Chapter 10 - Hidden Talents In The Dark
 
Christofert couldn't see a thing at the bottom of this deep hole.  He was
terribly afraid and remained perfectly still.  Shortly the sand and rocks
had stopped falling and he was able to listen.  He couldn't hear a thing
now, but he was able to see some shadows now in the light from above.  He
was in a large tunnel.  Even a human could easily walk in this tunnel.
In one direction, Christofert could see a large river that flowed directly
across the path that he was on.  There was no way he could proceed in that
direction.  The other direction disappeared into blackness.
 
He forced himself to calm down and think.  Christofert knew he could not
get out of the cave the way he came in, and there was no one outside to
rescue him.  He couldn't cross the river, so he had to go deeper into
the tunnel.  Once he had made up his mind to continue on, all of his
fears disappeared and he started to carefully pick his way onward.
 
The little bit of light quickly disappeared, but Christofert was able to
continue on.  He kept his nose close to the ground by one of the walls,
and his long whiskers told him if there was anything in his path.  After
proceeding for a few minutes, Christofert discovered that the echos from
his paw steps was able to tell him where the sides of the tunnel were.
He could hear the sound reflecting off of the walls to either side, but
not from in front or behind him.  He also noticed that there was a very
slight warm breeze coming from the passage ahead of him.
 
The passage began to slope gradually downward when he noticed that he
was able to see a little bit.  Not much at first, but he was barely able
to see the walls of the tunnel in the darkness.  The farther he went,
the easier it became to see.  He walked over to the wall and saw that
there was a greenish slime coating the damp walls and rocks.  The slime
glowed just a little bit, but as he went deeper into the tunnel, the
slime got thicker and brighter.
 
About at this time he started to hear a deep rumbling sound.  He
couldn't imagine what it might be, but it sounded vaguely familiar.  With
each bend that he passed, the rumbling became louder.  It changed in tone
frequently, and was accompanied by the sound of air whooshing back and
forth.  He kept marching on.  He came around one bend and started to find
piles of bones.  Bones of all sizes lay strewn around haphazardly.  Some
were from small animals, and some were from large animals, even some
skulls that looked human.  Most of the bones were crushed and smashed.
Christofert was starting to get worried once again.
 
He turned one more corner and saw something that he did not expect, a
large gate.  It hung wide open.  The gate was a massive metal structure,
with skulls of all sorts hanging off of it.  There were huge spikes set
into the top of it, and pieces of cloth and torn flesh stuck between the
bars.  There was even writing at the top, although Christofert was unable
to read it.  This gate was the most horrible thing that Christofert had
ever seen, but something even more horrible lay on the floor in front of
the gate.
 
There on the floor lay the source of that rumbling sound that he had been
hearing for so long.  It was the largest, mangiest dog that he had ever
seen.  Each head was more horrible than the last, and the fact that it
had three heads made it even worse.  The great rumbling that he could
hear was each of the heads snoring.  Christofert suddenly remembered some
stories that he had heard from humans long ago and he felt his stomach
drop.  Before him lay Cerebrus, and behind him was the actual Gate to
Hell.
 
(to be continued)
 
            Bryan P. Coffey - Boston, MA
      Weasel Warriors - Albi, Esef, Merri, and Mint
        http://www.gis.net/~bpcoffey/furball.html
[Posted in FML issue 2826]