"Joy," you started as you glanced back towards the small woman, your body lurching forward as you moved to the side of the cart, your feet dragging against the beaten dirt path that you had stopped the cart upon. "One of us should remain outside to watch the camp and guard the few supplies we have. While I'd like you by my side inside the mine, you're the one who's best suited to this. I'll leave the rifle with you, as unsuited for use as a close quarters weapon as it is, the shotgun we have while a fairly powerful weapon, is unsuited to anything but close quarters."
"Understood. How should I engage-"
"Joy, use your judgement over how to handle anything that needs to be dealt with. You don't need me here to dictate every course of action that you need to take." You felt iritable and uncomfortable thanks to the injuries you'd sustained, though you knew anything more than a small dose of pain killers the no doubt meager medical supplies would greatly hinder your ability to act and react in the mines.
You were going to have to take as much as you could safely get away with, then grin and bear it, it seemed.
"Understood."
The terse and direct manner in what she responded at times made you wish that Anne was as easy to deal with and direct, though her lack of imagination and unwillingness to act on her own in your presence made you wonder just how long she'd wait before she came looking for you. You could be captured, injured, unable to act. Heck, you could be twenty years into your next thousand years before she even came looking for you.
Well... Probably just ten.
"Anne, you're taking the shotgun and a torch-"
"Understood. How should I engage things?" she interrupted, her words flat, impassive, her expression blank. Even under the disgusted gaze you levelled upon her, she was able to remain straight faced for a long moment before the faintest hint of a smile crept along the corners of her mouth. "Yeah, yeah, stop looking at me like that. I know how to handle things in the mine. If it comes screeching at us like some kind of banshee, shoot it. If it gets up, shoot it again. If it talks, let it get close, then shoot it."
"Anne..." You started, pinching the bridge of your nose as you did so. No, this wasn't worth it. She knew better than that, she was just testing your patience.
"And if you come screeching at me, jab you in the neck." Anne paused as she clasped a hand over her mouth, realising too late the nature of what she'd just said. The fact that she'd even joke about something of that nature had you feel your stomach lurch as the unwelcome sensation of her namesake gripped you. "I... Oh god... I'm sorry, I..."
Anne awkwardly shuffled towards you, her head lowering submissively as her shoulders, along with her wings drooped. You knew as her arms slowly started to raise, to draw you close to her that the gesture was meant to be one seeking to offer comfort, as well as to gain it herself, yet your first reaction was to raise your arms, batting her hands aside as you stepped away, your one hand moving to take hold of the cart as you hauled yourself up atop it.
"I... Please-" Anne started, only to fall silent as you raised a hand, your forefinger raised to make it clear that you didn't want to hear a word from her right now, that joking or not, what she had said was going too far.
"We can talk about this it when we're done, for now we have more important things to worry about, such as why the two headed taint bearer has failed to return and why I have such a sense of dread over what we will find in this mine." you stated, taking a deep breath as you did your best to regain balance, to center yourself, to ignore the petty human emotions that swam through your thoughts at this time. You were better than this, you were better than some screaming human who would bear a petty grudge and allow it to colour your thoughts.
If you were to deal with her pre-emptively, it wouldn't be because you were afraid of her trying to trap you within your thousand year cycle once more, no, it would be because she was a clear and immediate threat to others. You were fairly certain that simply disposing of her would do little to stop the cycle, that breaking the preferred tool would simply mean another hand would carry out the task.
You plucked your revolver from the floor of the cart, where Anne had carelessly left it, along with the other guns, after performing her inventory of your supplies. A weapon that you knew was more reliable than the woman that you were taking into the dark with you, a weapon that had been forged through your efforts. "Anne, find me a few pieces of flint, I'm going to need them to set the torches aflame."
Out of the corner of your eyes you could see Anne nodding in an almost imperceptible manner before she turned towards the entrance of the mine, leaving you picking up the ammo belt that contained your bullets. One bullet was selected from the middle of the belt, where you estimated that it would be awkward for you to reach for it in the first place, a bullet that after some moments fiddling, allowed you to get at the gunpowder you required for igniting one of the torches you had made.
After adding gunpowder to the torch you plucked the shotgun along with its shells from the cart, hopping down as you approached Anne, who was half heartedly sifting through the discarded stone out the front of the mine. One torch, along with the shotgun was held out to her, before you dropped the shells into her free hand, pausing only to pluck some suitable stones that she had passed over or failed to take into account as suitable.
Clack.
Clack.
Clack.
The sound of stone against stone filled the air as you struck the uneven stones together, the small sparks coming from them initially failing to ignite the torch. This failure to procure means to illuminate the mine however, was short live, as sparks caught the gunpowder you'd laced the cloth with, causing smoldering flames to flare up.
One torch was pressed to the other, then with your revolver in one hand and the torch in the other you advanced into the mine.
The change in temperature quickly struck you as you strode fearlessly inwards, the air cool and bearing traces of moisture.
Your eyes struggled to adapt as they were quickly plunged into darkness, with little more than the glow of the torch in hand to illuminate the way as you fast lost sight of daylight. The feeble light of the torch was something that you would have to rely upon, yet you couldn't stop, you couldn't wait. You had to press onward.
You couldn't meander nor linger in this mine, for you could feel the sensation of anxiety you had felt earlier returning, a sensation of dread that gripped your chest as you felt yourself drawn towards the horrors that lurked deep within this hole.
Footfalls echoed down the silent tunnels as you progressed past hastily constructed supports, metal pins sunk into wooden frames that creaked ever so slightly as you passed them by. Pins, that had born lanterns at one point, though no more did they hold what would have been welcome replacements for your shoddy torches.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
The ambience of the cave like mine you currently traversed filled your other senses even as your eyes failed you, your hearing filled with the soft groans of the earth as the path you progressed along turned downwards.
Moisture filled the air, footfalls echoed, torches crackled and spluttered.
Downwards, ever downwards you strode.
The mines ran deep beneath the earth, the sensation of moisture grew ever stronger, while a dull roar tickled at your senses, telling you that there was something that you believed to be a source of running water down here.
There was something else you noted, as you strode onwards, taking note of how the walls were rougher hewn here than at the entrance, the supports distanced further.
A coppery scent that grew stronger as you continued deeper.
"Do you smell that?" you asked, keeping your tone cautiously hushed as you turned back towards Anne, who you could barely make out past the illumination her torch provided. It wasn't that the torch she bore wasn't bright enough, it was that she had it held in such a manner that you were forced to look past it to see her face.
"I'm trying not to, it smells like decay."
"Decay?" you echoed the word, that brief moment of confusion you felt carrying on your words.
"Yeah, you can't smell it?"
"I know your senses are stronger than mine, so I'll have to take your word for it. It does say that what I can smell is likely blood then. Do you think it belongs to tainted-"
"Ichor."
"Right. Ichor. It might explain where the miners are, then."
"Can we hurry up?" Anne's response bore a hint of agitation as she shifted uncomfortably. Unlike what you felt as you progressed ever deeper, there was no hint of dread, only irritation over the fact she was hunched over to prevent her wings getting caught on the mine's ceiling and supports. "The smell's making me feel kinda hungry."
With that you pushed onwards, pressing deeper into the mine, ever deeper beneath the ground as the ceiling slowly rose, as the sound of water grew stronger, as the scent of blood became heavier. For some minutes you pushed onwards, only pausing as you came to a junction in the shaft.
Forwards, and further down you could hear and smell water, to the left the scent of blood seemed heavier, to the right there seemed very little to go on and behind you was the way out.
Beyond the sound of water, your breathing and the torches crackle, there were no other sounds in what you presumed had been a fairly active mine.
The heavy sensation of dread you felt seemed to only grow stronger, despite your efforts to stave it off, that made you wonder if pressing onwards was truly a good idea, or if you should investigate the other routes. Oddly, you noted that you felt less apprehensive about what you would find on the left most path, than by pressing forward, that raised the question, what would you do?
Author
Topic: They told me I could be anything... (Read 78882 times)