Madness reigned supreme for terrifying moments. Bodies with great holes in them tripped the living as they scrambled for safety, trying to filter out of the narrow doorway that they had come into, and the smaller were falling to the larger, friends were falling to the bitter taste of fear as they turned on their own and tried to get away from the earth that had turned on them. The figure that had remained hidden in the tunnel now stepped forward, her hands lifted in supplication, and then they came together.
With a terrifying crash, the tunnel slammed shut, and all those who had been caught between the walls were silenced forever. With the only viewable exit now closed, screams began to echo among the shouts, but Triadae's laughter rang louder than it all. In her mind, she had gone absolutely mad with the thrill of it all. She watched the destruction as if it was a party thrown in her honor, and as great hands of stone reached down to gather up men and women and pull them back into the ceiling, she only laughed more.
Then the first figure she had seen slipped through those who were running or cowering, her steps easy and sure. Had Triadae's hands been free, she'd have raised her arms in welcome as the other woman strode close enough to be fully lit by the fire beneath her. Wine-dark hair had been bound back into a ponytail, and her skin had tanned even further than what the elven woman remembered, and there was no sign of the fear or uncertainty that had crippled her when they had last seen each other.
No words were traded, none that could be spoken at that moment alone, and the woman turned away to call for the one who had come last. The draenei, she also knew. Briefly, and only from a distance, but now Triadae understood the absolute power of the one that they had handed the wolf-girl over to. Over the screams and whimpers of the dying, she could hear the two conversing, and then the draenei stepped close enough to wrap her hands around the chains that bound Triadae, and under her touch they seemed to melt, though she felt no heat at all. The same was granted to her ankles, though she retained the shackles.
"Can you stand, friend?" The soothing words were close to her ears, and she realized that she had been watching the squat form of the dwarven woman beating the knees and ankles of those who skittered about like ants, whoops of joy leaving her, and that the draenei had wrapped her arms about her shoulders in an effort to ease her from the stone. Triadae croaked a response that might have been a negative, it was certainly intended to be, and the woman swept her leather-clad arms beneath her and lifted.
Another time, she might have been offended. Another time, she might have squirmed and yelled. Now she simply lay slack in the welcome embrace, but her eyes were scanning the surroundings, and worry twisted her features. Her laughter, that maniacal sound that had finally died away, became a whimper of fear as she caught sight of Kalthor cowering in a corner, Leybright pinned against the wall between him. "Friend," she managed.
Triadae could see the walls rippling again, and now she truly did struggle. So much that she fell from the draenei's grasp, and she reached for the only one she thought could understand. Maybe they hadn't seen him. Maybe they didn't know! Triadae closed her fingers around fur, and realized in some dim part of her mind that the girl she had aided had become a fearsome creature. But she had to know. She had to...
"Tria!" Kalthor's scream could be heard even over the thunder of the earth, and her reaching hand tried again and grasped Brinella's leg as the worgen tore a bystander into two pieces and whirled on her, then froze when she realized that the one who grasped her was not an enemy. "Don't hurt..."
"We need to go. We cannot remain here any longer." Eaxoa appeared again, standing over them as Brinella crouched beside her and brushed her clawed fingers against the trembling woman's cheek. "It's us or them, child. Make your choice now."
"Please..." Triadae tried again, and then her eyes went wide. Warmth flooded her, something like the hope that she had felt only moments ago, a strength that was brought up from the very depths of her spirit, and she knew that she would have no problem speaking, if only for a few moments. She made them count. "There's four more of us. Kalthor and his priestess, a tauren and a troll." The moment passed, and she went limp as Brinella scooped her gently up.
"Focus on them." Eaxoa's voice was quiet, but it rang in the stone around them. "Fix them in your mind, and they will be safe, but only if you focus on them. The elements are enraged, and I have little control now that they are able to wreak havoc on those who have chained them."
In her mind, the images came easily. Gandret and his brown eyes pointing to her beloved hawkstrider, Bruzju reclining against the stone in a dim cave, Kalthor and Leybright standing side by side, fear and worry plain in their eyes... and it was as if her mind was one with the stone. She felt the patience of the rock that had been pushed to retaliation, and felt as each of those who she thought of were targeted for an attack, and then she heard the plea. The soft request to wait and listen, a child tugging at the sleeve of a mother, a student asking a favor of a mentor, a lover touching the face of their cherished one, and the very stone shuddered under it all.
Slowly, the anger broke, at least partially. The wall behind Leybright opened, and she and Kalthor fell into a hidden tunnel that slammed behind them. Gandret roared as a hand of stone grasped him and drew him into the wall, and Bruzju dodged two tendrils of rock three times before they grasped his ankles and dragged him through the stone floor.
"Let 'er go, ye big oaf!" There was more screaming, but Triadae could barely pay attention to it. She could feel the worgen moving, felt herself transferred over to the slightly more comfortable arms of the draenei, and felt the movement of running, but she was still part of the stone. Or was she? No, no she wasn't. The anger was not her own. Triadae moaned her discomfort as the world bounced, and then went dark, the sound of grating stone dimming all other noises, and then silencing them.
Triadae's skin began to itch as the silence extended until all she could focus on was the steady breathing of the woman who held her. Her trembling grew stronger, and she clung to Eaxoa as the woman crouched and settled herself down, crooning low under her breath, a comforting noise that almost reminded the elven woman of the sound a mother hawkstrider made to her clutch. "You are so very worn, child. The others will be here in a moment. They must face a choice now, and we have no part of it."
In the dark, the sound of creaking leather did not soothe her at all. If anything, it scared her, but she held her ground despite wanting to scream. Her nails, or the open skin where they had been, dragged at the ground, but she barely noticed the pain of it anymore.
"Here." Something opened, the pop of a canteen or water skin, and Triadae felt a bare hand on her leg, gently touching and pulling the limb straight. A small light flickered, not a flame as one might know it, but liquid and vibrant. Soothing blue light dropped on her sore and broken feet, and she felt the skin close underneath the shaman's gentle touch. More water splashed along her skin, following the hand that ran up her body, chasing down every open wound and scouring it without pain before washing over new skin.
Last, she opened her mouth as Eaxoa tilted her head back, and the water splashed into her mouth. She swallowed it all, almost nursing the skin, until it was pulled from her. She felt far better, though she was tired. But at least she did not ache any longer. "That..." Her voice was stronger, and it did not hurt to speak, though she cowered as the sound echoed back onto them.
"Is merely water, nothing more. All elements are capable of fantastic things, but from water springs life and renewal." The dark faded as a small spark started in the shaman's hand and then broke free, floating above them and lighting the tunnel. It could not be natural; the walls were too smooth and the floor was clean of debris, though Triadae could see gems glinting in the light of the flame. "Your friends are safe, though shaken. The troll and bull have found each other, and the elven ones are already nearing the surface. You will be reunited in time."
The wall shuddered near them and then split, and Triadae watched the stout dwarven woman drag the kaldorei male through, swiftly followed by Brinella. For a time, there were no words, and then the tunnel seemed to erupt with sound. "Ye coul' ha' got'en yerself killed, ye... knife eared ponce!"
"That was my friend!"
"She were mine, too! Or did ye forge' tha' when ye saw her ripplin' silv'r 'air! Ninya tha migh' ha'e been once, Lydros!" Winnie's voice calmed as she gripped the tensed arm of the hunter, "Bu' tha' weren't our Nin there. Ye heard 'er, my friend. They migh' 'ave done somethin' ta 'er, but these don' work like tha Damned. They do this on their own. Lydros, she was gonnae roas' the elf girl."
"What of her friend? I saw him there. Why did he get free, when he was about to watch her burn? What is so different about that?" Lydros turned his eyes on Triadae, and she quailed under the gaze. "He turned on you, did he not? So why do you not call for his blood?"
"We must move. The cavern will not collapse, and your friend might still live, but we will not survive here. I will find us another way through the stone, but it will be difficult." Eaxoa stood, and Triadae attempted to do so as well, stumbling and then gripping the arms of the draenei woman. "Brinella will stay with me. Lydros, carry our friend."
The moment was tense, and then the hunter moved and took Triadae up into his arms with easy grace. The group formed easily, and Triadae watched another tunnel form under Eaxoa's care. The earth simply... moved. Slowly at first, and then with more speed, until they were running down the stone, and she could see the tunnel filling in behind them. No one could tell if they were going up or if they were going down, but they simply moved.
"Whoa." Winnie spoke for all of them as the tunnel opened into nothingness. One by one they stopped and peered into what they had stumbled upon. "I dun remember nothin' li'e this on tha maps."
"This is new." Eaxoa paused, leaning out over the edge and coaxing the earth to form a shelf that she could step out onto. "There's too much pain and confusion here for this to be old, and it isn't natural. The earth was torn before it's time." Her wondering tone turned to one of surprise as she ducked back into the tunnel, her hooves clicking on the stone. "What..."
The tunnel filled with light, their ears pounding with a high pitched scream as something large filled their vision. Nearly filling the cauldron of the volcano itself, a wall of living lava rushed upward, and then fell away to reveal the thick and lava-ridden form of - …
"Tha's a worm. Tha's a gian' worm of gods-blasted lava!" Winnie was caught somewhere between impressed and shocked senseless, her voice rising into a whoop. Triadae squeaked as Lydros reached out and caught his friend by the collar of her shirt, jerking her back from the edge that Eaxoa had vacated.
"Yes. It's good to see you're still quite apt at stating the complete obvious. Now if you would co – Move!" The thing turned, and the group cowered back into the tunnel, but not quite quick enough. Another piercing roar followed them as they turned and fled, and Eaxoa pulled stone away to form a new tunnel that they dashed down as a wall of lava followed them. The sight was closed off quickly, even the shaman panting heavily. "It won't hold."
It wouldn't. Already, the ore rich stone was heating and beginning to melt. Eaxoa pushed to the back of the group and began forming another tunnel, guiding the rock away while they fled. The walls rumbled, and the group was thrown from their footing, collapsing against each other. "It's throwing itself against the stone. We don't have time!"
"Are we close enough to the outside?" Lydros shifted as he stood, helping Triadae up, and she saw him pull what looked to be a thick bodied gun from his side.
"Yes. We're very close to the bottom, though. It will be hard. Do you think they will see it?"
"Our only chance. We can run circles in the dark here under the rock, or we can get out. I have faith in your abilities, shaman... but even the best of us will fall from exhaustion, and you are not one I would consider easy to replace. Open a hole to the outside. Open many of them. If you can distract the... whatever that is... then we may have a shot."
"Alright." Eaxoa closed her eyes, and the tunnel broadened until they could view the cauldron beneath them. No more than two hundred feet below, magma boiled and popped around the worm that had sprung from it, and the other side of the volcano was impossible to see past the clouds of gas and ash, but Lydros stuck a hand out of the crevice as the worm crashed into the opposite wall twice more, and pulled the trigger. A flare sprung from the barrel, throwing itself high into the air, though no one saw the color it may have been.
Then they were moving again, the flare gun forgotten as the worm whirled and they were forced to flee as it spit enormous globs of magma their way. The molten rock oozed into the tunnel, and Eaxoa was forced to stop and throw up a wall just as she opened another part of the wall. Winnie let out a whoop.
"They see us! We're saved!"
Triadae leaned, and spotted three enormous forms dropping through the cover while a fourth dove at the head of the massive worm. Sufficiently enraged at the pesky invader, the dragons made it easily down to the mouth of the tunnel, dropping low. Winnie leapt off the ledge first, appearing again as her dragon swooped up, using the thermals to carry it and the dwarf away. Lydros set Triadae down and followed, and a silent word passed between Eaxoa and the worgen as she too jumped.
"Drink." Triadae blinked as a vial was set under her nose, but she didn't ask, only taking it and downing the liquid that felt more like air on her tongue. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Brinella consume a vial of liquid as well, and then her arms were wrapped around her waist, and Triadae was flung out into the open and heated air... and for a moment she hung, and then slowly began to descend.
When she looked up, she saw nothing, and for a moment she felt sick. Until her toes brushed something beneath her, and she glanced down to see a bird easily the size of a dragon, and her fingers reached out to gather in the feathers around the neck. Her body settled on the ivory and bone studded leather that decorated the bird, and with a noise that could have been the keen of an eagle, the giant bird swept her wings downward, and they rose through the smoke and heat into the air.
When they broke free of the cauldron, the others appeared again, astride great green drakes that formed a triangle around the shifted druid. Atop her own, Winnie whooped and hollered up a storm, and even Lydros was caught in laughter that could only be called joyous. Eaxoa smiled over at the druid and elven woman, but beneath the dirt and grime that covered her alien features, one could tell she was ready to rest for a long time.
Triadae joined in their cheering, lifting her arms as Brinella dipped into a dive that threatened to unseat her from the crow's broad back, but she returned to level out, a swoop of her wings carrying them back up to the others. For the time, as the sun began to dip back into the horizon, Triadae forgot about her friends and simply enjoyed her moment.
They were alive.