Guardian of Elements

Chapter 49 - The grove

The three Guardians left Tawarthion and Lerinth, who came back in his normal form, to their work and headed west. Kate was keeping her distance from the other two and looking to the ground. Eriana noticed that and slowed down a bit.

"Something is troubling you?" she asked her.

"What? No, it's just..." Kate seemed to be shy. "When you were fighting, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't help you, I couldn't even move. I thought that I was ready. But while you were risking your lives, I was crouching in behind like a coward. I felt like a child again."

"You're not a coward Kate. You've helped me a lot and even saved us back in the pass. It's just natural, do you think I was not afraid?" she smiled at her.

"Well, I guess you were, but you were able to overcome it and fight, unlike me."

Morcion, who was walking several steps ahead of them, suddenly stopped and turned to them.

"You are no coward. Eriana told you to stay behind and you did. Think of it like fulfilling the order if you want."

"Thanks, Morcion, you're really helpful," said Eriana, upset.

Kate went to him.

"Morcion, when you were fighting those humans, were you thinking about it? About what you were doing?"

"Yes, I was. About protecting my home."

"I meant about those humans that you..."

"I had no choice!" he shouted angrily and resumed his path.

"Don't be mad at him. He's been always rough, and the three years of constant battling couldn't improve it. He fights his own battle inside," told her Eriana.

The path to Morcion's den was about the same length as to Eriana's domain. At its end, there was a wide cave in a mountain. They had to climb up a bit, but they got to the entrance. Morcion led them in and further into a cavern system. As he stated, those caves were netting the entire mountain, which was great to confuse enemies who would dare to enter. When Kate asked what enemies before humans, he said that it would be great fun to watch her getting lost in there. Kate replied that she would easily find her way out, referring to her ground-sight ability, but he refused to talk any more.

It took some time, but after a while, they saw dim light at the end of the tunnel, leading them to an exit. As they went in, a big chamber opened in front of them. There was a poor light, shining through a small hole in the ceiling, illuminating an underground pond. Its stone shores were covered in moss and there was an overhang above it, with a small tree growing out of a pile of rocks, its roots entangling it. The pond was reflecting the weak light, distributing it to the entire dome, which was about thirty meters wide and equally as high.

"Woow, I did not expect something like this!" Kate was amazed by the fact that this was entirely underground. She jumped down from the small platform by the exit and her feet slipped on the moss. She quickly caught her balance and went to the pond, which had about seven meters in diameter. Its water was crystal clear, making visible a large hole in its bottom, leading somewhere down into darkness. She put her paw into it and the water was surprisingly warm.

"It's an artesian well," said Morcion, who leapt down to her, while Eriana went to the tree on the overhang. "There's also a river, deep below us, which has created quite nice stalactite caverns, and a gigantic waterfall at its end on the western side of the mountain, falling down into the ocean. But I doubt that we'll have time to show you those."

"Maybe not now, but I'd love to see them one day!" She was eager to see everything she could, but now was not the time indeed.

"Maybe. I'm not much into exploration, who knows what's hidden deeper in this mountain. I've been as deep as is the exit at the sea level, and that's about three hundred meters below us."