The Tunnels of Masada

The jungle was unusually silent and it left the hairs on the back of Tyr's neck standing on end. They had been in the western jungle for almost two weeks now. Zlatica and Valentina were scouting ahead while the rest of the guild remained in the shadows.

Tyr watched over Zlatica's body while she sent her consciousness out to search for magical traps. While she did this, Valentina searched for the physical traps that could have been laid. She and Zlatica had known each other for years and joined the Obsidian Dragons when it was still a new guild.

Valentina sniffed around, her long snout helped her to sniff for smells that were not associated with the jungle. She had found a few traps and deactivated them. This area was heavily armed but because she was a cynocephaly, she had an easier time finding the camouflaged traps. As she scouted around, she tried to seek out the freshly turned earth, the smell of people, and chemicals. After clearing the route, she headed back.

Meanwhile, Zlatica's consciousness traversed the jungle, she slithered around, able to see patches of magic. All magic gave off an aura that could be seen if you looked closely. Although she could not disarm the traps, it was her responsibility to know where they were so the group could avoid them.

She was sleep deprived but was determined to do a thorough job. Earlier in the week, she had missed one and five people died from an explosion. Captain Tyr did not say anything, but the guilt ate away at her. After she finished, she slithered back to her body but noticed a small troop of Toowoomba soldiers headed their way. They appeared to be kids, barely hitting puberty. Regardless of their age, she knew they would have to kill them. Things like this made her sad.

Hurrying past the soldiers, she returned her consciousness to her body. After a moment, her eyes fluttered open and she saw her friend, Valentina kneeling down beside her. Without making a sound, Zlatica used the hand motions they adopted while out in the field, "𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺."

The group crouched deeper into the shadows and Aži flew silently in the direction that she had pointed. Wideline followed, jumping from tree branch to tree branch, as she traveled, she masked her footsteps so they did not make a sound. She worked as the team's assassin and did not want the sounds of their fighting to give away their location.

Below her, she saw a group of five youngsters. They appeared to be inexperienced and did not even hold their weapons properly. Their hands shook as they walked through the jungle. Her red eyes met with Aži's and she gave a nod. They both descended upon their prey.

Aži used his jaws to decapitate one while his tail to swat a small girl against a tree. She fell down on the ground unconscious from the attack.

As the Wideline descended from the treetops, she threw her kunai at two of the kids; the blades stuck into their heads and they did not even have a chance to react. As soon as she touched the jungle floor, she drew her blade and cut the remaining boy in half.

The only sounds from the ambush had been the girl hitting the tree and bodies falling. Wideline looked down at the girl who lay unconscious and her blade flashed, cutting off the girl's head. This was war and she could not have pity for these youngsters. Her red eyes were devoid of emotion. She was jaded by constantly killing people for the past three years. This was her first war and now she wished she did not volunteer for it.

A loud explosion sounded from where their guildmates were hiding, Aži and Wideline both rushed back. This was not a place where they wanted to be separated from the team. It would almost guarantee their deaths.

Tyr spun around and his cold green eyes looked into the distance. The jungle shook, and he grew unsure what was headed their way. The tremors caused some of the traps in the vicinity to go off, which made it difficult to tell if soldiers were there or not. "Let's go," he commanded.

They ran through the forest and reached the area Valentina had scouted up to. She stopped and explained hurriedly, "I didn't scout further than this. There was a tunnel to the west, but I didn't have a chance to explore very far into it."

The explosions continued to travel in their direction, so Tyr weighed out their options. He was not sure what was going on and wanted to stay out of it. "Fine, take us as far as you explored."

Valentina led them to a hole in the ground that had been covered by a log. She disarmed the trap that was attached to the log and pushed the wood aside. Since she needed to scout ahead, she entered the hole first.

It was a tight squeeze and she could not stand. The tunnel forced her to either crawl on her hands and knees or hunch down in an awkward position.

Tyr had everyone go in front of him before he entered and recovered the entrance with the log. If they were attacked from behind, Aži would be able to use his breath without hurting anyone else. It was dark down here and they moved slowly throughout the twists and turns.

The sound of explosions drew nearer, and the group stopped. Valentina whispered, "This is as far as I went." Any further and they would endanger their lives. She needed time to scout and did not want to do it hurriedly.

They all stared at the muddy ceiling above them. Great blasts shook the ground and caused some dirt to fall onto them. Alec grew nervous that the tunnel would collapse on them. He reinforced the walls with ice. The last thing he wanted was to die from some dirt after surviving this long.

A loud explosion came from the entrance and a cloud of dirt flew at them. The loud blast rang in their ears and the entrance to the tunnel collapsed. They could hear the sound of a few other passageways caving in around them before the explosions faded into the distance.

No one wanted to say a word until the rumbling of the earth stopped and silence surrounded them. They all realized they were trapped down here. A small tremor of fear entered everyone's hearts. It was already a miracle that they survived this long, but it was almost unheard of to enter the tunnels and come out alive.

Mathis spoke up first, "I need to inspect everyone. The sound might have caused damage to your cochlea." This gave everybody something to do, so they had either Hassanatou or Mathis see to them.

While the party was being evaluated, Tyr thought about what to do. He was glad Alec had reinforced the cave walls, but now they were trapped.

He squeezed past everyone and approached Valentina and Zlatica. In a clear and decisive voice, he explained, "We need to search for a way out of here. I don't care how long it takes but do it safely. Luna is able to summon nutrition if need be and Alec can create drinkable water for us. Time is not an issue, so don't feel pressured."

The two of them nodded. Tyr's face was barely visible in the darkness. The only light came from the faint sticks they could illuminate that hung around their necks.