Chapter5: Misty Mine

"RRRRRRRRR…," the beasts snarled at the frightened bovine with their mouths drooling. Grace backed away from them, but the coyotes drew closer every time she did.

"Oh n…n…no!" she muttered, turning and fleeing for her life. Doing so was the smart option as she very well knew that she and her two companions was no match for a pack of fearsome predatory coyotes. Trying to outsmart them was the only chance she might have; but how? One coyote sprang toward her running position. Grace dodged it then turned right. She crashed through the underbrush, ignoring every stick and rock that lashed at her hide. Then she saw more shadows after another. More hungry coyotes had been following her trail. Grace ran left and right, and another left. Behind her she could sense and feel the coyotes snarling, barking, and panting still trying to catch up to her. She couldn't bear to look back at how many pairs of red eyes had been gaining.

That was when something else had caught her eyes. Another bridge; except it was broken in the middle. But still Grace kept heading toward it ignoring the thorny bushes that poked and ripped at her, maybe she could try to jump over it. It was worth a shot.

"I have to try!" she exclaimed hastily. Miraculously, she managed to jump over far enough to hold on for dear life on the edge of the other broken bridge. Grace could still hear the coyotes snarling on the other side as they watched her struggle.

"You can't get me now; so go away!" she cried out to them while pulling herself up. After a moment, the coyotes had made no attempt to jump over the bridge after her and disappeared into the black forest. Grace had succeeded in pulling herself up on the broken bridge heaving a sigh of relief, with her heart pounding furiously like a loud drum. Turning around, she saw something else that took her breath away.

It looked like an entrance to an old mine; similar to Echo Mine. A thick grey fog had settled over it. It was dug deep into a hillside with no grass like a giant tube. Above the entrance, a sign read: Misty Mine.

"Hmm, no wonder it's called that intense name," Grace murmured in a sarcastic tone while studying to see if the mine was located anywhere on the map. She had already been in a bad mood from having to deal with too many supernatural disasters on her way. Almost everything she had encountered so far had either wanted to hurt or eat her. Well it was not going to happen again this time. She still had her friends to save. "Perhaps the next thing I'll run from is rats or bats, I suppose; possibly carnivorous." Truth was, that Grace was actually afraid of bats not only because of their appearance but because of those tales which mentioned about them being dark creatures in disguise, preying on the innocent.

"Come on girl, pull yourself together," Grace rubbed the side of her head with her left hoof, feeling a strange sensation run through her body. She still stood before the mine entrance thinking about what other dangers may be lurking deep below. There was no shame in being afraid; everyone's afraid of something. But what would her friends think of her if she gave up too quickly? Well, here goes nothing.

Inside the mine

There was nothing be heard but the dripping of water to echo through the dead silence. The coolness of the outside air had decreased when Grace walked further away from the entrance. Grace wiped her head with her tail to remove a few bits of sweat. The air had filled an intense smoldering heat causing her to barely breathe while still walking. Her stomach began to knot in fear when she saw how deep and dark the tunnel was becoming. The light crystal was still able to light the path; although it was still hard for her to see if there were any new twists and turns ahead.

"It sure is hot down here," she murmured, still sweating. Her own words echoed in the tunnel walls. Now she had been curious to know if there was anything down in this mine causing the smoldering intense heat. Her curiosity had been answered when she spotted a few thermal springs pouring out of the holes in the walls.

"Oh so that's what it was," Grace chuckled lightly. For a moment, she thought it might have been fire or worse. She began to walk through the area holding her breath, ignoring the unbearable hot temperature. Her face and body became soaked in sweat. Not a moment too soon, she released her breath when the thermal spring area had been passed; but part of the heat still remained from where she stood. But now something more terrifying caught her eyes from above.

There were black bats; and lots of them, hanging upside down wrapped up like cocoons. Grace gulped listening to their horrible aggressive snores echo throughout the cave. The light crystals powers were not enough to shake any of them awake, unless she was to move it closer to their faces. Now she had to make sure to tread softly without making even the tiniest sound. Slowly, steady, don't make a sound. Don't even talk because who knows what kind of senses these creatures may possess. She turned to the left edge slowly careful not to wake a single bat. That was when she spotted what looked to be another tunnel opening. Could it be the way out? There was only one way to find out. Remembering that she was still crawling underneath the bats, she continued to move slowly with caution.

Now everything in the end would have turned out alright if Grace had never felt her nostrils began to twist and tickle from the dusty atmosphere. She had been unable to control it any longer.

"Ah…ah…AHCHOO!" she sneezed so loud; it was like dynamite exploding out of a tunnel wall. Her worst fears had come true when she noticed one bat a few feet above her spread its wings widely staring down at her low position with those horrific red beady eyes and a mouth of tiny sharp fangs. One bat after another had followed the same thing. Soon all of the bats were awake staring down at a trespassing cow in their underground home.

Too scared stiff to move, Grace threw her front hooves over her eyes and cringed tightly on the ground feeling the bats whiz past her with their wings flapping at an extremely fast pace. She let out a few screams as a few of them had either tried to nip at her face or pull on her blond hair. The uproar of their flapping had decreased when Grace could barely sense their nipping any longer. Still cowering on the ground in fear, she slowly slipped her left hoof off her eye to see if they were gone. All that could be viewed was the glowing light from the crystal penetrating the darkness of the cave. Only the dripping of water from somewhere echoed in the dark twisting caverns. Well, she was lucky the bats turned out to be just ordinary nocturnal animals instead of bloodthirsty demons in disguise. Maybe she was a little silly to believe in such nonsense, but still…

"AAAWWW!" Grace let out a scream when another bat whizzed past her out of nowhere. Hopefully that was the last bat she had to worry about; now to find the way out of this mine.

Lifting herself off the ground, she treaded toward the opening tunnel to investigate the surroundings it held. She peered into the gloomy darkness and shuddered as she noticed a few cobwebs waving around. Part of her did not want to venture inside of here, yet so far there had been no other path or tunnel to turn to; only this one. Remembering her mission, she entered the tunnel.

The spider caves

Not only was the tunnel uncomfortably stuffy and hot, but the cobwebs grew thicker and stickier as she went deeper below. Grace had mixed emotions of confusion, fear, and sadness while she felt things brush against her hide; something a bit more than the webs, but still she walked on and on passing four openings. The breathlessness of the air grew dimmer being replaced by yet another foul decaying stench. A stench even fouler than when Grace stepped foot on that crazy farmer's property which made her nostrils feel as if they were on fire. The poor heifer had been so lost in thought that she didn't even know how long it has been since she entered this dreadful place.

"I wish Maggie and Mrs. Calloway were with me," she panted quietly; fearing it might have been unsafe to shout down here. "This foul air is making me dizzy." Not only did she wish for the company of her friends, but she would rather be back on the farm sniffing bluebonnets out in the field, rather than have to travel in a world unlike no other; especially one you've feared most going to.

But now a new difficulty came to her as the tunnel now became a forked path, making it hard for her to tell which the shorter or longer way was. Like the forest path, this one also had two paths to choose from.

"Oh no, why can't it just be one path?" she said frustratingly kicking a small pebble. Surely one of them must lead to the way out while the other might have lead to a fatal doom. The left tunnel had been covered up in the messiest cobwebs and these horrible enlarged whitened bags of silk. Cocoons! That couldn't possibly be the right way to go.

"Ehh, I went left last time. Now I go right," Grace stammered as she entered the right tunnel. This path contained lesser and lesser cobwebs from high above and the ground grew clearer than before. A small glimpse of hope filled Grace. This must be the way out of here. Why shouldn't it be? "Finally, I'll be out of here in no time. Look out Callie cause here I come," she laughed cheerfully skipping about. But soon her cheeriness was to be interrupted when she had not gone more than a few miles high.

Her fear had returned when the sound of a gurgling, bubbling, venomous hiss startled her from somewhere behind.

"Huh!" she gasped, wheeling around. There was nothing to be seen. Still she stood there waiting for who knows what to appear before her. Not even the light crystal from her neck could reveal the source of the mysterious sound. It was still enough to penetrate the darkness but the hiss remained hidden as Grace could feel it drawing even closer. "Ugh…who…whoever you are…please don't be angry. I was just about to leave right away!" After those unexpected words, Grace turned to flee upward feeling an even greater malice bent upon her, but didn't want to bother to wait and find out what. There she spotted the opening ahead of her; just a few more feet and…

From out of nowhere, a great giant spider jumped down blocking the exit. The eyes were indeed the most monstrous and abominable windowed clustered sight she ever witnessed. Different from the desert spiders this one was. "Oh no, I wouldn't mind having you stay for dinner, my little fly!" It spoke in a thin creaking hissing voice.

Grace, horror stricken backed away slowly gazing at the horrid stare of those baleful eyes. Not a moment too soon, she turned to flee but the spider caught up in front of her again, since she had eight legs and Grace had only four. "I'm not a fly, I'm a cow. And I'm on my way to meet a witch named Callie; so if you just let me go…" Grace was unable to finish when the spiders horrid eyes drew closer making her back away slowly.

"You won't be going anywhere little fly; NOT TONIGHT!" Without warning, the spider shot a bundle of silken web from its abdomen straight at Grace. Grace fell on the floor struggling in the threads that tied her legs, yet they proved too sticky for her to break out of. All she could do was utter a few small screams as the spider began tying her up in the cords until her body became wrapped in a cocoon. Irritated by her solid whimpering, the spider hissed. "Don't like it? Then keep your mouth shut!" With more silken web, she wrapped the bovine's mouth like a gag to keep her from screaming. Only her head stuck out from the cocoon. Now that the spider was finished, she dragged the frightened bovine back down below the tunnels like a carrying bag. Grace watched as the only exit grew smaller and smaller as she was being carried off by some giant spider to be the main course. She was unable to ask the spider where she was carrying her because of the gag still covering her mouth.

"A cow you must be eh?" the spider asked in that thin creaking voice of hers. "That's even better to tell you the truth. Because you see, we spiders desire meat much sweeter and tender than those raw filthy undead civilians from above. And you my little fly are more alive than dead. But after I have my nap, you'll make a fine course for me and my children!" she cackled throughout the caverns.

Children! Grace was horror stricken. She had a bad feeling about what the spider meant. Soon she would be coming face to face with a whole family of evil sneering arachnids with an appetite for sweet meat such as herself. She struggled to break free in the cocoon but to no avail, and there was simply no use screaming through the gag. All she could do was mumble.

"Its no use my little fly," the spider hissed. "Only a mere sharp object can cut through these unbreakable cords. But if I were you, I wouldn't bother worrying about finding one down in these caves!" she cackled once again dragging Grace through the same left tunnel from which the young heifer had denied entering in the first place.