Chapter 14 - A Step Forward

Venturing back into the entrance with Violetta, they found that the task of clearing out the muck continued. Violetta had lit a new torch from the campfire and offered it to her. Wielding it with all the grace of a club, Raeya held it close to her chest. While Violetta walked proudly and fully upright, Raeya lurched forward as if the tunnel ceiling was just overhead in such a way as to give her the distinctive hunched back walk and gait of her kind. As they appeared at the brook, the four males turned one by one in shock.

" You let it off the leash? " Cade asked incredulously.

" She will prove herself useful. " Violetta snapped her fingers.

Raeya took a few steps forward and walked through the pathway they had been clearing. She was not afraid of the muck; the warrens were naturally covered in such filth. She took the step up and began to sink in, but her foot and weight was not enough to drive herself through the mass. The squelching and putrid air that rose up from a single step was one of the most intense and acrid scents she had the displeasure of inhaling. Her other foot stepped in, her weight slipping into the sludge up to almost her knee. As she was roughly half the height of Violetta, she expected the female to have an easier time with those boots in traversing the thick mud-like mass. It was dense enough that she did not sink all the way to the bottom until she put all of her weight down, but it meant laboriously wading through the sludge with her body like a plow.

Huron gulped and retched. Then Stirge and Wilde. Cade and Violetta held back through sheer force of will as Raeya locked her thighs close together and pushed through, pulling up her tunic with her left hand to avoid soiling as she pushed through. Violetta proceeded behind her at a slow pace.

The light of Raeya’s torch illuminated beyond the bend, but her eyes saw further into the darkness and towards a structure in the back of the cavern. Carved stone steps and what appeared to be large carved pillars. The path continued beyond and split into several little tunnels and twists, but this was like the gateway into a warren. A warren built into the cavern? It had to be inhabited, but the thick layer of filth had proven only one thing: No one has been here for a long time. Violetta followed behind her undaunted by the filth.

Then a strange depression that was in the whole of the path caught her attention, the light of the flaming torch did a poor jump catching it, but she saw the right wall had no such subtle depression and headed in that direction.

" Danger. " Raeya moved over and followed along the wall to bypass the pit. They reached the carved stone entranceway in short order, but the males had decided to stay behind. Raeya looked back as Violetta finished her slog through the filth and came to her side. Having decided to be Violetta’s ally it was as good a time as any to tell her of what she had heard.

" Stirge and Wilde…. Danger. Want to kill Violetta, Cade, Huron. " She said softly, knowing that they were long out of ear shot in the depths of the cavern.

" You know the Dark Elves language? " Violetta asked.

" Like Gobbo language. " Raeya then added, " Belos for Mahn’s language. "

" Is this a real warning or are you trying to get rid of them? " Violetta probed with those eyes again. She spent a few moments translating what she had pieced together, but Violetta did not come to understand or seemingly believe it until Huron’s name had been used in connection with ‘stupid one’. Violetta let out a soft laugh as she explained the simple plot.

" I will accept that, but why warn me? If I am dead, then you are free. " Violetta asked.

" My warren. " Raeya looked at her, " Rule my own warren. "

Violetta grinned wickedly, " You want that warren. Not another one. We are like sisters then. I want to rule over my own city. Blood for blood. What about your parents? "

" Dead. "

" Family? "

" Dead. "

" Friends? "

" Die. One by one. " She still held out hope for Leaf.

" Why go back? " Violetta asked, " The pity of someone on the day you become an adult? "

Raeya looked at Violetta as if it suddenly made some sense.

" You spent your life as nothing. Now on this day, you come before me. This is destiny. This is fate. Call it what you want, but you are no longer a child. I am not a good woman, but the world is against us. You have to seize what you want or else someone will take everything from you! " Violetta clenched her fist, " You must know that is a truth of this world. "

" Violetta…. " Raeya said softly as she switched the torch to her left hand only to show the right, " You are a good woman. You saved me. "

" I need you alive. " Violetta turned away. " You are a tool. "

" Violetta’s tool. " Raeya nodded, " A pet. Violetta needs Raeya. So, I am happy. To be needed. To not be a “qued”. "

Violetta pointed to the stone gateway, and she stuttered, " O-o-open it. Carefully. "

It was easier said than done. The stone that was here was a mix of the natural cavern limestone that had been carved and worked to appear as if the whole of the entranceway was supported despite it having been a large solid mass to begin with. Standing three times that of Violetta was the stone gate of a dense red and white mass. The stone was smoothed and cut with small recesses stained with dark ashen spots. At twenty paces wide this was a gate larger than anyone. Raeya looked for a mechanism, but the stone fit into a groove and no hidden mechanism appeared to be accessible from the outside. It seemed as if there was no way they could get in from this side.

" Any ideas? " Violetta asked after the two of them had examined it on their own.

" Back entrance. Down the tunnels. " She replied, but Violetta seemed to understand as she pointed.

The tunnel system split off into a bunch of little tunnels and the thick layer of bat guano was all but gone this far in. Small little springs cut little pathways through the tunnels and these springs were lined with a different layer of stone to channel them away from the paths. It was not natural, but the presence of the spring suggested a way in.

Handing Violetta the torch, Raeya decided to wash the filth off her lower half. The sensation of being clean and dry had already made a powerful mark. She did not want to wallow in filth anymore. Raeya did not do that. Violetta allowed her to cleanse herself and even sit in the shallow channel to wash herself off. The water was pristine, cold and clear until it washed over her body. She took the tunic off and put it in the water and used it to gently agitate and cleanse her skin, not realizing the fabric would want to take up the filth in itself. It was a learning experience and wringing it out as Violetta instructed helped clean it. Putting the damp tunic back on however was another experience all its own.

" Do you not mind your body being seen? " Violetta asked.

" Mind? " she wondered what Violetta meant.

Violetta pointed from Raeya’s torso down to her groin and stopped, " Your body. Your skin. Your chest. Your roots. "

" My body…. Healthy. " She had to search for the word. " Violetta not healthy? " She remembered that humans were fragile and would die without their clothes. The Great Mother seemed to be right as Violetta could not help but look away. So Gobbos were superior after all.

" I am healthy. It is just primitive and disgusting to be naked. The more clothes you have on the more pure and noble you are. " Violetta turned away with that. " Especially women are not supposed to show off their core without lustful intent. "

" Lustful? " Raeya realized what it meant only after repeating it, " Most Gobbos do not have clothing. It is not lustful. It is Gobbo life. "

" So primitive. I am going to get you real clothing so you can be a proper woman. " Raeya sounded determined and threw in an afterthought as if to cover herself, " If you do well. " It felt appropriate to bow, so Raeya did as she said, " Bless you. "

Violetta scratched at her nose and smiled slightly, " No need for thanks. Let’s move on. "

She meant that figuratively and literally as she started to proceed further into the tunnel without looking closely for traps. For the first time, Raeya did not want her to get hurt and rushed ahead to clear the way. There was no way she could escape the other four or even just Cade if something happened to Violetta. While they shoveled the mess, the two delved further and further into the cave with its branching tunnels. Always sticking to the left in hopes of not getting lost in all the branching pathways, many of them were clearly unnaturally cut rock. It was slow going, but the two would always be able to return to the entrance by sticking close to the left wall.

Then they wandered into the crystal chamber.