The Caverns of Kronos

The Old Mines - Part 7

     Diana, meanwhile, had been watching the wizard’s last desperate attempt to drive away the cats, and as Thomas despaired she had an idea that burst into her head with all the force of divine inspiration.

     She pulled a water bottle from her pocket, undid the top, aimed it carefully, taking account of the fact that a thrown object would fly in an almost straight line, and then hurled it at the ball of fire with all her strength. The reaction sent her tumbling backwards and so she missed what happened next, but the others saw the water bottle pass through the top left of the flaming sphere, trailing quivering water droplets as it went. There was a hiss of steam, and the flaming sphere was diverted from its course to brush against the blood encrusted bracken covering the floor.

     The green foliage was too damp to burst into flame, but a wide area of it was singed, filling the tunnel with a cloud of acrid smoke that stung the cats’ eyes and made them retreat, coughing and sneezing, back towards their side tunnel. Jerry, meanwhile, was using the last of his magic to cast another spell, an illusion. A moment later, half a dozen more flaming spheres were drifting down the tunnel towards the snarling animals.

     Shaun and Matthew decided that they’d been standing around doing nothing for long enough and jumped towards the cats, screaming battle cries and waving their swords, and the others added their voices to the tumult, shouting as loudly as they could and waving their hands. The cats, their eyes still stinging and watering from the smoke, finally decided that enough was enough and fled, running down the tunnel by jumping from floor to ceiling or from wall to wall, turning their bodies to land on their feet in the way that all cats know from birth.

     The Tharians relaxed in relief and exhaustion and began to collapse onto the mossy ground, but Shaun wouldn’t let them and urged them to hurry on away from the site of the ambush. He tried to speak, but could only cough and croak through his injured throat until Diana laid on her hands and healed him.

     “They could be back any minute!” he told them as soon as he could speak again. “Do you want to be still here when they return?”

     The others agreed vehemently, so they paused just long enough for Diana to heal the worst of Jerry’s stomach wounds before hurrying away down the tunnel as fast as possible, Shaun picking up his bow again as he went. They hadn’t gone more than a couple of hundred yards, fortunately, when they saw the welcome sight of an airlock ahead of them. They entered gratefully, closed both the doors and finally allowed themselves to relax.

     Their arrival at the sanctuary came not a moment too soon. Both Shaun and Jerry were growing weak with loss of blood and all the others had various minor wounds, and Diana lost no time in praying over each of them in turn. Shaun then looked dismally down at his once clean and pretty silk bathrobe, now tattered and bloodsoaked. He took it off and tied what was as left of it around his waist while feeling a wry amusement that he could still be worried about modesty.

     Jerry, meanwhile, had removed his shredded jacket and was examining it critically, wondering whether it could be salvaged. From long habit gained while travelling through wilderness, he had a needle and a spool of thread in his pocket. He could make a few repairs the next time they stopped to sleep. His shirt would sew up without looking too bad, he thought, but the jacket would look pretty awful. Like all nomes he was fussy about the clothes he wore. He took great pride in his appearance, loving to wear bright colours and outrageously eyecatching styles, and having to look like a dirty old tramp was almost physically painful to him. On the other hand, though, the thick jacket had protected him from the worst of the cat’s attack and that was a more important consideration. He sighed, therefore, and shrugged it back around his shoulders.

     I heard you praying back there,” said Diana to Thomas as she pushed up the sleeve of his jacket to look at the claw wound on his arm. She looked up into his face, frowning. “Who were you praying to?”

     Thomas nodded guiltily. “I know. You've told me more than once that the Magister's not a real God. It's wrong to pray to him.”

     “The true Gods may be offended. They don't mind which God you pray to, so long as it’s a true God…”

     “The Magister exists!” the wizard protested. “He changes the spells in our spellbooks, adapts them as the magic force warps and changes so they still work…”

     “No-one doubts that he exists. Lots of things exist that aren't Gods. Angels, demons, outer planar powers…”

     “Yes, I know! I'm sorry! I was desperate, that's all. I didn’t know if I was about to kill the woman I… I mean, a woman I care about. One of the women I care about. And Jerry…” He looked guiltily at the tiny nome and was relieved to see him grinning with amusement. He tried not to look at Lirenna, but his eyes were drawn to her against his will and he was relieved to see her smiling as well. Then she dropped her eyes shyly.

     He turned his attention back to Diana, to find her stern, grey eyes still fixed on his. “I'm sorry,” he repeated. “It won't happen again.”

     “It's not my forgiveness you need,” the cleric replied. “I'm sure the Gods will grant you Their forgiveness if you ask for it.”

     “I will,” Thomas promised, and the cleric nodded with satisfaction.

     It was a promise there wizard intended to keep, but he still decided to change the subject, to end the awkwardness. “Moontigers!” he said therefore. “Who’d have believed it?”

     “What?” said Diana in surprise, breaking off in mid prayer, her hands tightening on his upper arm. “You knew about them?”

     “I thought they were just a legend, a myth,” replied the wizard. “My mum used to tell me stories about the moontigers to put me to sleep when I was little.”

     “It’s possible,” mused Jerry. “The old miners were probably forbidden to tell anyone about the mines up here, since the Agglemonians wanted to keep them secret, but they probably saw nothing wrong with telling their families about the giant cats, since they’d just think they were spinning a yarn. They must be descended from ordinary cats that the miners brought up here for some reason.”

     “Did your mum tell you any other stories about Kronos?” asked Lirenna anxiously.

     “There was a story she told me a couple of times about moon monkeys,” replied Thomas. Then he grew pale. “And she once told me a story about a moon dragon.”

     “A dragon!” exclaimed Shaun. “Let’s hope that's a story she just made up.”

     “Of course it was,” replied Lirenna reassuringly. “A dragon wouldn’t fit inside these narrow tunnels.”

     The others relaxed. After the wonders they’d seen so far they’d been ready to believe anything, and when they looked up at the airlock doors’ small windows they half expected to see a huge reptilian eye peering in at them. Lirenna’s logic was unshakeable, however, and they laughed at themselves as they reflected upon how strained their sense of reality was becoming.

     They decided to make camp in the safety of the airlock. Even though they’d planned to stop at one of the forks in the tunnel where there were three airlocks close together, they had no way of knowing how much further they’d have to go before they came to the next such place and they were a little nervous about venturing out without the protection of their magic spells. Also, they were just too tired to go much further.

     They were all exhausted, completely worn out, even though they’d just been floating along since leaving Kronosia’s gravity sphere. Low gravity was more tiring than they’d thought it would be. Thomas and Matthew took the first watch, therefore, the wizard whispering prayers of apology to the Gods while they looked out through one window each, and the others quickly fell asleep, their bodies resting on the floor as softly as feathers.