XXIX

Carter

I ran through the tunnel, the scene still flashing in his mind. Why had Octavian run through the door? Frank had probably fallen to his death- and Octavian was just standing there, terror on his face. He wasn't ashamed- but shocked.

"Why did you have to run through that?" Hazel yelled. She was close to tears. "Frank's probably dead now!" She punched Octavian; she was so angry.

"I-I-" Octavian couldn't say anything. He was so shocked, all he could do was stand there, lost for words. He looked at us, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"But- but-" I just stood there. I had been the last person to go through the cave. I could have stopped Octavian… I could have managed to stop him from running!

After staring at each other for a long time, we finally started to walk slowly through the narrow corridor. I felt so sad. Frank, of all people, whose help we needed so much. What if there was a giant gaping pit or a really high cliff face? Frank would have been really helpful in those situations.

But just as I was thinking about those possibilities, one of them suddenly came into existence. A giant, gaping pit loomed in front of us. We stopped.

It was about 100 meters across, and seemed to go down forever. The edges were covered with sharp rocks and other things that could potentially kill us if we fell, and the only exit was an opening the size of a doorway

"How do we get past that?" I wondered.

Hazel, still shocked by Frank's demise, shakily said, "Yeah. I've got it."

She whistled.

"This should bring Arion here." She said.

"Who's Arion?" I asked.

"He's the fastest horse in the world." She explained, "Pegasus is more famous, with his wings, but Arion is the fastest."

"But we're stuck in a cave. And Arion can't drill through rocks." I commented.

"We'll see." Hazel said. "I don't know either, but if he can, that's great."

Suddenly, on the side of the cave, a bit of rock started to shudder- and a horse burst through, chewing up the rock like it was sand.

"Arion!" Hazel yelled. She hugged him. She was so happy. She patted his snout. Arion whinnied.

"I'm sure we'll get you more gold," Hazel said. "Now-"

Arion shied away from Sadie and I.

"No, Arion. They're friends. Now, we have this little cliff face that we need to get over. So, how about a ride…"

Arion kneeled down, and Sadie and Leo went on. Arion ran around the pit at an extremely fast speed, ending up on the opposite side in less than a second. Luckily, he was big enough for the opening, and he safely deposited both of them on the ground.

"Alright." Jason said. "My turn!"

Pretty soon, Sadie, Leo, Jason, Hazel and Octavian had made it across. Hazel had objected to Octavian crossing, but I had made her change her mind. We couldn't let our emotions get in the way. But he had crossed himself, because Hazel didn't really trust him to backstab us.

Finally, it was my turn. I boarded Arion, and he ran. But as soon as he started, I knew that trouble was coming. Shadows started to appear on the walls.

"Taraxippi." Octavian said, with a scared tone.

Arion immediately slowed down. He reared- which, when done on a sideways cliff, is not a good thing. Arion stumbled and fell into the pit.

"Press your hooves against the walls!" I yelled over the rushing wind. Arion yelped in terror and flailed his legs with no avail- he was too scared. I forcefully pressed him with my body against the wall, and his hooves managed to make contact. Sparks flew- yes, sparks- from the friction his hooves were making. Finally, after a full 10 seconds falling, we managed to start running back up to the opening.

But then, Arion bolted again, and when I looked up, I saw why. Huge boulders were dropping down on us. They probably had gotten destroyed by the ghosts. Arion got swarmed by the Taraxippi, and he reared again- this time, sending me off his back and both of us hurtling down into the darkness.