The Quest To Destroy Olivine

Chapter 3

We bring our horses to a halt and climb out of our carts. I rub Belle's muzzle and pull out the apple from my bag, holding it up to her mouth. She gently whinnies before accepting the reward. I start taking the harness off her and brush her coat down with my hand. She is sweating all over, so I'm glad she can have a well deserved rest. Once I finish taking the harness off, she lays down under the shade of a tree. I look over at Emily. She has taken everything off Ginger as well and is already preparing her cart for the load of wood it will be carrying soon. I take my bag out of the cart, to allow more room for the wood, and rest it up against the cart's wheel on the ground. Then I grab my axe and walk over to Emily.
"Are you ready?" I ask her.
"Yep! I'm all done." She answers. We head off into the woods, keeping an eye out for any fallen branches on the ground. Not far from the clearing, I spy a small log lying on a blanket of pine needles.
"Hey! Come help me drag this back to the chopping block." I yell to Emily, who is now a few meters ahead of me. She runs back to me and together we lift the log back to the clearing. From there we start splitting it so it becomes usable firewood.

After an hour we have filled up Emily's cart with small chunks of wood. I wipe the cold beads of sweat off my forehead as I throw the first bit of wood into my cart. I decide to take a snack break and grab the Vegemite sandwich out of my bag and start to nibble at it. I sit down next to Belle and Ginger. I watch Emily swing her axe with great strength. She looks up at me.
"Your not slacking off on me, are you?" She says, giggling. I frown at her, then laugh.
"No, no I'm not!" I reply.
"Sure your not!" She laughs. She finishes chopping her log and throws the chunks into my cart, then she comes and joins me. I look at her,
"Now who's slacking off!" I laugh. All she does is glare at me. I look up at the sky and notice that clouds are starting to cover the sun and a chilly breeze rushes through the woods. 
"It looks like that change is coming in." I whisper nervously. Emily looks up too and frowns.
"But it was hours away!" She exclaims. I finish the last of my sandwich and walk over to the carts. We've done well to fill a full cart in such a short time. I suddenly feel the cold wetness of a raindrop fall on my wrist. Emily must of felt some rain too because she starts to get the horses back on their feet.
"If it's gonna start raining we better put the horses in the middle of the clearing incase a tree falls down." She states. I give her a nod and slip on my jumper. A sudden gust of wind blows, sending my brown hair flying behind me. Emily walks up behind me grasping my shoulder tightly.
"We're gonna be in for it." She says.
"I know." I reply gravely. Just as I finish my sentence, the heavens open up on us and we are surrounded by the sound of heavy rain. I pull Emily behind her cart where we can get at least a bit of shelter. I feel the water soak through my clothes and onto my skin. I look over at Emily, she's not much better.
"This is horrible." I yell over the rain.
"Yeah, this is not my idea of fun either. Mum's is probably freaking out at home." She yells back. I close my eyes, she's right. Mum will be panicking about home. She hates it when we are outside in a storm. Suddenly Emily taps my arm rapidly.
"Tahlia! What is that?" She shouts. I open my eyes to see her pointing through the trees at a dark silhouette of a building. I blink a few times, trying to decide whether I was hallucinating or not. My mind is racing a million miles an hour. In all the times I've been here there has never been a shack-like building anywhere. How is this even possible? Emily and I stand up, letting the rain pelt down on our already drenched bodies.
"Let's go and check it out." I suggest with a unsure glance at my sister. I grab my back pack and start adventuring forward into the heavily wooded land towards the shack, Emily follows closely. My hand instinctively reaches for my sword as I approach the shack's door.
"Em, can you grab my torch?" I ask as I grasp the handle. Emily pulls my torch out of my bag and turns it on. I give her a nod and pull the old wooden  door open revealing the inside of the building. We step inside, relieved to get out of the rain. The shack inside is completely empty and extremely dark, having no lights or windows. Emily shines the torch to the back of the room revealing a dark staircase. We exchange a puzzled look before walking to the stairs. It is impossible to see the bottom, it just ends in blackness. Intrigued, we step down into the darkness.