"If Machina has stolen your brother, he must be waiting for you, the old man said, leaning forward as he spoke to them. "He wants you for something. I can feel the power in you all but it will not be enough. The Iron King is a master of manipulation. He will use you to further his own schemes, and you will not be able to resist. Go home, girl. Forget what you have lost and go home. That's the best advice I can give you." They couldn't turn back now. Think about all the people that had sacrificed everything to see them this far. Puck. The Elder Dryad. Ash.

Kerri growls again, then heads through the exit.

She scoffs, glaring at him. "If you think we'll give up this easily you can think again! I didn't lose all of these people because I wanted to give up once we've come this far!" She snaps, sneering.

"Foolish girl," the old man growled. "I know more about Machina than anyone his ways, his power, the way his mind works and yet you still will not hear me. Very well. Rush to your doom, like everyone who came before you. You will see, as I did, far too late. Machina cannot be defeated. I only wish Id listened to my councilors when they told me as much."

Kerri growls again, his tails lashing.

She sneers, glaring. "I listen to you. I understand but I'm not going to turn back! I'm going to try and find a way. If I did this for nothing then I'm going to start questioning my sanity. I gained so much and lost it all during this quest! I'm not doing this for nothing! I'd rather go down knowing I tried than turning back like a coward!" She snaps, she nods to Lin, telling her to follow Kerri.

(Sorry I was at Spring Spec.)

"Go, then," he whispered, shooing then away. "I cannot sway you. Perhaps a single unarmed group will succeed where an entire army has failed." He laughed then, bitter and petulant. "Good luck to you, foolish ones. If you will not listen to me, you are welcome here no longer. My subjects will take you under his fortress, through the secret tunnels that honeycomb the land. Its the quickest way to rush to your destruction. Now, go. I am through with you." A few packrats started back out

Kerri rolls his eye.

She thanks him before turning on her heel and following the packrats.

More tunnels. They rested infrequently, and caught what little sleep they could. The pack rats gave them some strange mushrooms to chew on, tiny white things that glowed in the dark and tasted like mold, but allowed them to see in pitch blackness as if it were twilight. This was a good thing, because their flashlights eventually flickered and died, and no one offered fresh batteries.


It was hard to keep track of time. All the caverns and tunnels seemed to meld together into one giant, impossible maze. Even if they did get into Machina's fortress and rescue Ethan, they wouldnt be getting out the same way.