Chapter Two: Into The Mines
Bella awoke drowsily as she felt someone trying to rouse her. Still being shook, Bella poked her head from beneath the blanket over her head, her eyes peeping out at the culprit of her awakening. Xu Pai beamed at her mischievously.
"I'd tried waking you up in a more… gentle way, but you slept right on through!" Xu Pai announced, still grinning. Before Bella could even gasp, her eyes widening at the Selkie's comment, Xu Pai continued with an explanation for waking her up. "I thought you might wanna know that we've arrived at the mines…"
The Mines of Cathurgies. Long before any of the trio were born, the Lilties forged their conquest of the land by mining iron from these mines and produced weaponry by the dozen. Unfortunately, the iron wasn't unlimited and eventually the Lilties, in their greed and lust for domination, dug the mine dry of the iron supplies and had to abandon it. The Lilties aspiration for world dominance waned along with the iron they so loved. The dark mine soon became a regular home for the beasts and creatures of the land that the major tribes came to call monsters. The wicked creatures would kidnap, torment and even kill anyone that they could, possibly then use their corpse as food. In this sense, wandering into the monster-ridden mine may have seemed insane by most people, however as a Caravaner, the Cirra troupe aimed to acquire the myrrh from the tree that had sprung up deep within the mines.
Xu Pai stood up in front of Bella and peered down at her, hands on her rounded hips and a devilish smile on her lips, "If you're still tired, you can wait out here and we'll go get the myrrh. I'm sure we can cope…"
Bella shook her head, both in response to Xu Pai and to clear her head of sleep, "No, no, I shall accompany you. Allow me one moment to get my sword…" Her shield was permanently attached to her arm, looking more like a large, protruding bracer. An additional cup in the bronze shield guarded her hand, which she held onto with a handle inside. Her sword, however, rested upon one of the shelves that the group had installed into the caravan for better storage, something the prior group had kicked themselves for not coming up with.
Hoisting up the light sword, Bella tore back the blankets and started to scramble to her feet to find Xu Pai with a mild blush to her cheeks but her usual mischievous smile on her lips, "Ooo, Bella… The way you slung off those blankets was almost inviting!"
Bella's eye twitched almost in disbelief at what she was hearing from the other woman. To break the rather awkward moment, Bezzel appeared at the rear of the caravan and looked inside at the two girls. Or at least Bella assumed her was looking at them as his eyes weren't actually visible beneath his large helmet. After merely staring at them for a moment, the Lilty walked off to the right of the caravan, exuding his usual aura of mystery and oddity. Both Bella and Xu Pai looked curiously to one another, Bella eventually nodding to her companion, "I think Bezzel wants us to get a move on…"
"I think you might be right, come on," Xu Pai returned the nod and hopped off the back of the wooden structure to land on the cobbled flooring below her. Bella followed after her and came to gaze upon the entrance to the mine for the first time in her life. Never before had either of the girls ever seen such a foreboding, dark place and they both turned to look at the Lilty as though he might feel more at home in a place built by his ancestors. Of course, whether or not he did feel some sort of kinship with the mine remained in his head as he never even looked back at either of the pair of females.
He was the first to make a move, however, striding up to the entrance, seemingly without fear or hesitation and took no back glance as he vanished into the darkness beyond. Xu Pai pouted and puffed up her cheeks and chest, her eyes gleaning sternly at the mouth of the cave, building up her courage and then she sprinted on in after Bezzel, allowing Bella a quick glance before also disappearing into the darkness. The Clavat sighed and looked at the caravan, mildly wondering if it were safe to leave it outside unguarded and then shrugged mentally, following the other two in at a jog.
As she turned about the corner into the mine itself, Bella found that the caves were actually well lit and fairly uncluttered for something abandoned for so long. Glancing above her, she spotted what was lighting the tunnels still after all this time. Bombs. A certain breed of monster that appeared to be a strange ball, engulfed in flames with a nasty little face, trapped within a small cage and stuck to the ceiling. It growled something at her as she peered at it. When a Bomb was killed, it had a tendency to explode, giving them their name.
Bella bumped into something as she continued walking whilst staring at the imprisoned monster. An old mining cart sat atop the old tracks that ran throughout the mine, its sturdy wooden frame lasting throughout time. It was empty though much, Bella thought, like the Lilties' pride.
There was a sudden yelp from up ahead and Bella's attention was suddenly drawn back from her inner thoughts. Lying on the floor was Xu Pai with a sudden panicked expression on her face as she scrambled backwards from something around the corner where Bella couldn't see. Of course, the Clavat didn't need to wait long to find out what threat Xu Pai was cowering from as it pursued her into the very corridor Bella stood in. A large troll, at least twice the size of either Bella or Xu Pai, and thrice that of Bezzel, pounded toward the fallen Selkie, its huge, booted feet crashing down upon the cobbled flooring. In one hand it held a small, rounded shield and a great axe in its other, likely items left behind all those years ago by the Lilties. Upon its head sat a horned cap, more an item of intimidation than of practical use, whilst its grotesque head bore a large, fanged, manic grin as it rose the axe with intent on bringing it down again toward the unfortunate Xu Pai.
Everything seemed to happen so quickly, Bella's legs suddenly springing to life as her whole body put everything into running toward the imminently dead Xu Pai. Nothing about what to do once there crossed Bella's mind and it seemed as though her mere presence was all that it would take to end this horrible occurrence. Bella's heart raced, as did her legs. She was almost there when the monster started its downward swing, prompting Bella to leap into the air, flinging herself at Xu Pai. The Clavat landed atop of the purple-haired girl and, with no real plan in mind, she too simply cowered, covering her and Xu Pai's heads with her arm. Both girls had their eyes tightly closed and awaited their last gasps following the likely unbearable pain that the hefty axe would bring with it.
There was a loud, resounding howl of pain that seemed to reverberate in Bella's eyes. She half wondered if she'd made the sound, as she had been expecting, however the sound wasn't that of a woman's, it was one of an unwholesome beast. She opened her eyes and turned her head to see behind her, where the troll now stood, though its arms were limp and the axe clattered to the ground from its loosening grip. Now soundly bereaved of life, the troll was only still standing because Bezzel hadn't yet pulled the spear from its neck. Leaning backward, the monster was being propped up by the stout Lilty warrior, his entire heroic demeanour bringing a spark of relief and joy from Bella's heart. She wanted to thank Bezzel with a huge speech and shower him with praise, however the words would not come from her mouth as she merely managed to gasp his name, "Bezzel…"
Bella suddenly felt an irritating pain in her back, though she was sure it wasn't the result of an axe cut. Xu Pai's claw-like nails had embedded themselves into Bella's skin, somehow worming their way up, underneath the Clavat's tunic-like garment to find their place against Bella's soft skin. Bella pathetically attempted to pull herself from atop the Selkie, but a combination of the girl's grip and petrified expression stayed her ground.
"I-I don't think I'm cut out for this adventuring lark, after all…" Xu Pai muttered with a blatantly fake smile, physically still shaking from the experience. Bella realised, however, that she herself was actually still shaking also and managed a nervous laugh, peering into Xu Pai's own scared eyes.
"Me neither, Xu Pai," Bella managed to utter in response before planting her head to the ground beside Xu Pai's own head. The cold rocks against her face didn't seem to bother her, as she allowed for deep gasps of panicked breath, finding Xu Pai to be doing the same. Against she laughed somewhat nervously, but also in a relieved manner. They were both still alive. Most people, even a lot of Caravaners, died at the hands of monsters and yet, they were still alive. This near-death experience would be with them forever and remind them of what not to do when facing monsters in future. Xu Pai seemed to realise this too as she joined Bella in the senseless laughing. Soon enough the two girls were in fits of laughter and Bella rolled from atop of the Selkie to giggle beside her friend. They were like this for a good few minutes before their laughter started to subside, though it didn't completely stop until during their sighing and mild giggling there came a heavy thump and stones flew into the air. Both girls shot up to gaze upon the now fallen troll, its body heaped against the hard, stonewall. Beams covered the wall, presumably as supports, and the lone track ran underneath the now cold, lifeless creature. Bezzel stood looking at the green blood that coated the end of his spear. Bella wondered if he was remembering his first kill and what it felt like, or whether he was considering how he was going to clean it before the blood dried and stained his beloved weapon.
Bella suddenly leapt at Bezzel, wrapping her arms about his waist. She was now lay upon the tracks, the only way in which her arms were every going to get around someone so short. Xu Pai followed suit as they showed their affection for their brave, heroic companion.
"Thank you so much, Bezzel!" Bella managed with a tear in her eye, glancing up at the Lilty's face. There she saw his little cheeks burning a light red, though his eyes beneath the helmet were just as unwavering as she'd imagined them to be. At least, however, from the apparent embarrassment shown in his cheeks, Bella knew Bezzel did have feelings just like anyone else. She found a certain degree of assurity in that small fact.