Chapter 15: Embarrassing Ladyluck... ------------------------------------ Lola let her fingers slide over the rough, rocky walls of the underground tunnel. Her thoughts drifted back to the past. She remembered hearing rumors about these tunnels when she was just a child, living in Maranda. she thought with amazement. "Ouch!" Lola jerked her hand from the wall. "What is this?" she asked herself. She put her aching finger in her mouth and found herself looking at a sharp piece of metal sticking out from the wall. "I must have cut myself on this," she said, lightly touching the metal object with her good hand. "Lola? What's the matter?" Cecil asked. "Did you hurt yourself?" Lola blushed, thinking of the nightshirt embarassment earlier that day. she thought. Trying to forget her stupidity, she smiled at Cecil shyly. "I think I found something. Come look!" "What? What did you find?" Kain started toward Lola with a yawn. He shook his head. "I don't know. A latch or something." Lola took her finger out of her mouth and inspected it carefully. "It won't stop bleeding..." Cecil looked at Lola with a hint of concern. "Here, let me see it." He looked up at Kain for a moment. "Kain, why don't you look at that metal thing over here while I bandage our lady friend?" Kain grumbled something about "Cecil and women", then went over to inspect the piece of metal. Cecil turned his attention back to Lola. He looked at Lola's wounded finger and he chuckled quietly. "Does it hurt?" Lola shook her head. "No... I think I should put a bandage on it so it will stop bleeding..." "Allow me." Cecil ripped at one of his light shirts and tore off a thin piece of cloth. "This should work." He winked at Lola and began to tie the cloth around her injured finger. "Is that too tight?" he asked once he'd finished wrapping the cloth around her finger. "Uh... it's fine. You really didn't have to..." Lola looked at the ground, embarrassed for what seemed like the millionth time that day. "I am a Paladin, m'lady. I could do nothing less." Cecil bowed and took her hand. He raised her hand to kiss it... but was interrupted by Kain. Cecil and Lola looked up with a faint glimmer of guilt and surprise. "Whoa! Hey, Cecil! Lola! Get over here. You have to see this!" Kain waved his arm enthusiastically toward them. The near-kiss forgotten, Lola and Cecil dashed over to Kain. Lola was wide-eyed. "What is it?" she asked excitedly. Kain continued to fiddle with the latch. "I think it moves... like this!" He pushed the metal piece into the wall. A loud click echoed through the tunnel. Kain looked at Cecil uneasily. "I wonder if I should have done that...?" Suddenly, the rock wall started to shake. Cecil put his hands to his ears to block out some of the noise. He began to back up from the wall. "I have a baaaaaaaaad feeling about this!", he shouted. Lola pointed to the wall where the metal piece had been. "Look! It's sinking!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. She covered her eyes with her hands. After a few seconds of shaking and rumbling, the wall stopped moving. Lola slowly took her hands away from her eyes. "Oh, look! A door!" Cecil and Kain moved in to get a closer look at the door that had appeared in the wall. Cecil looked at his party. "Well, look what we have here! A door. Great. What now?" he said, heaving a large breath. Kain scratched his head. "I guess we could go in there..." He cautiously looked inside the doorway. "Although it's pitch black in there. We'd have to take one of those torches..." Lola sighed. "I can't believe we're going in there." She grabbed a torch from the wall and handed it to Kain. Kain held his hands up in protest. "Oh, no. I'm not going first..." ***** Five minutes later ***** Kain held the torch high above his head, and slowly made his way through the narrow path. he thought ruefully. "Are you guys back there?", he asked, his voice echoing in the dimly-lit tunnel. Cecil whispered, "Yeah..." Lola was clutching Cecil's arm and trying to keep up. She didn't like the strange echo, and the uncanny quiet that surrounded them. "Shhhhh!" Kain turned around for a moment. "Why are you shushing us?" Lola shook her head. "I don't like it... it's too quiet!" Cecil gestured toward Kain. "Hey, what's that over there?" He slid past Kain and went toward the small reflection of Kain's torch. "Gotta get a closer look," he mumbled to himself. Suddenly, he gasped. "Whoa! It's a treasure chest!" Kain and Lola quickly gathered beside Cecil. "I wonder what could be in it?" Lola asked. Kain winked at her in the darkness. "Lots of things..." He looked at Cecil in silence for a moment, then jabbed Cecil in the side jokingly. "I guess it's rock-paper-scissors time, eh, Cecil?" Cecil's mouth dropped open. , he thought wildly. Kain rolled his eyes at Cecil. He slapped his mouth shut. "What are you doing? Catching flies? Or have you forgotten how to play?" Cecil grinned at Kain. "I haven't forgotten! Ready when you are." Kain sighed. "I'm READY... good grief..." Cecil made a fist. He began to count... "Okay! One... two... three... Scissors!" Kain laughed out loud. "Ha! I have a rock. You lose!" He looked at Lola, who had a very puzzled look on her face. "We play rock-paper-scissors to see who will get the treasure. You want to play for it?" He smiled at her. "It's only fair..." Lola grinned back at Kain. "Sure. I played this when I was a kid." She made a fist. "Ready? One... two... three... Rock!" Kain let out his victorious laugh once again. "Ha! Paper! I win again! I sure hope it's a good one..." Cecil leaned toward Lola. "Winner gets to open the chest too. Booby-traps and all..." He chuckled under his breath. Kain knelt down to open the chest. He took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. He examined the lock. he thought. Mustering up a bit of strength, he yanked down hard on the lock. It came off with no trouble. Wiping bits of rust from his hands, he opened the lid. "Alright! Look at this! It's an elixir!" Kain pocketed the elixir and smiled triumphantly at Cecil. "Not bad, eh?" Cecil put his hands on his hips. "Rub it in..." Suddenly a loud bang echoed through the tunnel. Lola looked around. "What was THAT...?" Then she saw a bright light. "Look! A light, up ahead!" Kain started toward the light. "Maybe opening that chest opened up a way out!" Cecil motioned for Lola to follow. "Let's go find out!" Kain walked out of the tunnel first. He looked around, but could see nothing of interest except a small waterfall. Cecil and Lola surfaced next. Cecil gestured toward Kain. "See anything?" he asked. Suddenly, he shook his head. "Of course not. Let me use my sight spell..." Cecil carefully pulled a piece of parchment from his sack, and laid it on the ground. He sat down, legs crossed and eyes closed, next to the parchment. He placed his hand over top of the small piece of paper. As if suddenly inspired by magic, he lightly traced the parchment with his fingers. Opening his eyes, he saw a map of the surrounding area drawn into the old paper. Kain and Lola looked over his shoulder curiously. Kain pointed to a small pond on the map. "That looks like the waterfall... that means we must be there." He pointed to some caves near the waterfall. Cecil nodded. "This dark spot is the nearest town..." He pointed to a spot east of the waterfall. "I'm not very familiar with town names. So I'm not sure which one we're near..." Lola gasped suddenly. "I know where we are! That waterfall used to be the Lete River!" She pointed to the dark spot Cecil had identified as the nearest town. "That must be Narshe!"