Loyal Riptide

Part 2 Chapter 13

       Dorian clomped down the ship's moist wooden ramp as it seemed it had rained throughout the night they have been sailing through. They decided to dock the ship in the main public bay as this left the evacuation team and bomb searching team closer to the locations they needed to be. Plus, Taura would already know that they were coming so there was no point trying to conceal themselves or hide their presence.

He inhaled the chilling ocean breeze from the water and took in his kingdom he hasn't seen in over a week. Everything seemed to be in tacked with some of his nearby citizens watching his crew and Asa's army march their way towards the old mining tunnels with some confused or perplexed looks. He simply waved at them and gave them a quick smile before he too followed Hizashi and some Aenon soldiers towards the mines.

He himself hasn't stepped foot in the mines as they were long closed off ever since his father was in power. As a kid he always thought it was because they became unsafe, but now it dawned on him that it was so that nobody can find the bombs which only made him feel more stupid after thinking of all the times Taura told him not to worry about it and dodging the question all together. 

Once they made it to the mine entrance in a hills sheer rocky surface the team was already breaking apart the boards and pieces of metal used to block off the mine's entrance. Also, it was at this time half the team broke off towards the south to find the bombs located along the forest's edge. Kaiyu was off with Sirene to find more allies to help them, Gordy was helping with possible evacuation, Asa was searching for Taura to do God knows what which he felt he should have gone with her. That left him and Hizashi to find the bombs underground and Shiro with the ones on the surface.

The service elevator was out so the team began to shimmy down the dry musty ropes to reach the bottom of the old coal mines. He still wasn't comfortable with his newfound powers and he didn't want to risk burning the rope before everyone could reach the bottom, so he volunteered to go last. Once everyone was in the mines he too shimmied down the rope but going a little too fast he ended with a terrible rope burn by the time he planted his feet atop the caked dirt ground.

It wasn't long before they were finding the bombs and disarming them all, but knowing Taura he didn't know how many for how long she had these planted. Or when they detonated. The tunnels quickly became unbearably stuffy and he found it getting harder to breathe, but it seemed he like wasn't the only one thinking the same thing as him. Hizashi was not too far away slowly and carefully disarming the small plates of bombs left sticking the the tunnel waves and ceiling. She looked as if she were to blow up faster than those bombs were.

He continued down the tunnels to find himself a bomb to disarm when he heard an explosion go off, but it only sounded like one went off luckily. He dashed back near the mine entrance to see rubble covered their exit out and standing in front was an Aenon soldier gripping their bloodied hands which he only thought occurred from the bomb explosion. He didn't look terrified or angry of himself for what he just did, but he looked pleased with himself. He went to reach for another when a crystal shard lodged itself into the soldiers already hand before he could get his hands on another bomb.

He yelped back in pain before making a mad dash towards the other end of the tunnel where most of the bombs over there were still needing disarming. Hizashi and Dorian darted for him with everyone else getting out of their way but were now on high alert as to who else will betray them soon. The soldier tripped over his stumbling feet and flopped onto the dirt quickly fumbling for a bomb sticking on the wall near the ground and held it in his hands. "Get back! Or this entire tunnel blows and we all go under!" He screamed, his voice shaking and echoing off the tunnel's walls.

Dorian stepped back a step with Hizashi now standing in front of him with her feet firmly planted on the ground. "The only person here that can drown is his majesty, maybe we missed a few when we checked your loyalties to Aenon. At this point Taura isn't the one you have to fear anymore." Her voice was a low growl, different than what hes used to hearing from her. "Then long live the king..." The soldier said before slamming his fist into the bomb causing it to explode.