"Fam," the swordswoman cried out as the young wiggan dropped out of sight into the hole that opened up in the middle of the ground in front of the door. She ran over to the edge in time to see her friend tumble headfirst down the stairway that had been uncovered. "Only stairs. I thought it was a pitfall," Ihrie consoled herself as she started down into the darkness. It was a relief to know some things did change over time. "Fam, are you okay? I'll be there in a second."
Unfortunately, her words rang true as she found out the hard way that the stairs were worn quite smooth, causing her to mistake her footing and tumble the rest of the way down. When she finally rolled to a stop at the base of the stairway she found herself looking up at a likewise battered Fam.
"Hey, it's a lot brighter in here than I expected. Warmer too."
Fam was too busy gingerly extracting her tail from her clothes to notice. "I think I broke it," the cat girl cradled her tail while trying to locate the source of the pain. "Owie. Ihrie, I landed wrong on my tail."
Ihrie pulled at her scarves, undoing the wrap so that she could breath. It wasn't just warm in the cavern, but stuffy and humid. "Let me see," she went over and inspected the injured appendage. "I don't think there's a right way to land on your tail, Fam."
"It's not funny. It really hurts."
"I wasn't trying to make a joke. But, if it makes you feel any better, I don't feel any breaks. Maybe you just sprained it. Try not to wiggle it around so much." Ihrie really didn't see a way to keep Fam from accidentally doing so, and decided the wiggan was just going to have to deal with it. She told her as much.
---
Ten minutes and not a little bellyaching later, found the girls wandering down the main corridor of the cavern. They'd discovered that the source of the ambient light was a soft fungal growth on the walls of the cave, probably due to the abnormal warmth and moisture present in the air. Fam had decided to run her hands along the fuzzy wall, and found that her fur came away faintly glowing, which amused her enough to take her mind off her sore tail for a few moments. Ihrie hadn't found it quite as funny, since Fam kept trying to ruffle Ihrie's hair with the glowing powder.
Eventually, the novelty wore off and the pair continued in silence, doing their best to watch for any sign of danger.
The cavern seemed to stretch on forever, and considering the size of the mountain, it was likely that they might end up walking a few miles before reaching the end. But that wasn't the case, as the corridor eventually widened considerably, and the sight stopped the girls in their tracks.
They found themselves staring out at a huge underground lake. The bed of the lake must've been covered in the same fungus as the rest of the cavern since the steaming waters pulsed a bright orange hue.
"It's so pretty," Fam broke the silence.
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(Posted Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:58)
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