Fan Fiction ❯ Skyhawke ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Okay, I know this is late. I had it done a week ago. No really!! It just got beta'd late. Anyway, now that I'm done blame-shifting… Thanx to WhiteMystic and Bufflie for reviewing! Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to get out ~.~*>.

Ch 5-

Morgan covered her eyes as light blossomed in the cave. The entrance had caved in an hour ago, and it had taken that long for Fierna to get a fire started. Morgan blinked sleepily and looked around. Fierna and Rilla conversed in a corner; Morgan strained her ears to hear a snatch of what was being said, but she couldn't even pick up a murmur, despite the close quarters of the cave. Morgan's suspicions rose again. How trustworthy was the secretive pair anyway?

All Morgan knew was that the forceful swordswoman was a valerisa and that her serene companion was a bard, and even that information was suspect. Morgan frowned suddenly, realizing she knew hardly anything about anyone in the cave.

She knew Maarkiss was a traveler who lost his money to gambling…

~*A choked cry came from the edge of the skirmish as one bandit stiffened and fell limp, clutching his bleeding throat. Morgan gaped as Maarkiss absently flicked blood from his claws as he selected a new target. Staring with morbid fascination, Morgan watched the blood soak into the dirt.*~

Morgan shuddered; no common traveled killed a man that casually. Sachi, whom Morgan had picked up after the faerie had fallen from her rosebush drunk on nectar, was just as much of a mystery. Morgan had no knowledge of her past, her mysterious `fey magic', or her antipathy to Roki.

She was trapped in a cave with a handful of strangers.

<*~.~*>

Marleese rested a hand on the wall of rock that blocked off the cave entrance. "Impenetrable."

Zara's pale gray eyes examined the wreckage, "…not quite…" Zara raised a hand toward the sun, whispering a chant under her breath. Light descended from the sun in a blinding spiral and bent itself, at Zara's command, toward the rubble.

<*~.~*>

Fierna suddenly looked up, "Starfire!"

Rilla glanced at her sharply, "You're sure?"

Morgan frowned in puzzlement, "Starfire?"

"It's a very powerful form of Fire magic…" Sachi explained. She seemed discomforted by the mention of the magic.

"It's a very forbidden form of Fire magic." Fierna growled. The use of starfire seemed to offend her personally.

They all watched as the rocks covering the cave entrance began to glow a dull orange.

"Move away from them!" Fierna ordered. They all scuttled backward to the other side of the fire and watched the blockage warily.

<*~.~*>

Zara stared at her finished product thoughtfully. The rocks had been melted down into a wall of solid stone that shone like a mirror.

"Sealed?" Marleese asked with a hint of exasperation.

"…Sealed." Zara replied, running a hand across the smooth surface.

<*~.~*>

"Sealed!" Fierna spat angrily.

Morgan felt her breath catch at the thought of being entombed alive in the cave. "Are you sure?"

Fierna turned the full force of her amber eyes on Morgan, "What do you mean `Am I sure'?" she snapped, "I'm the-"

"Fierna." At Rilla's quiet word, Fierna caught herself and turned away. During the awkward silence that followed, Morgan wondered what Fierna was going to say. A vague idea was forming in the back of her head, but she couldn't put a finger on it.

Everyone pondered the implications of their imprisonment as they watched the fire flicker. Morgan sighed into the silence and instead watched Maarkiss' fur stirring in the breeze.

Breeze? Morgan turned around and blinked as a puff of air brushed her face. She scooted over to the back of the cave and squinted into the shadows.

"What is it?" Sachi asked when her and Roki flew over.

"I can feel air coming from over here." Everyone else quickly gathered at the far wall of the cave.

"Hmm…" Rilla looked over to a deep fissure in the wall that Morgan hadn't noticed. It looked just big enough for a child to walk through without stooping.

At a glance from the others, Roki flew into the small tunnel and out again. "It's sorta cramped…"

"Like we have a choice." Maarkiss muttered.

"Smallest through first." Fierna ordered as she gestured for the faeries to go first. After Sachi and Roki darted in, Fierna pointed to Morgan next. Morgan approached the tunnel and peered in. The tunnel walls were wet and mossy. Morgan wondered where the moss found the light to grow as she crawled along the tunnel's length, followed by Rilla. Crawling along, Morgan pondered the quest she was on.

Morgan realized she didn't really know what the Suhnam was; she didn't know anything about the sorceresses who had it. She didn't even know about the people she was traveling with.

"I gotta start asking more questions…" Morgan muttered. Just as her knees began to hurt, Morgan emerged from the tunnel and scrambled to her feet.

"Wow!" Sachi's voice echoed through the cavern like a tiny bell. Morgan looked up from the wet patches on the knees of her pants and gasped. The cavern was massive, it seemed the entire hill must have been hollowed out to create it. The arched ceiling was lined with reflective blue-gray stone bricks and a small opening at the top allowed light into the cave. The light reflected off the stone walls and filled the cavern with a serene atmosphere. The walls of the cave were lined with small hovels hewn from the same rock, and ladders and bridges criss-crossed overhead. In the center of the cavern, a rippling blue pond of water glimmered with the dim sunlight. The cavern was hung with moss and lichens and a feeling of age and neglect filled Morgan as she stared in awe.

Behind her, Fierna climbed from the tunnel and glanced around dismissively, Rilla had a look of mild curiosity; Sachi and Roki flitted over the pond, keeping a safe distance from one another, and Maarkiss…

"Can somebody help me??" Maarkiss growled as he tried unsuccessfully to wriggle from the tunnel.

<*~.~*>

"It's a Durgan city." Rilla explained as they sat around their new fire.

"I thought the Durgans lived in Venkelos…?" Roki said.

"They didn't always." Sachi told him, as if stating the obvious. Roki glared, but Fierna quelled the impending argument with a look.

"Why in the world would they move to the desert?" Maarkiss wondered as he sat down gingerly, he was still sore from being yanked from the tunnel.

"No one is quite sure…"Rilla murmured, "Legend says that some unspeakable evil walks in these caves." Rilla's hushed whisper echoed around the cave.

Fierna shrugged and stood up. "No sense in worrying about it now. Let's camp here for the night. I'll take first watch."