Chapter 7: Cave Dangers and Torch Lights.
Roshan's head was bent. After a long time of searching, his men were beginning to tire, and so was he.
He was the only one standing while his friends and tribe members sat nearby. They were still traveling along the large ledge, And it seemed they were going to be doing so for a long time.
He sat down on a nearby rock and stared at his hands. If only he'd been more careful. Maybe put up a small pen around the edge of the camp to make sure his son or any other children wandered off.
He held his head in his large hand, roughened by years of work. He couldn't give up. He'd search this cave for the rest of the life if he had to.
Roshan suddenly thought of his son toddling around the tent for the first time.
He smiled faintly. The memory of his first walk was still there, though it was faint. The voices he heard, though he couldn't explain them ,were always comforting.
A tiger. A mammoth. And funny Sloth...
"Look at that. Our little guy's growing up."
He stood up and walked over to the side of the ledge, staring at the cavern below, a torch held in his hand.
This place was so complicated, it would take years to-
CR-A-ACK.
"Roshan, the ledge! it's not-"
Roshan's head jerked down to see the ledge below him was giving away. He turned run, but slipped before he could take so much as a step. One of the tribe members lunged forward and grabbed hold of his hand, but it wasn't enough. Roshan slipped off the side.
He grabbed a hold of the rope as he felt jerk and steady him, but the rope had caught on an exceptionally sharp rock. It had stopped his fall, but by only a second.
It snapped, and he fell the rest of the way onto the cavern's hard, stone floor.
He felt all the air being knocked for his lungs, and he lay there for a few moments, winded.
"Roshan!"
He coughed, turning onto his stomach and then onto his knees. "I'm alright! G-go back to the start of the cavern- I'll find a way back to you."
He stood up, holding his sore arm. Nothing broken- good.
"Throw me down my sack- I might need the supplies."
His men complied. After making sure their comrade was alright they began making their back along the ledge towards the caves. They knew now that continuing along the ledge was too risky- if it had given away beneath one man it would be dangerous for many to cross.
Roshan held us his torch and began making his way through one of the tunnels nearby, that seemed to be going in the same direction as his men.
Should I go looking for my son instead? No- I can't leave my men. I'll find them and we'll continue looking. That's a sensible decision...
Roshan sighed. By that time his son could be...no, he pushed away the thought. He decided that he'd look for his son on the way.
That sounded like a better plan.
Diego slowed his walk until he was by Manny's side. Ellie and Shira were ahead, discussing the odd paintings, which was understandable as they'd never seen anything like them before, so Diego took the moment to talk to his friend
"Manny..." the mammoth turned his head towards the saber.
"What?"
"Those paintings back there...they didn't...well..."
"I know what you're getting at, and I don't want to talk about it."
The mammoth's short, aggravated reply caused Diego to sigh deeply. "I wasn't going to talk about your family, Manny. Though you do need to talk about it sometimes."
Manny didn't respond. Diego decided to get on with it.
"I was talking about the kid. Y'know..."
"Yeah, I remember him. How couldn't I? he sent me on the most painful frustrating journey of my life with a wise-guy saber and a stupid sloth. And...if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have found a herd."
Diego smiled. "Yeah. And when you think about it, you wouldn't have found Ellie."
"I guess... and you wouldn't have found your girlfriend."
Diego looked over at Shira, still chattering away with Ellie. "Yeah. She's a tough kitty isn't she? though don't tell her I called her that..."
He laughed nervously and paused. "I think I saw a picture of one of those cracked buds that had the melons on the wall. I didn't think the humans would still remembered them..."
"Humans have weird brains. They cover their paws in...mush. Trying to understand them is like trying to understand Sid's logic."
Sid felt awfully sick by the time Crash and Eddie decided to take a break at their sloth-rolling game. They were running around the cave attempting to find a drawing of a possum- maybe two. Well, thought Sid, At least they'd taken the fire-stick out of his mouth for a better view...
Sid gazed with lopsided eyes at the drawings.
Yup. Still no sloths. You never see any sloths on these things.
He suddenly remembered the last time he'd seen these human paintings. He wished Diego and Manny were here to talk to about them.
He also wished Pinky could be here, too. Sometimes, he really missed that little guy.
Sid wriggled in the log.
I- I Can feel my legs! Yay, whoohoo! I'm not paralysed anymore.
He tried talking, but only managed a few blubbering syllables.
Okay maybe not.
Somewhere else, Scatt was scurrying through another tunnel in search of a better hiding place for his acorn.
He continued through the darkened tunnel until he tripped on something round and smooth. He yelped, flopping painfully on his belly. His acorn slipped out of his grasp and rolled somewhere to the side.
The saber-tooth squirrel gasped, jumping up immediately. He saw his acorn falling through a crack at the side of the cave. He yelped again, diving towards the crack and looking inside.
There seemed to be another tunnel below. Maybe he could fit through.
Sucking up his stomach, Scatt squeezed painfully through the gap. At first he was afraid he'd get stuck, but before he knew it he was through the crack and falling towards the new tunnel's rocky floor.
He landed with a painful thud.
Groaning loudly, he looked around for his acorn. With a gleeful gasp he spotted it, trapped in yet another, smaller crack in the ground.
He sped over to his precious acorn and began pulling at it. It was stuck tight.
In fury, the saber-squirrel pulled it with all his might, until finally it came free.
He hugged the acorn happily, unaware for only a second that the crack below was beginning to spread.
His head snapped to the right. He watched it travel all the way through the cave, and vanish. He cringed, knowing what was coming, any moment now...
CRACK.
For goodness sake, Scratt.
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