Madeline

Madeline: Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

The ride seemed like forever. 

Four days had passed and there were no signs of mountains with underground lairs. Not to mention, they were running low on food supply. If it weren't for Daniel's high-tech magical tracking device, they would have to solve the riddle to find the Eagle's lair, which would probably take more time. 

Jack was starving, Daniel was thirsty, and Madeline was exhausted. Since the battle, they had been keeping their eyes wide open in case one of them was pulled to the ground like Madeline had endured four days ago. At first, they planned on having some patrol shifts. But turns out none of them succeeded in sleeping peacefully so they thought it was better to just stay on guard and take a twenty minute nap or less. 

Madeline sharpened her silver swords. Usually, Madeline was not that interested in using swords at combats. But when she was first introduced with swords, she had fallen in love with it. 

The grip was perfect. The feeling when she ran and slashed her opponent was ineffable. Magic was cool, sure, but it was not challenging. She could have a safe distance from the opponent and fire lightnings and stuffs. But the feeling of using magic and swords, were definitely different. "Let's go hunt for some food. We're running out of food supply. Jack, Daniel, you guys can hunt for some food, I'll go find some water to fill up our water supply."

"But we haven't slept yet. We've only just taken some short naps. I don't think walking around the wilderness while we're still like this is a good idea," Daniel objected. Sure enough, he was right. "Let's just get some sleep. Hopefully we could still hunt in the afternoon." 

No one disagreed. Just as quickly as they agreed, everyone dozed off. 

Jack was snoring, Daniel was drooling. It seemed as if they had a nice dream. But Madeline slept restlessly as nightmares invaded her sleep. 

She was standing in the mouth of a hollow cave. Madeline could hear the sound of water hitting a rock. The atmosphere was cold and unforgiving. She shuddered. She couldn't see anything as it was dark, but Madeline got a small glimpse of her surroundings. 

The ceiling was covered with stalactites. But oddly, the stalactites were black with a little bit of a silver. Ancient drawings were painted on the wall in glittery silver paint. The only drawing which was visible to Madeline's eyes, was a drawing of a tree. Next to the tree was a girl. Madeline wondered what she would see if there were some light bulbs down there. 

She touched the drawing, and a jolt of shock flowed through her body. The drawing moved, creating a cute, stop motion video. 

The girl climbed towards the tree and stabbed her swords to the tree's upper trunk. The tree disintegrated from the wall magically. Madeline didn't know what it meant, but she kept on watching the magic moving paintings. 

The girl looked confused and so she wandered around. After a few minutes, she looked at her left. Her expression turned from confused to scared. She bolted away, but soon disintegrated too. 

Madeline couldn't see the thing (or painting) that scared the girl away, as it was hidden by the shadows. "What's beneath that darkness? What scared her away?" Madeline whispered.

Just then, a loud thunder echoed through the cave, continued with a series of wicked laughters. 'Sometimes, it is better to know less.' 

The voice was deep and loud. It gave Madeline chills down her spine. "Who are you? What is this place?" She asked. Her lips were quivering with fear, but she did her best to sound confident, and bold. And it seemed to have worked.