Chapter 13, the cords
Shadowflight stopped and sat down. She was panting hard, but she was scared, Demon had just taken Nightwind away.
She heard the rustling of grass, and Rockpool, Leafcloud, Skyfeather and Ashfur came bounding to her side.
"Catch him!" Ashfur spat.
Shadowflight turned around and looked at him. "He went up the mountain. He had Nightwind in his jaws."
"Let's follow him, then!" Ashfur spat.
"Alright," Shadowflight said calmly, and started sprinting across the moorland.
Soon they reached the rocks that bordered the base of the mountains.
Shadowflight scrambled foreword. There was a thin path winding up the mountain, but that would take to long. The moon was already high in the sky.
Even in the dim light, she could see a hole in the side of a mountain. The entrance was small though, they'd have to crawl…
"Look there!" Leaftail called suddenly, pointing at the hole. "That's probably a secret way up!"
Without waiting for anyone to say anything, she bounded foreword.
Shadowflight slipped in after, with the others behind her.
There were stone steps carved into the floor, and they went steeply up. Water trickled along the edges of them. On every step, and the walls and roof, was a disgusting wet, red root. It squished underneath the cats' paws, but even when they tried to tear it with their claws, it didn't move.
Drip, drip, drip. Shadowflight heard Ashfur jump at the sound. She stepped foreword cautiously, and her paw made a loud squishing noise on the blood-red plant. Ashfur jumped in surprise again.
She went up the steps, looking around all the while. She could hear the others' heavy breathing around her.
The red plant got thicker and thicker, until they were walking on a foot of it. It was thicker on the walls and roof too, so the passage got smaller.
And still it became thicker, until the cats were crouched down so low that their bellies brushed the disgusting stuff. And still it brushed their backs and sides.
Suddenly there was a series of grunting, then a yelp of pain.
"It wrapped around my foot!" Rockpool called, and Shadowflight looked back, and saw his dark blue eyes glint in the darkness. He looked around. "It's moving!" he yowled.
And it was. It slithered around, tightening around their paws. A thin cord came foreword and wrapped loosely around Leafcloud's neck. She screamed.
Shadowflight writhed and thrashed around. Her paws were soon pinned down, and so was her tail. A cord went over her back, and then more, trapping her in a net of red root.
She looked down, and instantly screamed. There was a cat skeleton lying in the root stuff, the cords wrapped around almost every bit of the dirty bones. She understood. Cats came over here, and the roots caught and killed them. Then they stayed there forever, or their bodies did.
"Skeletons!" Skyfeather screamed. "Everywhere! I don't want to die here!"
Then a soft, beautiful voice wove around their ears. It whispered, in a light voice:
Everywhere you see, bones with bits of gristle.
Do you wish to lie like that,
In a place of terror and darkness?
There is one way, to save yourselves,
The most beautiful of all, will drink from the poison pool.
Most choose no, to die in this gloom,
What is it that lies in the poison pool?
Is it death?
No one knows, for what's in the pool is different for everyone else.
So choose now, if no, you will die here, struggling in vain against the cords,
Or yes, and you will be let freely foreword, and led to a little pool.
Your most beautiful will be blocked until she drinks, so make your decision now.
All the cats were silent, and the cords had stopped strangling. Everyone knew who the most beautiful was. She just had to make the decision.
"I…guess I'll drink." Skyfeather rasped.
All the cats gasped at the same time.
But the cords were already letting go, and they had to go foreword, because a wall of red root had come up behind them, and they were blocked.
No time to change her mind.
Skyfeather led, stumbling foreword, scrambling among the roots. Suddenly the roots thinned, then disappeared, and they were in a small stone cavern, lit only by a swirling silver pool of thick water.
Instantly they were blocked on both sides, back and front, by walls of red root. And slowly, the disgusting plant was inching foreword toward them, so they only had a little while.
"Drink!" all the cats urged Skyfeather, who stumbled to the pool, and slowly bent her head and took a sip.
Oo…what's going to happen in poor Skyfeather? The climax for this story, (it's already begun) is different then many others. But it still has a villain…Review!