The Magical Quest

Chapter 17

Luke woke the next morning feeling much better than the night before. He could actually move his right arm without being in pain, and it was only a little sore. It must've been the healing potions. "GOOOOOOOOOD MORNING!" Luke shouted, causing Jess to go flying into the air, several groans of protest from the tents, and Thundra to charge out of her tent brandishing her staff, wearing nothing but boxer shorts and an oversized T-shirt and shouting "SHADDUP!" Jess recovered from her shock and scowled at him. "Very funny. Very funny." she snarled. Luke smirked. "It's morning," he said. "Apparently, you're feeling better." Jess huffed. At breakfast, multiple people threatened to punch him, and each time, Luke tried not to laugh as they grudgingly restrained themselves. Around midday, when they were checking for an easier place to climb out, Maia yelled from inside the Storm den. "Uh guys, you should see this." Luke picked up Millie and limped over. Millie was pretty heavy, and his arm still hurt. She mewed and swatted at his nose. He laughed. Inside the cave, Maia was examining a tunnel entrance. It was too small for a Storm to fit through, but just the right size for a person. In fact, in the light of Jess' flashlight, Luke could see the marks left from hammers on the stone. "The tunnel isn't natural. It's man made. Looks ancient." Luke observed. "Well, I kinda checked some of it out, it slopes up as far as the beam of my flashlight went in. after that...too dark to find out." Maia told them. Jess pursed her lips. "If it leads upwards, it'll at most get us farther up on the mountain. Maybe it'll go to the top of the mountain." "Well, there's only one way to find out." Luke remarked. After everyone had packed up, they began to hike through the tunnels. Maia was in the front with a flashlight, with Jess in the rear. The tunnel seemed to go more or less in the same direction, sloping upwards at a constant rate, until it leveled out. After about 20 minutes of walking on the flat ground, Maia stopped, and uttered the dreaded "Uh-oh." Raj groaned. "What now?" Thundra sighed. Luke squinted. In the light of Maia's flashlight, Luke could see that the tunnel split off in two directions. He frowned. "I've got a plan. Half of us go one way, the rest go the other way. If one of the groups hit a dead end, then come back here. This'll be the rendezvous point. You guys think that's a good plan?" There was silence for a few seconds. "I think that might work." Maia said. "Luke, you take Matthew, Harriet, Jess, and Becka. I'll take everybody else. You go right, I'll go left." She tossed him a flashlight. Muttering under her breath, Jess shoved past Luke and continued down the tunnel. It was sloping upwards again, and getting narrower. Pretty soon, they had to ditch their packs, because the tunnel was too small. Finally, the tunnel was so narrow that they weren't sure they could crawl through it, but Luke could feel a breeze coming from the tunnel, and could see daylight. "There's fresh air. Also, I can see light." Jess sighed, and poked her head through. "Yup, that definitely leads out." she said. Luke went first. It was a tight squeeze, but the tunnel on the other side of the narrow section was much wider, as if the tunnelers had been digging from both sides, then had stopped halfway through. Suddenly, Luke distinctly felt the tunnel shake under his feet. There was a loud cracking noise from behind him, and there was loud coughing from in the tunnel. "Ack! Dust! It's collapsing!" Jess yelled between coughs, and scrambled through. Millie wailed in fear and sank her claws into Luke's chest. "Ow, ow, retract the claws, please." he muttered. Becka got through okay, but when Matthew tried to get out, his leg brace caught in the hole, and Harriet shouted "You need to --*cough*--you need to hurry!"  Luke began to dig at the earth with his hands. Matthew yelped. "Ow! Ow ow ow! Leg!" "Sorry, man!" Luke shouted in reply, and they finally managed to get Matthew free, and Becka helped Matthew out of the tunnel exit. Harriet lunged through, and the tunnel behind her collapsed entirely. "That--was close." Jess panted. They ran towards the end of the tunnel, catching up with Matthew and Becka. The rumbling started again. Luke called out a warning all too late. The tunnel roof cracked loudly, and Harriet jammed her spear into the ceiling, holding it up with brute strength, and she was obviously not going to be able to hold it up much longer. "Go--now--not much--time--left--" she gasped. "We can't leave!" Luke yelled. "It's--your only--chance--GO!" Harriet snarled, her arms beginning to give way. Luke knew she was right. There'd be no way he could save her and not die. He tore his eyes away and bolted, Millie still wailing above the noise of the shaking earth. He caught a final image of the ceiling collapsing behind him before the the faint light of the sun shining through the clouds struck him. All of them gloomy, Jess, Luke, Becka, and Matthew stood at the mouth of the path. Luke finally broke the silence. "She's--" "--Gone." Jess finished his sentence for him. Matthew was fighting back tears, and Becka just gazed at the sky, sadly. Luke finally took in his surroundings. They were in a massive hollow, with giant, cracked, and mossy stone pillars towering above a giant stone dais. There were hundreds of stone benches set in the ground in all directions, and behind the dais was the mouth of a massive cave. It was eerily silent, the hollow shrouded with fog and clouds. The whole place had a foreboding feeling to it. "Woah..." Luke gasped. Jess suddenly screamed. "MOVE!" and shoved Luke hard. He went careening away, and toppled over the first row of benches. He recovered just in time to see a wall of earth crash over the mouth of the cave, crashing over Jess and cutting short her shout. Becka was wheezing with fright, and Matthew was gasping for breath. "JESS!" Luke shouted.