22. N #5
Here. She could feel it, close by, and she knew for certain that while she was in utter darkness, the mage-light she held meant it could probably see her quite clearly.
She took in a deep breath, and let it out, listening carefully.
It moved again, the soft whisper of snake scales.
It seemed to be down a bit below her, to her right.
She wasn’t a strong caster, so would have to outsmart it.
Use its strengths against it. It can see like blazes in the dark. I can use that.
She flared a simple light about where she thought it would be, and had the joy of watching it rear back in pain and claw at its face as the mote flared in front of its face.
She’d wanted to put the light right on its nose, but her targeting had relied on informed guesswork.
She’d missed by a few feet, but she still got the desired effect.
She used the light to illuminate her path as she sprinted for the distant gleam of what she hoped was her passage out.
She ran for the cave entrance, creating a second floating light to help her see.
Haldeen’s creature had been caught off-balance and blinded, but it recovered quickly.
She heard its first stumbling steps behind her, then heard them steady out as it pursued.
Given its height and stride, she felt certain it would catch her.
She dodged around an ancient wagon loaded with pipes and some kind of cargo.
A quick spell shifted the topmost pipe. She heard the clatter as it and others rolled down onto the ground.
Not the whole load, she guessed, but enough to buy her a few steps.
A third light and a quick illusion of her sprinting in a different direction to buy her a few more steps.
Her heart hammered as she made it to the bottom of the cave collapse.
She saw some sort of device set up on a kind of metal trellis, and a line of the mage-lights of the sort Haldeen’s people used.
The sting of burned metal caught in the back of her throat.
She saw ahead of her the remains of flat wooden boxes and several ceramic things that looked a bit like the ration boxes she had grown to hate. She noted them, and ran past.
The creature was bare steps behind when she launched herself up the scree pile and towards the light at the top.
It had dimmed a bit, and was now little more than a glow.
She scrambled frantically up the loose rock and debris, flinging stones behind her as climbed, reaching up to pull one loose and hurl it blindly behind her.
She heard the creature scrabbling behind her, and dared a quick look back.
She had found the one place where her smaller and lighter frame gave her an advantage.
Haldeen’s creature looked up at her, its scaly face implacable and unmarred, except for a gash below its eye that she attributed to a stone flung as she climbed.
Its weight made for heavier going on the rock-pile, and it got mired up in stones that she scrambled over.
She had climbed nearly halfway to the fading light when she felt the entire slope shift.
She continued to scramble up, strains and aches springing up all over her body, her arms growing leaden from the effort.
Her breath came in tearing gasps as she continued to climb, with every other step’s progress marred by the sliding rocks.
Fatigue built as she continued upwards. A quick glance over her shoulder as she neared the top told her she had gained some precious distance on her pursuer.
She could see the light still shining through the hole, caught in dust that she raised as she scrambled to escape.
The pile was too steep for her to climb directly to it.
She flung another mote out to light an easier path.
There! A bit right, where it looked firmer.
She shifted her direction, angling a bit away from where the light shone through.
She had climbed to where she was nearly level, and came around a large rock to see what looked like a gap or hole at the top of the debris pile, and smell more burned rock and metal. What the hell?
She scrambled up the last few steps, traversing the rock-pile as she readied for the last bit of climb.
This part came steeper, dressed with larger rocks that she hoped would hold long enough for her to climb.
She scaled it quickly, her breath ragged as she pulled her weight up.
She reached for the last handhold before the hole, then drew her hand back with a gasp as she gashed it on something unseen.
She cut her knee a moment later and felt something pierce her hand as she felt around for a safe place for the final step up.
A clatter of rocks below reminded her she was in no position to be picky about her choice of ascent.
She scrambled up the rest of the way, and saw a narrow shelf, and slight flattening of the rocks around the hole.
The space was covered in shattered rock shards and sharp fragments of what looked like shiny red copper.
She looked back. The Probe continued to climb, working laboriously up the slope and following the path she had taken.
She looked frantically around for something to hurl down that would slow it enough for her to test the way out.
Nothing. The rocks appeared too small or too large for her to throw …
but not too large to push! She found the largest, and while it wasn’t quite in the creature’s path, the rocks it might dislodge might still strike it.
She quickly sat and put her back to the slope, cursing as shards pierced her uniform shirt and cut into her back.
She braced against the slope, bent her knees, and placed her feet against the large rock.
She strained to straighten her legs, hoping to force the rock away and down.
It resisted. She screamed a curse as she put every ounce of energy into moving it.
The stone heaved out and slid back. She timed it to rock back and forth …
once, twice, thrice, before it overbalanced and slid down the slope with a crash.
She scrambled up and towards the hole as the loose rock and debris slid, freed by the loss of the rock that held it in place.
She lit another mote, and made a tossing motion to send it downslope.
The stone she’d kicked away had appeared to strike Haldeen’s creature with a glancing blow, knocking it down, where it had been partially buried.
It immediately began struggling, using its great strength to haul itself out from under the debris.
It looked upwards at her, its expression implacable and its dead snake eyes fixed on her face.
She swore. She had bought a little time, but not much.
She scrambled along the remaining rock and reached the hole, heedless of the cuts from the metal shards. She quickly glanced through, and could see a clear silver light through the hole. So close to home!
She sent her mage-light light up the hole.
It looked narrow, with the floor coated in more of the copper shards, and large enough for her to fit through, if only barely.
The thought of being trapped inside terrified her.
The terror built and she shook with fear and sudden indecision.
She’d never liked tight spaces, and if she were trapped in this one, she would surely die.
The rock shifting behind her told her that the Probe was free and in pursuit. You’ll most surely die if you don’t do this!
She climbed into the hole and started working her way up, shifting her belly against the sharp ground with one hand stretched out over her head.
She wormed her way along, moving a finger’s length at a time.
The tunnel ascended at a slight angle, and proved every bit as terrifying as it looked.
She moved as quickly as she dared, ignoring the pain in her knees as shards of metal and rock cut through her trews.
She made it little more than one more body-length when she got stuck.
She then felt the Probe’s claws dig into her bootheel and try to wrench her back.
She screamed and kicked frantically with both feet, hanging on desperately with her outstretched hand as it tried to drag her back down the tunnel.
She thrashed and kicked, freeing stones from the top and sides of the tunnel that settled around her legs, enough for her to have the sudden fear she’d brought the roof down.
The creature heaved, grasping her bootheel and trying to pull her back.
She braced her free leg against the side of the tunnel, wedging her knee into the loose rock to hold herself in place.
She kicked out with her trapped foot again and again, trying to shake it loose, until, by some miracle, she shook free.
She heaved and squirmed to get past the tight spot, twisting her shoulders to get past the narrows, and slithering out of the creature’s reach.
She could hear it scrabbling around the rocks, trying to pull them away to follow.
She was just small enough to attempt the hole through the debris pile.
Haldeen’s creature was by far too large, at least until it made itself a larger hole.
She shoved herself further towards the light, turning to see the moon shining at the end of the breech.
She had only half a body-length left to go, though it looked to be the most difficult.
The passage slanted upwards at just the right angle to catch the moon’s face as he passed, but the last bit came closest to the cave’s ceiling, with an outcropping of hard stone that jutted down a handspan’s distance into the passage, narrowing it considerably.
She tried to shimmy through head-first with her arms by her sides, and her face pressed to the copper speckled dirt floor.
She was just able to turn her head to get it past the outcropping and felt the rocks snag against her backbone, trapping her.
She panicked then, screaming and crying and blowing rock dust into her eyes which she couldn’t wipe away.
She pressed forward anyway, trying to force her way through, and making just enough progress for the stone to press down on her upper back and constrict her lungs.
She tried to reverse direction, and felt a second wave of panic, as the rock shoving into her back held her fast.
She had no room to press on and no leverage to go back.
Between sobs, she could hear the creature behind her moving rocks, shifting stone, and throwing what it pulled out down the debris pile.
The Probe still pursued her, and she had to escape before it opened enough of a passage to catch her.