The Elantra Pirates

Chapter 12

Yunga gets up from the ground, her ears ringing from the explosion. She landed in the midst of some bushes and tall grass. She grabbed her back and lifted her body up a bit, stretching out her back, letting it crack. She rolled on her stomach and used her arms to get up from the ground.

The rubble and pieces of stone left from the stone pillars and cave entrance surround her as she looks around her. She can see the dust and ash from where the rats were charging. The cave entrance is completely gone but something is left there. It looks like a perfectly cut hole in the ground that connects to a spiral staircase going directly down. She walked over to the peculiar sight and looked down. With the sun shining down on top of it, she could see how far it really went down. She estimated it to be about five stories deep.

Yunga hears some groans from the rest of the crew and Shanta talking. She rushes over there to check up on them. Zunci is on the ground, her face buried in the dirt, not moving.

"Zunci?" Yunga kneels down and pokes at her hip. "You ok?" Zunci lifted her face up from the ground, dirt smeared on her face.

"I think so." Zunci said. "Nothing hurts right now." Yunga helped her off the ground, and got to her feet.

"Is everyone else ok?" Yunga asked the others.

"Yeah, I think we're all good." Shanta said.

"Wait, where's Shug?" Brentha asked in concern, jumping to her feet and looking around.

"He probably got thrown around like we did." Shanta responded.

"Well where the fuck did he land?"

"Don't know."

"Don't worry I'm over here!" Shug came limping out of a bush, and fell into the ground. Brentha came running over to his side.

"Is your leg ok?" Brentha asked.

"Yeah, I just need to get used to walking on it." Shug said, getting himself off the ground. "It only stings a little bit. I should be fine."

"Good."

Brentha smiled at Shug, and he gave a weak one back.

"Shanta." Yunga said. "When the fuck could you do that?"

"I don't even know myself." Shanta said. "I shouldn't even be able to do that in the first place. But, something about that water. It enhanced my magic in ways that I didn't know was possible."

"I thought it was just water meant for trapping ships in the water."

"That's what I thought too, but after touching it, I got this weird feeling in my chest."

"Well, I'm not complaining. Really saved our ass back there."

"Those rats aren't going to be the only problem we'll face. If I'm correct, we have a much bigger threat. I'm talking about Drinter sized threats."

"Do you know somebody who might be here? Like another mage?"

"It has to be a grand wizard. Nothing else I can think of."

Yunga looked back at the destroyed cave entrance, and the hole in the ground. "We still gotta push forward." She helped everyone else up off the ground and they walked over to the big hole in the ground.

"I knew something was up when I looked in here." Shug said. "I even threw a little pebble down and could barely hear it."

"How far does this fucking thing go down?" Hillanter said, peeking over the edge "You can barely see the bottom of it."

"There's only one way to find out." Yunga said. "We have to take the descent down." Yunga started taking the spiral staircase down, her steps echoing down the hole.