It had been hours since the group split. The moon crept closer and closer towards the ground with it set to soon vanish beneath the horizon. The lights at the entrances of the caves had been extinguished utterly, even those only a minute’s walk in to reveal no light. Elise moved along the tunnels with new torches in hand, taking some old ones off to place in a weaved basket, placing new ones that were then lit. Without word she kept on, having many burned in a basket on her back full of full ones.
Steps approached followed by the clanking of wood on rock. Her head turned to the left where Destiny stepped up with a lighter in hand and Thomas with a collection of burned out torches.
“You dropped some,” Elise sighed with a shake of her head.
“Ah come on, it was an accident,” Thomas groaned.
“Uh huh, I’ll remember that excuse,” Destiny chuckled.
The trio moved up the hall to a cart with a pile of burned wood. A few stacks of unlit torches rested ahead of the pile of used. Pulling the basket at her side ahead, Elise dumped what she had down onto the pile of used. In only a second she had added dozens to the pile, to which Thomas added just as many by dropping his load clumsily.
“Blehk, now I’ve got ash arms,” he muttered.
“Welcome to the club,” Elise chuckled back, moving ahead to the rope of the cart.
The three continued on, the cart being pulled behind. Bedding on the back that sat ragged had begun to shift, the used torches spilling on top. It creaked as the wheels turned, stuff shuffling as it hit the holes and cracks in the floor. Their steps echoed with the crackle of the flames and the dripping of water.
“So you mean to tell me that you just- you let Vulper go with three people?” Thomas asked with a look right to Elise.
“It was an order and it made sense at the time. They were a well equipped squad and in that situation, ya know it just- well it fit.”
“Yeah yeah I know,” Thomas mumbled, “Still I have to wonder about them, what they found and all that.”
“If I had to guess, those Priest guys set fire and destroyed that Vampire Clan,” Destiny growled.
“No way Desti, how in the hell could mortals do that?”
“It’s possible,” Elise replied with a glance at Thomas, “Their technology has come a long way. We’re using some of their older stuff to light the caves up after all. All humans can get these lighters for practically nothing.”
The group turned a corner, stopping short at the sight of a man in front of them. He stood, arms behind his back, eyes forward as the trio came round. With a nod directly at them the three stopped.
“Ladies,” the man called.
“Tyler?,” Thomas mumbled, “What’s up. Has Vulper’s team come back?”
“Yeah, yeah they have. Pretty much what Destiny guessed by the way,” he yawned.
“What?!” Elise stammered.
“You eaves dropping pig,” Destiny barked.
“Yeeup, entire clan of about a hundred got reduced to a pile of shit I guess. Not a single survivor. Bunch of guys in crosses were responsible for that according to Vulper. He took off though when some lady in white popped up apparently throwing a fit.”
“What the hell, the children too?” Destiny replied.
“Dude, that’s messed up,” Thomas mumbled stepping back a pace.
“Yeah. Azala is ordering a lock down of the clan, no one is to leave and all traps are to be recovered till we learn more. Oh but that order does not apply to you shrimp,” he spoke, coughing at the end while raising his right arm.
Elise looked forward, seeing Tyler’s pointer finger stick out at her while the rest of his bent back. With a blink she looked to his face with a tilted head, “Me? Why?”
“You have a routine of heading to Emerton every now and again when you finish one of your stupid books. You’re going to go snoop around at dawn here in a few hours and find out what you can.”
“Why me though?”
“You can walk in the daylight with no discomfort you scrub and people are used to seeing your ugly mug. You can say you heard about a fire and ask around. Unless people feel like covering it up, should be real easy to figure out what happened and if anything else is going to go down. Oh and see if you can find where Elen ran off to.”
“Elen? Why?”
“She’s been missing for a few days, ever since Belama ran into her and beat her.”
“What!?” Elise spat.
“Ha, can’t believe you didn’t hear about that. Yeah Belama cornered her in a tunnel and just went ham on Elen.”
“Elise, don’t-” Destiny began, cut off quick though by the rise of Elise’s hand towards her.
“No Desti, this is fine. If I can be useful by doing this then I’m going to do it for the clan. He’s right. People are used to seeing me during the morning and at night. Should be a real easy task. Besides, if Elen is out there, well, I want to find her.”
“Good luck, gay girl,” Tyler chuckled walking forward, bumping right passed Elise with a chuckle.
The three turned, watching him disappear down the twisting tunnel. Thomas growled in response, “That creep.”
Elise simply turned with a rather audible step, nodding in response. The cart rattled a few seconds following, their steps echoing off the walls again, “The rest of these torches will have to wait until tomorrow evening I guess. The old ones should be good till then, or at least there should be enough to cover for those that go out.”
“Just be careful,” Thomas replied.
“Stop worrying. I mean, I’m thankful that some people in the clan are concerned for me but still, it’ll be alright. This is one of the few ways I can prove my worth without being yelled at after all. I can do this like nothing compared to the rest of you. Meanwhile, see if you guys can find Elen in the deeper caves. She can’t have gone too far. She might just be below either lost or isolating.”456Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgeVNCVr5g4
