Chronicles of Yugure: Plummeting into Uncharted Depths

Day Twenty-Two

"Do ye think 'twill work?"

"Oh, most certainly, sonny."

"Won't they notice what you three are up to? I mean, once you leave the volcano, they'll know something is up." Hotaru interrupts, making a rather good point.

"Oh, but we won't be leaving the volcano. There's a secret portal hidden somewhere in the caverns above us. I can take us directly to the Spires from there. They won't have a clue!" The pyroraptin chirps cheerfully with a leap of joy to finally be escaping the clutches of the Mist- this time for good. I, too, share this glee. I can finally continue my mission, which would have been already completed if someone more qualified had taken up the task.

'Why did Asha pick me?' I wonder to myself as the rest of the details are drawn out metaphorically.

~

"Are we all set?" Milah asks two hours later. With good timing, and a lot of hiding one's actions, Milah had secured two pairs of cuffs and chains allowing us to blend into our prisoner personifications.

The raptin and I both nod our heads quietly. We're all nervous, except for Hotaru who is nowhere nearby. We had left his home without even a single goodbye from the sooty dragon and set our sights on the main cavern, ready to walk past every guard in the fortress- even say hello to one or two with a smile on our faces. Well, that might give us away just a tad.

I pick up Sendaar and follow Milah as he holds onto our leashes. We land casually on the third floor, two levels up from where we had originally been staying. The guards look at us confused, that is until Milah swears at us using words I'm not quite sure of the meaning and yanks at the chains, making us move forward. Both guards look at each other with a shrug at the shoulders and relax, letting us pass by without question.

Sendaar pounces forward slightly behind Milah. He whispers in his ear which way to turn next and I follow suit. One wolfwyre sentry looks at us funny and stops us in our tracks. I dare not let one bead of sweat escape my body, lest I give off a guilty aura making our escape impossible.

"Where are you taking these prisoners? They are not needed for the Carrier Program." He grunts in a monotone voice. The soldier seems perfectly still while he speaks. Sendaar shrivels back behind Milah for protection.

Milah straightens up his posture and looks down at the sentry. "I happen to be taking them to General Vannhyde for questioning." The guard looks at us, still untrusting, but eventually he gives up the staring contest and waves us through. We wait until we are out of sight before we let ourselves heave a sigh of relief and relax our tensed up muscles.

We take a right, then a left, another left, more rights. To be honest, I think I've lost track of what turns we have taken; I seriously hope we don't get separated. I stop counting the turns to myself and mindlessly follow Sendaar and Milah, who have struck up a conversation when no guards are there to listen.

"We are almost there. We just have to go up to the next level and pass a few more hallways until we get to the rocky section. Once we're through there, we should be safe." I can hear Sendaar whisper to Milah as we trudge along. I moan violently on the inside, wishing I could physically scream. The palm dragon nods and we take one final turn to the stairs.

My head slides along the wall in agony of walking the monotonously drab rocky hallways. I can see the top of the staircase, which excites me to the core. Of course this still means more walking once we reach the top. Whoopee.

Milah and Sendaar both murmur something out of the corner of their mouths that I cannot catch, but I realize that it was most likely another curse word as I reach the top to stairs to see a whole squad of wolfwyres waiting for us. Their faces look atrocious and fierce with a snarl to go with. Each of them is pointing a sharp looking scythe at us, all but one, I mean.