Endowed - The Four Elements

Chapter Two : The Mines

  This story will no longer be continued, but check out my other story! http://www.wattpad.com/story/7451474-fear-me

The sounds of water dripping from staglimites, the sound of footsteps deep in the cave. Clare was surely not alone. Could it be one of the magicians? Perhaps someone friendly that could help her. Suddenly, a rabbit came running pass her and hopped out of the mine. She frowned, maybe she was alone after all, trying to escape. How did it end up like this? The first thing you know you were happily delivering buckets of milk on a bright sunny day, and then the next thing know you were in trapped inside a cave, being chased, being killed. All Clare wanted was a peaceful life, not a perfect one. But yet here she is now, escaping the only place she called home, where would she stay now? If she got out of the mine, she would be caught by the magicians, maybe if she got lucky, they would spare her life and just put her in the cellar, but if she was unlucky.. She gulped hard and continued venturing deeper into the mines.

 She had blisters and bruises all over her body, her legs for once aching, she felt horrible, she felt exhausted. But she had to go on, or not she would have been caught, maybe the magician was in the cave now, looking for her. Maybe. It was something about the mine that gave her the creeps, she didn't feel safe being alone, bats on the ceiling, she feared them since she was young,their beady eyes and sharp teeth. The thoughts of her doomed future filled her head until she started hearing a conversation, someone murmurring, she noticed light at the far end of the mine, she was right all along, someone was here, but good or evil, she was unsure. She tip-toed across, making sure not to make a single sound, getting closer to the light. And thats when she heard the conversation very clearly.

"Where could that little brat be," Someone spat out, in a cunning voice. 

"I don't know, but she played a good trick on me, my leg still hurts from the accident." Another one snapped, sounding annoyed.

Legs, hurt? She thought, that magician that was chasing her, how could he have passed her but yet she didn't even know? Maybe someone else? She thought again. She took a little peek behind the stone wall. She was filled with anxiety, she was right, the magician before. His forehead swollen, with bruises on his  cheeks and chin, his hands stil rubbing his left leg.

The other man was sitting by the fire, he wore a polka-dot bandana that was red and white, and wore an outfit that was similar to a pirate's one. His left ear was pierced with a golden earing, and an eyepatch covered his right eye, with hes stern features on his wrinkled face. Obviously a pirate, and a magician. A very deadly mix. He was reading a book. She could just point out the name of the book on the leather cover - "Fellice". What a name. She squatted down behind the coarse stone walls and continued hearing what they said. 

" I wonder where the Orb of Nature is, the book says its somewhere deep underground in the mines of Hemshire, whoever tried to obtain the orb, never made it out alive, or to be specific, went missing." finished the Pirate Magician (That's what Clare called him), with a worried expression on his face.

"Lord Hesthar's orders, we must do he says, we already have the three other orbs, how much trouble can this one cause?" exclaimed Wimpy(That was what Clare called the other one).

"To activate the spell, four of the elemental orbs are required, if one of them is either damaged, it will fail to activate it, the orbs are - Orb of the Flame, Orb of the Ice, Orb of the Darkness and Orb of Nature," Pirate Magician said. "The spell requires seven elite magicians each circling the great Circle of the Raven Star, four magicians will be chosen to place the orbs by the spirits of the ravens, if the orbs are placed at the wrong spots that were chosen," He stopped, adjusting his glasses to get a better look of the words, "It would mean the end of the world," He closed the book and gazed at the fire, not believing what he had just read.

"Should we tell Lord Hesthar about this?" Wimpy asked. "If we do fail, it would be the end of us, all of us." he gasped. 

Orbs? Spells? Magicians? Raven Star? And who was this Lord Hesthar? Sometihng was not right, there was something they needed in Hemshire, the Orb of Nature. She had heard enough, it was time to go. But she remembered these names clearly, in case they were useful in the future.

Just when she was about to retreat and continue exploring the mine, she accidentaly tripped on a rock, and gave a loud thud against the ground. She didn't yell, she didn't shriek, not when there were two people who were about to kill you in a mine, she resisted. She got back up, and carefully walked along the path, hoping not to be heard.

"Did you just hear a loud thud, Embreve?"  growled Wimpy, looks like someone is in the mines with us, he giggled. "And I'm sure that certain someone overheard our conversation," he added.

"I don't know, I'm too busy reading, why don't you take a look, rather than rubbing your leg all day, its ridiculous and embaresses me. Our master told us to stay in the mines and not let anyone escape, well I could not care-less, I joined the clan to get my rewards every month, and my hobby of destroying."  said the Pirate Magician, rather angrily. These two magicians were in a bad mood, obviously.

"Well, if you won't then I shall. Unlike you, I'm loyal to Lord Hesthar," said the other, with pride. Soon, his footsteps could be heard, a shadow siloutted in the light of the fire. There was no time for Clara, she had to run, she had to take the risk. She took a big leap and managed to take right turn before he was in sight at the end of the path. She continued the same thing over and over, silently, and reached a  road that branched out to three seperate roads. She stayed there, thinking of which one to enter. Just then, the sound of someone humming could be heard, she took the middle one, without thinking twice.

 After hours of running, she could not find an escape, she remembered her father's words when he was working at the mine : There's an escape route at the end of the mine, its useful if we miners have an emergency. This was exactly the same thing, an emergency, there had to be a path that lead to the correct way, it was a maze. After more hours of solving the puzzle, she finally figured out the code. The path that she walked on, it had the answers all along. The walkways had little arrows in them, all pointing to the correct direction of the escape route, if it pointed backwards, indicated that you took the wrong way, and she soon realized that there was a code too - front, front, left, front, left.

She had performed the same action again and again, yet the cave was never ending. She knew she had solved it, she must have. She was tired, 24 hours of consecutive walking was tiresome. She slowly sat down and started to shut her eyes, taking a rest. It was too late to go back she was too deep inside, her stomach grumbling, having a horrible headache. Surely it was too deep for the made to find her now. She spoke too soon.

Golden light began illuminating the path beside her. Sound of footsteps slowly approching, getting clearer every second. She refused to give up, and stood up again, running weakly across the path, trying to escape the mines, desperately, determined.  Oh god, is there even an end to this mine? She wondered. Her eyelids became heavy, she felt dizzy, the sight infront of her blurring. "I can't.. I can't gi.." she whispered to herself.

She fell to the ground and began closing her eyes, and the saw something green, the forest in front of her, the escape route, she finally made it. She managed to smile, but it was gone when she saw someone standing infront of her, holding an oil lamp, crouching down. It was the magician earlier.