'Are you sure this is the place?'
Mellissa couldn't blame Kuom for being sceptical, this wasn't exactly the first place she would have expected to find an archeological dig. Which just shows how much she has to learn about the cities history. 'I didn't even know any of this was down here.'
Mellissa allowed herself a brief moment to cast her eyes again over the impressive cavern in which they stood, the wide expanse of sandy yellow rock that arced over head with its smooth dome littered with chunky stalactites, easily as numerous as the perfectly smooth tunnels that branched off in every direction, each one cut into the walls easily as big as the mag-rail transit station tubes that linked the city. Somehow Mellissa couldn't shake the feeling that wasn't a coincidence. Just like she couldn't shake the feeling they were being stared at. Which maybe the were. Any one of her companions, decked out as they were in military camouflage fatigues, would easily have attracted some attention. Even just Arty and Ilya as Panther and Vixen alone would have caught an observers eye with the distinction between genders and the striking contrast of colour; Arty as a pure black panther apart from his long white hair perfectly contrasted with Ilya's bright white fur and vixen tail. Throw Koum into the mix, with her bright blue scales and impressive dragon physique and all chance of blending in was gone before anyone even noticed her. Tigress' were a rarity in the city and White tigress even more so, so her presence utterly shattered any attempt at blending in. Not that were here to blend in.
'No one comes down here anymore.' Ilya said as she walked up from the rear of the group. 'These tunnels haven't been used in generations. Not since the Tribe Wars centuries ago. With the City under siege, these tunnels were the only way of safely moving supplies, stores and people in and out of the city.'
'Which doesn't answer my question.' Kuom said pointedly. 'How do we know this place isn't going to be any more of a dead end than the last ten we visited?'
'Well..we don't.' Mellissa admitted. 'But we know our mysterious intruder was checking out archeological sites around the city. And this is the last one active from the records we have. Doesn't mean it won't turn out to be a dead end like the others. But it's the only lead we have. I just wish I got what she was thinking.'
'Well...you aren't the only one.' Arty said with a slow shake of his head. 'She breaks into a heavily guarded military installation...even if those guards didn't do much good since she entered as easily as any of us would walk into a grocery store....and all she did was look up dig sites? It doesn't make any sense.'
'Has anything she done ever made sense?' Ilya asked, the camo fatigues clad black and white vixen lingering at the rear of the group broke her silence softly, her words more thoughtful musing than actual question. But still a thought that brought a smile to Mellissa's face anyway. As much as she had come to treasure Koum's directness and Arty's compassion did she too treasure the young communication specialists way of cutting to the heart of an issue.
'Not yet.' Mellissa shook her head. 'I just wish she wouldn't keep disappearing all the time, then maybe we could talk to her and help her. Still...maybe we can get some answers around her.'
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Any hopes of getting some answers were quickly dashed pretty much the very second they tracked down the site Forman in the cramped wooden shack that served as his office. After all, the answer to Mellissa's first question wasn't exactly encouraging.
'Oh..you aren't disturbing us.' The badger pushed back his glasses earnestly. 'Honestly, there is hardly much going on around here. It's not like we are a new dig. We've been running for years, mapping the remains of an ancient fort that stood her thousands of years before Crystal Dell grew to its current size. We are just wrapping up really, taking our last records and processing our last finds before we close the dig down. Honestly, I'm not sure why the military would be interested in that.'
'Honestly..neither are we exactly.' Mellissa admitted. 'We are just chasing up a lead on something else. I'm afraid I can't tell you more than that.'
'I understand.' The Forman said with a nod. 'Well..actually I don't but I'm sure...'
Whatever it was he was sure about, Mellissa never discovered as the whole cavern was suddenly filled with a rumbling crash that literally shook the whole hut, trickles of dust wafting down from the rafters above. Distractedly hoping the whole cave system wasn't about to come crashing down around them, Mellissa and the others rushed after the Forman who had quickly met up with the group of workers hurriedly evacuating the tunnel across from them, furs emerging in ones and twos from the still billowing dust; the closest of which being a black furred hawk who without even a pause to shake the dust from his feathers advanced on the badger.
'Part of the roof just gave way, sir. Something came crashing down from the ceiling. We were lucky to get away safely. At least, I think so.'
'Right. Do a head count. Then if anyone is missing, we go back and take a look.'
'Better let us take a look.' Mellissa said. 'This might be why we came here. While we do that, you should alert the emergency services. Just in case.'
'Already done.' The Forman gave no sign of arguing, pragmatism maybe. Or just too disturbed by the incident to argue. At the end of the day, if didn't matter really.
'Good. Keep everyone outside.' Mellissa said with a firmness she felt entirely, this was what the military was there for after all. Let anyone object if they liked, she was going to protect these people.
-----------------
Inside the scene was about what she had expected, in one regard. Her fear had been that the whole tunnel would have collapsed in its entirety, burying anyone trapped inside. Thankfully, it was a fear that didn't come to pass. For the second she slipped inside, what she saw was that instead only a small portion of the roof had given way, marked by the strewn pile of rubble a few feet away from her. Which wasn't worrying in and of itself, but what sat amidst that rubble..that was more worrying.
'Well..that's worrying.' Artyom's thoughts mirrored her own, even as he eyed the smooth black object sitting unscratched amongst the rocks. 'Anyone have any idea what that is?'
'Never seen anything like it.' Mellissa said, sure that she spoke for the others. 'I wish I had. If I knew what it was, I might want to risk moving it.'
'Well..we might want to risk moving her.' Koum said, her nostrils flared as her tongue tasted the air as she nodded towards the delicate female wolf lying unmoving by the artefact, somehow lying unscathed by the rockfall. 'So..I say we do that, leave this thing where it is and we report back what we've...get back!! Move!!'
That cry was directed not as Mellissa but the artefact behind the assembled group, an artefact that couldn't look any more different than it had a second ago. The plain black material was now lined with blue tracery, marked with letters of some kind Mellissa couldn't read. Yet despite that lack, she had a feeling, unfounded yet deeply certain, that Koum's warning was full of a truth that couldn't be denied.
A truth Mellissa couldn't ignore as she turned. And what she saw made her blood run cold. As a soldier she had faced down many threats in her time and felt no icy chill of fear from any of them. But there was something about watching the still unconscious wolf raised from the floor like a puppet dangling from its strings, her arms and legs and head alike all hanging limply. Until her head snapped up and eyes snapped open, the latter burning with a eerie blue light.
'Subdue her.' Mellissa gave that order before she could think about it, if she was wrong about her being a threat she would apologise later. But right now, she didn't like the cold expression in her eyes and she would rather there was a later in which they could apologise. Just like she gave her order, she followed through with it. Or tried too. Her perhaps in hindsight hasty rush proved a mistake, carrying her straight into the straight punch that slammed into her stomach, driving the wind out of her lungs. Paws clutched to the tough but not sturdy enough fabric of her uniform jacket and really wishing she had come wearing her armour as well as cursing herself for not doing so.
Luckily, if one was looking for a silver lining moment, the distraction of her punch allowed Arty and Koum to race past her, the latter wrapping her arms around the wolf's torso and pinning her arms to her sides while the former tackled her legs to send the three of them sprawling.
Sprawled and restrained or not, Mellissa didn't like the way her struggles were becoming both more frantic and more powerful. That very thought forcing herself to push down on her still complaining lungs, Mellissa staggered towards the trio, feeling the tingle of magic already building around her paw. Secretly she hoped this worked, she hadn't tried this type of magic that often.
Paw thrust forward, Mellissa released the magic she had focused, the tingle in her fingers becoming a ripple of energy that danced all along her arm. And flared out to the glowing circle hovering in front of her outstretched fingers.
The effect was thankfully instantaneous, the light glowing in the eyes of the still struggling wolf dimmed as her attempts to throw Arty and Koum off slackened. Slackened but didn't cease altogether. For she was still fighting. Not fighting physically, but fighting the magic.
Somehow, some will, some force was pressing back against the sleep spell Mellissa was weaving, and it was taking all her concentration just to hold it at this level. One blink, one slip of concentration and the spell would shatter like glass.
'Hold her. Keep doing that.' Mellissa struggled not to focus on Ilya's shout, only vaguely aware of the vixen crouched beside her and digging into her pack. Digging for what Mellissa quickly discovered as Ilya grabbed and deftly plunged the primed syringe into her jugular vein. How she did that without causing serious injury, Mellissa had no idea. But at least it seemed they would be around to find out. Whatever drug Ilya had administered accomplished what her hasty spell couldn't, the wolf's struggles fading completely as she slumped forward to be caught by Koum, her now normal eyes rolling back into her head as her lids slid shut.
'Good thinking.' Arty said as he rose, dusting off his trousers with a few quick pats. 'What was that?'
'Enough tranquillisers to knock out a dragon. No offence Koum.' Ilya said, her voice a little shaky with the adrenaline Mellissa was sure they were all feeling.
'None taken.' Koum said with a shrug. 'Ive got a question. What was that you did?'
'Huh..oh..that.' Mellissa was sure that Koum was talking about the spell she had cast. 'Yeah..sorry..I guess I should have mentioned that but..it's not something you just come out and say, that you can do magic.'
I'm not complaining.' Koum said with a slight grin. 'Will it hurt her? That amount of anaesthetic?'
'I've no idea.' Ilya said. 'By all rights it should have killed her. I kinda had to guess at the dosage. And I don't know how long it will last either. So we should get her out of her and back to the base as quick as we can. Hopefully they can more safely keep her sedated there.'
'Good thinking.' Mellissa nodded. 'I'm sure the Forman can make certain no one comes in here. We can send a recovery team when we get back. Let's get out of here.'
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'Well...that wasn't supposed to happen. We can't retrieve the artefact now.'
That whispered musing came from one of the pair of figures crouched on a small outcropping over looking the main cavern, both of whom were shrouded in a deep shadow so solid as to obscure any real recognisable features.
'No..not know. But once things calm down a little. We should easily be able to contain and transport it out of here. Or wherever they take it. Still, you are right. We can do little here. Let us return.'
With that word the two figures vanished, well, not so much vanished. More shimmered out of existence as if they had never been there in the first place. At least, to a casual observer that is what would have appeared to have happened. In truth, they didn't vanish so much as moved, crossing the distance of half the city in a matter of seconds; carried from one area of darkness to another. But only because this room was dimly lit, illuminated only by the pale moonlight slipping through the gap in the heavy drapes. Dimly lit it might have been but neither figure made a move to turn on a light, relying on memory alone as they both slipped onto the couch set before the window.
'We have to be ready to receive the next one. We can't have the military of this world working out our purpose here. Which they will if they keep finding them.'
'That's the trouble with sending things across dimensions. If you don't properly account for the temporal variances of the casting, you can easily miss your target. Who knows how long that had lain buried there? And how many more there could be out there, lying hidden?'
'I guess we won't know until we find the right one. Which we can't do right now. So we should both get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.'
'Don't I know it. Remind me again why we agreed to actually help organise this?'
'Because you can't no to her any more than I can. Anyway, come on. We don't want her to wonder where we have been, you know she worries.'
'She won't notice we left you know.'
'She might. She's very observant . I wonder if we can...'
Whatever the figure wondered would forever remain a mystery as the door closing behind them cut off the remainder of the conversation, leaving the moonlit room empty, the single beam of moonlight falling on a small picture frame in which sat a photograph of six furs snuggled upon the couch the two figures had just left.
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