Unpleasant Answers

Disclaimer: Still unchanged

{Understone Iron Mines}

{Day five; five hours to dawn}

The group of guardsmen walked two by two through the winding tunnels of the Understone iron mines. Some of the tunnels looked odd, like they hadn't naturally formed. Shireen remembered that Endermen were to tall to enter an area less than three blocks high, so they had likely made these tunnels artificially, moving the blocks one by one until they could get through. Shireen was grateful that she had someone like Rachel in her party; even though they could see in the dark rather well, it didn't hurt to have someone who could light the way and give warning when approaching chasms. More than once, one of her soldiers had almost fallen because of a misstep, but were saved by the man next to them.

Shireen called for a full halt, and pulled out the map they had been following up to now. Rachel stood next to her and lighted one of her Blaze Rods, creating a bright orange glow that made many of the company shield their eyes from the sudden brightness. Shireen looked around the lit tunnel of stone, watching the orange light dance with the shadows that she and men cast upon the walls and ceiling.

She turned her gaze to the map, carefully checking and double checking the route they had taken to get here. She looked up from the map and turned toward the way forward, a narrow tunnel that was only a few blocks tall. 'Just tall enough for an Enderman!' She thought. 'I wonder if they made these tunnels too?' She looked back to the way they came, seeing the illuminated faces of her soldiers. The forward two were a skeleton and the spider, followed by the other races, each one paired with a skeleton. There were some in the government that complained about the fact that skeletons made up the majority of the military, but it was a simple fact. Shireen really didn't care one way or the other about the race in her soldiers. She only cared that they carried out the responsibilities expected of them as guardsmen.

She once again returned her gaze to the map, before returning it to her pack. She raised her hand and signaled for the march to resume. They all entered into a single file line as they entered the narrow tunnel up ahead. Rachel went in first, holding her blaze rod forward. Shireen followed closely behind. As she walked ahead, careful to avoid any loose stones, her eye couldn't help but travel to the back of Rachel's head. The orange of her hair was cast into shadow by the fire she was holding. Shireen couldn't quite see her face, but she began to imagine the look of determination the Blaze girls face. While Shireen thought about this, her eye drifted downwards toward her waist, a place hidden by her iron armor. Shireen then realized that she was staring. She was grateful for both the darkness of the tunnel and the fact that most of her men were behind her; because she felt a blush appear on her face.

She shook her head, clearing her head. 'I need to stay focused! I'm a captain of the guard! Not some schoolgirl!' She was snapped out of her thoughts when Rachel abruptly stopped. She felt her body connect with the iron of Rachel's armor, creating a metallic clang that echoed through out the tunnel. Rachel turned her head around, her expression surprised and annoyed at the same time. Shireen quietly scolded herself before looking Rachel in the eye, resisting the urge to note their amber color.

"Sorry captain, but we have a problem." Rachel said, the annoyed look that appeared in her eye disappeared as quickly as it came, but was not unnoticed by Shireen.

"What is it Sergeant?" Shireen said quietly. Instead of speaking, she faced forward and raised her blaze rod. She then swept it through the air twice, releasing two balls of fire that flew forward. Both of them flew off into the darkness; revealing no walls or ceiling, and only an endless stretch of the stone floor, their light starting strong, then becoming faint, before both disappeared into the darkness. After some seconds of silence, there was still no sound to indicate the fireballs had made an impact. "I see..." Shireen walked out of the tunnel behind Rachel, and stood in the empty abyss. She pulled out the map again, beckoning Rachel over.

Shireen scowled as she looked at where they were. "These Endermen are really looking to mine this vein dry. They took the entire cave!"

"I knew that most Endermen were thorough, but this is something else!" One of the skeleton guards said, sheer awe and shock in his voice. Shireen scowl deepened until she heard Danial speaking to his fellow Creeper.

"Why go to all this trouble? There might have been a lot of iron here, but why take the whole mine, stone and all? Why strip it bare?" Shireen then felt something click.

"What if this iron is just a red herring?!"

"Well done Captain! I can see why you reached your rank." several figures appeared suddenly around them. Each one appearing where there had previously empty space. Silence followed their arrival, interrupted only by the sound of the guards drawing their swords. One of them began to clap their hands.

His purple eyes glowed in the darkness, though he was simply one of many pairs of eyes in the darkness. Suddenly Shireen felt a powerful force slam into the left side of her face. She fell to the ground, her sword flying from her hand. She felt her her head hit the hard stone. As she tried to stand up, she heard the sounds of fighting. She turned onto her back an tried to stand up, but felt someone grab her by the hair and pull her up. She felt someones breath on her neck as whoever it was leaned in close, and began to whisper. "Do you hear that sound of men dying? I always loved that sound. Thankfully, my mother is nice enough to let me indulge in my little hobby." Shireen tried to see what was happening. She could see some of her men fighting, but most of them were on the floor, not moving.

Shireen suddenly felt the grip on her hair release, while hearing a pained grunt escape her captor. She saw a brief flash of orange and red, before she felt another hand pull her up, this time by the arm. "Captain, we have to move. Now!" Shireen shook herself to clear her head.

"Your right, but we won't be able to get back the way we came!" She quickly scanned the area as best as she could. She then looked up, and could just barely see the ceiling. "You can fly right?" Rachel looked at her, bewildered.

"Yeah, well more like hovering straight up or down!" Shireen then carefully considered her options.

"Can you carry me up to the ceiling?" Rachel looked at her again.

"I don't know, maybe? It depends on how heavy you are! Not to mention we'll shine like Glowstone once I take off!" The Blaze blinked in surprise when she felt Shireen grab onto her.

"I'll think of something once we're up, now go!" Rachel hesitated a moment, before much of her body began to glow with fire, the blaze rods at her belt broke free and began to orbit her as she ascended into the air. Shireen's arm was linked with hers, and she felt herself dangle as her feet left the ground. The Endermen stopped their attack as they watched the duo climb through the air.

"Hey, they aren't chasing us.!" Rachel said. Shireen smiled slightly, glad that her theory had proven true.

"I was right, they need a solid ground to land on when they teleport! Now we can breath for a moment!"

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one carrying a woman in a suit of iron armor!" Shireen thought for a moment, before she began to work on the clasp of her armor. "Hey, stop squirming, what are you-?" Rachel froze as she saw Shireen remove her iron chest plate and toss it to the ground, where it made a resounding clang in the present silence of the cavern. This was followed by two more as her boots fell and hit the ground. She finally unclasped her leg armor, and sent the last two pieces of her armor falling to the ground.

"Get us up to the ceiling! I can dig us a way out!" Rachel wordlessly followed her orders. Shireen pulled out a pickax that she had thought to equip her team with in case of a mining accident. Once within range, she began to dig at the block directly above Rachel. After they had climbed seven blocks or so, Rachel began to speak.

"Hey captain," She paused to catch her breath. "Can we take a break?" Shireen nodded, and began to dig a landing spot in the wall. She dug one block below her, then the block above that was at her altitude.

"Rachel, I'm about to step off, are you ready?" Rachel nodded, her breath becoming more ragged. Shireen landed softly, then quickly dug a spot next to her to accommodate Rachel. Once the spot was finished, Rachel all but collapsed onto it, her flaming body growing increasingly dim. For a while, the only sound between them was heavy breathing, until Rachel started to speak. "You know, 'huff' what 'huff' Captain? I 'huff' think that might have 'huff' been the 'huff' first time you 'huff' called me by my 'huff' first name!" Shireen thought about that statement, and smiled as she realized the truth of it.

"I think your right. Not exactly the scenario I had pictured for that moment."

"Me neither." Both girls laughed softly, until falling silently as the gravity of the situation began to set in. "Do you think anyone else made it out?" Rachel asked quietly. Her head down. Shireen hesitated, then put a hand onto her shoulder.

"It's possible. We weren't far from the entrance when they appeared." She knew it was as weak as it was unlikely, but now was not the time for that.

"Yeah, you're right." Even though she was smiling, Shireen could see the tears rolling down Rachel's eyes. She lightly ran her hand up and down Rachel's shoulder in a comforting manner, until a third voice shouted at them from below.

"Helloooo?" Shireen recognized it as the voice of the man who had grabbed her at the start of the fight. "If you can hear me, guess what? One of your men is still alive!" They both widened their eyes. "do you want proof, here ya go!" Suddenly screaming filled the air, and both women know to whom that voice belonged; Danial. "Tell ya what, if ya come down here, we'll let you keep him as a reminder of how badly we kicked your asses!" The sounds of teleporting could be heard, but neither woman could tell if that meant they were leaving, or if more had come. Rachel stood up suddenly.

"Your not going to-" Shireen began, before Rachel shoved a pickax into her arms.

"Here, this is the one you gave me. Go ahead and start digging a tunnel out of here. If I don't come back, you have mine if yours breaks!" Before the captain could protest, Rachel jumped forward , and fell into the hole. Shireen crawled to the edge of her platform and looked down trying to see what was happening. She saw a brief blast of fire as Rachel lit herself up again, and saw her send several fire balls towards the ground. Several Endermen teleported out of the way as the flaming projectiles flew towards them. She was too high up to see if Daniel was down there still, when she heard an explosion.

What followed was a stream of profanity from the Endermen who had been shouting, and some a increasingly bright dot that soon focused into Rachel carrying Danial. As the two began to get closer, Shireen quickly dug a new position on the platform. When the two landed, Rachel began to explain.

"So it turns out it was a trap, so they started shooting arrows at me, what they didn't count on though was the fact I could block arrows with fire balls. And with gravity on my side, they would keep falling. Then I remembered that if a Creeper catches fire, they detonate. So once I found Danny boy here," She slapped him in the back, causing him to groan. "I shout a fireball at him, made a big explosion and now here we are!" Shireen was glad to see that Rachel was getting her spirit back.

"Do you still have your pickax Danial?" He looked up and nodded. "Good, because we need to dig up to the surface and make it back to Understone from there! It's the only way we can lose those Endermen for sure! Any problems with that?" When neither of them raised an objection, she gave Rachel's pickax back to her. "Good! Then let's get started!"

A.N.

Hello everyone. This is just what happens when I've had a good day and still have time to write. I know that this chapter is a little light on dialogue, but I tried to set the scene a bit more by being more descriptive. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please let me know what you think of the length, since this chapter was twice as long as the others. Let me know if you want more like this, or if you prefer the shorter chapters.

Hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

Sincerely

The 25th doctor

P.S.

If you left a review for the last chapter, it seems that the website did not register it. A few hours before posting, there were 39 reviews, now their are only 34. I do not know what is happening.