Hi! Really sorry this took so long to update  Hope you like this chapter!

Matti ran down the passages, her breath sobbing in her throat. Her paws slapped nervously on the floor, sending sound ringing off every wall. She ran on, hearing the sounds of pursuit behind her getting quieter and quieter as she ran.

Finally, running out of energy and fear, she fell to a halt and slumped, panting, against one if the rock walls. Her claws scratched against the wall, clawing at the moss and algae. It was cool and damp, and she pushed her mouth up against it, licking the moisture from the plant. It ran down her parched throat, heavy, foul tasting, but still as sweet as the freshest clover honey.

Finally, her thirst at last quenched, she stepped away from the wall and sat down in the middle of the passage, taking stock of her position. She whistled as the full reality hit home, then looked around to check that no one had heard.

She was in trouble. She had killed a guard, and she had run from the slave compound. She had committed a crime so awful, so foul, that if they ever caught her she would be dead in moments.

The outlook seemed bleak.

She breathed slowly, in and out, trying to control her panic.

'Ok,' she whispered to the rock walls around. 'Ok, so I'm in trouble. But if I keep going, I should be able to find a way out.' She peered doubtfully down the passage. 'There must be some way out of this hell hole…'

Her voice drifted into the distance. She stood, staring into the darkness, and shook her head irritably. It seemed to go on forever, round and empty and unforgiving. A shiver of hopelessness ran up her spine, and she twitched her ears angrily, chasing it away.

'Well,' she whispered to herself. 'Here we go.'

Paws held out in front of her, she plunged into the gloom.

She walked for what felt like days, padding down dark corridors of stone, losing her bearings completely. At first she kept count – left, right, left, left, right – but the darkness swallowed her memory and in the end she just ploughed on, walking and walking. The passages twisted and turned like a thousand tiny caterpillars. Each corner was a threat – she never knew whether there was a pocket of ferret guards around the corner, waiting for her to come with their spears pointed. She hid in the shadows, walked through dark corridors. Every now and then she would hear footsteps and run into a side passage, staring wide eyed as uniformed parades of ferret guards marched past laughing and talking to each other.

It was all so strange. She'd been a slave her whole life. She didn't know how to make decisions or anything like that. Any time she found herself at a fork in the tunnel, she would find herself turning round, looking for someone, waiting for a voice to tell her what to do. However impulsive or mad she sometimes was, she did not know anything about actually doing what she wanted to do.

Every day and night became the same, wandering through dark tunnels, searching for the tiniest glimmer of light or of hope. Matti almost lost herself into the darkness: she tried to forget the stories of tunnel ghouls and spirits that the guards told around the campfire in the mines. Some nights, as she tried to sleep, she would feel the brush of a finger on her fur, and leap up to her feet and run, her ears flat. Each time, she would stop a hundred metres away, her heart pounding, staring into the darkness, her eyes straining as she hunted for what it was that had woken her.

Sometimes, in the darkness, she would consider turning back. It seemed so hopeless. The darkness squeezed the life out of her. She was starving, lost, tired – scared to sleep. The only water she could find she licked off the walls, were small underground streams came down. She didn't know where they went – sometimes she tried to follow them, but they only ran down the tunnel for a short while, before disappearing back into the earth.

The only thing that kept her going was her own resolution.

That she WOULD see the sky.

'I don't understand it!' Jeni gasped. 'How can… how can that happen?'

Her eyes suddenly turned slightly angry, and she glared at Feren.

'How come Martin came to you? He was the best friend of my ancestor, not yours! Martin's never come to an otter before.'

Feren was still sleepy, and he yawned as he answered.

'Lor', I dunno. Maybe it's my stunnin' good looks.'

Jeni stamped her foot.

'Feren, you're not taking this seriously!'

Feren shook his head.

'What is there to take seriously? So I had a funny dream, an' you found some old piece of paper. Is coincidence, ain't it?'

Jeni shook her head.

'Nothing Martin says is coincidence.'

The sound of a door banging somewhere downstairs broke the sudden silence. Feren jumped.

'What was that?'

'A door, you stupid otter. What did you think?'

'But who's going out at this time?'

It took a moment for what he'd said to filter through. Suddenly, they both dashed for the window.

Down below, they could see two lights in the darkness, as two cloaked figures headed out through the gates. Feren leaned in close, his whiskers scratching against the glass.

'Jeni, it's my dad! I'm sure it is. It can't be anyone else!'

Jeni put a paw over his.

'We can't stop him going, y'know. Just hang about here, and it'll be fine. You're dad's tough.'

But Mossflower beyond looked very dark and menacing as the lights disappeared through it.