile. She turned to go back up into the woods, but Cari stopped her. “That’s enough for now, Jaycee. Why don’t you come over here and help me get some breakfast together? Dig into Helen’s pack over there and bring me the small sack of cornmeal. There might also be some cheese in there, so if you see that, grab it.
Jaycee headed over to the place where the packs leaned against the side of the cave and pulled out the sack of corn meal and a wedge of hard cheese from Helen’s pack. When she brought it back to Cari, she smiled and said, “What are we making?”
“I think we can make a kind of polenta.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s something they make where I come from. I’ve never made it before myself, but I know the basics of what’s in it. Let’s experiment together, shall we?”
Jaycee nodded and leaned forward to help Cari make breakfast. Cari realized the girl had become quite attached to her. She also realized how attached she’d become to Jaycee. In some ways, she reminded Cari of herself at that age, full of enthusiasm and excitement about everything new she learned.
It was strange, Cari thought, how she lost some of that as she grew older. It had come back with a vengeance, though, when she returned to Fantasma and discovered this wonderful world waiting for her. It was as if she’d become a child all over again with so much to explore.
The trolls had taken turns at guard duty and the others must’ve felt safe and secure in the cave because they slept longer than Cari thought they would. When breakfast was ready, she had to go wake the rest of them up. She understood their weariness. The journey since they left the Sailfish had been arduous -- especially on the adults. She was glad the others had gotten some rest.
Francesca stepped out of the cave entrance stood up and stretched her arms wide with a groan. “You should’ve gotten me up. I could’ve helped with breakfast.”
“You all three looked so peaceful in there, sleeping like babies the way you were. I didn’t want to wake any of you. Besides, I had my assistant Jaycee here helping me out.”
Jaycee smiled with pride at the recognition.
Cari continued as Helen and Percy stumbled out into the bright sunlight. “Sorry I had to wake you all now, but we’ve got things to do today.”
“Understood, Captain. What do you want me to do?” Percy asked.
“Easy does it. First, eat your fill of breakfast, it’s likely to be one of the last hot meals we have for a while. Then, get with Helen and gather together all of the rope we brought with us from the Sailfish. Let’s see how much we have if we put it all together.”
“Got it,” Helen said, staring over at the edge of the ravine. “Hopefully we have enough to reach the bottom.”
“We’ll see. Come here and get something to eat first. Then we can set to work on solving that particular problem.”
“I can’t believe you let us sleep so long, Cari.”
Cari chuckled. “That’s exactly what Francesca said. I figured you should enjoy the sleep you were getting. I’m not sure how much we’ll get while we’re in those tunnels down there. We’ll probably want to press to get through as quickly as we can.”
“I won’t have any problem with that. I, for one, enjoy open sky above me. I’m not sure how I feel about being trapped with tons of mountain rock over my head.”
The group settled down to eat as Chrrrak came over to where they sat by the cave. Cari offered him some of the roast venison. He took it with a grin and tore into it with his huge black teeth. Cari figured Trolls didn’t often get cooked food given their fear of open flames.
“Chrrrak, I don’t know what we would do if we didn’t have you as a friend.”
“Friends what make life worth living.”
“I am always surprised by the profound words that come out of your mouth. You are, of course, correct.”
“Truth is truth, Cari. Truth is same in man tongue and troll tongue.”
“What will you and your tribe do, if the imperial soldiers continue to press onward into the mountains?”
“We find high passes in which to camp. There are places, high places, no man can reach. We can live there long time. Eventually, soldiers go away.”
Cari nodded. She was happy his tribe would find a place to live until the trouble passed. She hoped the soldiers from the ships below lost interest in searching for them.
Thinking about their flight from the coast and the skirmishes they had with imperial troops reminded Cari of the information she discovered about the Empress. She wondered if now was the right time to tell young Jaycee about her great-grandma’s passing. Cari decided it could wait until after they were through the mountain. She didn’t need the little girl saddened by anything that might keep her from being as brave as she needed to be in the dark tunnels.
Cari thought about what they might face inside the mountain. She found herself concerned by what Chrrrak had said about other creatures setting up shop in the tunnels at the bottom of the ravine. She had hoped he was wrong, but it was likely he knew exactly what he was talking about.
She settled back against the rock wall beside the cave and ate the rest of her breakfast with the others. She, too, forced herself to eat as much as she could. She wanted to be as strong as possible for what lay ahead.
Chapter 11
It didn’t take them long to pack up camp once breakfast was finished. Their packs were loaded up after unpacking all the rope they’d carried up into the mountains. They gathered the lines salvaged from the Sailfish, which were just long enough to reach the bottom of the ravine when tied together and used them to lower Francesca and then Helen to the bottom.
The two of them scouted to either side for a few minutes then came back to the bottom of the slope where the others above could see them. Helen gave Cari a thumbs up and they hauled the rope back up to lower the rest of them down one at a time. It was a lot easier with the additional strength of the trolls to help them.
Percy went next. Followed by all of their packs. That left Cari and Jaycee to go last. Cari used an extra length of rope to tie the girl to her belt. There was about 4 feet of slack between them and Cari intended to have Jaycee hold onto the line just in front of her as she backed down the slope with the trolls letting out slack as she went.
The first little bit wasn’t too bad, although there were places where the stones were loose, and she kicked away some of them with her feet before placing her toes in a crevice or on a small ledge so she could gain purchase. Jaycee was actually having an ea
sier time of it, probably because she was lighter and small. Things were going well at first and then Cari’s feet slipped out from under her. Luckily, Jaycee managed to maintain her footing and for a bit, Cari lay against the steep slope with nothing holding her from a long sliding fall except for the rope tied around her waist.
“Do you need help getting up?” Jaycee asked.
Cari chuckled as she gathered herself to continue downward. “No, I’m fine. You just make sure you hold on tight to that rope. You see how easy it is for someone to slip.”
“I’m not worried. You won’t let me fall.”
Cari shook her head. The girl put a lot of faith in her. She didn’t want to let the young princess down. Cari signaled to Chrrrak at the top of the ravine. He and his trolls began to let out more rope and she continued to descend to the floor of the ravine.
By the time Cari reached the bottom, her calves and thighs ached, burning with lactic acid buildup from the exertion of the descent. Her arms were tired, too. Even Jaycee seemed to relax once they reached the bottom, though she never stopped grinning the whole way down.
“I think I found the entrance to the tunnels,” Helen said as Cari untied herself and helped coil up the ropes, dropped down from above by the trolls once she was safe.
“Which way?”
“Over here to the left. It’s not hard to spot once you reach it.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll see when you get there.”
The five of them shouldered their packs. Even Jaycee had one. They couldn’t spare not having someone, even her size, carry part of the load.
Cari looked up and waved at Chrrrak at the top of the ravine one last time. He waved back, then he and his trolls disappeared from the edge. “All right people, let’s get moving.”
Cari saw what Helen meant as soon as they’d walked about 20 yards along the bottom of the ravine. To the left against the sheer cliff wall of the opposite side of the gorge lay a rectangular doorway.
The sides and top of the doorway were carved with runes. Cari couldn’t read them. For all she knew, they could be an advertisement for some restaurant that used to be inside the mountain. As she stared at the entrance, a message floated in her eyes confirming this was their way through the mountain.
Quest completed — find the tunnels under the mountain
10,000 experience awarded
“I guess this is where it starts. All right, I’ll lead the way, followed by Helen, then Jaycee, Percy, and Francesca. Got it?”
The others all nodded. Cari took a small oil lantern from a clip on her belt. She was glad Francesca had found them aboard the Sailfish and thought to bring them from the ship’s stores. It would be way easier to light their way with the lanterns instead of some sort of improvised torch. She only hoped they’d brought along enough lamp oil.
Quest accepted — travel through the mountain
Lighting the lamp and holding it up in front of her, Cari stepped into the dark opening. The floor was smooth and paved with quarried rock. The sides of the walls were also made of worked stone.
These tunnels had not been used for a long time. Once she got inside about thirty yards, there was a thick layer of dust on the floor. Occasionally she saw animal prints below in the dust but nothing that looked too large.
The passageway sloped downward but not at too steep an angle to navigate easily. The tunnel led them deeper underground as well as farther into the mountain. Cari hoped this meant it would eventually let out lower on the far side of the mountains. That would make it easier for them than a long steep descent after leaving the tunnels on the other side.
“I hadn’t counted on it being quite so chilly down here,” Helen said.
“I think I read somewhere once that below ground, the temperature doesn’t change very much unless you’re near a source of a volcano or an ice flow or glacier of some sort. I’d guess that means it shouldn’t get any colder than this. Check on Jaycee, though. Make sure she’s warm enough.”
“I am fine, Cari,” the tiny voice said from behind her. “This tunnel is amazing. What kind of people must have lived here long ago?”
“I’m more concerned with what kind of people live here now,” Francesca said from the rear of the group.
The group fell silent, and Cari cursed under her breath. It was silly of Francesca to say something so stupid. She didn’t need everyone freaking out about problems they didn’t have. “Let’s not worry about that. For all we know the people that live down here now are as friendly as the trolls are up in the mountains.”
“We’ll see, ma’am,” Percy said. “I hope you’re right.”
After they had walked for what Cari figured was approximately two hours. The passageway opened up into a larger chamber. There were branching passageways leading off to the left and right as well as another one continuing on straight ahead. Cari realized it would be very easy for them to get lost down here. “Helen, I don’t suppose you have any chalk or some other way we can mark these tunnels as we pass through them?”
“As a matter of fact, Cari, I do. I don’t know why I thought to pack it but I’m glad I did, now.”
Helen took off her backpack and dug through it for a minute until she found what she was looking for. She held up a four-inch stick of chalk about as thick as her thumb. “Will this do?”
“Perfect. I’m going to mark the tunnels with an arrow pointing in the direction from which we came and an ‘x’ on the tunnels we don’t use. That way we’ll know how to get back to the surface if we get turned around.”
“Are you thinking there isn’t a way out on the other side?” Francesca asked.
“I have to think there used to be. But we have to be prepared that it may have caved in over the years. We just don’t know. This way, at least, we won’t be stuck down here wandering for the rest of our lives.”
Cari walked over to the tunnel they’d just exited. At shoulder height, she drew a foot-long white line with an arrow pointing back the way they came.
“Can everybody see that?” Cari asked, holding up the lantern next to the mark she’d made. “Just in case any of us get separated from the others, I want you to be able to recognize the marks I make. That way you’ll know which direction we traveled. I’ll make a similar mark on the other side of any opening like this where there are multiple exits. That will tell you which direction we went.”
Cari walked straight across the chamber and made another line with an arrow pointing back towards the other tunnel. Her father had once told her that you could never get lost as long as you knew how to get back to where you started. The thought made her smile. Her mother didn’t subscribe to the same theory and it was a frequent topic of discussion on family trips. Time to see how it all works in real life.
“Let’s stop here, have a snack, and rest a little bit. Make sure you all have something to drink but not too much. I’m hoping we’ll find an underground stream or spring where we can replenish our water supply, but we can’t be sure that we will.”
The group settled down for a brief rest in the dim light of their lanterns. After about fifteen minutes, they rose, shouldered their packs once again and started down the opposite tunnel. This one was much like the first. It continued to slope downward and was smooth and covered in worked stone.
Cari noticed several places where there were more runes like the ones over the doors in the ravine. The previous residents carved them into the rock walls.
They were all at about the height of her elbow. She figured she’d missed them at first since she wasn’t looking down and wondered if there had been some in the initial passage down from the surface. It was strange that someone would make markings down there like that. Cari shrugged. Maybe they were directions for lost children or something.
The passageway continued for quite some distance without opening up into any other side passages. They stopped after several hours of travel on two different occasions before they reach the bottom of the passage.
>
Cari figured it was getting on towards the night and she thought about stopping and camping inside the passage. Then the passage ended and suddenly opened up into a large cavern. Cari stood in the opening of the passage and raised her lantern as high as she could.
The yellow glow of light extended out about 15 yards into the gloom in all directions. She couldn’t see the far wall or the ceiling from where she stood. The floor of the cavern was smooth and worked just like the floor of the tunnel was, but the cavern’s walls to either side of her were rough natural stone. That indicated this was probably as much a natural opening in the mountain as it was one that had been smoothed over by intelligent hands.
“Let’s find a place here where we can safely camp. I figure it’s got to be close to nightfall outside. I think it’s best if we try to stay on a normal schedule while we’re down here.”
“I’m not sure how we will do that, Cari,” Helen said. “I don’t even know how long we’ve been down here.”
“I’m just guessing too, Helen. We’ll have to do the best we can.”
“Which way?” Percy asked standing next to Cari and trying to peer into the darkness around them. “I can’t see anything in any direction. I’m not sure I want to camp out in the open down here.”
“You’re right, Percy,” Cari said. “Let’s head to the right along the side of the cavern keeping the wall in sight and look for an opening or a small cave like we found last night at the top of the ravine. We just need somewhere we can set up a place to sleep for the night as well as someplace we can use to defend ourselves if something shows up while we’re sleeping.”
“Still expecting trouble?” Helen asked.
“If we expect trouble and none arrives, the worst case is some of us lose sleep because of guard duty. On the other hand, not preparing could leave us all in dire straits.”
Helen nodded in agreement and gestured to the right. Cari once again took the lead and started along the edge of the cavern holding her lantern out to the left so she could see as far as she could into the large open cavern while keeping the wall of the cavern to her right in sight.