FanFiction:The Art of the Hunt/Season 2/Chapter 8 - The Caves of Gathib

D awn was breaking as the hunters all got up, one by one, from their resting place amidst the stones. The stars were twinkling away into immeasurable depths, wells of time in which the world was forgotten, and the moon had set against the western mountains. The sun was approaching quickly, and already on the higher northern dune a red shining was lit. The desert was coming to life, and soon it would be very hot again here. The hunters lifted their packs and set them in the small wagon they had built days before. It was now a week since they had set out from Tanjia, and the weary days of June were upon them.

They headed towards the cave's entrance, to the northwest of their position. It was not a long trek; the cave was not even half a mile away, and there was an abundance of hard stones beneath their feet to walk and drive their wagon along. So it was that they came to the entrance of a cave with a carved door that lay thrown aside and scored with black runes.

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Taka, who spoke several languages, examined them for several minutes with the morning sun on the inscribed stone door. At length he spoke.

"It says cave, cavern. The rest, I cannot tell. It is written in an ancient mode of Old Moga speech and script, and few now know that tongue. It seems this cave was once known to people, and was taken from them. Shall we go?" He said.

The hunters looked around doubtfully, as if by some power they could will the monster Yuki had seen lying about the valley to show itself again. But there was no use. Slowly, each of the hunters agreed: there was no choice for them now. They must go forth, into the deeping shadow and likely doom. Taka, a man true to his grit, was the first to go. Behind him followed Brutus and Ali, Noami and Reia, Katrina, Yuki, Jeren, Calli, and Gamor. Gamor turned, for a moment, and looked at the morning light on the desert sands. It seemed to stretch on forever, as if no end could come to these lands. Faced now with the choice between the shadow of the caves and the enduring heat of the desert, he wished he could cross the desert all alone and without water, if need be. With a heaving sigh, he turned again and went into the cave. Taka, wishing for none to follow them, lit torches and pulled the door across the cave - with the runes pointing inwards.

"Better to have darkness and few interruptions than little light and the curious guest." He said, wisely.