Hercules looked around the mining tunnels and shook his head

Hercules looked around the mining tunnels and shook his head. It looked the same as all of the other tunnels. How were they ever to find anything down here? All he saw was the flickering shadows cast by the dwarves on the walls from the torches they carried.

"The disappearances be down this way." Master Gristle explained as he headed down one of the tunnels. The cadets and Master Furze followed along. The armed dwarves marched up in front.

"Ow!" Iolaus cried as he tripped and fell onto the rough stone floor. The torch flew out of his hand and landed a few feet away. Hercules walked into Iolaus and fell over his friends' outstretched legs. The Demi-God landed on top of Iolaus with a loud thump. Jason, who was walking directly behind Hercules, tripped over both of his friends and landed on the top of the pile. The dropped berry bag opened and berries poured out all over the floor.

"My berries!" Jason cried as he picked himself up off the pile and scurried over to the bag. "Look what you made me do!"

"Well, you shouldn't be breathing down the back of my neck!" Hercules told Jason as he stood up. The Demi-God stretched a kink out of one of his shoulders as he watched Jason gather the berries. "Why are you so hooked on those things?"

"I'm not hooked on them! And as for walking right behind you, it's dark down here. OK? And there's something living down here that eats dwarves." Jason snapped at Hercules.

"Hey. Look at this." Iolaus showed his friends a dwarven sized pickaxe, the metal blade part gleamed in the weak torchlight. "This is what I tripped over. It was lying here on the ground."

Hercules picked up the torch. He glanced both ways down the tunnel and frowned. "Guys, I think we have a problem. Both Master Furze and Master Gristle with his dwarves are gone. We're here all by ourselves."

"I thought Master Furze was right behind me." Jason stated as he reached into his sack of berries. "I heard his footfalls on the stone floor. He must have wondered off in the confusion."

"This doesn't look very good." Iolaus said as he stood up. "I don't know if we can trust that Master Furze. I mean, where did he disappear? I know he didn't go past us."

"Look, don't panic." Hercules walked a bit down the dark tunnel in the direction they had been going. At least, he *thought* it was the right direction. The torch, he discovered, didn't provide very much light. He stopped and glanced back towards his friends. His heart skipped a beat when he didn't see them. He hurried back and was relieved to see they were still there. "Look, all we have to do is go down this tunnel. Then we should catch up with Master Gristle. Our legs are much longer than theirs. If we hurry, we should be OK. They couldn't have gone very far."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Jason agreed as he started to follow Hercules down the tunnel. He popped a few pink berries into his mouth. "Hmmm, these are so good!"

"Wait, aren't we forgetting something?" Iolaus asked as he hurried to catch up with his friends. "There may be a physcho down in these tunnels with us. Maybe it's not a monster at all but a dwarf. One that very conviently disappeared."

"Well, I'm not convinced that Master Furze did anything." Hercules said as he turned around to walk backward. He frowned when he saw Jason reach into the bag for more berries. The flickering torchlight revealed pink juice dripping down Jason's chin and neck. "Will you just stop eating those?"

"Why?" Jason asked. "I like them."

"Because they are not good for you!" Hercules yelled. "All you do is eat those berries or worry about the berries! Just look how you're clutching that sack! Your knuckles are white. You should be concerned about the missing dwarves and what's down in these tunnels but you're not. You're only worrying about the berries!"

"That's not true, Hercules!" Jason shouted back through a mouthful of berries. Half chewed berries flew out of his mouth and dripped onto his tunic. Jason choked and pounded on his own chest. Tears leaked from his eyes but he still clung with one hand to his sack of berries. He wiped his mouth as he straightened up. He was about to lick at the red juice on his hand but managed to stop himself. "Look, Hercules. I don't have a problem, really! You make it sound like I'm addicted to these Sandersonni but I'm not. And I am worried about what's going on here in the mines. That's why we came here to help, remember? We're down here risking our lives to help the dwarves."

"Hey!" protested Iolaus loudly. "We were talking about that plant dwarf, remember? Just look at all that junk he had sticking out of his beard! Now that is *not* normal! I bet he knows every tunnel down here. He could be walking circles around us down here and he'd have the advantage. Maybe that's why they can't find the creature because it's not a creature!"

Hercules shoved his hair out of his eyes. He focused his gaze on Iolaus. "Look, just because a person looks differently or dresses differently doesn't mean they are dangerous. Maybe he needs that stuff in his beard. Or maybe he gets so caught up in his work he forgets to take care of himself. I agree he needs to be watched, but he also might know other useful information about what lives down here. I wish I knew where he went. Maybe he could have really helped us solve this mystery."

"I don't know, Herc." Iolaus said.

Hercules turned around once again and they continued their trek down the tunnel. After a few moments of silence, the three cadets stopped. Up ahead the tunnel divided itself into three separate passages.

"Oh, this is really good, Herc!" Iolaus complained as he waved a hand at the three openings in front of them. "Just follow the tunnel, huh? Well, which one did the dwarves go down?"

"I don't know." Hercules admitted. He rubbed his forehead with his free hand. The beginning of a headache pounded behind his eyes. Jason with the berries, Iolaus complaining, the missing dwarves, them being lost, it was all beginning to get to Hercules. "Look, maybe we should stay right here. I'm sure once Master Gristle realizes we are gone he'll come back for us."

"Unless the monster got him." Iolaus added. The curly haired blonde squeezed past Jason and knelt at the entrance to one of the tunnels. He placed his hands on the ground and pressed his ear to the rock floor. His eyes blinked. After a few moments of listening, he stood up. "Maybe I can discover what tunnel they went down. This rock doesn't hold footprints, but sound can travel through rock. So can vibrations. And I bet all of those marching dwarves Master Gristle had with him should make plenty of vibrations!"

Hercules watched Iolaus move to the center tunnel and repeat the process. He shifted his gaze to Jason and caught the Prince of Corinth jamming more berries into his mouth. "Stop that!"

"If nof eafinf berries!" Jason shook his head; his cheeks puffed out like a squirrel. He clutched the bag to his chest tightly.

"Give me that bag!" Hercules reached out and yanked the berry bag away from Jason. Hercules peered inside and was glad to see that most of the Sandersonni were still in the bag. Jason had apparently not eaten as many as he had feared. Hercules rubbed his forehead again. What was he going to do about Jason's addiction? They all needed their wits about them down here. He was very glad that he had eaten only one berry, but how many had Jason eaten? What other side effects did the berries have?

"Hey, I hear something!" Iolaus told his friends excitedly. He knelt in the last tunnel on his knees. "The other two were really silent, but I hear something from this one."

Hercules moved forward and shone the torch into the left side tunnel. After a few feet the tunnel sloped downward. "I don't know. This tunnel will take us deeper underground."

"Yeah, but he said the lower mines." Iolaus pointed down the tunnel. "That much noise can't be one lone person. It must be the group of dwarves. What else could it be? I say we go take a look."

Hercules turned his head to look at Jason. The Prince had his dark eyes focused on the berry bag. His eyes had a glazed appearance to them. Jason didn't blink but just kept staring steadily at the bag in Hercules' hand. "I don't know, Iolaus. Jason doesn't look too hot."

"Yeah, but we can't get out of here by ourselves!" Iolaus pointed out. "I say we go down there and catch up with them!"

"OK." Hercules breathed in deeply and let it out. Holding the torch high, he stepped into the dark tunnel and started the descent.