Trickery #14
Still not understanding why this route will be better than any other - there have been rocky areas dotted throughout the jungle and you have not felt any impulse to investigate those - you swallow nervously and allow your body to follow it, wincing as you step over sharp stones. Moss covers some of the rocks, making them treacherous to walk over and you slip more than once, cursing and spreading your wings to save yourself from a nasty fall. You curse the genie, thoughts running away from you, wishing that you had never been brought to this godforsaken land, that you were still home and far, far away from his cruel influences. Life would be a lot simpler and less painful.
There! There is a small, dark hollow in between the rocks! You dash over and skid to a halt, peering down into the hole. It appears to be deep, much deeper than you may expect and is faintly illuminated by a scarce but noticeable pale light. What could cause that? You know nothing about cave systems and the hole is very small but, when you cautiously duck your head into the opening, you see that it widens out a little further along and you will only have to squirm on your belly for a short distance, if you enter. Distantly, you can hear the trickle of running water and the drip, drip of water falling some distance into a pool; the sounds echo and you suspect that, if the mirror is not close, you will be able to travel underground to find it.
As if to warn you that you will be quite alone down there, your stomach growls loudly, reminding you also that you have not eaten in this body yet. What choice do you have though? You have not discovered anything safe to eat above ground, so it stands to reason that the more quickly you complete these tasks, the more quickly you may return home. With this bolstering your courage, you take a deep breath and wriggle into the narrow space, wings crushed to your back.
The tunnel downwards is damp and close around you and you slide most of the way down to land in an ungainly heap several metres below ground, which slopes downwards into the bowels of the earth. Stalagmites and stalactites branch from the floor and ceiling of the cave, the water that you heard before dripping from the stalactites with slow, patient consistency. Despite there being many other tunnels branching off from yours, they are much too small to enter and echo eerily when you experimentally scatter some pebbles down one with a flick of your paw. Only one path is open to you and you follow it the caution deserved by the situation.
As you progress deeper and deeper, you find the source of the underground river pouring from a crevice in the rock wall, where it flows down the slope and pools in convenient hollows. The tunnel widens suddenly into a vast, underground cavern, the sense of space overwhelming; you do not know how far below the earth’s crust you have travelled, but you it does not feel right to be in such a place, so unnatural. There is also the sense that you are being watched.
Written by Amethyst Mare on 13 July 2012