Hello. Thanks to all of you who are still reading and reviewing. Yesterday I got to 50 reviews so an enormous thank you to everyone! =D
Updates will be less frequent as I'm going back to school in a couple of days but I'm hoping to update at least once (hopefully twice) a week.
Hope you enjoy chapter 9.
I don't own the Lorien Legacies.
Marina
The morning sun shines over the mountain, momentarily blinding me despite the fact I'm hidden behind a small copse of trees. Six and John left five minutes ago. They're going to wait nearer the entrance to the cave, ready to enter as soon as we've started our 'attack'. Two chimeara and Sam are staying behind at the house, watching the tablet and guarding our chests and Sarah. The rest of us are waiting for Nine to signal the beginning. Eight and I are hidden in the trees with two chimeara. BK is with Nine closer to the edge of the mountain. Adam and Dust are hidden about 100m away from me and Eight. We're all waiting nervously.
One of the chimeara nudges my arm. That's the signal. Eight begins the countdown. Five seconds later, a huge tremor rushes through the ground beneath us. A few trees fall and rocks roll down the steep hill. A few seconds later, we hear the sirens coming from the base directly beneath us. Hopefully we haven't trapped Ella or released a beast. It was the only way we can get their attention away from the base and draw them far enough away.
Eight's warning last night stays in my mind as I take a deep breath and try to stay calm. The soldiers will be here in seconds. We could be hurt today, we could be killed. Eight refused to tell me more about his foreboding feeling, which hasn't helped; if I knew what it was, then I could prepare.
As soon as the first few soldiers run over the top of the hill, Nine charges and BK follows him whilst turning into a bear-like creature with curling horns and lethal claws. The soldiers are ash before they can even try to fight back.
They have enough time to raise the alarm so that other soldiers will follow them. When the rest of the Mogs pour onto the hilltop another tremor rocks the ground as Adam and Dust charge forwards. Adam shoots a Mog canon he stole from the battle at the hotel whilst Dust joins BK in devouring a group of soldiers approaching from another direction. John and Six should be entering the cave now. I look down at my watch. It's ten past six am. They said that they'd be as quick as possible. I'm just hoping that's no more than an hour or so.
Eight and I remain hidden. I look over at him, "That thing you said would happen–"
"It's almost happened already. We can't stop it," Eight replies, "You'll be fine, don't worry."
"What about you?"
"I'm not going anywhere apart from back to the house after we're done with all this."
"Do you know what it is?"
"Not quite."
"Will you tell me when you know?"
"Of course," Eight shakes his head, "Have a bit of faith in me; I'm not going to find out what's wrong and then do nothing about it."
The chimeara nudges me again and I turn back to the battle.
"You ready?" I ask Eight.
He just smiles before turning into his ten-armed lion-man form and charging with the chimeara at his heels.
Six
John and I wait by the entrance. We're invisible so the guards can't see us but we have to remain silent if we want to go undetected. Being silent is easy enough for me, but John is having a bad day. He woke up crying and has spent the whole journey here sniffing and sobbing. Every time he went quiet, it was only a matter of time before he started crying again. He's been quiet for about half an hour now; definitely the longest time so far. I'm just hoping that for both our sakes, he can hold back his grief for a while. Once we're out of there, he can collapse in a pool of tears, but right now we need to be strong. Being strong isn't always easy, I know that from experience, but sometimes we have to put our own pain away for a while to help some-one else.
When the ground beneath us shakes and a few boulders fall from the ceiling of the cave, I pull John forwards. We need to be quick so it's a relief that I have the way to the cells where I was kept memorised. I'm hoping that Ella will be there. Just because we've escaped from them before doesn't mean that the Mogs will change the location of the cells. More likely, it'll mean higher security but we can deal with that.
The maze of tunnels bring back many memories: the Mogs attempts to kill me, my escape and Katarina's death. I shudder involuntarily at the thought of that moment when he killed her. I vowed that I would be a worthy tribute to her memory; that I would never give up the fight. Now is another chance to prove that; it's another chance to get revenge. Revenge is what made John come here. Revenge made him stop crying. Revenge is what persuaded him to fight with me rather than the others.
A siren blares over the compound as more rocks fall. Soldiers sprint past us, canons ready to fire and more run towards the huge corridor where the beasts are kept. From the roars that echo through those tunnels and the beasts John and Sam described from when they ventured down there, I know that the others will have a tough battle. They've have worse. They've had to battle one of our own before.
The corridors weave deeper and deeper into the mountain side, until the rumbling earth is far behind us. We'll have to hope we don't get stuck down here. Telekinesis will help us move any rocks, but it'll also give away our location. I'm certain that the Mogs will find out when we rescue Ella that some-one has broken in, but any clue given to them is a chance for them to catch us, a chance for them to kill us.
We skid to a halt in the corridor filled with cells. The doors are all flung open and the force fields are all deactivated. No-one's here. They must have put Ella somewhere else, if she is here.
"They kept our chests where the beasts were," John whispers, "Maybe they thought Ella would be safer in there too."
For a second I wonder what could have changed the Mogs from their usual stupid ways but then it becomes obvious: Setrakus Ra.
I pull John back towards the bridge over the pit. They've already taken Five from our side. I'm not giving them any more time to try and do the same with Ella.
