Chapter 10
The cavern was full of diamonds. At least, that's what it looked like when Midori awoke the next morning. Sunlight streamed through the opening in the ceiling, hit the cave wall, and was refracted into millions of tiny rays bouncing off of the glittering walls. It was incredibly beautiful. And incredibly bright.
That's how enough light makes its way inside the cave to grow fruit. Amazing!
Both Pugly and Cael were still snoring away, and she peeled herself from between Cael's arms and Pugly's warm back snuggled up against her. She could have laid there longer, dozing and enjoying the warmth, if it wasn't for her bladder insisting she take care of her bodily needs sooner rather than later. The trio had designated a spot to relieve themselves down the slope, where the hot spring streamed out of the cave. The slope of the cave gave a little privacy, and the stream washed away their waste.
As the water rushed by, Midori took extra precaution not to slip on the mossy rocks. The stream wasn't wide, but it was deeper than it looked. The current grew stronger and faster as it snaked down the slope and exited the grotto through the tunnel into the cave wall.
Finished taking care of her needs, she climbed back up to their little nest and chuckled when she saw Cael and Pugly snuggling together in their sleep. Her chest tightened at the sight of them. She'd grown fond of them both. It made her ache to think of a future without them.
Don't go getting ahead of yourself. We've got to get out of this place first.
It was a beautiful chamber they'd found themselves in with the water, the warmth, and now the sunlight streaming through the hole in the ceiling. Midori stepped closer and stood beneath it and studied the opening. It was only thirty feet up the wall and seemed large enough to fit through. If she could climb up there, she could scurry through and see if they could get down the mountain. Cael had mentioned he knew where they were because of the fruit growing in the cave, and he believed there was a small city at the base of the mountains. They just had to get down there.
Midori plucked another delicious fruit from its vine and studied the cave walls as she peeled and ate it. She wasn't the outdoorsy type and had done no serious climbing in her life. She didn't count the one time at a climbing gym with her ex-fiancé. That one experience had left her arms and legs aching, and she hadn't gotten very far up the wall before calling it quits. But maybe with the help of the vines. . .
She discarded the peel on the cave floor, dried her sweaty hands on her leggings as best she could, grabbed a sturdy-looking vine, and attempted to pull herself up. She found a place to land her foot where two vines twisted together and pushed herself upward. This wasn't as difficult as she'd expected. Within a few minutes, she was well on her way.
I can do this. Just keep looking up?—
"What are you doing?" Cael boomed from below. It wasn't difficult to hear the worry in his voice.
Midori looked down over her shoulder and gave him the most confident smile she could muster, though her muscles were burning with the effort of holding on. Pugly was standing next to Cael, his four eyes and mouth open wide.
"I'm just going to look out of the hole and see where we—ah!"
The vine fell from the cave wall, taking chunks of rock with it. Where it had been taut a moment ago, the vine was now pulling free, and Midori was falling through the air, still holding onto it. Pugly's high-pitched squeal of terror accompanied her descent.
"Oof!"
Air rushed from her lungs as she landed in Cael's arms. She must have been higher than she thought. She choked back the tears stinging her eyes and took a deep breath.
"What were you thinking?" Cael's voice held anger but was edged with a quiver of fear.
"I was trying to be helpful, that's all. I'm tired of having things happening to me. I wanted to make something happen for once, to have some agency over my life, even if it is just climbing up to a stupid hole in the ceiling so I can pop my head out for a minute."
The moment the words slipped out, Midori felt a sense of relief. They were true. Most of her life she felt like things were happening to her, and she had no control over any of it. Her parents' deaths, her fiancé abandoning her, being abducted by aliens and crash landing on this crazy planet. None of those events were her choices, but she still had to live with them. She was tired of playing defense and responding to each new cataclysmic event. It was time to go on the offense. Make shit happen. Be her own hero, dammit.
Cael hugged her to his chest before setting her feet down on the cave floor, his four arms still wrapped around her. Midori's hand rested against his chest and felt how quickly his heart was beating. She'd really scared him.
Pugly's fuzzy body slammed against her legs as he leaned against her with an "Oomph!"
Cael pulled back a few inches and searched her eyes. "I'm sorry if I sounded upset. I was scared. If you want to try climbing up there again, I'll be waiting down here to catch you if you fall." His arms fell back, and he used one of his hands to push away a lock of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. "However, I have a bit of an advantage with all these arms and my tail. Although I'd rather use them to keep you wrapped up safe and tight, they are also useful for climbing."
Cael stepped back and gave Midori room to make her choice. She looked up at the hole again and felt it beckoning to her. She wanted to make her way up there and poke her head out, to see the world beyond. It was like an itch she couldn't quite scratch.
"I want to see outside, but I also want to be smart about it," she answered. "If you can climb up more safely than I can, then you should do it. I'm not trying to break a leg just to soothe my curiosity."
Pugly shuffled next to her and thrust his head under her hand as if begging for his ears to be scratched. "Thank goodness for coming to your senses, oh miraculous climber of the weakest vines. Let the four-armed wonder fall to his death instead."
Cael turned and raised his brow at Pugly's comment, but then turned his attention back to the cavern wall and ran his hands across the bumpy surface. His fingers found a handhold, and he began pulling himself up. Together, his four arms worked to pull his body across the sparkling rock. His fluid movements were reminiscent of both monkey and spider as he moved up and over, up and over. Within a few seconds, he had already surpassed the point where Midori had fallen. A few seconds more and he was at the top of the ceiling.
Please be careful. Please be careful. Midori chanted the words to herself as she watched him scale the ceiling, hanging parallel with the floor. A few more feet and he was at the opening and pulling himself up and over the edge, his feet dangling in the air. His head and torso disappeared as he pulled himself farther outside.
"What do you see?" she called, her imagination running wild.
"It looks like the snow is thinner here. I think we're about halfway down the mountain. Maybe more. I'm going to look around and?—"
The growl filled the cave, bouncing off the walls and filling Midori's head.
"Cael!" she yelled, but she couldn't hear her own voice above the din of the beast's bellowing cry. She knew that sound. It was the familiar timbre of the vyrmm. Had it followed their scent? Tracked them somehow?
Cael scrambled back into the cave, his head clearing the exit just as one of the creature's clawed paws swiped past. The beast roared in frustration and thrust its arm through the hole, scouring blindly along the ceiling in its attempt to capture Cael. It swiped and caught one of his arms with its razor-sharp talons. Cael pulled his arm back and curled it around his chest, hanging on with only three hands.
The beast changed tactics and began digging away at the hole, enlarging it. Pugly pushed Midori out of the way as rock, snow, and debris tumbled to the floor of the cave, narrowly missing her. When she looked up again, there was now a massive hole gouged in the ceiling, and Cael was hanging on with only one hand. The vyrmm slithered through, clinging upside down to the ceiling, and making its way toward Cael.
Midori watched in horror as he looked down and then let go. Her hands covered her face, but they couldn't stifle her scream, and it echoed off the walls. Cael grabbed at the hanging vines as he fell past, but they only pulled free from the cave walls, barely slowing his descent. In the blink of an eye, Cael's body slammed onto the cave floor and his groans filled the air.
"Cael!" Midori and Pugly rushed over and slid to the ground where he lay moaning on the floor.
"Where are you hurt?" Midori asked, trying to assess the severity of Cael's wounds.
"We'll worry about it later," he answered through gritted teeth. He nodded toward the ceiling, where the vyrmm's body was slithering its way down. "We need to get out of here. Now!"
Midori looked back toward the exit to the larger cave system. The tunnel back was narrow. Maybe the vyrmm wouldn't be able to navigate it. But even as the thought crossed her mind, she realized the vyrmm would be on top of them before they even made it that far. There was only one other exit from the grotto she could think of, which might save them.
Or it might kill them all.
There was no way to know until they tried. But staying there would definitely get them killed.
"Come on. Get up. This way."
Midori helped pull Cael to his feet, ignoring the lurch in her stomach when she saw the torn blue flesh on one of his arms. He was lucky he hadn't broken his neck. If they lived through this, she'd make sure he knew it.
Pugly ran by her side while Cael stumbled along next to her as she helped him to the back of the grotto, where the pool emptied into the swiftly moving stream. She headed down where the water disappeared through a tunnel in the cave wall. Midori could only hope it opened back up soon.
"Over there! We have to jump in. It's the only way out of here."
Cael nodded and pushed Pugly into the rapid water first. The pig dog sputtered and paddled furiously before the pressure sucked him through the hole in the wall and he disappeared.
The vyrmm crashed to the ground and roared. It was only seconds away now.
"Don't let go of me," Cael said, grabbing her hand in one of his.
Midori nodded, and together they jumped into the stream.
She'd been right. Although it was only a few feet across, it was deep. Midori kicked her legs toward the surface, but the current was too strong and it yanked her along, tossing and turning her back and forth. Cael's hand slipped from hers as she was sucked into the tunnel and everything went black.