Dungeons & Disappointment

Chapter 48: Deeper we Go

I looked around at the end of the cavern, and I saw that there was another mining lift, this one heading lower into the mines. We all made our way over to the lift, and I flipped the lever, letting the lift bring us lower into the cavern.

"Man." Ormgaul said as Pomu smoothed out her hair. "It's too quiet down here."

"Well, every time we talk, I can hear my own voice on the cave wall." Finana said as the lift clattered lower and lower. "I'd rather not hear my voice constantly."

"Well, it beats the silence." He replied, looking over the edge of the lift. "And its sure better than-"

CLANK!!

We all looked up at the lift mechanism, which was still working thankfully, but by the time I noticed the problem, it was way too late. The rope snapped like twine, and the lift went into free fall. All of my friends screamed as the world seemed to move in slow motion, the wind roaring in my ears as the lift dropped. I only had time to grab Pomu's lantern and hold it to my chest before we slammed down on the lift at the bottom, with a resounding CRASH.

For about thirty seconds, there was complete silence as we all tried to come to terms that we hadn't completely shattered at the bottom of the shaft, and the groans and moans of my friends reached my ear. I sat up slowly, trying to get over the ringing in my ears, and I looked at all my friends.

"Alright, who isn't dead?" I asked. "Roll call."

I got a round of confirmations from all my friends that they were still alive, then a chorus of groans.

"I think I broke something." BahnBarr said, struggling to her feet as Pomu looked at us with wide eyes.

"Good enough." I said. "Where are we?"

"We fell, so we're probably at the bottom." BahnBarr said, and when I gave her a weak laugh, she nudged us. "Sorry. Just tried to lighten the mood."

I held up the lantern, and I saw that we had missed the point where the elevator should have stopped, and had dropped another twenty feet.

"Ah, great." I said.

Haneen began muttering to herself, the stuck her hands on the ground, forcing a wave of healing to wash over all of us, and I heard a lot of joints popping as wounds closed up. When the healing was over, Haneen dropped to her knees, breathing heavily, and I caught her just in time.

"Whoa there!" I said. "Don't pass out on us yet!"

"Mmmmm." She muttered. "Sleepy."

"Yeah I know, come on." I replied, then turned to Ormgaul as she regained her bearings. "Want to hop on?"

He nodded, then climbed on my back, and we started scaling the wall, but man, it was difficult, and I kept slipping. Every time I slipped, Ormgaul would grip harder onto my shoulders, and boy, it started to hurt. But after a few embarrassing attempts to climb the wall, we finally made it up, and I reached down.

"Climb up, I'll get you guys!" I said.

Finana started scaling the wall, carrying Haneen on her back, and I helped Haneen get up onto the ledge, before helping Finana. She gave me a smile, then BahnBarr made her own way up, giving me a fun scoff.

"Don't even help me up, huh?" She joked.

"Nah, you got it."

She gave me a shocked look, followed by a smile, and I turned to the cave that we had entered. It was dark and dank, with more of the mine braces that were holding up the ceiling of the cave. There were dead lanterns that were hanging from the ceilings. A minecart track ran through the middle of the floor, and there was a large, overturned mine cart, having spilled out most of its cargo of coal. We made our way around the mine cart, but I heard a scratching noise up ahead, like something had fallen across the floor.