At the end of the month, Imoto was handling some unknown mission that would take about two days. We spent that day relaxing and playing with a new chess board that Dee bought. That evening as the sun was setting, Suki hurriedly walked to our camp. As she walked towards us, I could see how she favoured her left leg and limped a bit as she swiftly moved towards us. Noticing her limp, we all got up and closed the distance.
Suki told us, “Don’t worry my limp is not new, you all just haven’t seen me run before. What’s important right now is that I’ve just received a time sensitive mission. Since Imoto is busy and I believe it within your capabilities, I’m assigning the mission to the three of you.” She paused for a moment and looked between the three of us and continued, “A man named Ebenz in a nearby town was incapacitated and injured when he intervened in the kidnapping of a young girl. The victim’s name is Yimi, reported around 11 years of age with light skin, brown pigtails, brown eyes, and wearing a yellow dress. The town called Pineton is located 30 kilometers away by normal means. The messenger that passed on the mission rode here on his horse and reported that the incident occurred late this morning.”
Suki then gave Roen a map, which he held up for all of us to see. Suki then pointed to the map and said, “Following a direct path through the forest, I believe you three could reach the forest in under an hour, but the terrain is hilly and at times near mountainous. Once you reach the town find this Ebenz man as fast as possible and determine from him which direction the suspects ran. If all goes well, you will be able to catch them once they have stopped for the night. For this mission, I am temporarily granting you the privileges of full Yoshiga members. I hope for you to apprehend the suspects, but the safety of the victim is of course a greater priority. Do you understand?”
We all nodded and got ready. I decided to carry food rations made mostly of hard bread and jerky, Dee was hanging on to the map and mission paper, and Roen was carrying rope to tie the suspects. As we got ready Dee gave me one of her knives with a thigh attaching leather sheath just in case which was a sobering thought. I accepted it tentatively and in my mind I decided it would be best as a last resort. Once we were ready to leave, Suki quickly told us good luck and we were off.
Dee set the pace since she had the map and her pace was fast. The worst part was not the speed itself but the consistent pace despite the hills we started climbing. And these ‘hills’ were huge and often rocky. Even with the generous use of chakra it was a bit tough. Luckily the moon was near full tonight, so we did not have to run in complete darkness. We covered the near 15 kilometers in 40 minutes which left me a bit winded, but finding Ebenz should provide a good enough break to catch my breath.
After passing a wooden sign that simply read, ‘Pineton’, we slowed down and started searching for the man named Ebenz. The town was small and had a grand total of twelve buildings. Despite the late hour, the people whose doors we knocked on were kind enough to point us in the right direction. We found the man at his home with his wife taking care of him.
Ebenz was a bald, gruff looking old man with a beard sprinkled by white hairs. He was lying in bed with bandages and a splint covering his left leg. Yet despite the injury the man seemed lively.
After we introduced ourselves and showed him the mission paper, he animatidely told us, “Thank goodness you got here so quick. Now they came here this morn’ to the general store. I was there haggling with old Jo about lending me more credit since my radishes were growing nice when they mosied on in. Now these ruffians they looked the type, so me and old Jo kept an eye on them even after they left the store. Sweet little Yimi was alone running to the store and that’s when the men grabbed her. Old Jo was an officer in the war see? So he grabbed his old musket and shot at ‘em. But they were moving quick and Old Jo can’t aim so good anymore. They still was running with the girl, so I went after them. Before I could even react one of them took my knees out from under me. Both of ‘em stomped on me for a bit then they took off to the north west.”
His wife Lor then added, “Yimi’s parents were devastated, the whole town was. So we collected some money and had one of the young boy’s ride to the nearest place that could help. I’m glad y’all are here so quick.”
We soon left to the north west. After a bit of random wandering, Roen was able to pick up the trail of the two men. We quickly followed the path through the forest. These men were able to cover a lot of ground. After following the path for nearly an hour, Roen bent down for a moment to inspect the trail left by the two men. He then said, “The trail shows that the men slowed significantly at this point, specifically the one carrying the girl. From the gait and the sheer distance they covered while carrying another person on foot, I believe these men may have been close to their destination or decided to rest.”
As we got closer I was getting anxious. I was already slightly worried about facing dangerous kidnappers. We had little information on who we were dealing with here. While we had the advantage of chakra with Dee and Roen also having training, they could still prove to be dangerous. We all took a moment to catch our breath as we processed what Roen said.
I wanted to air some of my worry by saying, “We should form a plan maybe. To be honest, I feel a bit out of my depth here. To have something put together before we find them and Yimi would help the nerves.”
Roen was the first to respond suggesting, “We should stick together and gather information before anything. The number of enemies, where Yimi is located, the layout of wherever they are hiding.”
Dee continued his idea, saying, “We need reconnaissance. Why did they take Yimi? Was this a spur of the moment decision or part of some larger operation with more victims? And importantly we need to learn about these men and their potential operation? Are they armed or experienced in fighting, who are they affiliated with, why are they here?”
I was not thinking that far ahead. Once again I was thankful these two were here with me. For now our plan was to stay together, stay hidden, and figure out as much as we can. We continued following the trail for another few minutes, until we reached our supposed destination. Roen stopped us a good distance away from what appeared to be an abandoned mine. There were just a few signs here and there that pointed to recent activity. While there were no signs of draft animals, there was an old covered wagon nearby. And although it was covered up now, there was an area that looked like it had been used as a firepit in the recent past.
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We circled the surrounding area to be safe. There was nothing of interest in the surrounding forest which meant that the men and Yimi were most likely within the mine. Such an enclosed space would make remaining hidden difficult. There was also the fact that a mine could often be like a maze. Mines could be filled with dead ends, random chambers, dangerous pitfalls, and had unknown depth.
Since it was near guaranteed that Yimi was inside, we decided to go into the mine. Our initial plan was to have Roen take the lead with me then Dee following single-file. Stealth and gathering info was still the main objective, but we needed to be ready for anything in such a tight space with an unknown layout. Roen took out his swords, but he kept them in a single blade form since the mine would be a tight space.
We opened the beaten down wood door and made our way in. Dee was taking up the rear so she and she closed the door quickly and quietly. The mine sloped downwards for some time until it flattened out and there were two new tunnels. The main tunnel continued sloping downwards at an even greater angle with the only safe way up and down being an old ladder. The tunnels to the left and right were level, but in the darkness of the mine I could not tell where they led.
Roen had us sticking to the right wall, so we continued down the right tunnel. Careful to avoid loose rocks on the ground, we made our way down the tunnel. We passed some timber supports and made our way to the end of the tunnel. It was an empty dead end. We checked the other tunnel and it was much the same.
Moving back to the main central tunnel, Roen climbed down the ladder and after giving us an all clear we climbed after him. This second level of the mine was similar to the first. The main tunnel continued sloping down and there were two side tunnels. It was incredibly dark in these parts of the mine. Dee decided that we should check the tunnels twice. Once in the darkness to not alert anybody then another time with some light to make sure we did not miss anything. Dee was able to make a soft dim light for us to search in the mine, but both of the side tunnels of this level also proved to be empty dead ends.
We climbed down to the third level of the mine and found something. Down the left side tunnel there seemed to be a dim light. It was barely noticeable, but I think our passive chakra use along with our eye’s adjusting to the dark allowed us to see it. We all tensed up and got ready. Roen whispered, “Focus on looking around and remaining hidden. If we are attacked, I will protect our right and you two protect our left.”
As Dee took out two daggers and Roen gripped his swords, I felt a bit uneasy. My mind focused on their reactions and I wondered how far their past training went. The worrying thought that I associated with teenage trained killers passed my mind. Setting that aside for now, I followed as Roen led us to the tunnel.
Soon we reached something. The supposed end of the tunnel was boarded up and had a warning sign that read, ‘Dead end!’ Our chakra enhanced sight allowed us to see some of the dim light peaking through from this tunnel so we ignored it. We silently took down some boards so we could slip past then continued on through the tunnel. As we walked through the tunnel, I noticed minute differences between it and the rest of the mine. Rough rocky stone was the walls and ceiling of this mine, but only this tunnel had smooth walls. There was a change in the air as well. The air grew humid and warm.
As we approached the exit, Roen abruptly stopped and held his sword up stopping us from passing. He then motioned for us to slowly walk forward.
I saw why. This, this, this is huge. This cave was ginormous. Twenty meter long stalactites dotted the ceiling. And from this ledge we perched upon, there was a nearly fifty meter drop straight down. That light we saw earlier was coming from here. All along the walls and ground growing mushrooms illuminated the entire cave in a dim bluish glow. Down at the bottom there was an entire underground lake whose end we could not even see from here. Since we were underground in an enclosed space it felt so strange. This cave was open and large in ways I did not think possible. The underground lake dominated the bottom, but its rocky shore still had to be more than sixty meters long.
After taking in the awe inspiring sight, I noticed men congregating down on the shore. There were five of them and they all seemed to be laying down asleep. From this distance and angle I could not tell if any of them fit the description of our suspects, but I had reason to suspect men hiding in an abandoned mine regardless.
For a few moments we all stared into the cave, but Roen soon started to slowly back away towards the tunnel. Once we were back near the tunnel entrance, Roen quietly stated, “That cave was large.”
With his usual serious expression, I’m not sure if he was making a joke, so I decided to add a more serious comment by saying, “That tunnel was very different from all the others in the mine. Too smooth and perfect really.”
Dee grimaced as she whispered, “Some advanced bonding use could make a perfect tunnel like that.”
We took everything in for a moment. My mind raced as I started to connect the dots. That open space was natural, which meant it might be a part of a larger underground cave system. The tunnels were created by some Gatyri proficient with bonding. The Gatyri could create tunnels out of the cave system in convenient locations such as abandoned mines which meant they would have a perfect, secret, and extensive underground network all to themselves. And it seems they have been using it to smuggle people and maybe other things. A missing girl would be a lot harder to locate if she was suddenly transported a great distance with no known trail. It all made a weird sort of sense.
The others came to similar conclusions which left the question of what to do? We had a mission and I was willing to do some more information gathering, but this could get dangerous. These caves could be swarming with people and there could be multiple unknown Gatyri running around.
Roen seemed resolute with these similar revelations and said, “We have a mission.”
With that we steeled our resolve to save Yimi.