Escaping into Darkness
They wound their way south along the wall. Natha paused every so often to check on the pack scent to make sure they navigated around it. As tempting as it was for Natha to traipse across the pack border she opted not to. While the cat didn't hold that much respect for wolf markings as she felt they were for wolves only she didn't want to get Tamsyn in trouble, or herself for that matter.
At some point Natha felt herself going south, pulled but some unexplained curiosity until she found herself at the mouth of a strange looking tunnel. It was held up with wooden beams and was an unnatural shape that immediately peaked her interest. "Ok, what do you say one last tunnel cave?" She peeked her head in, peering as far as she could into the darkness.
Knight
Tamsyn was relieved when they began to shift further away from the pack’s borders and started to drift further south. Even though she knew that as long as they were on the unclaimed side of the border they should be perfectly fine, she still didn’t trust groups of wolves very much. Her former pack had left a sour taste in her mouth. She hoped maybe one day she’d be able to change her mind, but for now she was happy to put plenty of space between her and them.
When they reached the entrance of another dark tunnel, this one supported with old wooden beams, Tamsyn’s ears flicked uncertainly. ”Well, the last one was so much fun...” she commented with a chuckle, her tone tinted with humor and sarcasm. ”Sure, why not? Let’s see what treasures we can find this time!” Still being sure to pay attention for the scent of any other wolves or predators that might be inside, Tam started to make her way in. She used the same idea as last time, keeping to one side so there would be a sure path to find their way back out again.
Natha chuckled at Tamsyn's sarcasm. "This time let's not try to go through, just a quick peek." She slipped ahead, going as far as she could with her vision before following Tamsyn's lead and sticking to one side of the cavern. As she moved throug though she caught a cooler patch of air near a narrow opening. "Hey Tamsyn, there's a room or something here. One minute." Natha carefully scooted herself into the opening and wiggled her way through. She moved slowly and deliberately, wanting to make sure there was stable ground on the other side. When she was sure she settled into a vast cavern. She started forward and bumped right into a stalagtite, from what she could tell the whole place was probably full of them. Not to mention she was pretty sure she could smell bats.
"Well, it's a big, dark room. I think there are bats in here…"
Every one of these dark places they went reminded her of how much she disliked the dark. It made time feel like it was stretching on so slowly and the mystery of not being able to see what was in front of her made her nervous. She carefully reached in front of her with her paws to make sure she wasn’t going to run into anything and tried to rely more on her other sense as they continued further down the corridor.
Natha’s voice stopped her and she turned back around to find the opening that the feline had mentioned. Following her lead, Tam slipped though the opening as well till she felt it open into a larger, empty space. There was no real way to tell just how big the room was, but she did notice how cool the temperature had gotten as they moved further underground. She could definitely smell the bats that Natha had pointed out. As if on cue, a group of the flying creatures took flight over head and startled her, making her jump and yelp. She hopped right into a stalagmite which startled her all over again. She stopped with her paws out like she was ready to fight until her brain caught up with the adrenaline in her system. She sighed as she tried to relax again, her ears flicking uncertainly. ”Yep, still don’t like the dark.”
Natha's ears perked up as she heard skittering nearby and the sound of something squeezing into a small hole. Were there rats in here as well? She had heard of hairless rat type creatures that sometimes dwelled in dark caves. The hunter in her wanted to hunt the little creature but the other part of her was ready to go. She did not like the smell of bats. "Yea, you know what I've had enough of this to, let's get out of here and go some place nice and open." With that Natha maneuvered her way back to the entrance and slipped back through. With a bit more adventuring she made it to the original opening and upon stepping out into the clear air she took a deep breath then shook out her coat. Something about being underground made her feel dirty.
Tamsyn was more than happy to follow Natha out of the dark room they had stumbled across. The sound of tiny claws skittering across the stone floor had been the last straw for her. The thought of a mystery rodent of some kind being somewhere she couldn’t see made her skin crawl. Now that she knew the corridor that had originally lead them down here was pretty much completely clear, she was able to hurry back out toward the sunlight with no issues. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the change in light and she gave herself a good shake as well. If there was one thing she wasn’t going to be interested in exploring any time soon, it was caves. Something more open definitely appealed to her right about now. ”Lets see what’s in that direction then!” She motioned with her head toward the way they hadn’t been yet before heading off again next to Natha.