Alliance of Heroes

Chapter 4 - Dragon and Destroyer

Chapter 4 - Dragon and Destroyer

Shadows flitted in and out of Jake's view as he and Maia continued down the passageway - only a few moments later, both the pain and the feeling of omniscient watchfulness vanished, and he had told Maia that it had been nothing. He doubted she believed him, but he hardly cared. He guessed that the guards that had been pursuing them had not picked up their trail as they had not been followed and met no one else.

"The entrance to the Underground Sub-rails is not far from here," Maia told him. "We do not have far to travel."

Soon they came to a large hole in the ground, one obviously made by human hands. Ancient symbols were carved into the ground around it, and Jake wondered just how old this tunnel system was. A large old stone staircase descended in a spiral downwards, leading not into blackness, but another brightly lit cavern. Maia began walking down, Jake in tow, staring around - the area here was no less professionally made, but it too, had little sign of use.

A few shovels and pickaxes lay scattered around, in the darkest corners of the place, as well as several other pieces of mining equipment, all battered and covered with a fine sheen of rust. The staircase even had a rough stone banister chiselled out of the rock, though it, too, looked aged, and so unstable Jake was wary of touching it.

"Is this safe?" asked Jake as part of the staircase crumbled into dust under his feet.

"I do not know," answered Maia. "But be careful, in any case."

His boot knocked into something hard several steps down, and, bending down, he found a small locket, containing a picture of a family. A young man, dark hair slicked back, grinned out at Jake, his arm around a homely, blonde-haired girl, who cradled a tiny child in her arms.

He felt his mouth twitch as he stared at the photo, reminded of his own family, and found that he had already become slightly homesick. He thought, too, of the family he had just encountered moments ago, slaves for Yerga's kingdom, yet treated as lesser beings. Had these people in the photo met a similar fate? He scowled, snapping the locket shut and holding it tightly.

After a moment's deliberation, he left the locket in its resting place - the eyes of the family seemed to bore into him, asking him why he had run away from the same thing, and whether he would ever see his parents again.

They kept walking downwards and eventually came to a large cave with a rusted track leading out of it, possibly for a mine cart. Jake walked over to it and inspected the metal rails.

"What is this for?" he asked.

"When supplies and equipment were needed, they could be sent along these rails," said Maia, looking through an old shed in the corner of the cave. "That way they could travel faster than walking and could be received by other people within a day."

She pulled something out of the shed. Jake groaned. A small wooden mine cart slowly rolled over to him, its small rusty wheels squeaking.

"Get in," said Maia, going back into the shed. "We have no time to waste."

"We're going IN this?" Jake exclaimed.

"Yes," Maia replied. "It will much quicker. Do not worry, it is quite safe. Pull the cart onto the tracks and do not let it go."

Jake did as he was told. The cart sat neatly on the tracks and Jake grabbed it before it rolled away into the blackness of the tunnel. Maia was coming out of the shed, holding two torches in one hand and a map in the other.

"We can follow this track all the way to Ker'ai," said Maia, blowing on the map to get rid of the dust covering it. She handed one of the torches to Jake and sat in the front of the cart, examining the complex panel and levers there - he thought the thing looked like a creation from the future, so unique was it from what he had expected, now that he saw it up close.