They headed into the cave with Indi leading the way. It started off taller than wider but as it dropped down, and Indi and Amanda scrambled over some large boulders, the roof lowered and the sides widened. Then they came to a section where the floor sloped downward and off into the darkness. To the left it veered slightly upward and consisted of more solid footing. This far in to the cave the ground had lost its dusty looseness and instead had become hard damp rock. Somewhere in the distance Amanda could hear running water.

“I went this way,” Indi told Amanda as she climbed to the left.

It was steep enough that Indi had to use her hands to climb along while bending low to avoid hitting her head on the ceiling. The climb was easy though. The rock consisted of many holes and gaps with solid edges and a smooth feel. There were numerous good handholds. Even though she knew it was limestone, and she’d seen lots of limestone before, Indi still couldn't stop marvelling at it’s structure.

Amanda followed along behind Indi. A few times she glanced down into the darkness below them, beyond the limit of their torches, and she wondered what was down there.

She watched Indi climb carefully, hand over hand. Amanda had been worried, with the way Indi had been chaotically leaping from rock to rock the day before, that caving with her might be asking for an injury, so she was pleased to see that Indi was taking her time. It probably helped that she didn’t have Kass and Cat to try and keep up with.

They reached the end of the climb. Indi reached out to grab the wall on the right. The floor had flattened out here and the drop down into the darkness was now behind them. The passageway narrowed into what looked like a dead end. But then Indi pulled herself up and belly crawled into a gap that was hidden part way up the wall.

“How’d you find that before Indi?” Amanda asked as she watched Indi’s feet disappear.

Indi said something back that Amanda couldn’t hear.

“What?” Amanda called through the tunnel.

A few moments later Indi replied, “I said, I was just exploring. Coming up this way seemed easier than going down that other slope and once I was up here it seemed silly just to turn around without having a proper look, besides it’s about my eye height.”

“Right,” Amanda said to herself with a nod. It made sense, that other tunnel definitely wouldn’t have been easy to go down. She was glad Indi had gone up, although she wasn’t sure about this next bit. It looked like a tight squeeze and she’d just been telling Indi before that they shouldn’t do any sections that were too tight. If either of them got stuck there wasn’t a rope or nearby rescue team to get them out. As long as it wasn’t too sloped it should be alright though, Cat and Kass would be back in a day or two, and Amanda was keen to see where this passage went.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

She was a little shorter than Indi so it was more of a climb to get up, but as before the hand holds were more than adequate making it an easy climb. She hoped the other side wasn’t as high up. The passage was narrow enough that she wouldn’t be able to turn around in it. Indi had gone head first and hadn’t seemed to have had any trouble. She grabbed an edge and pulled herself forward with her hands then wriggled her hips. There was just enough space on the side that she could slide the backpack though.

“Hey Indi, if you’re through can you grab the bag?”

A moment later Amanda shut her eyes as a bright light shone through the narrow passage and Indi reached in to pull the bag out. Indi could only just reach it without getting back in and Amanda estimated that the narrow part of the tunnel was a little over two person lengths long.

“Got it!” Indi replied and the light dimmed again as Indi stood up.

Amanda could now see Indi’s shins up ahead. ‘Good,’ Amanda thought, ‘so the height on the other side wasn't too bad. That should be easy to climb out of at least’. It was at that moment that she tried to pull herself forward and found that she couldn’t.

She wriggled her lower body. Her hips were stuck. Indi might be taller but Amanda’s hips were wider. She fought the common instinct to panic and focused on trying to wriggle backwards a little bit. She’d been stuck in tighter positions before. Luckily it was only in the forwards direction that she appeared to be stuck. Once she was free she considered backing out completely. It would have been the smart decision. There were plenty of other parts of the cave they could explore. They’d passed several large side passageways on the way here. But just as she was thinking about it, Indi spoke from the other side.

“Are you coming?”

Amanda sighed and decided she might as well give it another go. It was often the case with caves that if you relaxed and just tried a different angle then you could usually get your hips through anything your upper body could go through unless it was a really tight squeeze.

“Yeah, I’m getting there, just a little stuck.”

“Are you alright?” Indi asked.

Amanda heard the worry in Indi’s voice. She wasn’t as worried herself. By lifting her hips up slightly higher and tilting a little to one side she managed to find an easy bit to squeeze though.

“Yeah,” Amanda grunted as she pulled herself forward, “almost there.”

A few moments later she slid out like a seal. She got to her feet and found Indi looking a little nervous.

The roof was taller on this side but not so high the light from their torches couldn’t reach it. Amanda scrambled to her feet then looked up with awe.

“Hey Indi, turn off your light.”

Indi did as she was told. Amanda turned hers off as well. The tunnel was plunged into pitch black darkness.

“Look up,” Amanda whispered.

On the ceiling a million tiny lights spread out like stars.

“Wow,” Indi breathed.

They stood there in silence just staring up at the false sky for what felt like ages. Eventually Amanda turned her light back on.

Indi was still looking upward, a large smile plastered across her face.

Amanda smiled as well and glanced down at herself to find her front covered in dirt. She brushed some of it off then looked back at Indi who still hadn’t moved from looking up at the cave ceiling.

“Haven’t you seen glow worms before?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah, but they’re still cool every time. It’s just so weird that they only time you can see them is in the dark.” Indi paused and looked down at the tunnel they had just come through. “Do you think you can fit back through there?”

“Yeah, no worries,” Amanda replied with a smile, and she meant it.

It seemed to satisfy Indi. She looked further down the corridor and then took a step forward. “Come on, the waterfall is just down this way.”