Cornered 4

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The four climbed down into the ravine after a quick break. The walls were sloping and steep, become sheer near the end. Water trickled off the walls and into the deep gully the were walking in. The bottom was fine sand, soft, almost sinking their feet with each step.

The route made no sense at all to Tommy, until he observed the others touch the walls as every junction. There were symbols engraved there.

"We're lucky it isn't raining."

They had just rounded another corner, finally seeing a hole cut into the wall above them, about Tommy's height. Dagger scaled the walls, and dropped a hanging ladder down.

Others went up, pulling the ladder up behind them. Finally, Tommy felt safe. He never expected having a roof could be so comforting.

"I am getting sick of all the excitement." he said.

"What are you talking about? We didn't even get hurt."

"Not just today. It's been crazy ever since I joined that damned Academy."

"Dummy, what did you expect?"

"She's right. Mages work much crazier routes than us lot. You may even encounter Tier 4."

"Are these Tiers some power rankings or something?"

"Not exactly, but yes. Can you give me the core, Lester?", he borrowed a small pearl like thing, and continued.

"Beasts have these concentrated mana crystals inside them. Tier 2 have upto 2, Tier 3 have 3, and so on. Often, the crystals break on death, but some don't so we take them. It's not much use so the Town uses them as currency."

"Not true. They give powers."

"That is a myth, Dagger. People who get new powers have killed a lot of beasts. It's experience. Have you ever seen any town folk get powers?"

"But..."

"Powers?"

"Yeah. Some adventurers are scarily good at things. Like finding treasure, spotting attackers, certain attacks, etc. Kind of like what the Academy mages can do, but different. I-"

"Is someone up there?", a shout came in from the ravine, a stranger's voice.

Lester popped his head out. There, covered in dirt, stood another adventurer.

"Hi. Are you from the town? I could use some help."

"She looks familiar.", Dagger whispered, also peeking over the edge.

"Do you know her?"

"Probably seen her at the guild."

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"Hmm."

"Just a moment."

He dropped the ladder down. The adventurer had issues climbing up the ladder. As if she couldn't use her arms. Lester wanted to go help but she interrupted him, her tone filled with determination.

"I can do this much."

At the top, Dagger helped her sit down, and Fatty handed her some bread and water, which she just looked at. Embarrassed, he turned to Dagger,

"Can you feed her?"

She glared at him, but accepted the role. The girl drank the water, greedily devoured the bread as the other girl held it. Finally, sated, she looked better. Lester started asking,

"Where did you come from? What happened?"

"Beasts. In the tunnels... I work there to maintain the outpost. Something is in the tunnels." her pitch rose, fear and panic evident.

"It's okay. You are safe now."

"Thank.. you.."

Hearing that, she dropped down, her will giving out, and immediately fell unconscious.

She was certainly injured. There was blood all over her, her shirt still wet meaning the bleeding hadn't stopped.

"What do we do?"

"Nothing. She is so weak, yet made it here. I don't think we need to worry.

"But we can't go to the cave complex anymore."

"Right. And we can't leave her yet. Dagger, would you mind cleaning her up, and checking on her injuries."

She did as asked, after making sure the guys had all turned away. They were explaining the symbols in the ravine to Tommy, keeping their voices low. The place wasn't big, just big enough for them to comfortably lie down if they wanted.

She didn't want to though. The girl was annoyed. Not at her team, just in general. Her good mood from the morning was far gone. This other person could possibly die in her care. She washed and cleaned her, heading down a couple times to collect water of the wall. Clean and bandaged, she looked at peace.

More and more wounds had became evident, not all new. Old bruises, scars, and calluses - a veteran. There were also fresh cuts though, still bleeding as if something was keeping them open. She knew that because she could so the same. Anything she cut would bleed. She had no idea how or why it worked.

"I'm done." She kept a tight lid on the brewing rage, rage at the universe for its cruelty.