"Oh, guys?" Duvessa called down to Seth and Owen. "I came over to ask, are these chickens weird?"

Seth was searching for a cave or opening in the rocks out of sight of the tower. Owen was peering down the cliff, searching for more clues about why someone brought the chickens here.

"What would be weird about chickens, Duvessa?" Seth answered. He sent a questioning glance at Owen who just shrugged.

"I can't catch any," Duvessa said.

"So?" Seth said.

"I mean that they're super tricky!"

"And what is tricky about you not being able to catch a chicken?" Seth asked.

"They're fast! Weird and tricky fast, not speedy fast." Duvessa sounded exasperated. She poked her head over the side and looked down at where Seth and Owen were on a path beside the cliff. "You gotta come see this."

"I don't want to be chasing chickens right now," Seth said.

Owen spoke up, "Don't worry about it, I'll go catch one for her."

Seth had already walked the path looking for anything obvious. Next he searched methodically up the path, but without luck. He could hear the clucking and scrambling of the chickens as Owen and Duvessa attempted to catch one. By the sounds of it, they weren't having any luck either.

Finally Owen called out, "Hey Seth? Duvessa's right. These chickens are weird."

Seth signed and headed up top to where the two of them stared at a chicken just a little ways off. "What's going on with the chickens?"

"They're blinky! Watch this," Duvessa said. "Owen, go that way and then chase it over here."

Selendrith walked over next to Seth to watch.

The two set out and quickly cornered a chicken. Just when Owen was about to pick up the chicken, the chicken darted right so fast it was nearly invisible and bolted to the far side of the yard.

"Did you see that?" Owen demanded. "It looks like all of them can do that."

"Let's grab a blanket or something and try again," Seth suggested. Using the blanket as a net was no more successful than catching them by hand.

"I've never seen this before," Owen said. "They are just chickens, right? Chickens can be a pain to catch because they're tricky. But these ones can dodge anything, and when you do think you've got one, it's like it wasn't ever there."

Seth eyed a brown hen that he would have sworn was mocking him as it sauntered away. "I've an idea. Let's herd them towards where you found the crate pieces."

"What is that gonna do?" Owen asked. "There's nothing there."

"That chicken over there," Seth said, ignoring the question. "Hold up that blanket and come this way." In short order the four of them got the chicken down the cliff path. Seth watched from above. "Okay, now try to catch it."

"Here chicky chicky chicky," Duvessa said.

As if on cue, the chicken fled. It ran further down the path than Seth had been looking for the opening, leapt up and disappeared. Excited, Seth hustled down to where the chicken vanished. There, at about knee height, was a deep shadow. "Found it."

It was a hole leading into the mountain, not much bigger than the chickens. Seth could belly crawl inside without too much trouble. Owen or Booth would have a tight fit, provided it didn't get more narrow further in.

Owen stared at the hole skeptically. "You think we should go in there?"

Seth cast the mana detection spell. It was the strongest he'd found yet. And if the chickens were magic and got their power from in there, this could be the solution for both Blaise and Saben. "Right here the mana is high. Inside, it is probably even higher. This is our best shot."

"I got a bad feeling about this," Owen said.

"I'll go first, and make sure there is room for everyone," Seth offered.

"Yeah, no. I don't reckon the best thing to do is crawl into a tight space that might go to the Below, and has who knows what in it, and where you can't see or turn around. Brilliant." Owen shook his head. "Wait here, I'll go get the others."

Duvessa sent several small bird shadows into the hole.

"That's right, we should really scout it first," Seth said. Duvessa only raised an eyebrow at him.

The others arrived quickly.

Two of Duvessa's shadow birds flew out of the hole and she caught them, letting them melt into her hand. "This hole goes several feet into the mountain, and then opens up into a room. There's some kind of plant in that room, and a broken hall or archway that goes further in. There is a bigger room past it, but none of those shadows returned yet."

"Do we go now, or do we wait for the shadows to come back?" Seth asked.

"If we wait too long we'll run out of daylight. It's getting pretty late already," Blaise said.

"If we don't wait, we could run into something dangerous," Owen said.

"We are up a mountain. The Below is going to be really far down. I don't think that is anything we have to worry about," Blaise argued.

"Shall we put it to a vote?" Seth asked.

"That works for me," Blaise said, and got a round of assenting nods. "All right. All in favor of going now?" Blaise raised her own hand, and counted herself, Seth, Selendrith, and Duvessa. "And in favor of waiting?' Owen raised his hand, as did Booth.

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"Okay. We go in. Anyone not comfortable going in, doesn't have to," Blaise said. "Selendrith, make sure you have everything you need to do the circle. Should we bring the rest of our gear too?"

"Mine won't fit down that small hole," Owen said.

"Best not then," Booth said. "Better to come back for it."

"All right. Who first?" Blaise asked.

"I'll go, I'm the smallest and I can let you know if it gets tighter further in," Seth said. He pulled out his pendant and activated the light before belly-crawling into the hole.

"Whew, it stinks in here," Seth called back. "It widens up a little here, but there's a lot of rubble too, making it– Ah!" Seth abruptly fell as the chunk of stone at the end of the tunnel collapsed under his weight and sent him tumbling into the darkness. He landed in a pile of clay that was crusty on top but soft underneath.

"Seth!"

"Are you all right?"

"No, you're not going in there, give him a second to answer!"

"Did anyone bring rope?"

"I'm all right," Seth called up. "There's a pile of clay or something here. This is a pretty good sized room. I can see a plant or something down that way. It has glowing berries on it, so there's some light in here."

"Can you get out again?" Owen asked.

"Yeah, the drop is only about four or five feet, and it looks easy enough to climb. I bet the chickens come in and out this way all the time," Seth answered. "There's also some weird marks here."

"I'm coming down," Blaise said. "Don't let me fall."

In short order all the others had come down except Booth who chose to remain outside.

"Ew, you weren't kidding about the smell," Duvessa complained. She wiped off her bow with a handkerchief but ignored the clay smears on her clothing.

"I guess with chickens pooping in here for years the smell would build up," Owen said. He buckled his sword belt and pulled out a torch. "Can anyone give me a light?"

"Here," Selendrith said, and cast a candle lighting spell, Small Flame.

"I recognize that one!" Owen said. "That's one of the cantrips I'm supposed to practice. I haven't gotten to that one yet."

"The small utility spells are really useful. I personally think they should be mandatory," Selendrith said.

"This clay is stinky too. It has a really weird consistency," Blaise said.

"Look at these marks," Seth said. "What do you think caused that?"

Seth set his pendant to maximum brightness and examined the chamber. There were deep furrows in the rock surrounding the tunnel to outside. There were similar gouges on the floor and bits of broken stone all over.

"Do you reckon there was a fight in here between some beasts or something?" Owen asked.

"It could be left over from when the mana well was working," Seth suggested. "Maybe a wyvern from a long time ago?"

"These berries are so pretty! Do you think it's okay to eat one?" Duvessa asked.

"No!" Seth, Blaise, and Owen all said. Selendrith snickered.

"I was just asking," Duvessa huffed.

Seth walked over to where the huge bush blocked the way out of the chamber. It was a spindly thing, the branches long and thin and splitting dozens of times. How it had gotten so large while growing in a dark cave was a mystery. The leaves were blueish green, and the berries were glowing the same color blue as Seth's pendant. Short needle-like thorns rimmed each leaf.

"Selendrith," Seth said, "have you ever heard of a bush like this? That can grow underground?"

"No, I haven't." Selendrith reached out to touch a berry. The leaves trembled when her hand got close and she pulled back.

"Let's get the spell done for Blaise," Owen said. "In here works, right?"

"We should look for a mana pool," Selendrith said. "There might be a small one left in here somewhere, even though the well doesn't work anymore."

"Yes, let's. Watch the thorns though. They look really mean," Duvessa said. She ducked past the bush into the chamber beyond.

The weird bush was even bigger in the next chamber, with more berries lighting up the room. This chamber had a large spiral staircase in the center that was broken off before it reached the ceiling. Big stone doors formed a closed hatch that was embedded in the stone ceiling directly above the stairs. The floor around the staircase was broken away with a bigger than needed opening around the stairs where they descended into the floor. Many of the stairs were also broken, with more gouges and furrows in the stone. There were scorch marks on the ceiling, but the hatch into the floor above was fully intact.

"Booth and I found doors in the basement of the tower," Blaise said. "They were sealed shut with some spell, and we couldn't deactivate the spell or open the doors. By the looks of it, those are the doors we found."

"Oh, look! There are the chickens, and they're eating the berries!" Duvessa clapped her hands together. "Maybe that means they are edible? We could try the berries?"

"Why are you so keen to eat the berries, Duvessa?" Seth asked.

"Because they glow!"

"It'll make your poop glow," Selendrith said.

Duvessa stared at her, simultaneously excited at the prospect and disgusted by it. "That would be amazingly weird."

"Let's take a quick look around here," Blaise said, getting everyone back on track, "and then head down a level. I'm sure the mana levels down there should be perfect for what we need to do."

"I want to get a closer look at the formations on those doors," Selendrith said.

"Go ahead and look. Let me know when you're ready to head down, If anyone else sees anything interesting, call it out," Blaise said.

Owen started searching through a pile of debris on the far side of the room. Duvessa tried unsuccessfully to catch a chicken again before joining Selendrith. Blaise made a circuit of the room. Seth stood by the hole in the floor and peered into the unsettling darkness below.

Selendrith climbed the stone staircase to where the upper portion was completely broken off, the stairs not reaching the upper floor. She cast a light spell so she could better see the formations that were sealing the upper doors closed. Owen found something in the pile of trash in the corner and was trying to dig it out.

Seth considered what he should do. He'd cast a number of detection spells already today, and although they weren't especially taxing, they did add up. He could listen to the wind again, but that used a fair bit more mana than the mana detection spell.

He peered down the stairs, the light of his pendant reflecting on a shallow puddle below. He didn't see anything that would make him think there was something dangerous down there. It was just creepy darkness.

"There looks like a mana pool down there," Seth told the others. "I'll try to get a better look."

"Don't go down there yet," Owen said. "Let Duvessa's shadows do the scouting. You don't even have a weapon on you."

Blaise scoffed. "Mages are weapons, they don't need to carry one."

"Student mage at best, Blaise," Seth said. "And I'm not very good at offense."

"Being offensive is not usually a life goal, you know," Blaise said.

"I forgot about my shadows!" Duvessa said.

Seth crept carefully down the stairs, watching his step on the damaged treads. The room below was completely dark, and Seth couldn't get a sense for how big it was or how far down the stairs continued or if they stopped on that level.

He heard a high pitched and breathy "Chicky chicky chicky."

"Would you stop hunting chickens, Duvessa?" Seth asked exasperated.

"Uh, I'm not?" Duvessa said.

Seth looked up the stairs. Duvessa was standing beside Selendrith at the top of the broken staircase. As he stared at her he heard it again, "Chicky chicky chicky."

Two chickens scrambled past them and into the small tunnel to the outside.

"Owen, could you toss your torch down there?" Seth said.

Owen peered down into the darkness. He handed Seth the sword he'd brought from school and picked up another sword that he'd found in the pile of trash. Duvessa nocked an arrow.

"Ready?" Owen asked. The others nodded. He tossed his torch down the stairwell. The torch landed beside the stairs and cast light and long shadows in the chamber. They could see the reflection of the torch on a small pool of water near the stairs. Further away a pair of huge eyes caught the light and reflected it like twin moons.