Caracals of Falconscrag

Caracals of Falconscrag is the eighth chapter of Beyond the Veil by Enodoc.
==Caracals of Falconscrag==
The sun was halfway to the horizon as they reached the narrow passage that led to the interior of Falconscrag. Sam sniffed the ground around the entrance and barked, pointing inside.
"Definitely the way to go, then," stated the King.
"I hoped we wouldn't be back here quite so soon," muttered Melisi, quietly.
"It'll be fine!" enthused the King. "Besides, this time we're definitely more prepared!" He waved one of the documents from the gatehouse around.
"What's that?"
"A map of the cave system," he said cheerily. "I do love a map."
"Those Zoryan guards were a very well-travelled bunch."
"They probably had to keep coming out here rescuing people," mused the King, "You'd be surprised how many people end up getting lost in caves."
The map showed the narrow passages winding around inside the mesa, occasionally opening up into small caverns. It also suggested that there were a number of man-made features within, no doubt more remnants of ancient Zoryan culture.
"Where do you think the caracals are?" asked Melisi.
"Probably all over, but knowing my luck the one we're after will be right at the other end." He pointed to the small chamber furthest from the entrance, in which a diamond-in-a-circle symbol indicated the location of some long-forgotten Zoryan architectural feature.
The party made their way into the cave system. After a short distance, they came to the first of the more open areas. Shafts of light shone in through cracks in the walls, illuminating the striking crags and crevices of the natural caverns. In the shadows, a few caracals lay around, dozing in the dwindling heat of the day.
" They look so peaceful," cooed Melisi. "Maybe we could just slip past them?"
She edged closer to them, carefully making her way towards the other side of the cavern. The King watched, incredulously, rifle at the ready.
One of the caracals opened an eye, and spotted the young Auroran. It lifted its head and looked blearily at her. Between its paws was the metal disc.
"Look there!" whispered Melisi.
Woof! barked Sam, happily.
"Sshh!" warned the King, but it was too late.
The sleeping caracals woke with a start, hissing at the intruders who had invaded their home. Melisi froze, and locked eyes with the cat that had the seal. It had also got to its feet, but wasn't hissing like the others.
Time appeared to slow down for Melisi as she and the caracal stared at each other. Even though there wasn't any light shining on it, the King noticed the metal seal glint slightly as the animal picked it up slowly, never taking its eyes off the Auroran.
"Melisi? What's going on down there?" he called, trying to ensure he was also aware of the locations of the angry caracals, who were starting to circle around them.
She seemed not to hear him.
Suddenly, one of the circling caracals let out a yowl and darted towards Sam. The caracal with the seal bolted.
"Hey!" shouted Melisi, hurrying after it. They disappeared into a narrow passageway.
"Jasper!" shouted the King into his Guild Seal, as he started to run across the cavern, "Force Push!" There was a blue flash as the green and bronze gauntlet appeared. He punched his hands together and set off a Lightning Bomb. The power of Force Push sent the caracals flying through the air, and the added zap of the Shock spell left them frazzled and dazed. The walls trembled as the residuals of Force Push reverberated around the cavern. An errant spark struck an overhanging rock above the passage he was running towards.
It slipped.
The King reached the passage just as the rock fell down and blocked it. Now he was on one side, with a bunch of angry caracals, and Melisi was on the other, chasing after their quarry.
"Bugger," he said, as he turned back towards the middle of the cavern.
Uff, said Sam, dolefully.
The caracals that were strewn across the floor began to pick themselves up, and rounded on the King. He drew his rifle and shot one in the face, just as it started to run towards him. Now they were all closing in, and he managed to quickly dispatch a couple more before they got too close. He whipped out his sword as they started to pounce.
Melisi ran from the room without another thought. The caracal with the seal darted away from her, then paused and looked over its shoulder, as though to check whether she was still following. The seal glinted in the darkness. Melisi stopped and looked around, having only just realised she had left the King behind with a bunch of angry caracals. Seeing that the passage was blocked, she decided to continue the pursuit of the seal. The caracal had disappeared into the darkness, so Melisi slowed down to appreciate the natural beauty of the cave system. As she picked her way along the passage, chinks of light shone in through gaps in the rock. It was eerily quiet, considering the mesa was home to an entire pack of caracals.
The passageway opened out high above another small chamber. A few caracals were picking bits out of the remnants of some dead creature. Over to the side, away from the others, sat the thief, the seal resting on its paws. Melisi hopped deftly down the rocks in the wall of the cave, and started towards the caracal. It took up the seal again, and dashed away, through a hole in the wall. The others looked up as they caught her scent, hissing.
"And I had hoped you would all be so timid," she told them, as she drew her pistol. The caracals snarled at her.
The King struck down his last assailant and pulled out his map.
"There appears to be another route around, but it's quite a bit longer," he said to Sam.
Sam looked up at the King sorrowfully, and whined.
"Come along, boy!" said the King, trying to cheer him up.
They made their way into a tunnel at the other end of the cavern. Before long, they reached a place where the cave gave way to a small man-made chamber.
Wooo-oooo!" said the wall.
The King unsheathed his sword and struck the wall. Loose stones gave way to reveal an alcove, where a flit switch sat on top of a chest. The King zapped the flit switch with his Shock spell and grabbed hold of the chest handles. As he threw the lid open, the flit switch disappeared into a hole in the top of the alcove. Inside the chest, the King found a beautiful blue amethyst.
"Oh look, another one," he said nonchalantly, throwing the rare gem at the Guild Seal.
"Ouch!" said the Seal. "That hit me on the head."
"Oops, sorry Jasper!"
Melisi fired three shots. Each hit its target right between the eyes, and they crumpled to the floor. She looked sorrowfully over them for a few moments, and then went over to investigate the hole in the wall through which the caracal had disappeared. Unfortunately, it was too small for her, so she headed for the closest passage out of the chamber. The following tunnel was quite dark, and Melisi wished she had a torch with her. She didn't mind the dark, though, as it reminded her of the caves and passages near where she grew up. She had spent hours one day exploring the ancient Auroran structures just outside the city.
The King and Sam continued on through another unremarkable section of cave, when suddenly, a flit switch popped out of a small hole.
"Oh, where did that come from?" the King wondered aloud.
Wooo-oooo! it said, turning blue.
The King kicked it, and it disappeared back into the wall.
Around the next corner, the pair came across a small chamber. A pile of rocks led up to a small passage on the right, and in the middle of the chamber, three caracals lay on the ground. They were dead.
Melisi found herself in a large cavern. On the opposite side, she could just make out the exit passageway, but between her and it was a sizeable underground lake, which looked quite deep. Behind that a sheer cliff rose to the exit.
She marvelled at the lake. "This must be where the Zoryan fountain should be fed from... but how am I going to get up there?"
She looked around the cavern. There were a number of rocky outcrops jutting from the wall she could use as platforms, if she could get to them. She paced around beside the lake, trying to decide what to do. On the right-hand side, debris from an old rockslide was piled up beneath a narrow ledge.
Taking a run-up, the nimble Auroran sprang up the rocks and grabbed hold of the ledge. She pulled herself up and carefully edged along it. The ledge soon widened, and Melisi paused to catch her breath. Ahead, part of an old Zoryan feature poked out of the cave wall. Melisi leapt up to it, and staggered slightly as it adjusted to her weight.
Probably shouldn't hang around on here for long, she said to herself.
She jumped up onto a beam overhead and slowly made her way around the structure. A thin column had fallen over just ahead, and she used this to swing herself out of the structure and onto another rocky outcrop.
She continued to make her way around the cavern, and soon came near to the ledge with the exit tunnel. On the ledge, once again, she spotted the caracal, the seal between its paws. There was also some sort of lever nearby. She jumped over to the top of a nearby Zoryan pillar. The caracal picked up the seal and watched her, head slightly on one side. The metal disc shimmered with a green light.
Melisi realised that the final gap between the pillar and the exit was probably further than she could jump. As she studied the distance, she felt that something was compelling her to jump anyway. The caracal turned and sauntered towards the exit. The seal still appeared to be shimmering despite the fact that the caracal had moved out of the light.
"Get back here!" shouted Melisi. Forgetting her predicament, she leapt towards the ledge. She found she had jumped high into the air, much higher than she ever remembered being able to jump before. Glancing towards the entrance, she thought she saw a blue flash emanating from the dark tunnel.
Sam yelped. He had been trotting along calmly beside the King in the dark tunnel, when suddenly he couldn't see. The Guild Seal flashed brightly for a moment, disorienting them both. The glow subsided, and the King looked at Sam.
"Are you alright, Sam? What was that all about?"
Sam looked up, dazed, and wagged his tail.
They hurried out of the tunnel into a large cavern.
"Oi! Melisi! How'd you get up there?"
The Auroran was looking around the cavern from the top of a high ledge. The way out of the cavern was right behind her.
"I'm not entirely sure, actually," she called back.
" Is there anything up there?"
"Well, other than the exit, there is this lever... Should I pull it?"
"Yeah, go for it!"
Melisi pulled the lever. Something rattled high above the chamber, and a round object tumbled out of the ceiling and plopped into the lake in front of the King. The water started to glow red around the object as it rushed back to the surface.
Wooo-oooo! it said, as it popped out of the water.
"It's that damn flit switch again!" exclaimed the King. He knew it was the same one, as about half of the aura around it was already filled in. He sent out a Force shockwave at it, and it careened into the cliff below Melisi. The cliff started to rumble.
"Watch it!" she cried.
The cavern rumbled louder and the ground started to tremble. The lake bubbled as something moved within its depths. Sam peered over the edge. A rushing sound could be heard as whatever it was rose quickly to the surface.
" Get back, Sam," warned the King.
Sam backed off as a great stone bridge emerged from the water.
That would have been useful, Melisi said to herself.
The King and Sam made their way up the bridge to where Melisi waited.
"I'm sorry I ran off back there," she said.
"Not to worry. It seems like we needed you up here to get the lever anyway. Have you seen the seal?"
"Yes, the caracal was just here."
The King pulled out the map.
"Well, we're nearly there," he noted.
"Nearly where?" she looked over at the map. "Oh, right." They were only one short corridor away from the final chamber in the cave.
The final chamber was quite small, but a large hole high in the wall enabled it to be adequately lit by the sunset. On the far side of the room, an ancient Zoryan ruin sat neglected, the faint outline of a green and gold diamond shape the only obvious feature. Sat around the edges of the chamber, a number of caracals looked up expectantly as they entered. The King made to draw his sword.
"Hold on," said Melisi, hesitantly, "They don't appear to be hostile."
The King took his hand off the sword hilt, but kept it ready just in case. He continued to study the room. Right in the middle sat the caracal who had stolen the seal, the metal disc once again between its paws.
"There's something really strange going on in this cave," he muttered, as the seal glinted green again. "That seal thing keeps shimmering, even though there's no light shining on it."
"The caracals are always so docile when it's in the same room as them," noted Melisi.
As the King began to cross the cavern, a humming noise distracted him. The flit switch came darting out of a hole in the wall and zipped around in circles.
"And that thing keeps following us," he added. "Come here, you!" he shouted at the switch. To his surprise, it did. It came to rest right beside him and began to glow red.
"Careful, Sire," warned Melisi, "We don't want to give the caracals a reason to attack us." The King placed his hand on the flit switch and summoned his Will. Electricity flickered around the flit switch, and it chimed. The King quickly removed his hand as the flit switch sped across the chamber towards the Zoryan ruin. It inserted itself in a small hole beside the green diamond. A small hatch opened, and something fell out with a clatter. The King made his way over to have a look. As he passed the caracal, he attempted to reach for the seal, but the cat put its paw firmly on it, and glared at him.
"Did you want to see if you have any more luck getting that off it?" he asked Melisi. He began to poke around the ruin, looking for whatever had dropped out of it.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Jasper? What's up?"
"Orin wishes to speak with you, Sir."
"I'm kind of busy right now."
"He says it's urgent."
"Okay, fine. Put him on." Despite saying that, the King wasn't really sure whether that was possible.
Melisi moved towards the caracal. To her surprise, it picked up the seal in its mouth, and held it out to her.
"Would you look at that!" she gasped.
The King wasn't really listening. He was scuffing about on the ground looking for the small object.
"Your Majesty?"
"Yes, Orin?"
"Ah, I'm glad to have caught you. Jasper let me into the Sanctuary to talk to you; it's a very nice place."
Melisi reached out to take the seal. As she touched it, a wave of energy washed over her. The cavern filled with a bright green-white light.
"Welcome, Daughter of the Sands," boomed a voice. Melisi stood rooted to the spot. All she could see was the green light, the seal, and the caracal.
"Get to the point, Orin," said the King. He was on his hands and knees behind the ruin.
"Ah yes, sorry Your Majesty. Kalin requests your presence at your earliest convenience."
"Whatever for? I'm out in the middle of the desert."
He found what he was looking for, and did a double-take as he realised what it was. It was a small metal disc, with a green and gold lattice pattern on one side. It looked very similar to the seal they had found earlier.
"I am pleased to see that you have come as far as you have, but your journey is only just beginning." It was unmistakably a woman's voice, and was powerful, yet calm. "The Hero of Albion is a powerful ally, and it is no accident that you have joined his expedition at this time."
Melisi, awestruck, suddenly found her voice. "Wait! What do you mean? Who are you?"
"Stay strong. Cara will be with you from now on. Only Telysian holds the answer."
The King looked up from behind the ruin, waving his newly-found item. "Hey, come and see......" He faltered as he saw his companion.
The glow subsided from around Melisi. She staggered slightly, but stayed on her feet. The seal was glowing in her hand.
"What in Avo's name just happened?" asked the King.
"I really don't know," she stammered. "I touched the seal, and then..."
"Your Majesty?" interrupted Orin, "The Sand Furies have been raiding Aurora's kannats."
"Wait, what?" cried Melisi.
"Okay, Orin, but I have something to sort out here first." He turned back to Melisi. "Are you alright?"
" Yes, I think so..."
"Look what's here," said the King, "another seal."
"I'm not touching that one as well!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean you had to..."
She put her seal down and changed the subject. "But shouldn't we be thinking about getting back to Aurora? We need to find out why the Sand Furies have started coming into the city. It's not like them to be so bold."
"We await your arrival, Your Majesty." said Orin.
"We'll do our best, but we're halfway across a desert," replied the King. "It took us days to get out here, and it'll take days to get back... Hold on a sec..."
He was looking at the old ruin that Melisi's seal was resting on. The seal was sitting half-in and half-out of a circular engraving of about the same size as the seal. He slid it in, but it was too small. Remembering the other disc he had just found, he tried that one in the space instead. It fitted perfectly. Nothing happened. He set the smaller seal down beside it.
"Of course, we'll start back immediately, but it'll..."
A bright green flash emanated from the old Zoryan ruin.
"...not... be...... instant......??" he trailed off.
"Hold it right there!"