Kakri opened her eyes to pure blackness, with barely a speck of light to be seen. Reaching out to her sides, her fingers groped for anything they could to see how far she had to her sides in case the wind had just delayed part of the inevitable; a complete collapse. Reaching as far as she could, she finally met the sharp edge of a board. Moving upwards slightly, she felt the start of a solid wall of debris. As her eyes slowly readjusted to darkness, she could barely make out the ceiling with just enough clearance to crawl through. Allowing a very ungoddess-like sound to escape her lips, Kakri pushed herself to her knees and tried to dust herself off a bit. “Liz?” she croaked. “Terra?”
She heard a groan off to her right and in front of her somewhat. “What in te name of te Underworld happened?” Terra moaned.
“Earth shaker,” Kakri replied, crawling as best she could toward her. “Stay low, there’s not much clearance in here.”
“Thanks for te warnin’. Where’s Liz?”
“I’m not sure; you’re the first I found.” Kakri smacked into her, rubbing her head she heard a quiet noise off to their right. “Shhh!”
They fell silent for a moment as the shifting of stones grew louder. “Liz?” Terra called.
“I am here,” the reply was a ways away from them. “Wherever here is. Are you okay?”
“We’re fine, might be bruised up a bit but I think that’s the worst. You?”
“About the same, though if it was not for the wind you brought up I think it would have been worse.” There was the sound of more shifting rocks.
“What are ye doin’ over there?” Terra demanded.
“Standing.”
“How? I can barely kneel!”
“A better question, Terra. How are we breathing this well under this much debris?”
“You’re right,” Kakri breathed. “The air, depending on how long it has been should be running short, even with the small openings I see here.”
“I don’ care how we’re doin’ it, I'd just rather get out of here soonish.”
“Nervous, Terra?” Liz teased.
“Well te be honest I don’ like small spaces.”
“You were fine in that cave between Rinette and Caya.”
“It was a lot larger!”
“Well we’ll get you out of here as soon as we can,” Kakri said kindly. “Think you can manage to crawl with me toward Liz?”
“That I can at least do. Why go toward her?”
“She can stand meaning it is more open, hopefully the earth shaker didn’t collapse that section too much.”
The two women started to slowly make their way toward Liz. “There is an odd thing though,” Liz said making idle conversation to help guide them in the darkness. “How it is so open over here, I was next to the wall I thought.”
“Maybe it just collapsed oddly?” Terra suggested. “Lady Kakri did have that wind goin’ pretty strong.”
“Call me simply Kakri, Terra,” Kakri huffed. “We’re crawling along the ground together in the dark; I think we can be without titles.”
“Doubtful,” Liz replied. “From what I can tell, it seems too uniform on this side. I wish I had some light to see more.”
“Can’t ye make light Kakri?”
“I wish. My power is mainly air related sadly.”
“It was worth a shot,” Terra said sympathetically. “Ow!”
“What?” Liz asked.
“My knee caught a rock, nothin’ te major.”
Kakri could hear the swishing of fabric nearby. “I think we’re close to you Liz.”
“Good, I was hoping it would be soon. I keep feeling around for something suitable in case this is not part of the palace, but no luck.”
“Think we’ll find some nasty surprise?” Kakri asked.
“It is a possibility. I'd rather be safe than sorry, but these stones are too brittle.”
Kakri’s hand found the side of a wall. “Yes!” she shouted.
“Finally!” Terra exclaimed. “I was beginnin’ te think we’d never make it.”
“Now where exactly are you, Liz?” Kakri asked, reaching out her other hand. She reached blindly until she felt contact with flesh. “Okay so you managed to get on the other side of this somehow.”
“There should be an opening; I climbed through on accident when I was trying to get up.”
“There it is!” Kakri exclaimed. “You through first, Terra.”
“Gladly.” Terra slithered through the opening and flopped rather ungracefully, on the other side. “Much better, I can breathe again. One perk te being stuck in here with te Queen and a Goddess. Someone’s bound te find us soon. Won’t they?”
“Hopefully your people aren’t too overwhelmed.” Kakri replied sliding through. “And rescue can come soon. I plan on having us out of here before that though if I can. We have plenty of air here; it must be coming from somewhere.”
“So we seek it out,” Liz said. “It will hopefully be close and somewhere within the main palace.”
“Hopefully,” Kakri reaffirmed. “I’m guessing you’ve lost the palace schematics, but any idea if there might be something over here?”
“Yeah we did,” Liz confirmed. “I tried to find them, but no luck so far. So yes, we are in the unknown.”
“I doubt they are still around.” She turned slightly as she stood up. “Shall we?”
“Yeah might as well. They know where we are about,” Terra said. “They’ll find us.”
“Let us just not go too far,” Liz cautioned. “We do not want to end up in a maze of rooms, or somewhere unstable because of the earth shaker.”
“Good point,” Terra stopped suddenly causing Liz to crash into her. “Should we even be goin’?”
“We won’t know until we get there, we’ll take it slow. If the floor starts to crumble we backpedal carefully.” Kakri grinned in the dark. “It’ll be fine.”
“Famous last words,” Liz muttered. “Cannot tell you how many times Cat has said those very words to me, and then gotten us into trouble.”
They blindly started forward, Kakri in the lead carefully navigating the cavern. She led them along the nearest wall to use it as a guide. Luckily, the cavern was mostly vacant of debris; a few large boulders were the largest obstacles caused a couple areas of the passage to be narrow for them to squeeze past. Some ways down the passage, the ground shook again sending a cascade of dirt and smaller rocks down on the three women.
“I’m sure this is what ye meant by it bein’ alright te come down here!” Terra bellowed over the noise.
“It is weaker though,” Liz yelled back. “Hopefully it will be done soon.”
“Come on!” Kakri shouted. “We should keep going as best we can in case this turns out to be one that is long lasting.”
They picked up their speed; rushing past as part of the opposite wall came crashing down. Kakri’s heart beat fast in her chest, it’s been ages since I’ve done this! Up ahead she saw light streaming from an opening, grasping Liz’s hand tighter she pulled the two women along with her. As the light became brighter and brighter, the ground pitched again, almost sending them crashing down into a sprawl but they managed to stay mostly upright. Enough of this, Kakri thought before pulling herself back to her feet. “Hang on tight!” she shouted putting out her free hand and willing enough power to launch all three of them in the air and past the debris.
They sailed just under the roof of the cavern, almost hitting their heads. Behind her she could hear Terra screaming, as they swung wildly due to her rather inaccurate aim and the fact that it was more than she was used to accompanying her. They landed just outside the entrance to the cavern, and she squinted in the bright light as the earth continued to quake beneath her feet once they returned to solid ground. The tremors were much less, almost to the point of stopping it seemed.
“Never… again…” Terra wheezed, from just in front of her sprawled from her landing.
“It got us clear, did it not?” Kakri smirked.
Liz shook her head, and looked around as she pulled herself back to her feet. “At least we can see again, but where is here? I do not recognize this place.”
Kakri took a step toward the edge of the cliff they stood on, her eyes widened at the sight before her. “I think… there is more to the area your palace is in, than meets the eye.”
“What do you mean?” Liz joined her at the edge, almost falling back over in shock. “Gods above,” she breathed. “And present,” she quickly amended.
“Yeah, definitely more te this place than we knew,” Terra agreed joining them, her emerald eyes as wide as saucers taking it all in. “So what now?” she asked.
The area before them reminded Kakri of a valley tucked among mountains. The entire bottom was water except for some narrow stone paths that rose clear of the water separating them into ponds. The paths were lined by trees with bright purple foliage, which seemed to carpet the ground enough to turn it purple as well. Kakri looked off to the side of where they stood, taking it all in; there was a gentle sloping path down to the base of the valley, joining with the path below. “I think we go that way,” she said. “Shall we explore?”
Liz looked around considering the question. Kakri followed her gaze, above them the sides of the cavern rose high almost joining to form a dome that was completely enclosed except for a small opening which allowed the light to come in. “Is it safe, you think?” she asked at long last.
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Kakri asked smirking. “I think that going forward is our way out though, unless you plan on staying here or chancing a cave in.”
“Seems wrong though,” Terra squinted at the ground below. “Purple plants?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
Terra eyed Kakri critically. “Not sure if they’re like that where ye come from but they aren’t from here. Doesn’t seem natural, probably poisonous or somethin’.”
“You mortals,” Kakri shook her head. “See something new and always think it’s out to hurt you somehow. If it was going to, I think we’d feel it by now.”
“Let us go then,” Liz said. “The sooner we are back in what we know the better.”
The ground at least was still as they began their walk down to the bottom of the cavern, Kakri leading the way; it was peaceful. Terra brought up the rear of their group with Liz in between to provide enough protection to the Queen. Kakri found herself taking in this hidden area in wonder, a rare and wonderful feeling to her after years upon years of what she deemed a stagnant existence. Realistically, she understood their hesitation to explore more of this place but what was life without chances like this? The air around them was unseasonably comfortable despite being exposed to the elements. Beside her she could see the other two pulling at their necklines, trying to get a little relief from the warm air in their heavier clothing. A slight breeze skimmed the surface of her skin; she listened to it to see if it offered more information about this place. Silence was her only response.
“So, you think this has been here the entire time?” Liz spoke up at last.
“How’d no one notice though?” Terra shot back. “That hole up there looks mighty big te go unseen.”
“You’d be surprised,” Kakri shot back. “People tend to be blind to that which they never want to see. Something I think they picked up on from us. This is new to me too, but I imagine it’s been here for a long, long time based on how big these trees are.”
“At least there is no shaking,” Liz said.
“For now,” Terra argued.
Kakri drew them to a stop as the path smoothed out and faced open water. From this angle, they were able to get a better view of the cavern, and it was spectacular. Opposite where they stopped, stairs ascended the wall steadily with a waterfall tumbling under them in three tiers, intertwining as it split and roared down into the nearest pool of water. Glancing at the top of the stairs, she saw more smooth rock peeking over the edge of the very top of the waterfall; for a moment she was tempted to rise up and confirm her suspicions. The thought was quickly disregarded though; she was with mortals so they were going to do this their way, after all she had a point to prove.
“Those stairs are where we need to go I think,” she told the other women.
“Seems promising,” Liz agreed eyeing it, then looking around at the other walls for a moment. “And it appears there is no other way out besides those and the way we came.”
The path across the water was wide enough for them to walk side by side. Silence overtook them once more as they went across; the only sound was the rushing of the waterfall. Kakri’s curiosity overtook her and she glanced down into one of the pools for a moment. The water was crystal clear and quite deep, giant fish compared to what she expected to see in pools this size swam serenely through the water. Their fins rippled, flashing bright colors as they went past. Kakri tore her eyes away from the fish, taking the pools in with a much different light, . Did they have another purpose and the fish came in as time allowed it to go wild? As they rounded a few corners, Kakri continued to ponder this. Maybe it was some moat that had been overgrown or was simply something that was natural. No, it couldn’t be- paths like this seemed too precise to be natural, there had to be something more she was missing.
She glanced over at her companions who were sharing her awe of the scenery if not more struck by it. She had to stop from laughing as they paused under a tree and Terra glared up at the purple foliage. Liz knelt down by the edge of the path leaning close to the water. She cupped a hand in the water and lifted it, allowing the fluid to fall between her fingers and back into the pool. Kakri watched as she did this several more times before finally bringing the cupped palm up to her lips to drink.
“Are ye nuts?” Terra shrieked causing Kakri to start. “That could be dirty water or somthin’!”
“We do not have a choice, and it is clear,” Liz replied. “We do not know how much longer we have to walk, get something to drink now.”
Kakri took a few steps away, drew to a stop and stared at the steps which now loomed overhead. The view from the opposite side hadn’t done them justice; they were massive with several places it seemed, for rest areas as one made their way up but remain safe and out of sight. Seems oddly like fortifications, but why in this secluded of a spot? she thought. Water splashing behind her, drew her out of her pondering of the alcoves. And she heard soft footsteps stop next to her.
“Problem?” Liz asked. “You seemed awfully pensive.”
“No, there’s none,” Kakri quickly replied, turning to smile at her. “Ready?”
“Yes, I think so.”
Kakri turned back and started forward again, this time walking slightly ahead of the other two. It is probably not needed but just in case. I’m probably looking for adventure where there’s simply an abandoned part of the building.
“I will say this,” Terra said as they neared the stairs and she almost slid into the water due to the leaves. “This does make a mighty good deterrent to travelin’ this way, unless ye have yer footin'.”
“Rest easy, I think the rest should be solid ground,” Kakri assured her. “Though I hope you’re up for the task.”
She heard Terra moan behind her, “Can’t ye just carry us up?”
She laughed, “No, we have to do this your way.”
The stairs were carved, though time hadn’t been so kind to the carvings. They were worn and at times almost as smooth as the stone on top. To Kakri’s eyes some appeared to be words, but they were so gone that it was hard to make out to be sure it just wasn’t part of the design. “And you were worried,” she joked to Terra as they climbed. “This place has definitely seen use.”
“Doesn’… mean… it can be… trusted…” Terra huffed.
“I’ll give you that,” Kakri agreed.
“How’re ye even… just sprintin’ up this thing?” Terra demanded, stopping.
“She apparently has mastered things us wee mortals have yet to,” Liz teased.
“How’re you holding up your majesty, this must be difficult for you too now?” Kakri teased back. “All those meetings and such.”
Liz laughed. “I admit, I am not as used to exerting myself, but I am fine. I wonder if I can use this area once we get out to sneak off to exercise or just get away.”
Kakri chuckled, “I doubt that will happen.”
Liz frowned as they started back up, “I suppose I can always dream.”