The Pearl Of Vynes - Chapter 15 The Cave

“Time to move, Alice untie us from the dock. We’ve got a Hydra to catch” Miles shouted as Alice ran to the side of the boat and undid the last of the ropes holding the boat into port. Running back to the bow of the ship, Alice let the sails out and boat lurched quickly as the sails caught the wind and raced out into the harbour. Miles keeping a firm eye on the rudder as they proceeded to follow the Hydra that was swimming away at a rapid pace. The Hydra was rushing through the waves that were starting to grow larger, making it difficult for Alice and Miles as the boat started to jump wave to wave. A flickering light caught Alice’s eye as she could see an opening in the side of the coastline. Having trouble keeping her balance, Miles kept shouting directions at her to keep the sails under control.

“Miles, there’s a cave ahead” Alice shouted over the crashing waves, as she could see the Hydra disappering into the cave.

“We’ll circle around and set anchor out of sight. Don’t want the Hydra to notice us so close to its nest” Miles said as he grabbed the sails and relaxed his grip on it, slowing down the boat.

“Good thinking” Alice said clutching the side of the boat to give her somewhat balance between the intermittent waves and rolling the boat had been doing ever since they sped out of port.

“Yeah, there’d be no point rescuing the guy, if the boat got destroyed it would definitely cost more than he’s worth” Miles said.

Alice paused for a moment as she reeled in the sails, and stared at Miles.

“I’m joking….kind of” Miles said to reassure Alice.

“Focus Miles” Alice said annoyed as she reeled in the sails as they had reached close to the coast, a beach was nearby for them to paddle to.
for visiting.

“Yes dear” Miles replied as the clattering of the chain rattled on the ship, followed shortly by the loud splashing of the anchor diving into the depths of the waters below.

“Let’s see who’s been behind these disappearances” Miles announced confidently as they push a small paddle boat into the water so they could breach the beach. Alice sitting at the bow of the paddle boat, her nerves on a knife edge as she could hear the last roars echo from inside the cave

Alice and Miles walked softly as they followed the rocky coastline; they’re back to wall as the trail got thinner. Alice knocked a rock over and it clattered along the rock face and splashed into the water below, Alice was trying very hard to not think about it. As they got closer to the cavern opening, Miles put a finger to his lips at Alice and both of them crouched as they got closer to entrance. They both peeked around the corner, keeping their ears on alert for any sounds that the Hydra was coming back. After a moment, Miles stood up again and continued inside the cave. Alice followed him as they entered the huge opening. A large gap was present over the other side of the trail, both of them could see a hallway going down into the rocks, a number of lights were lit within this hallway and gave the glow within the cavern.

“This doesn’t look good, someone probably lives here considering the torches are still lit” Miles commented.

“So what do we do?” Alice asked.

“Do you have my pouch with you still?” Miles asked, Alice pulled the bag she was holding off her shoulder and handed it to Miles. He started to search through the bag for something, pulling out a number of small balls and then started pulling out a pole. After a minute of pulling the pole out of the bag it extended out past Miles, easily a 30 foot pole that had come out of his small pack.

“This should enable us to cross to other side, there’s a path carved on that side” Miles said nodding to himself pulling the pole apart it formed into a ladder wowing Alice ever further. Alice felt she was slowly getting used to all of the strange things that Miles seemed to pull out of nowhere, watching as he fed the pole over the gap and steadied the ladder over the gap while Alice puzzled over the bag that had produced the pole.

“Come on, we have to hurry” Miles said as he ran across the gap, Alice quickly ran to hold the ladder steady as he scurried across.

“Your turn now Alice” Miles shouted from across the gap as he held the ladder steady, Alice started to cross but her nerves were running fast as the dark waters below threatened to swallow her whole. Making it to the other side she watched as Miles folded the ladder back up and fitted it into his bag and threw it back over his shoulder while leaning against the wall that had small layer of water coming in from the small waves smashing against the cavern.

“Follow me closely” said Miles, crouching and following the path spiralling down into the depths. Thankfully it was very well lit as walked down the stairway, continuing to stretch further down into the deep.

“Wonder how long it took to make these stairs” Alice asked, her hand grazing over the carved halls and feeling the rough cuts of stone along her palm.

“Hundreds of years, I’ve tried to hammer a rock before and I could barely crack it open” Miles said staring at the stairs as they continued to walk down.

“Which poses the question, that why are these stairs still so new?” Miles continued.

“How can you tell?” Alice questioned him.

“The rock hasn’t softened from use. Staircases smooth out overtime from when people walk down it or the water rubs it clean. But this is still rough as if it was done within the last year” Miles continued to comment.

“No one could carve that much in a year though” Alice replied

“With hands yes. With magic it would be an easy solution” Miles said, a hand raised to accentuate his point.

Alice’s hair stood up on her arms, despite knowing a few people that had come through the village that could practice healing magic, her dad had told her of the dark rituals of magic and the dangers that came with it. Alice felt ever more nervous as the staircase just seemed to go on forever, the unknown and its dangers were plaguing Alice’s mind.

“This just got interesting” Miles said tapping his nose. Miles grabbed a torch off its holder on the wall, putting in front of him in order to cast more light while they made their way down the ever descending staircase into the darkness. Alice followed close behind Miles, keeping herself as close as possible in order to reassure herself she would be safe. The staircase began to level out and form a smooth walkway, Alice could see a small glimpse of light off in the distance.

“Make sure to keep those balls safe. When I say you’ll need to throw them at the Hydra or whatever is on the other side” Miles instructed Alice as they prepared for what was lying ahead. As the light began to come closer, Alice and Miles ended up in a large cavern, a large pond was formed in the middle of the room, with a staircase leading up to a makeshift stone throne. Torches were flickering in their holders along the wall as Alice noticed a man sitting in the stone throne. The man looked like he could barely fill the cloak he was in. In a colour of dark green the man had hid face hidden by a large hood, noticing the intruders his sleeved moved and a thin, boney hand stuck out of the sleeve pointed at them.

“Welcome to my lair, unfortunate Brave” screamed the man; his voice seemed permanently high pitched and shrill. Miles snorted and had to hold back a laugh as he covered his mouth.