The Magical Quest

Chapter 18

As the wall of earth crashed over her, Jess had only enough time to shove Luke clear of the descending wave of rock and earth. Her last shout cut off by the dirt threatening to fill her lungs, Jess couldn't fight it. She was sucked down, buried under possibly tons of dirt and rock, immobilized. She couldn't see. She couldn't speak. She couldn't hear. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. The dirt was crushing her chest. I hate dirt, she thought. If I survive, I never want to play in the mud ever again. She would die here. Jess held her breath, partially because she feared if she let it out it would be her last, and the fact that her mouth was full of dirt. She was about to give up hope when something cleared the dirt from her face and mouth. She gasped, and gulped mouthfuls of air. "AIR! Oh, sweet mother thank you!" She gasped. "Hold on, we're digging you out." Becka's voice came from above. Slowly, they worked her legs, then her arms free, and Jess was able to crawl out of the dirt. However, when she put her weight on her left leg, agony flooded through her. "Oooh, ow. I think my ankle might be broken." Jess said with a grimace. "I was about to point that out to you," Luke said. Millie was crouched on one of the stone benches; her fur fluffed up so that she resembled an orange porcupine under attack. Jess ended up half crawling, half dragging herself to one of the benches where she examined her ankle. The joint was twisted at an odd angle, and a bit of broken bone was poking against the skin, blood oozing out of the puncture. Jess tried not to throw up. It hurt to even wiggle her toes. Luke frowned. "It's bad, but I've seen worse. I won't describe it to you though; you look like you're about to puke." Jess scowled at him. "Whatever." she muttered. Becka was screwing around near the dais, and Matthew still looked traumatized from the collapsing cave incident. Jess remembered that she had a healing potion in her pack, but remembered that it was somewhere underground, probably crushed under tons of earth. "Crud." she muttered aloud. "What?" Luke asked. "I remembered I had a healing potion in my pack. It's underground, along with my spare set of clothes, and my first aid kit." she groused. "I carry one in my utility belt." Luke said, and opened a pouch, and then said: "Don't kill me, but this might hurt just a bit," He carefully twisted the bone back into place. It required all of Jess' willpower to keep from screaming in pain and backhanding Luke into a column. "I set the bone. Hold still, and I can brace it." Luke reassured her. "Sounds--fine--" Jess growled through gritted teeth. After wrapping her ankle in some bandages to hold the bone in place, Luke simply said "All that's left to do is wait for Maia and her group to show up." Jess hoped and prayed it would be soon.

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    A good fifteen minutes before the tunnel caved in on Luke's group far below them, Maia's group trudged on. The tunnel had become uncomfortably steep, and Chris was moaning that his legs hurt. Suddenly, Maia bumped into a wall. "Ow!" she yelped. "You okay?" Thundra asked. "Dead end. Damn it. We'll have to turn around and go back." "Wait, not quite," Thundra countered, and pointed up. Frowning, Maia pointed her flashlight up. Startled, she realized that the tunnel continued, but it went straight up through the earth. "Well, that's only easy for you. You can fly." Maia huffed. Thundra scowled. "I had a plan, but you didn't let me say it." "Well, what is it?" Maia asked. A few minutes later, Thundra was flying, with Maia, Chris, Fircone, Raj, and Lily tied to her legs. Thundra seemed to be enjoying knocking the boys into walls whenever possible, though. After a while, the tunnel seemed to level out, and was actually beginning to slope down. After a few more minutes, they emerged into open air. Thundra whooped and shot into the sky like a flash of lightning. Maia knew that Thundra hated enclosed spaces, and she'd be back soon. "Hey look! Down there!" Fircone yelled. The mountain side had trembled a few seconds ago, and four figures came diving headlong out of the mountain, just as an entire section of cliff collapsed. A few moments later, Maia saw a huge wall of earth and rock charging down the mountain side. "RUN!" she screamed. Chris got the message, and bounded away. Fircone grabbed Raj's arm and yanked him clear, and Lily went flying into a bush, her fur bristling with fright. Maia herself managed to get out of the way in time. Thundra was hovering 10 feet in the air, a startled look on her face. "Wow. That was one heck of a mudslide." "Erosion,  probably." Maia said. "Wait, Fircone said he saw some people down there. Do you think it was them?" Thundra asked. "You just read my mind." Maia said. They began to hike down, but the process was slowed down considerably, given the fact that the ground was covered in mud and earth, making it extremely difficult to walk. As they trudged down, Maia hoped her friends were fine.

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    Luke was the first to spot Thundra. "Hey guys! Thundra's flying up there!" he yelled. Thundra must've heard him, because she waved, and then flew down, landing smoothly on one of the benches. "What took you so long?" Luke asked. "Cave went straight up in one part," Thundra huffed. "Had to carry everyone." Luke laughed. "Tell Maia she needs to hurry up." Jess growled. "My ankle is killing me."A few minutes later, everybody else showed up. "Where's Harriet?" Chris asked. Luke lowered his gaze. "The tunnels caved in. She didn't make it." he muttered. Everyone fell silent. "May she be remembered." Maia murmured. "Hold on." Raj said, breaking the silence. "Do you hear that?" In fact, Luke did hear it. A low growling noise was beginning to emanate from the cave behind the dais. Becka, who was trying to climb one of the pillars, just shrugged. Everyone fell silent, paralyzed with shock and terror as whatever had made the noise crawled out onto the dais.