Never in my life, I would have imagined that I would have to flee from the resident Ice Queen amorous advances. She stalked me with clear intent in her eyes and I feared for my virtue.

I retreated until my back hit the wall of the cave and my betrothed's smile was full of pearly whites. Her lithe form approached and my eyes searched every inch of darkness for a potential exit.

Her breath tickled my throat.

I stopped breathing. I could swear my heart was making the wall shake. Thuud. Thuud. Thuud..
If anything that was way too slow but...!

I placed my hand over her mouth and she bit me.

I suppressed a cry and pointed to my ear.

Her face was canted sideways until she noded.
Before withdrawing, she gave me a look that promised vengeance.

After a minute of tense anticipation, part of the wall cracked, giving in with us on top. We went ass over teakettle, rolling into a mass of limbs.

-"STOOOP! STOP THE DRILL! The drill got stuck! Again!"
The sound of a whip cracking was followed by cries of anguish.

Rin raised her head over a rock formation that had served as an impromptu brake in our descent. She got still.
I poked her with a finger on the ribs and she bit her lip.
Chancing a look over the rock, my expectations were blown away.

A gargantuan dig site extended acres in each direction. In the middle of it, a railroad with a drill was being swarmed by famished workers. Their ribs told a lot without using words. And it wasn't a nice story.