81. The Earthern Passages

 
 
The caverns beyond the walls of the Temple were close and damp. As Nox closed up the gap in the wall, the group couldn’t help notice they were breathing each other's air, and were very aware of each other's scent. Fureva-Yung had a pleasant scent of pine and sunshine mixed with a heavy oiliness which seemed to get everywhere.
“The cavern is making Fureva-Yung’s smell more intense,”Marius said, trying to breath into the rock wall of the cavern for relief.
“But we’re not in tents, “ Nox said absentmindedly as she moved from closing the wall to investigating the passage, “We’re in a little skinny, stinky passage.” Blending her camouflage to match the colour of the walls, Nox started down the passage first.
“Don’t take any risks by yourself,” Marius called and Nox just rolled her eyes. There was the Shard calling the Servitor corrupt.
Now the wall was sealed, the cavern was completely dark. Nox’s little hedgemagic light did well in the small confines of the cavern, but when she disappeared into the passage, the other three were left in the dark. Fureva-Yung closed her eyes and let the natural sounds fill her senses. Up ahead she could hear skittering and chewing, munching sounds. As Nox moved up the passage, the chewing stopped and the skittering intensified for a moment before all was silence.
 
Past the narrow passage a second cavern opened up revealing a tangle of roots from the space tree. She called the others up and Jaden followed by Marius joined her. Under the dim glow of Hedge magic, toothmarks in the roots showed something was living down in the dark. Judging by the size of the marks, Marius estimated the creatures to be large rodent like creatures, larger than an average dog but smaller than an adult human. Using a little water, Marius cleaned out the latest damage. It paid to stay on the space trees good side.
 
Nox flashed an image of the teeth marks to the space tree with the feeling of a question. She received a feeling that the damage had been getting worse over time and that the Space tree did not like it.
 
Behind in the first cavern, Fureva-Yung was alone in the dark. Thinking that her slick coating of oil would help her moved down the passage, and sick of waiting for the others to let her through, she got down on all fours and started crawling. For Fureva-Yung at her original size, the passage would have been a challenge. Now, another foot taller and broader, even with the oil coating it was hard work. She barreled through the earth and rock, pushing aside the roots that held up the passage until she reached the turn. That’s where she came to a shuddering halt. There was no way of squeezing herself around the sharp corner, try as she might. Her shoving and scraping in the passage disturbed the roots holding it up. They shuddered violently, sending a cascade of loose earth and rock down to collapse the passage behind her.
 
Jaden, closest to the passage mouth heard the soft flump of earth falling and looked back to see what had caused it. Under the dim Hedge light that made it that far into the passage, she could see something large and hairy in th tunnel. It was most certainly bigger than an dog, and from her distance in the dim light and the dirt and rock collapsed around Fureva-Yung she couldn’t say if it were smaller than a human. Fureva-Yung, seeing Jaden, smiled, and her huge square teeth shined brightly in what light reached them. Puling out large laser rifle, she aimed a shot right down the passage. She could hardly miss, the beam hit Fureva-Yung’s sonic shield and dissipated as a low bass rumble that was all too familiar to Jaden.
“Fureva-Yung?” She cried, stowing her gun.
“Yes, Jaden.”
“Are you stuck?”
“Not yet.” Fureva-Yung replied optimistically.
“Would you like some help?”
“Stand back a moment,” Fureva-Yung said and after Jaden had complied, she sent a shattering shout into the earth around her. A moment later, the whole group ducked as an explosion blasted down the passage, dislodging Fureva-Yung enough to scramble free just as the rest of the passage collapsed around her.
 
Nox and Marius had moved ahead, finding a hole that descended farther than the hedge light could reach. Beside it, a passage travelled down. Without a second’s thought, Nox started fluttering down the hole, making Marius climb down after her. Nox glided through the snarled roots that criss-crossed the passage with ease as Marius scrambled down through the roots like climbing down a unstable ladder.
 
Upstairs, it was clear that Fureva-Yung was not going down the hole. Though this time she may have fitted down the passage, the roots would not have supported her. Fureva-Yung could hear skittering coming from her left and went to investigate. Jaden pulled out a glove cypher and turned them on, filling the space with eerie yellow light. Under their dim glow she could see the passage winding down, and Fureva-Yung heading in that direction after the sound of skittering feet.
“Wait up, Fureva-Yung. Let's stick together.”
 
In the shaft, Marius and Nox could also hear the skittering and chewing sounds. Nox spread out her wings and allowed herself to glide down silently, catching the chewing creature unawares.
 
 
The creatures were large dog sized and had something of the rat about them with elongated heads filled with ever growing incisors. The body however was supported by eight furry legs that gave the creatures access to the juicy roots in this shaft. Eight eyes flickered under the hedge light, reflecting back an eerie light. Far below, hundreds of the same little reflections suddenly appeared.
 
“Watch your eyes!” Nox called to Marius and started using flash to scare off the spider-rats and get a view of next five metres of shaft. Four or five of the creatures of various sizes skittered down the vines away from the light.
“Yeah, you run away from the lights and leave the poor space tree alone,” Nox called after the creature and fluttered down after them.
While Nox chased the spider-rats from the roots, Marius took a moment to make a concussive bomb. That would surely clear the bottom of the shaft for Nox and him to descend.
 
 
 
 
In the spiralling tunnel, Fureva-yung realised that the tunnel they were in must hug the shaft that Nox and Marius were now climbing. And still she could hear the skittering, even more concentrated coming up the tunnel. Suddenly, the whole tunnel shook as they recognised the tell tale shockwave of oneof Maruis’ concussive bombs. The earth under their feet shook loose and both jaden and Fureva-Yung found themselves sliding. Jaden and Fureva-Yung quickie found their footing and were surfing the tidalwave of earth, dodging roots and the occasional spider-rat.
 
Nox flitted down to the bottom of the shaft, her light glittering above her head. To her left a rumbling of earth came from a passageway heading up. To her right, another passage led further down. Around her, just out of the ring of light, were long rodent faces, sets of eight eyes and skittering and shuffling of many sets of eight legs. With a smile that meant no good to the spider-rats, she flung flash in all directions, sending the rats into a panic, many heading up the path to the left. Marius, after causing devastation, from 6 metres above, lines himself up and aims for a wayward spider-rat below. He landed with a crack, putting the elbow in for a little extra electrical damage.
“You know, they’re not all that hard,” he said, getting up from the pile of innards and broken carapace, “Actually they’re rather soft and squishy.”
 
Meanwhile, the Jaden and Fureva-Yung were still surfing the avalanche of earth and rock in the passage. Roots and spider-rats were constant obstacles. Jaden just rolled aside as one went to bite her, whereas, Fureva-Yung took the bites from two of the creatures, electrocuting them in the process. From somewhere ahead they could see the bright flashing of lights. Fearing Nox was in danger, Fureva-Yung sent a shattering shout after a fleeing spider-rat.
 
Under the strobe of Nox’s flash, and the sound of her giggling laughter, Marius stood, surrounded by spider-rats. Four leapt as one, but Marius’s quick reflexes kept him out of harms way. While they were still reorientating themselves, he jabbed one with his poison finger, slowing it down.
 
The ground vibrated as Fureva-Yung’s shout went off. From somewhere above in the shaft, a huge boulder dislodged. Nox flitted sideways, the boulder sailed past her and into a group of spider-rats and landed with a splat. Marius was in his element, smacking first one spider-rat with his fist, the second with the poison stinger in his finger. He took another moment to make a concussive bomb just as Fureva-Yung and Jaden slid into the room ahead of a wall of earth.
 
Jaden had a hold of two spider-rats with her light hands and were repeatedly smashing them together.
“No, this is how you do it!” Fureva-yung roar with joy and to be heard about the roar of collapsing earth. She plucked the two off her and smashed them together and they made a satisfying double pop.
“I appreciate the lesson, but do you think we can go now?” Jaden said, pointing to the passage opposite.
 
Nox fluttered to the ground and with a gentle touch took over control of a poisoned spider-rat. Her first command on seeing the avalanche was, “RUN!” Jaden pulled out a cypher they’d been carrying a while, Drastic propulsion. Linking arms with Marius she turned it on and in a bright flame they sped down the passage and out of sight. Fureva-Yung send a shattering shout up the passage on the back of a fleeing spider-rat and Nox flew and as fast as she could down the passage after Jaden and Marius.
 
Jaden and Marius had come to the end of the passage where the metal wall of the temple met the earth. She rummaged in her bag pulling out the gravity nullifying spray just as Fureva-Yung Nox and her spider-rat appeared, a boulder rocketing behind them, a wall of earth and mud following. Holding out the spray she sent the chemical into the air before the boulder. The boulder stopped, hovering in place. The earth, blocked by the boulder stopped, only leaking through at the side.
 
The group looked at each other with amazement and the share joy of being survivors.