The sight was a lot to take in for them. What he was expecting to see was men covered in soot with hard hats on their heads from working in a mine of some sort. Instead, the men were a mere four feet high at the tallest. Most of them were wearing shining plated armor, round shields on their backs, and a sword or hammer on their hips and round shields strung across their backs. The one who stood out the most appeared to be the oldest amongst the group. He was wearing a deep purple robe and in his hand, he carried a staff with a glowing stone attached to the top whose light filled the chamber.
Each of the men had a long beard hanging down to various spots between their belt and chin. He looked the men up and down wondering where they came from. They all had, what Andrew assumed was the same, bewildered looks on their faces that the two siblings had. The burliest man banged his fist against his armored chest, and in a strange language said, "Hva har vi her?"
"Hello," Andrew said with a perplexed look on his face, "can you help us? We fell, and..."
The shortest of the men interrupted him saying, "De’er trolig fiende spioner."
"I, I don't understand what you’re saying," Andrew stuttered out, "there was an accident, and we fell here. We’re hurt and need help, will you please help us?"
"Den lille jenta grater," the largest man said pointing at Tessa. Her tears turned to relief now that the shock of their rescuers had started wearing off. The group of men all started laughing.
"Bindr dem," the largest man said, as Andrew realized that he must be their leader. Before Andrew realized what was happening, the rescuers unexpectedly attacked. Their attackers had tackled them to the ground and were tying their hands behind their backs. Andrew cried out in pain as they twisted his broken arm into place behind him. The pain was so intense that he almost blacked out, but fought to remain conscious with all his might.
“Leave my sister alone, do what you want to me, but please don’t do anything to her. Please, I beg you," Andrew pleaded through gritted teeth, teetering on the edge of consciousness, "we don't know what's going on or who..."
"Stillhet," the man in charge growled out. His companions produced strips of cloth that they used to gag them so they couldn't talk.
The old robed man stepped forward and knelt by Travis. He placed a palm on Travis’s head and mumbled a few words under his breath. He looked to his comrades with a look of worry on his face, “Vil du la meg i det minste helbrede deres sar?”
“Nei, vi vil ikke gjore noe for min far befaler det, og jeg vil ikke hore mer om det," the man in charge replied.
The old man looked back and forth between the man in charge and the siblings laying tied up on the floor of the cavern.
“Kom tilbake pa ditt sted! Na!," The man in charge shouted in an angry tone at the robed man who immediately bowed and shrunk back into the group.
Tessa was sobbing through her gag and had muddy streaks on her face where the dust was clinging to her tears.
One of the men upended Andrew's’s pack dumping its contents on the ground. He began flinging items over his shoulder at random finding no use for any of the contents. After picking through Andrew's belongings, he picked up Tessa's flashlight. His look of surprise as he clicked it on and let out an astonished yelp. All the other men erupted into laughter at his reaction to the burst of light. He dropped it making the light flicker and then brought his armored foot down on it stomping it into the rocks.
"Sta opp," the man in charge finally commanded, as Andrew and Tessa roughly lifted them to their feet. The rough movement caused another painful groan from Andrew. Tessa felt more helpless than ever seeing his pain through her streaming tears.
One of the men who had bound Andrew tied Travis’s hands in front of him and carried his limp body across his shoulders. Turning to the man in the robes the man in charge said, “vis vei," motioning towards the tunnel they had come from. The man in the robes gave an indignant scowl and walked away down the tunnel using his staff to light their way. The group of men followed as Andrew and Tess had no choice but to follow them into the unknown.
Their forced march was slow going with Tessa limping on her hurt ankle. And Andrew's arm was searing in new waves of pain with each step. For a while, they traveled downward in the slanted tunnel lit only by the glowing staff. Soon, the small tunnel joined with a tunnel heading unknown distances to the left and right. He noticed the smell of wet fur in the air, then there was a flurry of movement on his right.
The man with the glowing staff came to a halt, and there in front of them was a herd of large furry creatures. They had dark brown fur, long whiskers sticking off of their snouts, and long claws sticking off to the sides. It took a minute for Andrew to realize that there in front of them was a group of the largest moles that he had ever seen. Each mole, as tall as he was at his chest had a saddle with loops of leather hanging from the side.
The man in charge, the old man with, and a few others scurried up the leather ladders and mounted the moles. They draped Travis’s unconscious form across the furry rump of one of the moles, behind the saddle. "Ga," the lead man said, prodding the mole with the backs of his heels and the group of moles began to move forward. The group went at a slow enough pace so that the rest of the small men and their prisoners were able to keep up.
They traveled in this manner for what seemed like hours before the group finally came to a stop at a fork in the tunnel. The riders tried to steer the moles to the left, but their whiskers bristled and they refused to budge. The guard’s hands were on their weapons as they looked around with uneasy expressions. Then out of the darkness came a whistling sound, and a loud "PING," as a rock bounced off the man's head. The men let out a loud battle cry as they swung their shields off their backs and drew their weapons.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Tessa looked around startled, as the man next to Andrew crumpled in a heap unconscious on the ground. Out of nowhere a couple of men dressed in black appeared on either side of Tessa and slit the throats of her guards. The men in black grabbed Tessa's bound arms and dragged her back into the darkness. She struggled as hard as she could, and tried to call out but the gag left her only making muffled squeaks.
It was dark, but Tessa felt her new captors drag her sideways towards the wall of the tunnel. They pulled her through an opening with green glowing edges in the otherwise solid rock wall.
One of them pulled a dagger out of his belt and put a scratch through the green glowing edge of the hole they had entered. There was a flash of light and Tessa was surprised to see the edges of the hole flowing together like water. Seconds later the opening sealed itself with stone leaving them engulfed in darkness.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
There was another whistling sound followed by a wet crunch, as a man fell off his mole. Blood dripped from a gash on the side of his head. The remaining guard holding Andrew pushed him to the ground on his stomach and the man jumped on top of him. His weight and cold armor pressed against Andrew's' broken and bound wrist made him cry out in pain. Then as quick as it started, the sounds of battle had ended.
Andrew was reeling, he looked over to check on Tessa and his heart sunk. Staring back at him were the lifeless eyes of one of Tessa's guards, with a bloody slash across his throat. The man on top of him clambered off and yanked Andrew up to his knees. Andrew looked over and saw that both of the men that had been guarding Tessa had their throats cut, but no Tessa. The smell of blood hung in the air around them, and Andrew's captors let out a howl of grief due to their fallen comrades. The lead man stomped over to Andrew and in unintelligible words said, "Hvor tok de Henne."
Andrew stared back not knowing what the man was saying. Andrew's remaining guard untied the gag, but Andrew didn't speak.
The angry man leaned in closer, his nose almost touching Andrew's,
"Hvor tok de henne," he said again.
"I don't understand you," he said, "who was that and where did they take my sister?"
"HVOR TOK DE HENNE," the man screamed at Andrew and slapped him across the face.
Tasting blood in his mouth Andrew gritted his teeth and said, "I don't understand what you're saying. You can shout it all day long and I still won't know."
The man let out a frustrated scream as he punched Andrew in the jaw causing him to fall unconscious to the floor.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
There was a flash of light as one of Tessa's captors unwrapped a glowing stone returning light to the world. Tessa's new captors were of a similar build as the first group minus the shining armor. There were two of them, both dressed in black leather armor. One was holding the glowing stone, and the other stood there was a smile on his face and a dagger in his hand. She let out a muffled shriek, at the sight of the dagger trying to back away but the man grabbed her by the arm. His grip was too strong though, and he turned her around, before cutting her bindings to free her hands. The man stuck the dagger in his belt as Tessa removed her gag. "Who are you?" she cried out.
One of them put his finger to his lips motioning for Tessa to stay quiet and then for her to follow him as he walked away. A couple of seconds later he looked back and saw Tessa standing her ground. "Who are you?" Tessa asked again even louder.
"Hysj din munn gutt," the man said in a hissed whisper stepping back to Tessa and grabbing her wrist. "Komme, komme," he said as he pulled Tessa by the arm trying to get her to walk. Exasperated, the man gave up and walked away down the tunnel, leaving her in the fading light. Rather than being alone and lost in a dark tunnel, Tessa limped behind.
The two talked in hushed tones as they made their way through the dark tunnel. The only breaks in their conversation were due to them checking that Tessa was behind them. A while later, Tessa saw light ahead of them and then heard loud laughter. The men sped up their pace and after another minute the three of them stepped out into a large firelit chamber. A group of the small men was sitting around a fire, with a herd of the giant moles picketed on the far side of the chamber.
The laughter and talk stopped immediately as Tessa and the two men stepped into the room. All the men stared at Tessa, mouths hanging in astonishment. Then a loud cheer erupted from the small crowd that echoed around the chamber. An older man with a long white beard stepped forward and the crowd went silent. The older man said, "Hei gutt, velkommen!," and grabbed Tessa's wrist in the same way his captors had greeted the other men.
"I... I don't understand what's going on." Tessa stuttered," and I have no idea what you're saying."
The old man gave Tessa a quizzical look, "Hvilket sprak snakker han?" he asked looking at the two that had brought Tessa. "Du ma vaere sulten, kom og spis," he said, grabbing Tessa by the hand and leading her to a fire in the middle of the chamber. He waved to someone on the other side of the room. They brought Tessa a stone tray with a variety of mushrooms, a chunk of gray bread, and a large chunk of strange meat. "Spise, spies," the old man said, making an eating gesture to his mouth with his hands.
Over the next couple of minutes, she tasted a bit of everything on the tray. As she was doing so the old man stepped away and discussed something with a couple of robed old
After her meal, the old man led Tessa down a side tunnel into a small adjoining chamber with an altar in the center. On top of the altar was a layer of white sand, and in the center was a yellow gemstone with a long gold chain attached to it. The man pulled a clear crystal from his robes and used it to draw symbols in a large circle around the central stone.
Astonished, Tessa saw the symbols begin to glow bright white. After completing the circle of glowing drawings, he picked up the yellow stone itself. Using the clear crystal, he drew a glowing symbol on each of the four sides of the yellow gem. He set it back down in the center and a bright flash of light filled the chamber. Afterward, the glowing symbols had all gone dark except for the four glowing runes on the yellow gem. The old man took the glowing stone being careful to only touch the chain and walked over to Tessa. He put the chain around Tessa's neck and let the gemstone lay against his chest.
Tessa looked down at the gem hanging around her neck as the old man muttered something under his breath. Tessa’s knees buckled, and for some reason, the small gem felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. A shiver shot up her spine and the gem started vibrating against her chest. The symbols flared bright and as Tessa's head felt like it split open as she fell forward, unconscious.
