Comm: Caving | Ocean of Wings

At first the cave just darkened the same way the black rock of the region would underground so the tokotas turned on their headlamps. The strangeness had begun with a sparkle here, a small deposit of pink gemstones there until they had reached the mouth of a cavern where the violet veins were so thick they covered the walls.

Not only that but the deposits glowed. 

Prince wouldn’t have felt so uneasy if there were not so many bats lining the available ceiling space and upper columns across the cavern. There were rumors about these bats and even the presence of Areumi’s bat companion did not make him feel safer.

“Hey,” he called to the small mammal clinging to Areumi’s back, “are you sure your cousins are as apathetic to our presence as they look?”

“Yes,” the companion said. “They’re talking about last night’s dinner and where they should hunt tonight.”

“We’re pretty far underground,” Areumi said. “How can they tell where the sun is all the way outside?”

Prince sniffed. “It doesn’t matter, as long as we get out before dusk. What did you expect to find down here anyways?”

“There’s always something left over in these old caves. Besides, half of our packs are filled already with gemstones. Come on!”

“Don’t worry, Prince-y boy!” Novak said from behind them. “It’ll be fine!”

Prince eyed the pretty dun brown female as she led Novak into the cavern. He wouldn’t be down here if it hadn’t been for her coercion. She knew she was pretty and knew how to use it as a distraction when she was particularly nice as she twined around her pack mates. It was as though her words and her beauty had hypnotized him – the aroma from the flower in her mane did not hurt to aid her either. This was not the first time it had happened and he had found other pack members had had similar experiences in dealing with the female.

Prince snorted and followed after Novak. “Easy for you to say, you’ve got a cave lion to watch out for you.” He glanced back at the pygmy cave lion examining the crevices around them for danger.

“Aw, don’t worry, she’ll look out for all of us on this trip! Won’t you, gal?”

The pygmy looked up at them and grinned, “Oh, aye,” then returned to her guard.

Prince looked at Novak who shrugged. “She’s great at what she does and she’s not a grump like some of the others.”

“Hm.” Prince kept an eye on the ceiling and the twitching furry bodies but followed behind Novak.

“There, there!” The bat on Areumi’s back pointed with a wingtip towards the base of a column.

The female tokota trotted forward and rooted around at the base of crumbled rock and gemstones. “Oooo! We’ve got some gold trinkets, guys.”

Prince came to a stop and watched her and Novak root around for gold objects they tucked away into their packs before fastening them again. The bodies above roiled in the purple glow, waves of movement that raised Prince’s hackles.

“Areumiiii.”

“Oh no.” The bat climbed up to Areumi’s head. “We’ve got trouble.”

The pygmy cave lion growled.

“Uh, bear-dogs, it turns out their meal last night was not insect or fruit based.”

Prince gave the bat a side eye. “You can’t mean those are vampire bats? There aren’t such things. If there were human researchers would have known about it – especially in such large numbers.”

“I don’t think we want to find out.”

The mass of furry bodies detached from their lodgings and surged downwards towards the cavers.

“Go!” the pygmy cave lion snapped.

The bat on Areumi’s head squeaked and clung on as the female tokota took off between the columns, Novak and Prince close on her heels. When she angled her head to see behind them the dark wave of bodies was spread overhead and descending fast. They wouldn’t clear the edge of the reach of the colony in time to avoid crossing paths. Suddenly a tan body bounced up behind them; the pygmy cave lion leapt three times her height and grabbed two of the bats. She shook them on the run then dropped them and leapt for more.

“Veer left!” the bat between Areumi’s ears squeaked. She didn’t question it and followed the instruction around a pillar. In front of them was now an opening in the cavern wall and their path channeled into another tunnel.

“Where does that lead?”

“Just go!”

Areumi surged forward, claws digging in to the ground to push her along.

“I knew this was a bad idea!” Prince said.

“It’s fine,” Novak said, “just run!”

Areumi took the left fork ahead as the bat companion advised and it opened up into a chamber the size of a small house. The floor of the chamber was covered in water.

“Dive in!”

“What if there’s something worse in there?”

“You want tp be vampire dinner then?”

Areumi snarled and threw herself into the center of the pool and sunk, weighed down by her packs. She heard brief protest above her before three more splashes. The five watched the shadows of the mass of bats against the glow of the narrow pink veins of gemstone above them.

It wasn’t until Areumi’s lungs were screaming for air that the bulk of the shadows started to dissipate. Finally she couldn’t wait any longer and clawed her way up to the surface where she cleared her head and gasped for air.

“Sssh!” the bat cautioned. 

Areumi flexed her toes, clinging to the sloped edges of the pool to keep her in place while she eyed the tail section of the colony flying by overhead. Three gasps behind her signaled her companions doing the same.

“Where are they going?” Novak asked.

“Sssh!” the pygmy cave lion pulled herself closer to the edge. “Don’t draw attention.”

They waited until the single and paired stragglers left the cavern.

“Well?” Areumi asked.

“They’re gone,” the bat said.

The tokota grunted and pulled herself out of the pool. She braced herself by the edge and gave a mighty shake, spraying stale water from her fur in every direction.

“Are you sure they were after us?” Novak asked. “They didn’t swoop close to the surface as if they were in pursuit." 

“You want to chase them down and question them yourself?” asked Prince.

“Ha, ha.” Novak shook himself a moment after Prince and checked the contents of his packs. “Lucky we had help from our finds to weigh us down. Now what?”

“If you puppies have had your full of adventure for the day this kitty thinks we should get out of here,” the pygmy said.

“Okay, which way?”

They looked at each other then turned to Areumi – more specifically the bat still perched on her head. 

It squeaked, finding itself suddenly under the scrutiny of four pairs of eyes. “Well, the good news is we don’t have to go back in the chamber if there are any left. Just follow the trail of them out.” 

A loud grumble caused all of them to jump, and then Novak laughed. “That’s my stomach.” 

“How can you be hungry right now?” Prince asked.

“What? We’ve been out here past dinner time and I don’t know about you but I didn’t have very much to eat thanks to some tokota.”

Areumi chuckled under their gaze and flicked her tail. “Well, then, let’s get you boys – and the lady,” she nodded at the cave lion, “some food.” With that she turned and led the way out.
 

- FIN -