Beneath the Dark Crystal

Chapter 6

Mavra stares down into the crack, her ears twisted back in thought. Thurma starts to tear up hot blobs of lava, hiding her face in her hands. "No ... what have I done?" She asks defeatedly.

Suddenly, a thought pops into Mavra's mind. "Wait! Thurma, the catacombs! That's the deepest part of the castle! Maybe it went there," She exclaims, shakily standing up.

Thurma's ears perk up as she jumps up onto her feet. "R-Right ...! Right! Let's go!" She says, letting Mavra lead the way.

Once the two make it down to the catacombs and search thoroughly, they--fortunately--find the shard laying on a wide tree stump. "There!" Thurma says happily. Mavra sighs in relief, running over to the shard.

They stop in their tracks when the tumbeloth--that visited Thurma earlier--dangled down in front of them using its sticky and elastic tentacles that stuck out from the holes in its shell. "Hey! I saw you earlier today," Thurma says, smiling at the tumbeloth.

Mavra blinks in surprise and sighs. "Oh, it's just a tumbeloth."

Thurma hums and says, "A tumbeloth? Hm. Well, hi, there, uh ... could we please have that shard? I-It's very impor--"

Thurma starts to speak to the tumbeloth, but is cut off by its monstrous scream. It tucks its head in as the top of its shell pops open, revealing many more green tentacles that snatch the shard, and keep it tucked in its shell. The tumbeloth goes back to its cute self before swinging away from the two stunned girls.

"No! Stop! Wait!" Thurma shouts, jumping over the tree stump and following the tumbeloth.

Mavra quickly follows suite, spreading her wings out, and pushing herself ahead of Thurma to catch up to the tumbeloth. "Wait! Tamâr! Tamâr! Come back, tumbeloth!" Mavra calls out.

Thurma glances up at one of the cracks in the ceiling, hearing the soldiers talk to one another. Oh, no, they're close, she thinks, running faster. Thurma watches as Mavra flies closer and closer to the tumbeloth, smiling when she's just a little ways reach from the creature. Thurma looks ahead, squinting when she sees a dark figure in the distance. She looks back up at Mavra, seeing how she was about to crash into the figure. Mavra grins, stretching her arms out to the animal.

"Almost--"

"Mavra, look out!" Thurma cuts her off.

Mavra glances back at Thurma in question. "Huh--oof!" She says, crashing into the dark figure and laying on top of him in a tangled mess.

Thurma winces from the crash, jogging over to the two. "Mavra, are you okay?!"

"Mavra?" Kensho asks, sitting up with her as she sat in his lap.

Mavra also lets out a groan, rubbing her aching head, and staring at Kensho. "Kensho?"

She smiles along with Kensho as they hug tightly, laughing in relief. "Oh, Kensho! I'm so happy we found you! I-I've been so scared, and so lost! I just--oh, I could kiss y--" Mavra quickly shuts up, realizing she's jabbered about way too much.

Kensho's arms tighten around her, his heart beating fast from the word 'kiss.' "Wh-What?" He asks Mavra.

Her cheeks warm-up and she unhooks her arms from around his neck. "I-I mean ... I'm happy you're here, now."

She clumsily stands up, giving Kensho a hand while looking away awkwardly. He notices Thurma and smiles, "Thurma, you're here, too!"

She smiles back at him nods. "It's so good to see you! We ... we ... uh," Her voice became small. She can't tell him what they've been up to. He won't want to help them if he did find out.