Buffalos are the most magnificent though, you will be lucky to see one if you do. They live further away then the Wind Empire, was past their boundaries. Their fur sells very well and..."

Never in Zilian’s worst nightmares, would he ever have imagined someone talking to no end being the most terrible torture. Sarri started talking when they went up the second series of caves, and ever since then she had not even stopped so much as to breath. He thought she would need to quit at some point, but there was no sign of her ending any time soon. Her endless talking did not help ease his worry for Erica either, he promised to take care of her and now he was the farthest away from doing that. He hoped she would find another way out, but feared they were her only chance of getting out.

"Hey kid, I am talking to you." Sarri waved her hands in Zilians face.

Zilian snapped, "Sorry for my rudeness! I am only doing something insignificant, like trying to figure out a way to get Erica out. Which could probably mean her life!"

"Possibly, not probably." She corrected him.

"What is the difference?" He demanded.

"Probably is more possible than possible."

"And the difference being?"

"I am optimistic, you're just worrying your hair off. You'll grow old soon." She grinned.

Zilian heated up, not because she was wrong but because she was dead right. He regained his calmness, Erica would have told him to and not to get himself worked over something so insignificant.

"Ahem." He cleared his voice, "Sorry, about that. You know."

She shook her head, "No, I don't know. You have to be a bit more specific." A teasing was tone in her speech.

"I am sorry for snapping at you!" He realized instantly his mistake and yanked his hair.

"It's ok kid. There's nothing wrong with you. Except, you're nosy, loud..." She smiled, "And stink a little."

"Hey, I don't stink!"

"You are the other two at least."

Zilian smiled, couldn't help but laugh. Both he and Sarri laughed together.

"Well, maybe yes. I am not admitting to it." He said wiping the tears off.

"If you say so." She patted him on the back reassuringly.

They kept on walking through the cave, Sarri swung her torch around to see an entrance that lead to a drop straight down. Zilian looked over the edge, this looked a lot like the one they saved Sarri from. He peered harder and saw a small strip of rope on a ledge much further down, this drop definitely was the one they saved Sarri from.

"Hey Sarri. When you fell into this hole, was that the only cave you were in that there was?"

"If I understood your question, no. There were many other caves, tunnels and passages connected to the one I was in. I just stayed in the main, larger tunnel."

"So, if we can find our way in that tunnel of yours, can you find the way out?"

"Yeah, it'll be a cinch." She rose a thumb confidently.

He stepped back from the drop. "Then let's find that tunnel." He led the way to a tunnel that led up.

Sarri called at him, "This way kid. That tunnel likely would take you back down."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"How do you know?" He asked.

"We're in a certain level in this mountain, where to go up, you need to go down and down to go up." She replied.

That made no sense to him, but he was not going to argue that her logic was messed up. She led the way with the horse to a tunnel that declined; he shrugged, acknowledging that he had no choice but to trust her judgment. She was the spelunker after all, he would expect her to know more than himself. After all, he missed the pass before he saved her.

"There was this other time. A little rebellious brat, much like you. Figured he knew more, digging down these caves, they went down deep. We must have been searching for several days in there. The kid thought there was nothing, wanted to go back up. I had to disagree."

He interrupted, "Like always I bet."

She snapped back, "Hey, you don't get things done by agreeing with everything someone says. You get things done like the way how I do it."

"That is doing the most pointless, dangerous and sometimes stupidest way. Right?"

"That just ‘bout sums it up." She laughed humorously.

He smiled despite being trapped, wandering in a cave and worried for Erica. At least he had a moment to not worry, Sarri lighthearted spirit certainly was contagious.

Sarri went on, "Well, we found a mother load. The most precious gems I have ever seen. They would have set me for life!"

He raised a brow in query, "That begs the question, why didn't you set yourself for life?"

"Because for the love adventure of course! You can't enjoy life doing nothing. Danger around every corner. Keep your hair standing on end. Oh, and of course it might be partially because when we mined it out, while I was drunk at a tavern, the kid saddled up with the lot of it. Never saw him again."

"Well, you did say you wanted adventure." He teased.

"Yeah, I do. I also want a nice horse, carriage, mining equipment."

He teased her, "Tough luck."

"Yeah, it might've been the only way for me to get dad's blessing."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

She clamped up all of a sudden, tempting only a small excuse, "I really don't want to talk about it."

"You? Not wanting to talk? You wouldn't shut up for the whole time in this cave!" He exclaimed. Obviously shocked at the sudden silent reply.

"Well, a truly wise person would know when to shut up."

"Yeah, this coming from the one who got drunk and lost the spelunk find of the year." He said mockingly.

"Yeah, well, I have moments." She remarked. However, she did suddenly stop talking for the duration.

She stopped in a wide cavern, several tunnels leading to several different directions. She unpacked her bag and pulled out a map.

"You had a map this whole time?" He exclaimed.

"Yeah, but it is only a overhead view on the land above. I know several entrances already that lead into this mountain. I just don't know where they all lead, so I am taking a guess how deep and where on the map we are. That way if we are close to one of these entrances by accident, I know where to head."

"Wouldn't it be best to stick to one plan? You know, to look for the tunnel you already were in." He inquired.

"We are sticking to that plan, I am just making a back up plan and a back up back up plan." She replied.

"Now that's just confusing." He rubbed his temples in confusion.

"Yeah, what can you say? Great minds are hard for inferiors to comprehend."

"There may be many thing I don't know, but I am pretty certain you are not a great mind."

"Well, that is for me to judge." She packed her map back in the pack.

"I don't think that makes sense either."

"See, great minds aren't meant for any to comprehend." Remarking more to herself than him this time. She looked at all the tunnels around them. "We'll camp here for the night." She said decidedly.

"It's night time?" He was not tired, he judged day and not by how tired he was. No direct sunlight anywhere also made it difficult to judge if it were day or night, the dark cave made them both all the one and same.

"Yeah." Her reply was straightforward offering no detail.

"How do you know? You can't see much of anything in these caves." He reasoned with her.

"Kid, I have been at this way longer then you. If you want to go ahead and get lost in these caves, you can go right on ahead. In the meantime, I am gonna get a good nights rest. We'll get more ground covered if we keep our strength up."

She pulled a jacket out of bag, using it to cover her and walked to a smooth section off to the side of the cavern. She layer down and set her head on her bag as a cushion, proving she was just going to simply doze off. He sighed, there was no reasoning with her. He led the horse to a boulder sitting on the ground and tied the lead to it. He found a corner smooth enough for him to sleep, admitting that he was at least a bit tired. Wiping little pebbles out of the way, he used his bag as a cushion too. He wondered how Erica fared in the caves alone, as he guiltily drifted to sleep.