NEW CHAPTER! NEW CHAPTER! REVIEW! REVIEW! I'm really sorry but the number of reviews had really dwindled over the last few chapters. Seriously I am not going to update until I have more reviews! Some please… review!
Across the Worlds
Chapter 25: The cave
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Exhaust fumes belched into the air as the truck rumbled on down the narrow stretch of road. It was a military vehicle, its body a patchwork of motley green and reinforced steel.
The back of the truck was a tray roofed by oiled canvas and it was here that Peter, Inara and Elias sat.
"Echo Squad," Derrick was speaking into a radio-phone, "Report."
"Echo to base," a voice crackled over the walkie-talkie like device, "North road is clear."
"Good. Keep scouting," Derrick put the phone down.
There were three other men with them including Derrick's own son, David.
"Where are we heading?" Peter demanded.
"A set of caves located in the Highsky Mountains,' David said quietly.
"To get this Djinn thing?" Inara asked unsurely.
David nodded as Derrick and his men conversed in quiet voices.
"BOOM!"
Everyone let out a cry of shock as the truck jolted almost tipping over as a massive concussive wave blasted into its side.
"What the hell?!" Derrick snarled furious.
Everyone instantly looked through the open back of the truck. Elias gasped at the sight of a burning truck wreathed in hot blue and pink flames, purple sparks flying everywhere.
"What the…" Peter began frowning.
"URSINE!"
Derrick's radio phone burst into life as a frantic voice boomed through the truck cabin.
"PATROL! URSINE PATROL!"
"They knew about our mission?" Derrick demanded incredulously.
"NEGATIVE! Seems like a random patrol!"
Derrick cursed but his anger drained away as the cool face of a calm and collected leader fell into place.
"All units! Return fire! We can't have those Ursines report back!"
The reply was instant as gunfire roared through the terrain. There was a lull in the barrage of hot bullets and pained screams could be hard.
"BOOM!"
A blast of crackling energy blazed into the side of another vehicle in the Toran convoy. The occupants bailed before the vehicle detonated, spraying hot flames and metal everywhere.
"Rocket!" Derrick held out his hands and one of the soldiers deposited a long thick black tube in his hand.
David peeled a section of the canvas back and Derrick aimed through the gap, tracking the energy blast back to its source amongst the rocky landscape.
His finger jammed down on the red button and hot flames spewed from the head of the tube as a rocket shot forwards, smoke trailing in its wake.
The rocket shot through the air like a shark, lethal and fast before disappearing amongst an outcrop of rocks.
A minutes of utter silence followed then-
"BOOOOMMMM!"
The truck rocked on its wheels as the boulders disappeared in a burst of fire, smoke and shattered stone.
There was a tense silence as the Torans wanted for a retaliation but all was still.
Derrick grabbed his phone.
"We press on. I want two medics looking after the injured, otherwise everyone else find a truck and move. NOW!" he ordered to all his units.
The vehicle convoy rumbled on as Peter, Inara and Elias stared at each other.
"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Elias demanded incredulously.
Peter sighed wearily, looking like the battle-scarred veteran he was. He glanced out the truck's back, blue eyes scanning the mountains. He turned to the others.
"Do we have a choice?"
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The creatures snorted and hissed as they trampled everything in their path in a sinuous weaving way, their bodies almost thrashing like a snake's. They were like giant lizards with lazy gold-flecked eyes, their skins beaded and olive green. Their long claws dug into the loamy dirt as they trashed their way through the woods, saplings and bushes folding up their weight. Perched on top of their immense backs, clinging to puny leather saddles, the Ursines rode.
"What are these things?" Elias demanded.
Siobhan looked at him obliquely, a smile in her mysterious eyes.
"We call them the Ka-Lac, beasts of the evergreen," the Ursine Princess said quietly.
A cry came from up ahead and the whole party of trampling lizards stopped, the Ursines glancing uneasily at each other.
"What is it?" Susan asked quietly.
"We're reaching the edges of our land," Siobhan informed them, "This is Toran territory now."
"And that's bad?" Zaru asked, clinging to the saddle with every claw he possessed.
"Very bad," Siobhan said quietly, "The Torans like to…"
"BOOM!"
A Ka-Lac was thrown up into the air, its stomach ripped to shreds by a fiery explosion as blood and chunks of smoking meat flew everywhere. The Ursines riding the lizard were instantly killed in the blast.
"… lay traps," Siobhan finished grimly, "FATHER!"
Myron, who was astride the biggest Ka-Lac, a veritable dinosaur covered in spines and armoured scales, roared in fury.
"URSINES!" he thundered, "NOW!"
The bear mages instantly hurled bolts of power to the ground triggering off other hidden landmines. They detonated with deadly force, columns of fire and smoking spurting high up into the air.
But disabling the landmines only seemed to have set off a second trap. There was cries of shock as a huge log, easily the size and dimensions of a mansion pillar swung down from the canopy, a complex rope and pulley system coming to life.
The log hammered into two Ka-Lacs, cracking the lizards' ribs and driving bony shards deep into organs. The giant lizards died noisily as their riders were hurled metres into the air, soft bodies slamming into trees and rocks.
Out of the dozen riders, only one got up.
"NOO!" Myron howled in fury.
He hurled a fireball straight at the log and the wood instantly exploded.
"DEFENCE! NOW!" the Ursine King roared.
Four Ursines held up their hands and glaring bright lines of pure power shot out from their palms connecting the four of them together in a square. Everyone else hurried in the safety of the magic as with a cry, the four mages summoned up an impenetrable wall of shimmering magic.
And not a moment too soon as a second log swung down from the trees. The trunk slammed into the barrier and bounced off as the mages grunted.
"Advance! Defensive formation!" Myron roared, "GO!"
The Ka-Lacs swarmed around Myron's steed keeping him in a protective barrier as slowly the whole Ursine army advanced through the woods, protected by their magic as trap after trap was sprung.
"Well," Jason's voice was dripping with sarcasm, "Isn't this a nice little traipse through the woods?"
. . . . . . . . . . . .
"SIR! Look at this!"
The Toran soldier jammed a pair of binoculars into Derrick's hands and the commander put it to his eyes. What he saw made him swear aloud.
"What is it?" David asked.
"Ursines. A bloody army of them," Derrick growled out.
The others took out their binoculars and looked out across the rocky terrain. There just at the edges of where a forest met the plains, they could see something shimmering in the sunlight.
Elias sucked in a breath as he realised it was some kind of protective barrier.
"What is that? Some kind of force-field?" he demanded.
"No, worse," David sighed, "Magic."
Elias's eyes bulged as he tried to take this in. Against his sensibilities as a scientist warred with what he'd see thus far on his journeys.
"They haven't seen us yet," Derrick muttered, "That gives us a…"
He picked up his radio-phone.
"Units Delta to Echo. I want mid-range artillery fire. Aim straight at those damn bears. Units Alpha, Tango and Mu, cut them off. We'll provide the second charge," Derrick whirled on his men and the three companions, "Arm up. We are going after them."
"But father!" David protested, "We need to get to the caves. We can't afford to…"
Derrick cut him off with a glare.
"The blasted bears are obviously after what we're after. We need to stop them now whilst we've still got the advantage of surprise. How far are we from the caves?" he directed the last question to the driver of the truck.
"Just around the next bend, sir," the driver responded promptly.
"Good," Derrick switch his radio-phone back on, "All units. We dig in and hold them off. I will lead a strike team and head to the caves. You hold those bears off no matter what, you understand?"
"YES SIR!" the reply was thunderous and instant.
Derrick nodded grimly.
"Good. Delta to Echo. FIRE IN THE HOLE! FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
All along the convoy of military vehicles, Toran soldiers fired rockets and grenades straight at the incoming Ursines.
It was a spectacular sight, sparks and flames lighting up the skies as the deadly missiles whistled towards the target.
Peter, Inara and Elias watched, slack-jawed as the explosives slammed into the shimmering magical protection of the Urines and blew it apart in a deadly blast.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The protective barrier held for a split nanosecond under the onslaught before winking out of existence just as a fresh barrage rained down on them.
"Bloody hell!" Susan gasped watching the missiles fall, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!"
Myron waved his hands around and a wave of red light washed over the incoming barrage. The rockets and grenades went crazy and slammed into each other, exploding harmlessly in mid-air.
"CHARGE!" Myron roared, "WE MUST GETO THE CAVES!"
The Ka-Lacs roared and stampeded forwards moving with astonishing speed as the Torans continued to fire at them. One of the lizards fell, its face ripped to shreds by bullet as Myron and some of the more senior Ursines began chanting aloud in a strange, guttural tongue.
"DESTROY THEM!" Myron roared finishing the spell.
The ground itself was sundered apart as a massive fissure opened out, zigzagging towards the Toran convoy.
There were screams of shock as the earth opened up beneath two of the trucks sending them spilling down into a giant gaping ravine. Myron clapped his hands together and the giant crack in the earth instantly sealed itself back off, crushing the two doomed trucks.
There was a second of stunned silence from the Torans before gunfire ripped into the Ursines.
Some of the Ursines had leapt off the Ka-Lacs, transforming in mid-air before hitting the ground in their fearsome bear forms.
"This is madness!" Zaru roared, "UTTER…"
"NO!" Siobhan suddenly roared.
A rocket slammed straight into their Ka-Lac and detonated, the lizard was suddenly headless as concussive and heat waves blasted them out of their saddles.
Susan crunched the ground, crying out in pain as Zaru landed lightly beside her, landing delicately all his paws.
"Your majesty are you…"
Susan stood up slowly, grimacing in pain. Siobhan and Jason had both managed to soften their falls by landing in a tumbling roll.
"We've got to…" Siobhan began.
Jason grabbed both her and Susan and threw them before behind the fallen body of their lizard steed. Bullets slammed into the creature's thick scales as they took shelter behind the lizard's immense corpse.
"The caves," Siobhan hissed, "We've got to get to the caves."
"Okay, this is probably the worst timing imaginable but…" Susan turned to the Ursine Princess and began rapid-firing questions at her, "What is going on here? Why are you and Torans fighting? What does this Djinn have to do with it? And just what the heck is a Djinn?"
"BOOM!"
A grenade landed not far away, exploding but its blast radius failed to reach them.
"Now's not the time," Siobhan said wryly.
Susan gritted her teeth, frustrated at her lack of knowledge but the queen nodded and turned to Zaru.
The leopard looked up at her, eyes wide.
"There's a scent coming from the west," he reported, "It smells like gold."
"You can smell gold?" Susan asked startled.
Zaru rolled his eyes at the general ignorance and dullness of humans but nodded.
"The cave is reputed to have many treasures," Siobhan said quietly.
"If Kitty's right there must be a trail between those mountains over there," Jason pointed at the ring of immense mountains circling the plain where the Ursines and Torans continued to wage war on each other.
"Alright," Susan hefted her bow and kept it at the ready, "Let's go find it! Zaru! Lead the way!"
Zaru nodded and sprinted off, the humans charging after him.
Susan had read books and seen films about the two War Worlds that had ravaged her world and had tried many times to imagine the insanity of those battles. The booming of artillery fire, the never-ending bursts of super-heated bullets, the bodies…
Somehow the worst nightmare she could've ever envisioned paled to the hell she found herself running through. She leapt over smoking craters and the whimpering fallen, over blank-eyed bodies and chunks of foul-smelling burnt flesh.
Susan fought down the urge to vomit as she stumbled after the others. Jason threw a hand forwards and deflected an incoming grenade away, his power batting the small explosive weapon out of the sky as it exploded on an empty patch of land raining dirt down on them.
Meanwhile the Torans had run out of long-distance weapons and were now engaging the Ursines with simple handguns and rifles as the bears slammed into them in a shrieking furred wave.
Magic and bullets seared the air as the two sides engaged in a titanic struggle, broken and battered bodies falling at the wayside as the blazing might of magic clashed with the cold efficiency of technology.
A Toran leapt into their path, bullets spraying the air as Siobhan coldly cut him down with a blast of magic.
A truck suddenly roared into their path as the Torans began a counter-charge into the Ursines, vehicles slamming into the Ka-Lacs and Ursines. One lizard's ankles were crushed as a heavy truck crashed into its leg bringing the monstrous creature down.
The truck door burst open and Torans spilled out, murderous and armed. Susan fired two arrows in quick succession, suppressing her terror and disgust as two soldiers fell, arrows buried in their throats.
Zaru engaged a third, bringing the man down and tearing into him as the Torans raised their guns.
"NOW!" Jason bellowed.
Siobhan and him before raised their hands and their powers surged forwards flinging all of the men away.
"INTO THE TRUCK!" Susan roared.
Zaru bounded gracefully in as the humans threw themselves after him into the truck's cabin.
"I hope someone knows have to drive," Susan said staring in bewildering at the array of dials and switches before them.
Jason and Siobhan stared at her blankly.
"I don't have hands," Zaru offered helpfully.
"Fantastic," Susan sighed.
She grabbed the steering wheel and using what ever meagre amount of knowledge she had about automobiles, she swung the car around.
"The foot pedals!" Siobhan yelled, "I remember something about…"
Susan slammed on the first pedal and nothing happened. She slammed on the second one and the truck roared into life, shooting forwards as Susan fought with the wheel.
"HERE WE GO!" she yelled exulted as they zipped across the battlefield heading towards the west and the cave of the Djinn.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Out of the dozens of Toran trucks that had moved out of Ralwall that dawn, only two had made it to the cave of the Djinn. Now with about a dozen Toran soldiers at his back, Derrick looked at his prize and grinned widely.
"That's a cave?" Inara said clearly unimpressed, "Looks more like a crack in the rock."
The sheer cliff face before them had been smoothed by wind and time, blotched here and there by algae and moss. The only thing to break up the monotony of its chalk-white surface was a single crack, about the size and width of a normal man.
"Is this it?" Derrick demanded.
"Yes sir," one of his men responded.
"Alright, let's move!" Derrick ordered.
They filed into the small crack one by one, each soldier disappearing into the darkness as the others waited outside nervously for their turn.
It was extremely claustrophobic inside the small fissure and Peter felt terror well up inside of him.
The darkness…
His breaths became shallow and rapid as he struggled to control himself, his breathing bordering on hyperventilating. Sweat rolled down his face as he clawed his way through the shadows, his heart smashing against his ribcage.
Back in Draken's castle, the darkness was when the vampires would come out and play. He sucked in a shuddering breath as he remembered Desiree's maniacal face, the look of sheer glee on her twisted features as she raised her whip and…
His body seized as though he'd been struck. For a second Peter stood statue still, his breathing unnaturally loud in his ears, dark memories tainting his thoughts. He clung to the rocks, nails scratching into the stone as his mind screamed at him to flee from the darkness.
"Peter?"
He felt a soft hand on his arms and the sudden touch made him want to scream, memories of a vampire's cold touch ripping through his mind. Slowly Peter forced himself to look to his left, trembling from head to foot.
"You okay?" Inara asked concerned.
"I…" Peter tried to be strong but Draken and Charlotte's laughing face flashed into his mind and his nerve shattered, "The dark… vampires…"
Inara gently touched his shoulders.
"Let's get you out of here," she said quietly.
With Inara's hands guiding him, Peter forced himself to walk, stumbling through the darkness until he reached the end of the ravine and made it back into the light.
Inara stepped out after him.
"Are you…"
Peter wrenched himself away from her grip, aghast at his lack of control and courage.
"I'm fine," he snapped.
Inara blinked in surprise before rolling her eyes.
"Oh yeah, that sounded believable," she drawled, glaring at him.
Peter instantly felt ashamed at both his words and his almost breakdown but he purged it from his memories as he resolutely turned around and began studying the immense chamber they were in.
Now was no time for his feelings. He had a job to do. Everything else just had to wait.
Behind him, Inara sighed as Elias emerged beside her.
"What happened?" the scientist asked, seeing the disgust on her face.
"Nothing," Inara shook her head, her eyes still on Peter.
The two of them looked at the place they were in and let out twin gasps. The chamber was immense, soaring up and arching above in a high-domed ceiling. Three giant doorways dominated the far wall but what drew everyone's eyes were the immense piles of gold coins that littered the ground.
Aside from one bare patch on which they stood, gold coins littered the ground, piling up so high that it was like a sea of gold.
Gutters ran along the edges of the floor, fire springing up from the oil substance that followed within.
"What is this place?" David gasped in disbelief.
"Gold!" one of the Toran soldiers cheered, "GOLD!"
Before Derrick could stop him the soldier dived into the coins, throwing it high up into the air as he revelled in the riches.
"Come on!" he urged, "There's so plenty for ev- ARGHHHH!"
His screams bounced off the walls as something unseen grabbed onto the soldier and ragged him down into the sea of coins. Everyone cried out in shock as the soldier screamed and writhed, struggling to breath free.
He made one final desperate lunge as the other Torans tried to rescue him but the thing holding onto him gave one powerful jerk and the man disappeared into the coins, never to be seen again.
"KEVIN!" one of the soldiers yelled, "KEVIN!"
The man dived into the gold trying to find his friend.
"NO YOU IDIOT!" Derrick roared, "GET BACK!"
"ARGHH!"
The solider was instantly seized by whatever demon lurked within the gold coins and just like before he was pulled screaming to his death, disappearing beneath the coins.
Derrick roared in fury.
"EVERYONE! GET AWAY FROM THE COINS!" he yelled, "GET AWAY FROM THE COI…"
Before anybody could take a step, there was deep grinding noise from above and holes seemed to emerge in the ceiling. Gold coins gushed out from the newly made channels raining down on them.
"BACK! BACK! RETREAT!"
Derrick whirled around only to find that the crack in the rocks they had come through had completely disappeared.
"WHAT?!" the commander roared, "IMPOSSIBLE!"
The coins continued to fall down on them, half-burying them in a glittering deluge. They were all floundering, treading to keep their heads above the still falling coins.
"ARGH!"
A third soldier was sucked down into the coins, struggling all the way.
"THE DOORWAYS!" Elias roared, "GET TO THEM!"
The Torans seemed to have realised the same thing as they began struggle their way to the three doorways. It was utter insanity, the falling coins reflecting the fire's light and blinding them as they literally swam through the heavy coins, limbs flailing as they struggled towards safety.
"ARGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"
The scream was abruptly cut off as a fourth Toran sank beneath the golden flood.
Peter desperately lunged forwards and smacked into the hard ground, groaning in pain as he pulled himself free from the sea of coins, his limbs aching.
Inara and Elias hit the ground beside him, each of them gasping for breath. A split second later, a fourth figure joined them.
And as sudden as it had started the rain of gold coins stopped as they all climbed to their feet.
Elias looked at Peter, Inara and David and blanched.
"The others?" he asked unsurely.
All four of them stared at each other and back at the sea of coins before them.
"They must've…" Inara realised.
"Gone through another doorway," David cursed.
The Toran youth kicked the wall in frustration, his face drawn into a dark scowl.
"What do we do now?" Inara demanded.
"What else?" Peter hefted his sword and shot them a small smirk, "We continue on."
Slowly the four of them began to plunge deeper into cave of the Djinn, their nerves threatening to break with every step.
AAAAAA
"Well that was fun," Zaru commented lightly.
Jason made to touch one of the coins but Siobhan stopped him with a snarl.
"DON'T!" she snapped, "The coins are enchanted!"
It had taken about ten minutes of most erratic driving ever undertaken for them to find the secret path amongst the mountains. It had taken five more minutes to make it to the entrance of the cave, stopping briefly at the sight of two Toran trucks. After that it had taken them ten minutes to make it through the gold coin chamber.
Susan shuddered as she remembered the invisible hand at her ankles trying to put her down into her death. Luckily she had managed to jam her sceptre down amongst the coins and shock whatever creature lurked within as Siobhan and Jason had stopped the fallings coins from burying them alive.
With Zaru's nose leading the way, the quartet had chosen the right most doorway.
"You're sure they went this way?" Susan asked.
"Trust me," Zaru said dryly, "I can smell them loud and clear."
Susan nodded and turned her companions, Jason and Zaru watched her patiently ready to go at her command. Siobhan looked uneasy about following her but kept her peace.
"COME ON!" Susan urged, "LET'S GO!"
The queen sprinted down the long dark hallway as the others hurried after her.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
David tossed the small pebble over the edge and they all watched it plummet down into the darkness, disappearing quickly from sight. They all waited with bated breath, waiting for the stone to hit the bottom of the immense fall but the telltale sound never came.
"Okay," Inara said slowly.
She gulped.
"Don't fall. Good to know," she finished.
"Come on," Peter eyed the darkness around them warily but gathered his courage, "We can't stay here."
"Here," David pulled a torch from his belt and used it to shine the way ahead.
The torchlight seemed infinitely feeble in the darkness but it showed the obstacle up ahead. Before them, spanning an immense ravine was a single stone bridge, thin and spindly compared to the all consuming darkness that lay around and below it.
"This doesn't seem right," Elias said quietly.
There was an unnatural stillness in the room as though invisible watchers were holding their breathes, waiting for them to make a move. They all shuddered, feeling the ambiance get to them.
"Let's…" Peter's voice sound weak and reedy, he cleared his throat with a quick cough, "Go."
The High King took the first step, his body quivering and ready to dart back at the slightest hint of danger. He took another step and froze.
Nothing happened. Slowly he relaxed.
"Come on," Peter urged, turning back to the others.
The others joined him on the bridge and slowly, they began to walk across it.
"This isn't too bad," Inara said after a few minutes of silence, she glanced over her shoulder to talk to Elias, "I mean, I expected – ELIAS!"
Peter whipped around and gaped in horror as he saw something impossibly large swing in from the shadows.
Elias was right in its path as the thing beared down on the bridge, the sound of gears and clacking chains ringing in the chamber.
The scientist's eyes bulged but his feet was frozen to the spot unable to…
"BAM!"
David slammed into him tackling out of the way as a huge stone block slammed into the bridge taking out a whole section of it, sending stone tumbling down into the dark pit below before it swung out of sight once more.
"Thanks," Elias gasped as he rose unsteadily to his feet.
The Toran nodded and stood up, pale and trembling.
"Are you okay?" Peter asked hurrying over to Elias.
The scientist nodded him off.
"Guys," Inara's voice was completely flat.
"What?" Peter demanded.
"Not to alarm anyone but…" Inara pointed out at the shadows, "More blocks incoming!"
The three men gasped as they saw more stone blocks swing down towards the bridge.
"Pendulums!" Elias cried realising what they were, "Giant stone pendulums!"
"Don't care!" David snapped, "RUN!"
The four of them took off, David and Elias at the front as they began a deadly sprint against time. The pendulums swinging down towards the bridge like wrecking balls.
"MOVE!"
Inara shoved Peter in the back pushing him clear, with a she leapt forwards just as the pendulum struck the bridge. Stones fell down into the dark abyss as Inara rolled to a stop.
The High King helped her up as a second pendulum gave swinging down at them.
"Crazy! Crazy! This is just nuts!" Inara cried.
They took off helter-skelter as the pendulums demolished the bridge, sections of it caving and falling down into the eternal darkness.
Inara tripped and crashed to the ground, right into the path of a pendulum as Peter whirled, eyes bulging.
"INARA!"
He was too far away to help her!
"INARA!"
The warrior's eyes bulged as she realised her danger, the stone block flying towards her.
"BOOM!"
A fireball consumed the pendulum and the stone block at its end broke off as the shattered pendulum head fell into the abyss. Inara hit the ground, lying flat as the remains of the pendulum swung by overhead, just missing her.
"Good shot," Elias congratulated, smiling with relief.
David lowered the modified crossbow/orb launcher and grinned back.
"Come on!" Peter grabbed Inara and the final sprint began as five pendulums swung at them, one after the one.
"BOOM!"
They just stepped clear as the stone block bashed through the bridge with deadly force, the concussive waves sending them off balance as they stumbled on.
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"
Three more pendulums struck, just missing them.
"GO!" David shoved Elias and the scientist went flying, hitting the ground and getting free of the bridge as the Toran bounded forwards, crash-landing beside him.
Peter and Inara leapt into the air just as another pendulum swung into the bridge.
"BOOM!"
The whole second-half of the bridge gave way, unable to take anymore as Peter and Inara hit the ground on the bellies but their jump just wasn't enough. With a cry, they both slipped and tumbled down into the pit.
"NOOOOOO!" Inara screamed.
Peter flung one hand outwards and just managed to snag onto the edge of the cliff. He grunted as Inara flailed and managed to grab onto his leg, stopping her deadly plummet into the pit.
They dangled there, held only by the tips of Peter's fingers.
"DON'T LET GO!" Inara yelled, "DON'T LET…"
"I KNOW!" Peter roared back, straining to bring his other arm around and grab onto the ledge.
Slowly he began to slip as Inara's weight began to drag him down.
"WHY ARE YOU SO HEAVY?!" he barked, desperately trying to keep his grip.
"HEY!"
"HERE!"
Elias and David grabbed on his hands, dragging him back onto the solid land as slowly, limp with relief, Inara came up as well.
"Let's…" Peter took a shuddering breath, "Never do that again."
Inara casually smacked him across the back off the head as David fell back on his haunches staring exhaustedly up at the ceiling. Peter hissed in pain and glared at Inara as Elias nodded, smiling wryly.
"Agreed."
. . . . . . . . . . . .
"Well," Zaru coughed delicately, "Impossible much?"
The four of them were standing at the edges of what once must have been a bridge but now it was nothing more than shattered stone teetering on cracked pillars.
"They must've passed through this way," Jason said quietly.
Susan froze as she stared down at the gaping darkness below in absolute terror. Had Peter or any of the others…?
"How do we get across?" Siobhan demanded brusquely.
Susan levelled a venomous glare at her, outraged at her lack of compassion. But there were other things to worry about.
"Well obviously we can't use the bridge," Susan said coldly swallowing her anger.
Zaru coughed delicately.
"Actually…"
Everyone looked down at him as the leopard peered out into the shadows, his feline eyes piercing the gloom with ease.
"What?"
"A path, a hidden one," Zaru pointed with his nose, "There's a second bridge down there."
"WHAT?!"
Susan looked down into the darkness and could see nothing.
"Are you sure?" she demanded.
The leopard glanced at her and an impish look came into his eyes. His muscles suddenly bunched as Susan froze.
"Zar…"
She never got the chance to finish as the leopard leapt up into the air, sailing across into the abyss.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Siobhan spat, "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!"
Jason remained silent watching the leopard with cool eyes as Susan clung to the walls, heart hammering against her ribs, praying that he would be fine. The leopard reached the pinnacle of his leap and began to fall, dropping past the bridge and into the darkness, falling and falling until…
He landed lightly to his feet on an invisible stone path just beneath the bridge. Smirking, he turned back to them.
"Coming?" he asked teasingly.
Susan glanced down at the drop that awaited her and gulp. She strapped her bow to her back and thrust her sceptre into her belt and took a deep breath.
"Aslan… help me," she whispered.
And with that she jumped.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
David wilted.
"Oh come on!" he protested.
Elias shuffled forwards, his eyes instantly drawn to the hieroglyphs covering the walls. He slowly reached out with one hand and traced the runes and symbols with reverence.
"This… this is amazing," he whispered, dark eyes trying to take all of it in.
Peter glanced at the round chamber and sighed. It was a complete dead end.
Fire torches flickered and burned, causing the gold inlays in the walls to glitter. David let out a cry of frustration and turned to Peter and Inara.
"We've got to head back," he growled, "I can't believe this!"
"Actually we can't head back," Peter sighed, "The bridge remember?"
David paled as he realised they were trapped in this room. He whipped back around and looked everywhere, frantically, trying to find an exit.
"Look, if we're going to resort to cannibalism to sustain ourselves… I'm all skin and bones," Inara suggested helpfully.
Peter glared at her as David began to tremble, his hands twitched as he stood completely still.
"Not now," the High King hissed.
Elias was still studying the walls in fascination trying to figure out what the symbols all meant.
"Come on," Peter sighed, "We've got to head back and find a new…"
A ferocious roar ripped through the chamber and everywhere whipped around.
"What the… DAVID!"
Before anybody could react, a huge bear burst into the room and slammed the Toran into the ground, dark claws ready to tear him apart.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
They left the bridge and abyss and walked down a long winding hallway, the corridor so narrow they had to march along in a single file, Siobhan at the front, Jason at the rear.
"I wonder where all this leads," Susan whispered, "I mean it could go for mi…"
Siobhan suddenly froze, her head snap up as she sniffed the air like a hound.
"Sio…"
"TORANS!" Siobhan snarled, eyes blazing with fury, "HERE!"
Before anybody could stop her, the Ursine princess dropped to all fours and instantly shifted into her bear form.
"NO! Siobhan! STOP!" Susan barked.
The bear bolted forwards, moving with surprising speed as Susan smacked the wall in frustration.
"COME ON! AFTER HER!"
They sprinted down the hallway chasing after Siobhan's echoed roars. Suddenly they could see light up ahead and surprised screams.
"What the… DAVID!" one voice echoed down towards them before Siobhan's roar drowned him out.
Susan, Jason and Zaru burst into the chamber just in time to see Siobhan pounce on a young teenaged boy.
"SIOBHAN!" Susan roared, "DON'T!"
She stepped forwards but someone beat her to it. A slim figure charged straight at the roaring bear and leapt into a flying kick.
"BAM!"
Susan blinked as the figure managed to kick the half-tonne bear straight off the Toran. She eyes widened as she realised who it was.
"INARA!"
Inara turned and blinked, eyes lighting up but Siobhan was up.
"BAM!"
The princess roared and slammed into Inara sending the girl flying. The warrior crashed into the wall, the air knocked from her lungs as Siobhan roared, rearing to her full terrifying height ready to finish her off.
Inara looked up blearily, out of breath and unable to move.
"NO!"
Three attacks simultaneously flew at Siobhan as the bear swept her claws down at Inara.
David raised his gun and with a cry of fury fired at Siobhan just as Jason's power slammed into the princess sending her flying. The bear crashed into the wall as the bullet zipped by missing her, followed a split second later by Peter's thrown sword.
The bullet slammed into the wall, drilling into the stone as Peter's blade glanced off the rocks.
"SIOBHAN!" Susan roared, "STOP!"
The princess shifted back into her human form.
"THEY'RE TORANS!" she barked, "They're going to kill us if we don't kill them!"
"Spoken like a true Ursine!" David got to his feet, scratched and bruises but his arm was steady as he levelled his gun at her, "Is that how you justify slaughtering my people!"
"You're the bastards that started this war! If you hadn't used the Djinn…" Siobhan began.
Jason helped Inara up, the girl blinking at him woozily.
"What… what's going on?" she slurred.
"Seems like our two friends have some issues to work out," Jason said grimly.
Susan and Peter glanced at each other and smiled, relieved to see the other was alive but their attention was quickly drawn back to the fight escalating in the centre of the chamber.
"USED?! We simply did what had to be done after what your king did!" David roared.
"US?!" Siobhan was completely red in the face, her hands shifting in and out of its bear farm, dark claws emerging and disappearing rapidly, "You're the ones who made the wish first!"
David's jaws dropped as he gasped, outraged. Pure venom entered his eyes
"WHAT?!" he screamed, "HOW DARE YOU! You were the ones who betrayed us first!"
"LIAR!"
"BANG!"
David fired his gun at exactly the same time Siobhan blasted a ball of fire straight at him.
"ENOUGH!" Jason roared.
He flicked his hands and both fire and bullet was swept out of the way.
"We don't have time for you little petty squabbling," the Seeker snapped.
"Squabbling? Thousands of people have died because of the Ursines and their lust for power," David barked.
Jason sent him a glare that would've frozen stone.
"Can you tell us what's going on here?" Elias said gently, "What's this about the Djinn? What wish?"
David and Siobhan still eyed each other wearily, weapons at the ready but Siobhan spoke.
"The Djinn was a mystical being that fell from the skies long ago. Our people, the Torans and the Ursines lived in peace for millenniums until the Torans were corrupted by their own greed," Siobhan sent David a look of pure loathing.
"The Djinn told our two people, who had found it together, that it could grant three wishes," David took up the tale, "The two leaders, the Toran High Commander and the Ursine King, were given the power to use the wishes on behalf of their people."
"Except the Toran High Commander betrayed our people and made the first wish. He wished that the Torans would rule this world and all others were made their slaves!" Siobhan growled, "See their treachery?!"
David raised his gun at her but the princess refused to back down, snarling in fury. David was trembling, his face flushed.
"See her lies?! We did no such thing! It was the Ursine King who made the first wish and he wished that the Ursines would be the supreme rulers of this world and all others would fall into ruin!" David screamed the last words at her, "They were the ones who betrayed us first!"
Siobhan narrowed her eyes but turned to the others.
"So after the first wish was made and before the Djinn could make it real. The Ursine King grabbed the Djinn and wished that the Ursines would become the rulers, to protect our people."
Elias opened his mouth to ask a question but was cut off as David jumped in, red with fury.
"The real events were that the Toran Commander bravely fought the king off and grabbed the Djinn, wishing that the Torans would be the leaders!"
David and Siobhan glared at each other and both talked at the same time, fighting for dominance.
"There was a long silence and the Djinn finally spoke. It told our people that since both wishes contradicted each other, it could not fulfil any of them until one race was destroyed. It then disappeared, gone until that day would come. And so we have fought for centuries because of that one betrayal. To destroy the traitors and protect our own!"
The six companions glanced at each other, completely confused by their twin stories.
"And now we have found the resting place of the Djinn!" Siobhan spat, "We, Ursines, hope to use the Djinn once more to destroy the Toran and bring peace to our people!"
"STUPID BEAR!"
David fired his gun at Siobhan and the bear ducked before blasting the Toran with a wave of energy. The boy slammed into the wall and everyone gasped as a single brick, struck by his body, suddenly sunk into the wall.
The chamber began rumbling.
"What the…" Susan cried out as a stone slab fell from the ceiling cutting off the only exit.
"Not good," Zaru whimpered, "Not good!"
There was an immense screech and the ceiling began to descend down on them, lowered by some unknown ancient machinery.
Everyone cried out in horror.
They were going to be crushed to death!
Peter levelled a glare at Siobhan and David.
"Oh good going," he growled, sarcasm dripping from every word, "I hope you're happy!"
Helplessly trapped they could only watch as the ceiling continued to lower, death coming at them with agonising slowness.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Author's notes: I hoped you enjoy my take on the Indiana Jones-esque Temple of Doom. First of all, again thank you for all your lovely reviews but I hate to say it, I need more reviews! More reviews means more updates so get cracking!
Anywho, this world is really an important one to me because of the message it holds but to see what I mean by that, you have to wait till the next chapter! evil laugh