Lucera held her hand out, Zane gripped her forearm pulling her up, "Okay, I should be able to manage that." As they walked to the entrance Lucera glanced at Lord Rahm.
Zane didn't look as he led Lucera past all the women, then into the tunnel. Everyone was trying to either rest or prepare but the echoing goblin screams, and metallic clashes were keeping most on edge. As they entered the tunnel the same repeated phrases could be heard… but none of them understood goblin.
"Did you see anything?" Lucera asked under her breath as they walked past the first stone wall opening. Hopefully the goblin screams, and other sounds would keep Rahm from overhearing them.
Zane just shook his head, "Nothing stood out, we checked everything several times." Zane kept his wording vague just in case as they kept walking. Nothing about the any of the women had stood out, nor did any of them have any belongings or beast marks. Was this whole trip… really just to save them? Pity?
Lucera glanced at the openings pensively, if Young Song just pitied the women… he could have easily come and saved them himself. Lucera hesitated as she looked around, "Maybe because he can't use fire down here… and its underground? It would make sense, birds don't usually go underground."
Zane glanced around… maybe… not to mention Young Song had been spending a lot of time sleeping… but why only punish the Adar delegation… he had to be missing something. "We'll keep looking for clues. How far can you send a scout?" Zane changed the topic to something that could be answered.
Lucera gauged the distance, "I might be able to get eyes on, give me a few minutes to prepare." Lucera pulled out a mouse whisker, mana crystal powder, and a stone already carved with the scout spell. She sat down, placed the whisker on the stone, and sprinkled a pinch of powder over the whisker. Lucera's chanting was much smoother, as the stone started to glow, started to set the simple instructions. Watch and report, no need to hide, or find any traps.
Zane stood guard over Lucera, watching the darkness for even a hint of movement. If the goblins had made fake walls, they could surely move stealthily. For all they knew, the racket was just a distraction to give them a false sense of security.
Lucera opened her glowing eyes, the scout leapt off the stone and scurried down the passage. Lucera could see everything the scout saw, so she directed it to move along the edge of the wall. By the time she was getting close to the fork she could see large portions of the tunnel that had already collapsed. No wonder the goblins were taking so long.
As she directed the mouse over stones and around mounds of fallen earth she noticed something peculiar… water was leaking… but it wasn't from a natural underground waterway. The water was… dark, not with mud… but something. Lucera directed the mouse to avoid any wet or damp areas as it continued toward the goblin headquarters.
Zane watched as Lucera was starting to sweat, he hesitated to let her continue since they couldn't really afford for Lucera to get too depleted. It's not that there weren't other competent mages, but none that he trusted as much as Lucera.
Lucera was struggling to find dry routes around the debris. Since the water was mostly pooling or running on the left side of the path, she kept to the right. Eventually she couldn't move forward without getting wet. Not only was the tunnel completely collapsed, but the water was pooling.
Lucera spent a few moments looking for a way across the water that was already at least four inches deep from wall to wall… nothing. But the screaming of the goblins wasn't just from frustration, this close she could distinguish screams of pain as well. There was also a deeper voice that was giving orders. As the goblins were trying to dig through the tunnel as the vibrations caused small checks of dirt to fall. If she could just figure out how fast they were tunneling, and how much they had to dig through that would at least give them an estimated time to expect the first wave.
The real question… was how were the echoes so clear even with the collapsed tunnel… Lucera turned the scout around and retraced her steps. The voices were clearest at the fork. Lucera had the mouse inspect the area for over five minutes before her mana started to bottom out.
Zane caught Lucera as she started to wobble, since she was too focused to speak while using scout sight Zane had just been standing silently and watching the darkness. "You okay?" Zane asked as he helped her up. Better to talk in the chamber.
Lucera held her head as they walked back. After her vision stopped spinning, she pulled out a mana crystal and started refilling her reservoir again. She barely noticed when she was sat down near the women for them to all talk.
Zane glanced at the women, he felt like they were all children caring for adults. Or like they as adults were caring for giant children… Rommel handed Lucera a mug of warmed water.
Lucera told them what she saw, "I didn't test the water… something about it was just off." Lucera added with a shake of her head.
Noelle had finished her shift so she joined, "I agree, we should avoid the water. It may also be a good idea to damage the walls so more water pools in the tunnels." Even if they didn't know for sure what the water was doing, or if that was what made the goblins scream, any delay would be good.
Zane hesitated, "They might turn it against us, let's use one of the goblin bodies to see if there's a reaction." For all they knew, the water might only affect humans or mages.
Two guards quickly set off to cut off a goblin arm, one to dip it in the suspicious water, the other kept watch. It was too dark to see if anything was happening, but the guard placed the severed hand in a bucket and collected half a cup of the water.
Zane had been waiting by the stone wall for their return. Relieved there hadn't been any issues, "Have a mage check you both out, just to be safe." He ordered as they returned to the chamber. Neither Lia nor Dustin found anything on either guard, so they started doing experiments with the water.
Lucera glanced into the small cup, she still felt unsettled but… the turbid liquid didn't seem to be doing anything. "Let me sprinkle some crystal powder in…" Lucera offered as they poured the water into four bowls for testing and left a little bit in the cup as the control group.
Zane offered up the first bowl, crystal powder, second bowl a bit of blood. They waited to use the other two in case the reactions were delayed. Even after several moments of tensed silence… there wasn't a reaction.
Lucera went to open the arch so the tiger nations could continue to dig. They were working much faster now, unfortunately they had to slightly angle away from another water source. When she returned Zane was looking pensively at one of the guards… who had stuck a hand into the third bowl.
The guard kept his breathing even, he didn't want to give a false symptom just because he was apprehensive… but it just felt like normal water… maybe a little slimy.
"That's enough, let's just avoid it for now." Zane ordered after five minutes had passed. The guard removed his hand while a mage had a bowl of sand for him to absorb most of the liquid, then the hand was rinsed with water from a mage spell and finally his hand dried with a towel. They set the towel aside along with the bowl, if nothing happened all the better.
Lucera took a deep breath… maybe she'd just been nervous. The situation had been tense, "I may have overreacted, since none of the other mages feel anything lets just leave it for now." Everyone agreed to leave the bowls on the far side for periodic inspections.
Another hour passed, "Let's rotate naps while we can, no need for everyone to be so tense. Groups of six." Rommel ordered as the guards were all just staring at the tunnel or murmuring in small groups.
Noelle just finished her third cycle, so she decided to try and sleep for an hour. They were now aiming for three feet deep per cycle since they weren't digging as wide. It took the groups an average of twenty minutes for three feet, then five for Lucera. If they could average six feet an hour, at roughly 100 feet, that meant about 15 hours like this.
Lucera pulled Dustin and Lia aside to teach them the same spell so they could also fit into the rotation. Dustin's arch was wide enough, but far from smooth. If they had to drag the women out, the rocks and roots left behind could cause damage. Lia's was smooth, but her arch wasn't as even.
For another three hours the groups worked in rotation, but Lamont wasn't able to keep up with the other royals. They tried to have two guards take his place, but having three large men digging in a confined space slowed them down. The guard's claws were also made of steel rather than lizard scales, so they were becoming visibly worn with each cycle.
Rahm glanced up, it would appear the goblins had activated his little… reward. A moment later the mountain rocked hard as explosions could be heard. A gust of dusty wind blew in from the tunnel as several of the humans were sent sprawling from the force.
Noelle leapt out of the tunnel, they had managed an impressive 42 feet in total but their stamina was starting to wane. She noticed Lord Rahm was standing as he shook the dust from his fur. Large clumps of earth from the ceiling had fallen, but no one appeared injured. "Do we know what that was?"
Rommel had jolted awake to immediately covered the two women closest to him, not much but at least the largest chunk had fallen on his back rather than their faces or chests. He could hear agonized screams from the tunnel so clearly the sound was in their favor… for now.
Zane was jogging between the rows of women to make sure they were as okay as they could be. "I want eyes on the first defense point! Everyone else check along the walls for any other secret chambers!" Zane ordered drawing his to charge into the tunnel before the dust even settled.
Rahm rolled his eyes, what an impatient little prince. Rahm trotted over to the princess as he changed to his human form, "Hmm, well you have about an hour before the little green things arrive. But only half that time before Papa Bird decides to come check on us."
Noelle froze as she stared up into the teasing eyes of Lord Rahm, then she took a deep breath, "Is there a barter we could make for all of our escape?" If they only had half an hour…
Rahm glanced around, then lowered his head with a toothy smile, "I want the Adar prince to not get a single feather." The princess, covered in dirt, hands trembling from exhaustion stared into his eyes.
Noelle wanted to curse… it had all been for this moment. Lord Rahm wanted to isolate the Adar delegation, or more specifically, Lord Caius wanted them isolated. Noelle glanced around the chamber, three guards were still watching the women, over a dozen guards tensely awaiting their orders as they prepared for the attack…