Fire Rock

  Finally feeling a lot steadier on his feet, he set out along the tunnel, hoping he still had time to complete his plan.

  *

  Brokin looked down into the Great Chamber from his high perch in the air vent.

  Dare he jump? No, it was too far. If he jumped from this height, he might seriously injure himself.

  Somehow he had to find a way down. He had no choice, he couldn't return through the vent tunnel because the entrance was blocked with stones and it would be impossible to dig his way out.

  Looking over the edge of the high drop, he tried to work out if there was the remotest chance of finding a descent into the chamber below, but before he could, Brokin heard voices approaching.

  Ducking back into the tunnel, he watched carefully from his hiding place as Grindel and Cherva entered the Great Chamber.

  Unexpectedly the giant taproot trembled and both badgers looked towards the roof.

  "That's some storm building up out there," Cherva observed above the noise of the crashing thunder penetrating the sett with hollow rumbles.

  Brokin realised that the storm must be directly overhead for its anger to permeate this deeply into the sett.

  With the next peal of thunder, a fine layer of dust drifted down from the roof as the walls of the Great Chamber shook in response.

  "I've sent three badgers to fetch Darkburst as you instructed. They should be back soon," Cherva told Grindel when the thunder had quietened a little.

  "Well I hope it's not too late," the Preceptor replied angrily. "How could those two idiots have been so stupid as to leave him out there like that?" Grindel slapped his paw on the ground, the sound reverberating from the walls with a sharp thwack. "And now this storm. I want those two to die slowly, Cherva. Very, very slowly. Do you understand?" Cherva nodded as the Preceptor continued. "I want them to suffer a great deal before they die!"

  "As you wish Preceptor," Cherva agreed. "But what is it . . ."

  The large badger suddenly faltered to a stop, an uneasy silence following when he realised that he might have overstepped the mark.

  "What?" Grindel growled, sensing his guard's discomfort.

  "Forgive me Preceptor," Cherva apologised in his most ingratiating tone, "but I was wondering why this badger is so important to you?"

  Grindel stared at his second-in-command, and for a long moment the air was heavy with a heavy tension.

  Then he wrinkled his snout and relaxed a little, nodding his head slightly. "Well I suppose there's no harm in you knowing now, Cherva," he admitted. "I'll need your help anyway, so it's for the best that you know what's going on."

  Grindel paused, unconsciously sucking air through his teeth as he considered his next words.

  "You'll have heard of Boddaert's Magic," he said, waiting for Cherva's slight nod before continuing. "The badger, Darkburst, was bringing that to me, at least an important part of it."

  Cherva did his best not to react to this news, but his eyes let him down and the Preceptor chuckled.

  "Yes my friend, Boddaert's Magic." Grindel stared off into the distance for a moment before focussing his attention on Cherva again. "Just one more piece of the puzzle to find and I'll have all the power that I'll need." Curling the claws of one foot into the ground, Grindel smiled broadly. "Just think Cherva, I'm almost ready to put my final plans into action at last."

  The Preceptor's eyes lit with an inner energy that Cherva had never seen before and the large badger felt a shiver run along his back.

  "I'm on the verge of total domination Cherva. Total power. I just need the last piece of the puzzle."

  The Preceptor's hoarse whispers floated up to Brokin in the air vent and he shifted uneasily, aware that he had to do something to stop this evil badger before it was too late.

  Cherva nodded slowly at the Preceptor's words, savouring the power that would come to him once Grindel had Boddaert's Magic in his possession. His heart beat faster as he contemplated his future.

  "And the last piece of the puzzle?" he asked in a husky voice. "Do you know where that is Preceptor?"

  "No, but Darkburst will," Grindel answered with certainty.

  Once again the Great Chamber trembled with the force of the thunder crashing overhead, the giant taproot creaking a protest as the winds above roared in from the north.

  "I'm going to prepare for Darkburst's arrival. Bring him straight to me when he gets here. And the Healer, I want her here too, I'll need her skills when Darkburst arrives. From what those two idiot guards told me, he's probably in a bad way."

  Chuckling throatily the Preceptor allowed a slight sneer to touch his lips as he turned away. Then he swung his head back when Cherva mumbled something under his breath.

  "What was that?" he growled suspiciously.

  Cherva licked his lips nervously. "I said the Healer is missing Preceptor. The guards are scouring the sett for her now."

  Grindel wrinkled his snout and stared hard at the floor, the large artery in his neck throbbing in time to his quickening heart-rate. Walking towards the entrance tunnel he stopped and glared back at Cherva for a moment.

  "Don't ever make the mistake of taking my generosity as a weakness Cherva," he growled, "That would be a big mistake. Find her and quickly."

  There was a long pause, during which the two badgers stared at each other, then Grindel abruptly turned and left the chamber.

  With the Preceptor's words still ringing in his ears, Cherva watched as Grindel disappeared from sight. Heaving a sigh of relief that the badger had taken Soffen's disappearance so well, Cherva followed him from the Great Chamber.

  He would extend the search for the Healer.

  Finding himself alone in the Great Chamber, Brokin eased his head out of the air vent to take a look around.

  Another clap of thunder rent the air, this time shaking the ground so violently that a large piece of rock fell from the roof, hitting the floor with a dull thud. Another thunderclap and Brokin shuddered when the taproot moved back and forth, as the tree's old trunk was battered by the force of the storm raging above.

  From behind Brokin came a loud rumble. Part of the vent tunnel was collapsing and he realised that had to get out of the narrow passageway quickly or be buried alive.

  Swinging himself out over the edge of the drop, Brokin dug the claws of his back feet into the wall and began easing himself down, trying to ignore the fluttering in his belly as he glanced towards the floor, so far below him.

  If he fell now-

  As that thought entered his head, Brokin's claws began to slip through the packed earthen wall, and before he could do anything to stop himself, he was slithering down the sheer drop at an ever-increasing rate, his claws gouging long grooves into the hard surface.

  Chapter 29

  After rolling a large rock into place across the shallow chamber opening, the guards departed, leaving Rooten and Comfrey in total darkness, their hopes of a reward dashed completely.

  "This is all your fault." Comfrey complained bitterly. "I should never have listened to you in the first place. I told you that we should leave that stupid badger to die. But would you listen—"

  The pair had been unceremoniously dragged from the Great Chamber and taken to the lowest regions of the sett where they had been imprisoned in the small chamber. They knew that the guards would be back before the moon's end to carry out the Preceptor's orders and that they had but a short time left to live.

  "It's as much your fault as mine," Rooten snapped back. "If you hadn't frozen like some frightened cub up there . . . if you'd only supported me . . . well things might have turned out differently, that's all I'm saying."

  Snorting his anger at his friend's behaviour, Rooten took a deep shuddering breath and tried to calm his thrumming nerves. Being treated so roughly by the guards had left him shaken.

  "Anyway," he continued, "it was you that suggested we leave that poor badger to die in the forest, not me. So it's hardly my fault is it? I told you we should try and get him back h
ere."

  Comfrey didn't answer the criticism. He was too busy trying to make out what the gentle rustling noise he'd just heard was.

  "And another thing. What about that—"

  Rooten's whining voice was abruptly cut short by Comfrey's ringing scream and he thought he was about to die of shock. His heart pounded away in his chest with such force that he could feel every beat.

  "What's the matter with you?" Comfrey shouted, still trembling from the shock he'd received.

  "S-s-something just t-touched me," Comfrey stammered in an urgent whisper. "There's something else in here with us."

  Rooten was about to berate his friend for being even stupider than usual, when something brushed the tip of his ear, and there was no possibility that it had been Comfrey because his friend was standing on his other side.

  That was when Rooten screamed too . . . even louder than Comfrey had, his heart rate reaching such a rate that it fluttered uncontrollably for a moment.

  He tried to speak but could only stammer a half-strangled, "Ah . . . ah . . . hah . . . ahhhh . . "

  Rooten's groans of terror grew in direct proportion to his fertile imagination, which quickly pictured all kinds of horrors loose in the chamber with them. Hastily backing away from the unseen danger lurking in the darkness, he finally fetched up against a rock wall and could back away no further.

  "It's all right. Don't be frightened. I won't hurt you," a quiet voice said.

  The voice floated to them out of the darkness, and though they couldn't see the badger who had spoken, the voice sounded friendly enough.

  They both sighed and relaxed a little.

  "You're a badger!" Rooten said, stating the obvious, his voice rising in an indignant squeak. "Why didn't you say you were here straight away, instead of frightening the life out of us like that? By Homer, you almost scared me to death!"

  "Well, I didn't want to frighten you," the voice explained reasonably.

  "Didn't want to frighten me?" Rooten exploded. "Didn't want to frighten me? What did you think touching me like that would do then? Soothe my beleaguered nerves?"

  "I'm sorry," was the soft reply. "I just assumed that you knew I was here."

  "Well I would have scented you straight away, if Rooten hadn't been complaining so much and it wasn't so damp and stuffy down here," Comfrey complained self-righteously.

  "Yes of course you would," Rooten responded sarcastically.

  "What are you doing here anyway? Are they going to kill you too?" Comfrey asked the stranger in a quiet voice, trying to steer the conversation away from his embarrassing behaviour.

  "I slipped in here to hide when I heard you coming. I thought you'd walk right passed the chamber. Instead you were pushed in here and the chamber blocked off. I didn't for a moment expect to be trapped here with you two." There followed a short, bitter laugh.

  "Who are you hiding from?" Comfrey responded. "And what are—"

  "Be quiet for a moment Comfrey and let him speak," Rooten admonished his friend.

  Comfrey mouthed a few unintelligible words, then lapsed into a sulky silence.

  "Now," Rooten took over, "why not start by telling us your name?"

  "Thesa," was the reply.

  "Yes I thought as much," Rooten mused. "You're the badger that escaped after the battle, aren't you."

  "Yes," Thesa said. "I've been hiding down here, wondering what to do. I've been trying to find a way out but there's been so many badgers coming and going that I couldn't take the chance on moving about the upper tunnels. Anyway I was exploring along here when I heard you coming."

  "You mean to say that you've been hiding down here ever since the battle finished?"

  An uneasy silence fell across the chamber as Rooten's question brought back memories of the terrible debacle that Thesa and his fighters had suffered.

  *

  "What's that?" Comfrey's urgent whisper brought Thesa back to the present. "I can feel something ruffling my fur."

  "It's a draught!" Rooten exclaimed.

  "Yes, I can feel it too," Thesa agreed. "It's coming from behind us. Come on."

  The three badgers stumbled their way across the small chamber, following the current of air that Comfrey had felt.

  Rooten bumped into Thesa when the boar unexpectedly stopped. Thesa cursed softly and Rooten backed off.

  "Look, over there. Can you see it?" Comfrey's voice squealed with excitement.

  "What?" Rooten mumbled, still shaken by the smell of blood that hovered over Thesa.

  "Look, straight ahead, it's an opening. Can't you see the light shining through?"

  When the trio neared the small point of light the air became fresher.

  "Comfrey's right. Look, it is a hole!" Rooten shouted excitedly. "Maybe we can use it to get out."

  Thesa shook his head, then, realising that the others couldn't see, said, "No, it's much too small."

  "Wait." Rooten ran his paw around the small opening. "Maybe . . . Yes, there's a jumble of stones covering it. If we move them, I think we might be able to make a hole big enough to squeeze through. Come on, help me dig."

  Some time later, while they were resting, Thesa heard a gentle, almost tentative cough, followed by Rooten's low voice.

  "Tell me something, Thesa," he said. "Why did you decide to fight to the end like you did, and not take up the Preceptor's offer?"

  Thesa considered the question for a time, not really sure himself why he'd chosen to gamble his life so recklessly.

  "I don't know," he finally replied. "It just seemed to be the right thing to do at the time."

  Comfrey picked at a small flint that had become lodged between the pads of his foot and snorted. "You know, I wouldn't admit this to many badgers, but I admire you for what you did up there. Attacking Cherva that way." He chuckled delightedly. "The look on his face. It was really something to see!"

  Rooten grunted his agreement in the darkness. "You certainly took me by surprise. I didn't know a badger could move that fast. And the way you killed those two guards when you ran into the sett."

  "What happened to the others after I left?" Thesa asked, not sure that he really wanted to know the answer.

  "Oh the Preceptor eventually let them go," Comfrey answered. "After de-clawing them first that is. He said it was a fair punishment in the circumstances."

  Thesa shuddered at the pain that his friends must have suffered because of his refusal to submit.

  "What about Cherva?" he asked in a subdued tone.

  "You really hurt him," Rooten answered with a chuckle. "And a good thing too. I never have liked that boar. Always telling us what to do. It's about time he was put in his place."

  "Yes," agreed Comfrey. "His snout was really torn. Ripped right down its length. I heard that he even lost one of his eyes."

  "Come on then, let's get back to work," Thesa ordered, not comfortable with the fact that he felt so pleased at inflicting such injuries on a fellow badger– even one as sadistic as Cherva.

  The chamber was quickly filled with soft grunts and the chinking of stone on stone as they worked.

  *

  "Thesa . Thesa, look out!"

  Thesa looked up at the urgent shout, just in time to see a large stone dislodge itself from above him.

  The stone struck his head and Thesa staggered, his legs turning shaky.

  He should have been concentrating on what he was doing, instead of letting his mind wander back to the battle, he realised.

  That last thought snapped out, and he slumped to the floor, twitched once, then lay quite still.

  Rooten shook the dust from his coat, bending over Thesa's inert body.

  "Is he alright?" Comfrey asked.

  "Quickly, help me get this stone out of the way," Rooten responded.

  Together, the two badgers rolled the stone aside, glancing at each other nervously when they spotted the blood oozing from Thesa's ear.

  Rooten sat back on his haunches, hardly hearing his friend's words as he watched the
red pool of blood growing beside the black badger's head.

  They could both see that the boar had been seriously injured.

  "Come on, leave him there. We can't do anything for him now."

  "But—"

  "Look," Comfrey berated his friend, "it's not our fault, is it? If he'd been more careful, this wouldn't have happened to him, would it. Come on, the guards might have heard all the noise. Let's get out of here while we can."

  With one last glance at Thesa, Rooten tutted, shook his head, then followed Comfrey, squeezing his way through the hole that the falling stones had uncovered.

  *

  Thesa groaned and eased himself to his feet, standing in the centre of the small chamber, swaying back and forth, still unsteady. His head pounded and his ear was soaked in blood. It felt as though it had been half-torn from his head.

  He shook his coat, choking on the dust that rose from his matted fur. The echoes of his coughing bounced back at him, overlapping with such complexity that he was disorientated by the sounds.

  As the echoes subsided, Thesa realised that they had been coming from the hole that he and the other two badgers had cleared. It sounded as though there were twenty coughing badgers waiting for him through the small opening.

  Instantly Thesa grasped the fact that there was probably a large chamber on the other side of the opening. Tapping a stone against the rock wall, he tried to judge the size of the cavern from the pitch of the vibrations echoing back to him.

  Yes, it was big.

  Thesa stopped tapping and turned his head to listen.

  What was that noise? A whisper? No, something else—

  Then he had it– the echo of lapping water. There was water in the other chamber!

  Poking his head into the opening, Thesa could just make out a diffused radiance at the other end of a short, narrow crack in the rock. Shaking his head in confusion, he wrinkled his snout. He was too deep underground for any light to penetrate. Something strange was at work here.

  What could cause such a glow?

  Thesa was wary, in truth a little frightened. For some reason the shimmering light brought with it cubhood memories of times spent alone in his sleeping chamber, when he'd been too frightened to stretch out his paw from his bed of leaves, in case some hidden monster might grab it.