What no One has Seen Before
We reached the spot of Aldrai's fall about an hour later. I stopped short as the tunnel widened out into a vast open area. My friends gathered around me on the outcropping. The area was immense. Light magic coated the walls of the cave, jagged and sheer. The shaft was newly formed as time had not yet dulled the edges. I looked up and saw only a stone ceiling far above us. The shaft itself was wide, about the width of a house. It plunged deep into the earth. I knelt by the edge and looked over. I could not see the bottom. Just an inky hole of nothingness.
"What now?" Terraile asked.
"We have two options," Sabreur replied, "Try to follow the tunnels down. That might lead us to the underground lake but there's no guarantee we'll be able to find the right way further down. Or we follow this shaft itself."
"Meaning…?"
"We fly," I replied, quickly counting up the ratio of flyers to non-flyers, "Swifty, you carry Padiglione. Terraile, you can carry Netsuko. Infernus, you carry Sabreur. Un-eairkagh, you take Melody. Moonfall, you carry Sakuko. Do you think you can managed two pets, MoonFall?"
She glanced over at FireDarkWolfX.
"Sakuko isn't that heavy," she said slowly, "If it's only a glide down then yes, I should be able to manage. Why can't you carry him?"
"I'll be scouting ahead."
"Shouldn't you stay with us in case of attack?" Melody asked.
"Infernus and Sabreur know how to fight in the air," I said, "Melody will be on Un-eairkagh's back so he'll still be able to maneuver. Those that can't fight and fly will just have to stay out of the way. If you do get attacked Terraile can contact me and I'll get back to you. Since I'm the most powerful, I'll be safest alone. Make sense?"
There were agreeing nods all around. I walked to the very edge of the outcropping and spread my wings.
"There's not much room to maneuver, so take it slow. Glide down," I instructed.
And I leapt off the edge.
Even with the glow of my Elemental Spear the darkness was crushing. I could barely see the walls, much less what was below me. I took it at a controlled half-fall, staying close to the center. Every now and then I'd encounter a side tunnel branching off but there was no sign of anything else. I could see the faint glow of Sabreur's Halogen 3000 above me but that was all. I was alone. The light from the lamp did not reach me.
I continued falling for what seemed like ages. My wings were starting to hurt from the constant strain when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I twisted in midair just in time to bring my spear up to parry the attack.
It was a korbat, but like none I had ever seen. It had no fur and its skin was a bleached white. Its eyes were huge and pale and its teeth viscously sharp. It reminded me forcibly of the deep sea fish that never saw light of any kind. I yelled in shock and disgust and smashed the butt of my spear into it. It screeched and was thrown back to smash against the side of the shaft. It fell and recovered. A second korbat slammed into me from behind and I free-fell for a bit until I managed to right myself. By then a third korbat was on me. I twirled my spear and slammed it against the wall. The two other korbats kept their distance and I flew up to meet them head on. The scattered out of my reach and I snarled in frustration. Then I felt sharp claws rake my thigh. I kicked and there was a crunch as my hoof connected with the korbat below me. The two others dove for me then. I rolled in midair and slammed my spear into both of them at once. They hit it hard and dropped off to either side of me. I quickly flapped my wings, gaining altitude. If I was under attack, then what of Sabreur and the others?
It soon became apparent that they too were under attack. A whole swarm of the pale korbats had appeared out of the side tunnels and were attacking my friends indiscriminately. Swifty and MoonFall were cornered near the wall with Terraile attempting to hold them off. Netsuko had managed to find an outcropping to stand on which freed them both up to fight. Infernus was concentrating on his flying while Sabreur fought. He held onto Infernus with one hand and in his other one of the throwing stars. He threw it as I watched and it struck a korbat in the wing. The creature let out a shriek as the star burst into brilliant purple red light and all the other korbats fell away from the light. Un-eairkagh had his Sinsis sword and dark battle duck out. Melody was just hanging on best she could.
"Everyone!" I cried, "Freefall!"
Un-eairkagh gave a shrill cry and shot a beam of darkness at one last opponent before going into a straight dive. Melody shrieked and buried her face in his fur. I too went into a dive before anyone hit me. There wasn't enough room to maneuver. As it was, I nearly hit the wall as a korbat shot out at me. I smashed it aside with my spear. There was a thud and then nothing. I could hear the sounds of sporadic fighting above me as we all fell. I twisted in midair to look. Sabreur had let go of Infernus and was on his back, throwing stars up at our pursuers. Bursts of light accompanied each hit. Infernus was also on his back, grappling with a korbat. He threw it away and it slammed into Swifty and Padiglione. The gelert hit the wall and tumbled. Padiglione was thrown off and Swifty quickly directed her fall to the side. She flared her wings a bit and caught the kougra before going back into freefall. Un-eairkagh's maniacal battle cries reached me, accompanied by the infernal squeaking of his duck. At least one person was enjoying the fight. Terraile had her bow out and was shooting upwards at our attackers. Netsuko had let go of her and was just directing her fall to stay close to the shoyru. My heart was in my throat as we fell. Sabreur's lamp could only illuminate so far. We were falling into nothingness, a bottomless hole that seemed to go on forever.
Suddenly the korbats shrilled loudly and flared their wings. The popping of air filled the shaft and reverberated into hundreds of echoes. In seconds the korbats were left behind us. I rolled to face down and spread my wings a bit. I caught up to Sabreur and grabbed one of his flares off the back of his pouch.
"Wha…?" he gasped at me.
I didn't reply, merely pulled the tab and threw. The light fell and fell and then stopped. A collective outcry of fear came from all the pets.
"Grab hold of your flyer!" I shouted, powering my dive to get in front of everyone.
The ground neared us. I could dimly see it now in the light of Sabreur's lamp. We were too close, we didn't have time to stop.
"Flare your wings, NOW!" I shouted, and spread my own, thrusting both hands downwards and channeling my power.
A vertical column of air burst up from the shaft's bottom, filling our wings with a deafening pop. I grunted as the bones in my wings were jerked painfully up from the sudden rush of wind. The wind screamed in my ears, whipping my hair wildly about me and slowing my fall. The muscles in my back were taunt with trying to keep my wings out and I felt like they were about to be torn right off. But my fall was slowing.
I landed hard but not hard enough to injure myself. I staggered and slowly stood as my friends and family landed all around me. Un-eairkagh hit hard enough to send Melody tumbling off over his head. But he was laughing with sheer adrenalin.
"That was awesome!" he cried, "Let's do it again!"
"Let's not," Terraile said, visibly shaken.
I glanced up and saw pale outlines of the korbats following us.
"No time to talk!" I snapped, "Into that tunnel there, now!"
Everyone obeyed, rushing for the tunnel at the bottom of the shaft. I was the last to follow. The korbats were almost on us.
"Keep going, get ahead of me!" I ordered, turning to face the oncoming horde.
"Kiddo! What about you?" MoonFall cried.
"I'm going to stop them. Just go!"
She hesitated.
"GO!"
And she turned and ran after the rest. I faced the korbats again. They were almost at the tunnel entrance.
"Here we go," I said grimly, and slammed my spear into the earth, point first.