A Forest of Secrets

Chapter 16

The tunnel was dark, but Laurentius' little ball of light was a tremendous help when it came to avoiding tripping over each other: the rocks comprising the walls and floor were so dark that the light didn't reflect back: it ate it. Laurentius insisted on taking a sample of the material, for research. Jo wasn't exactly happy about it: stopping meant wasting precious daylight, she really hoped to get out of the cave before sundown. Wyn was also fascinated by it, she pleaded Jo to please let them take just a small sample, as it might be a completely new material with unknown alchemical properties. Jo had no option but to indulge them: she didn't want to put up with a couple of sulky "children".

As they waited for Laurentius and Wyn to collect "a perfectly untainted sample" of rock, which apparently was very difficult to attain, Jo and Alaric decided to scout a little forward, to see if they could get a glimpse of daylight-- so far, they hadn't even sensed a draft of, somewhat. fresh air. Jo started to wonder if the tunnel was actually a blind alley, leading to nowhere.

Jo took her piece of firerock out of its wrappings,  then made a torch out of a section of the mage's torn cape and a bleached bone she found on the ground-- it looked like it belonged to a large animal, a femur. Maybe the creature went there do die, some animals did that, it was not uncommon. After igniting the torch, the irradiating light revealed the bone had teeth markings on its surface: that... had worrying implications. She didn't mention it to Alaric-- it was just one bone, which could've gotten there in a wide manner of ways. She walked in front of Alaric, holding the light close to the ground. There were more bones now, from at least six different animals: that wasn't a coincidence-- oh, well. She tugged Alaric's shirt.

"I don't think we're alone here," she whispered, pointing at the bones on the ground. Upon closer inspection, she realized all of them had the same markings. The creature they belonged to had sharp narrow teeth. Tons of them. Some bones were crushed, almost pulverized... and they weren't tiny fragile bones: they were massive. In order to crush such bones, the creature must've had an incredibly powerful jaw. Jo gulped, she could feel cold sweat running between her shoulder blades and chest. There was a bog tiger skull laying on top of a pile further ahead, plus a giant skull of something she couldn't recognize: if that thing ate bog tigers... by the creators, that creature sounded scarier by the second.

"Uh. Maybe we should turn around, slowly, and take our chances with the hamadryads," Alaric whispered after she was done scrutinizing the remains. "They don't seem as scary anymore, I'm sure they're friendly, maybe they were just looking for hugs?" Jo smirked at him, putting the torch closer to his face.

"So: get eaten by a monster or get crushed by a giant tree," she replied. "So many wonderful options, how will we ever decide?  I'll have to thank Grandmother for making us come here, I'm having so much fun," she was scared out of her wits. Alaric didn't look any less frightened.

"To think you didn't want to come here," he whispered, chuckling quietly. His voice was a little shaky.

"Come on, let's break the news to our field scholars back there," she sighed. "I'm sure they'll be delighted,"

"Honestly? I think they might be, those two are weird like that," he joked, whispering, as they traced their steps back, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Wyn and Laurentius were putting their "tiny" samples into the magical backpacks; they were giddy with excitement and ready to keep pressing further.

"Bad news guys," Jo told them about the bones. As expected, they were both curious about which animal it was: a giant mole? Perhaps an unknown species? They looked slightly disappointed when Jo told them there was no way they'd get out that way: they had better chances running from the hamadryads, at least there was enough room out there, whilst inside the tunnel... they were like trapped little mice.