Seera Wyndham sent her talent winging out in front of her. It didn't rely on vision, or any other sense. Her mind just knew where the object of her search was. The closer the goal, the better defined things were.

She didn't sense anything hostile close to the cave entrance. The first thing they would encounter that would want to deal with them was yards inside the main chamber they were entering.

Mister Shanahan picked his way along, close enough to help her if there was trouble, far enough out of the way not to get caught in any trap she might step into because she wasn't paying attention.

She wasn't worried about him. Barring accidents, the strength he had taken from Goreman should get him clear of most of the things they could expect to run into in the cave. She was more worried about the Wu Chi, and Everett. She had worked with Everett before, and felt he would do whatever he had to do to get away from them in the case of trouble. The paper people might die depending on what they could do with their skills.

She might shoot Yuen first just to get him to shut up about what a home depot was.

She reached out again. She found a tunnel that dropped straight down for a long way. Her talent said it was the fastest way down for their group. It had danger down at the bottom of the shaft.

Should they try the shortcut, or take a longer way around? She wanted to take the shaft just to be done with things.

“There is a monster ahead of us,” said Seera. “It's not close enough to be a danger yet, but it might charge us when we get within striking distance. There is a shaft that leads straight down to where we want to go to the right.”

Shanahan motioned for her to move to the right toward the shaft. He kept his rifle pointed at where the monster was according to her. He kept an eye on the others as they followed her, then fell in behind Everett.

Seera turned to play her light on the shaft. It was bigger than what she had expected. The space looked wide enough for a car. Her small group could go down that easily if they had enough climbing rope.

“What do you think?,” she asked.

“How deep do you think it is?,” asked Master Yuen. He peered over the edge at the darkness.

Shanahan reached into one of the various pockets he now possessed. He pulled out a small plastic cylinder. He shook it and then snapped it with his thumb and finger. The the stick lit up, glowing a sick yellow. He threw it in the hole. It vanished into the darkness.

“Too deep,” he said.

“What do you mean too deep?,” asked Master Yuen. He looked down at the stranger.

“He means that the stick should still be visible to us, and it isn't,” said Seera. She reached out for the stick. It had fallen down a long way by her standards. She started wondering how far down in the hex the cavern went. “That means that unless you can fly, the only one who could possibly get down this shaft without problems is Everett.”

“This might be where the monsters are coming from that are attacking the neighboring villages,” said Everett. “If I did drop down there, I could be killed if there is a surge if I didn't make it all the way through.”

Seera felt that Mister Shanahan could lower them down if they had enough rope. She compared the spot where the stick had landed with the amount of rope they had brought with them. It would be too short by far.

“This could be an exit from the bottom if we make it that far,” said Seera. She reached out for an alternate route. Three passages called to her. She touched each of them, and they all glowed with danger. “I don't think we have enough climbing gear to carry all of us down.”

She didn't mention the fact that the extra bodies were keeping them from trying with what they did have. She felt that Everett could drop down with his Spider, while Mister Shanahan could carry her and Master Yuen down with his Fist power.

He could probably carry the two others too, but it would be an awkward problem that might get one of them killed. She would prefer that one be Master Yuen, but you couldn't control things like that.

“We can go around,” said Seera. “The other routes are dangerous and take us around,but they should be all right to use to reach the bottom of the cavern.”

“This is the best way,” said Master Yuen. He opened his bag and pulled out a banner. The shape of the cavern appeared on the surface of it. He lifted the ends to reveal the paper shaping itself into a model of the shaft. He frowned. His model didn't stretch out into a bottom.

“The floor is out of your reach, brother,” said one of the other Wu Chi. “I think the woman is right. We should go around.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“You are not here to think,” said Master Yuen. “You are here to do what I say.”

Seera frowned at the Wu Chi. It wasn't really her place to tell him how to address his minions. On the other hand, she could see him trying that on Mister Shanahan, and getting a detrimental result.

They still had to bring him back alive as part of the deal.

“Mister Shanahan, please take Everett and the other Wu Chi ahead to the entrance on the far right, and wait for me,” said Seera. Her hand gripped the handle of her rifle. “Master Yuen and I are going to have a talk.”

Shanahan gestured for the others to walk with him. He looked at Yuen for a moment before he waved Everett to cover the other side of the entrance. He indicated the Wu Chi should stay a few feet back and wait for developments.

“Master Yuen,” said Seera. “Is there any reason I should continue with this?”

“You are under contract to escort me to the bottom of this cavern, and you will do it,” said the paper master. “The penalty for you will be harsh if you don't.”

Seera shifted her grip on her rifle and swung the butt end into his face. He stepped back in surprise. He fell backwards over the edge of the shaft. She gripped his arm at the last second so that he leaned over the space on his toes.

“I'm going to let you use the shaft, Master Yuen,” said Seera. “I will be forced to regretfully inform Emil that you accidentally fell to your death. We'll bring back your body as proof. There will be no reprisals, no threats, no recompense. I think that is totally fair for doing something we don't want to do.”

“Don't drop me,” said Yuen. He grabbed hold of her arm with his other hand. “Don't drop me.”

“I might even get a reward if I can prove you were here to sabotage Emil's hex,” said Seera. “He might think about taking his ire over such a thing on your brothers. I might get paid more if I helped to wipe them off the face of the world.”

“You wouldn't dare,” said Master Yuen. “That would be total war. Deaths would be widespread.”

“What do I care about that?,” asked Seera. “I think you should understand your place in things before we continue. You have no say in which way we go, or what we do to get you to where you want to be. I expect you to cooperate in every way. If you don't, I will ask Mister Shanahan to pull one of your arms off and beat you to death with it. I don't care what happens between Emil and your colleagues. I don't care if both hexes collapse on themselves. I do care that you are becoming an obstacle to motion when we have only been inside this cavern half an hour. Am I being clear? Do you understand what will happen if you try to do anything that endangers anybody else stuck with you?”

“Pull me forward,” said Master Yuen. He heard a noise below where he hung out over nothingness. “Please pull me forward. Something is coming up the shaft.”

“Do you understand what I am saying?,” asked Seera. She noted her arm was shaking from the strain.

“Yes,” said Master Yuen. “Please pull me forward.”

Seera shifted her weight to lean back. She folded her arm, still maintaining her grip. That was enough to get solid footing under Yuen. He threw himself forward from the round hole in the ground.

Something winged blasted in front of her flashlight. It turned and headed for the mouth of the cave. She stepped back, pointing the rifle at the form. She didn't fire because she couldn't be sure bullets would do anything against the bulk she saw.

“I think we should go before it comes back,” said Seera. She hooked a hand under Master Yuen's arm and helped him to his feet. “Being eaten would be a terrible way to end this expedition.”

The Wu Chi grabbed up his banner and folded it closed to stick back in his bag. He looked at the cave entrance in fear the thing would come back.

“There are more in front of us,” said Seera. “Shall we go?”

She walked back to the rest of the group. Mister Shanahan nodded once, while the others wore various expressions of concern. She knew her partner would have just dropped the man over the side. She could read it in his eyes.

“This is the safest passage down, the other two are full of natural hazards we want to avoid,” said Seera. “I'm going to go first. The rest of you come on like we were doing. Make sure you keep your guard up. An area like this has to have an ambush predator of some kind to take us by surprise.”

Seera started into the tunnel. The Wu Chi resorted to their own language to discuss what had happened. Master Yuen did not sound too happy about his treatment. The other two tried to tell him to calm down.

Standing at the edge of the tunnel, Shanahan finally turned toward them and said in their own language to shut up in the flat voice he would use to tell someone to move out of the way. He started down the tunnel after his partner.

The Wu Chi froze as they watched him vanish into the darkness.

“That was quite a surprise,” said Everett, leaning into the little triangular huddle. “He does have a point. Constant jabbering lets the monsters know we're here. Being quiet would be a good thing.”

He motioned for them to join their escorts in the tunnel. He smiled as they reluctantly obeyed.

Seera sent her talent cruising ahead of her in little dashes. She looked for monsters and paths down capable of letting the six of them pass. When it came back, she moved forward a tiny fraction. Then she looked again.

She paused a distance away from an opening in the wall ahead. She looked around. The passage had narrowed so that everyone would have to pass in front of that hole to get to the other side. Whatever was in the hole was pinging the demand for warning she had set up with her talent. She didn't see any other causes.

How should they handle things?

She motioned her group to back up. She didn't want to trigger an ambush just being heard talking about it.

“There's a passage to one side,” she whispered. “I think something is in there waiting for us to cross in front of it. We're going to fight our way through so we can keep descending.”

“I got this,” said Mister Shanahan. “Stay back and we'll see what we have.”

He walked forward, checking for other holes as he moved. He pulled a grenade from a bag attached to his belt. He pulled the pin and threw the grenade into the hole. He stepped away and hunkered down. He covered his ears with his hands. Seera did the same thing when she saw him do that. A column of noise and smoke erupted from the hole.

Mister Shanahan fired a small volley of bullets into the scarred tunnel in case the monster wasn't dead in the dark of its lair. He waited, but Seera just pointed him forward.

Whatever had been in there was dead now.

Hopefully the rest of the trip would be that easy.