Trish stood with her new diamond sword out, ready for an attack that never came.
“Okay, let’s keep moving,” Veera said with a huge smile.
“That was brilliant,” Trish said.
“Yes, but they’ll recover and come after us, so if we could get moving.”
Trish and Sharp followed Veera up the stairs, and soon they found the exit. It led into a new part of the pyramid, one that was just long, dark tunnels with ladders along the way. There didn’t seem to be anything hidden here, but there were so many ladders, they couldn’t be sure which one to take.
“Let’s go with the left,” Veera said, and went for the far one.
“But if I’m turned around,” Trish argued, “the other one would be the left.”
“Then don’t turn around!” Veera climbed the one she’d gone to, so Trish and Sharp followed.
Trish had to carry Sharp up the ladder, so when they found only more ladders, she groaned.
“Any chance you can grow hands and learn to climb ladders?” she asked Sharp, who just whimpered in response. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. But it never hurts to ask.”
Veera led them up ladder after ladder, and when they reached dead ends, they’d have to climb back down one ladder only to try another.
A bat flew past, and Trish ducked, nearly dropping Sharp. At the next ledge, she held up a hand and said, “Wait, I need…a…break.”
Veera looked at her with crazy eyes, like she was about to argue, then plopped down beside Trish.
“We’re lost in here,” Veera said. “Doomed to wander these halls for all eternity.”
“Who talks like that?” Trish asked.
“People who’ve lost all hope.”
Sharp barked encouragement, his tongue sticking out and his tail wagging.
“Thanks, boy,” Trish said. “But it’s easy for you to stay chipper, you’re not lugging you around everywhere.” She scratched her head, assessing the ladders and considering the way they’d come so far. “Way I see it, we’ve gone up quite a ways. We might be real close to the surface.”
A pattern began to emerge in Trish’s mind, just like back home when she’d lay in bed, drawing little mazes on her walls.
“This is a maze,” she said. “It’s just vertical instead of horizontal.”
“Huh?”
“You know, horizontal follows the horizon, like flat. But this maze goes up and down.”
“I know what horizontal means,” Veera said, annoyed. “My ‘huh’ was referring to the fact that I have no idea where you’re going with this.”
“Well just consider this,” Trish spun, looking around for some way to get her point across, then found the cracks in the stone wall. She hated to do it, but had no choice, so she took her diamond sword and added a few lines to the stone. When she was done, it looked like a maze.
“If you follow the maze, always sticking to one side or the other, eventually you’ll find your way out.”
“Do we have eventually as an option?” Veera asked.
“I don’t know, but what I do know is that we don’t have a better idea.”
Veera stood, jaw jutting out and eyes narrowed. “Let’s do it then.”
So they started making their way, always sticking to the walls. One ladder led to the next, and more than once they found a dead end, but soon the cobblestone gave way to walls of sandstone, and they sensed they were growing close.
An especially long ladder seemed to go up and up forever, or maybe it just felt that way because Trish was carrying Sharp and had to keep switching arms so she wouldn’t get too exhausted.
It got hotter and hotter the higher they climbed, and soon the scent of sulfur filled the narrow climbing area.
They reached an area where the walls gave way to empty space, and Trish paused to look at the empty space and wonder what that could be about.
“JUMP!” Veera yelled, and then she was out of the way and Trish saw why—an opening above was pouring lava down on them!
She heaved Sharp after Veera, who caught him, then pushed off with her legs. The lava poured past her, barely avoiding her feet that were still dangling over the edge. Soon the lava stopped, but Trish was shaking too bad to get back on the ladder.
“What if it opens again?!” she shouted. “No, no way!”
“This is just another dead end!” Veera said, kicking the wall—it resulted in a loud, hollow sound.
Sharp barked, scraping at the wall.
“Might not be,” Trish said. She took the hilt of her sword and banged on the wall, and sure enough, it sounded hollow.
She bashed the sword against the block until it gave way, then leaped back at the sight of lava. Only, as she saw when she leaned forward again, it wasn’t a risk. There was a walkway made up of glass blocks that lead beneath a ceiling of glass with a river of lava above it.
“Whoa,” Veera said, inching onto the walkway. “Talk about scary.”
Trish followed her out, but Sharp held back, whimpering.
“Come on, boy,” Trish said, hand held out for Sharp to join her. “You’re not afraid of pirates or skeletons, but a little lake of lava terrifies you?”
Sharp barked, and it sounded like he was offended.
“Okay, I’m sorry,” Trish said. “But would you rather be stuck down here forever?”
Sharp tilted his head and followed her, tail between his legs.
They crawled across. Each second out here made Trish dizzy, as if the lava would melt through the glass at any moment.
But that didn’t happen, and soon Trish and the others were on the other side.
“Only one ladder,” Veera said, glancing around, doubtful. “Could it be so easy?”
“I know a way to find out,” Trish said. She stepped up to the ladder and began to climb, leaving Sharp for Veera to carry this time.
At the top of the ladder, she found a small button. She pressed it, causing a block in the roof to move aside.
The change was instant—fresh air, the stars overhead. Freedom.
With a gasp of excitement, Trish scrambled out of there, then threw herself on the grass, so happy to feel it against her cheek.
“Oh my god—”
A hand went over her mouth. She looked up, wide-eyed, to see Veera staring down at her, shaking her head. Sharp was crouched low, teeth bared as he looked to their left.
Trish sat up, brushing Veera’s hand aside, and she bit her lip at what she saw. The land was covered with people digging, mining blocks with pickaxes, searching for something. Searching for them, likely, she realized when she saw one of them with a wide hat and a feather sticking out of its brim.
Pirates.
“Back slowly away,” Veera said.
Trish nodded, crawling backward. “Maybe we can get around them and—”
She thudded into something, then turned slowly to see tree trunks, or so she thought at first. But when she followed them up, she saw the tallest pirate she’d ever seen.
“Found ‘em!” the pirate bellowed, his deep voice echoing in the night.
He reached down and grabbed Trish by the ninja suit, lifting her up for a better look. With a loud bark, Sharp had bitten the pirate right on the calf, and the pirate yelped, dropping Trish. The two girls tried to run, but were surrounded.
“Only one way to go,” Veera said, glancing at Trish.
“No, don’t say it.”
“I shouldn’t have to.” Veera turned and leaped down the hole they had come up.
Trish and Sharp had no choice but to follow.
Chapter 10: Patrick
Patrick stared in horror as Trish vanished into the ground and the opening they’d come through closed behind them. Pirates surged on the area, banging at the ground with pickaxes and swords, but it wouldn’t budge.
Patrick had finally come out through a tunnel and spotted them. He was about to signal to them when it all fell apart. Now he had no idea where they’d be in the tunnels of this stupid pyramid.
/> And somehow they were no closer to finding Aziz or the actual Bonefeather Temple. Patrick was contemplating sneaking off to cause a distraction, when two incredibly fat pirates came lumbering forward, carrying something that sparked.
Patrick scooted closer to see what it was. He gasped. It was more TNT than he’d ever seen. They dumped it on top of the ground where Trish had vanished, and then ran for cover.
Ka-BOOM!
The ground went flying everywhere, and sure enough, there was an opening for them to crawl down. The first fat pirate stepped forward, but the ground gave way beneath him and he fell. He let out a scream, and then there was a sizzling sound followed by silence.
“Watch your step down there,” a feminine voice said.
Patrick couldn’t believe it—Captain Selna! How could she have escaped Gwen’s tree fort unharmed? Selna turned, as if sensing him, and he ducked back for better cover behind the bushes.
She had burn marks across her cheek and bandages across her body. Not unharmed after all, but still she’d managed to follow them here. Maybe she’d gotten the information out of Gwen somehow. If they hurt her, they’d have him to answer to.
“Bring the monsters,” Selna yelled into the night.
A rumbling sound came from nearby, and two groups of pirates appeared, pulling massive cages with them. The cages were full of zombies, spiders, skeletons, you name it.
What were they doing?
Selna directed the cages, and soon the monsters were being funneled into the holes that the TNT had created—careful to avoid the lava.
“We’ll see if this doesn’t take care of them,” Selna said with a sadistic laugh, one Patrick had never heard her make before the injuries. This chase was changing her, and definitely for the worse.
All Patrick could do was lie there and watch as monster after monster went into the hole. With each groan of a zombie, he imagined them catching up with Trish. The next image in his mind was too horrible.
He couldn’t let this happen. He had to get back to them. After that, they’d have to find a different way out of here.
The good news was that now he knew there was more than one way. The bad news—ninjas trying to fight them below, monsters coming from above, and pirates waiting after that. All because Aziz was making himself hard to find…Patrick made a mental note to punch him for that when they found him.
He scooted back and slid back into the tunnel he’d emerged from, and descended several ladders. He reached the bottom and considered which way to go. Since he’d stuck to the right on the way here, he should now go left.
Something moved in the darkness, then he realized a shape was coming at him from above, and fast. With a thud, a pile of rubble landed where he’d stood moments before. Then a pirate followed, sword drawn.
“Thought we didn’t see you?” the pirate said. He charged, two more coming up behind him.
Patrick considered standing and fighting, but he had friends to find. With a leap back, he jumped to the next level down, not even bothering with the ladder, and then sprinted all out.
One pirate caught up with Patrick, but it was at the edge of a big drop-off, so all Patrick had to do was tap the man and watch him fall into the darkness.
A scream sounded, not far off, and then a BOOM of a creeper exploding. The wall nearby had a bit of a hole in it, and when Patrick knelt, he saw Trish, Sharp, and Veera running off.
“Trish!” he shouted.
A couple of zombies landed on the other side of the hole, blocking his view.
He had to get through. With a great swing, he slammed his sword into the rocks, widening the hole. He pulled back to strike again when suddenly his sword was knocked from his grip and clattered to the floor and then off and over the ledge.
He turned to find the other two pirates had caught up. They had him cornered.
“Not so tough now, are you?” the pirate who had disarmed him said.
The other one laughed. Patrick was grossed out by the stench of the man’s breath, even from here. He’d must have been eating rotten flesh—never good for the digestive system.
They charged him, but must not have known who he was or heard how good he was in a fight. They were about to find out.
Patrick dodged the first blow, then threw the pirate around so the sword nearly took down his friend. The two pirates narrowly avoided each other and exchanged a look of relief, but that was Patrick’s plan. He lowered his shoulder and charged, knocking them into the rock wall. The first lost his breath and the second banged his head, falling unconscious.
Patrick knelt and picked up their swords. Gold, so not the most durable, but they’d do for now.
“Thank you,” he said to the one still trying the catch his breath. “When you’re able to walk again, please tell the other pirates to get out of here, or they’ll answer to me.”
He turned back to the hole and began clearing it. The monsters had plenty of time to catch up with his friends, but Patrick trusted Veera and Trish to survive long enough for him to arrive and help. He had to at least hope.
Chapter 11: Trish
Trish turned back as Veera pulled her down the passage, Sharp close at her heels.
“But I heard him, I swear I did!” Trish said. “Patrick was right there!”
“And so were the zombies,” Veera reminded her. “You’d rather be with him and dead?”
“No.”
“Then shut up and keep running.”
Considering how many monsters were after them, she had a point. The first few had been dispatched easily enough, but when Trish and Veera had realized that the monsters just kept coming, they pulled Sharp away from the fight and retreated.
Trish hoped Patrick wasn’t caught up in that swarm of monsters, because if he was, she doubted she’d ever see him again.
They reached a point half-way down the vertical maze and found two ninjas running right for them. The ninjas came to a halt, confused eyes darting across them, but Trish and company just kept going and plowed through them. She glanced back to see them recovering, but a second later a creeper landed beside them and started flashing.
BOOM!
Part of her hoped the ninjas had jumped out of the way before the creeper had exploded, but she’d had to turn away in order to avoid falling so she couldn’t be sure of their fate. She leaped across a ledge and Veera helped catch her. Sharp barked behind them as cave spiders scurried along the walls.
The swoosh of swords and the grunts of zombies sounded. It could only mean the two ninjas were still alive and fighting off the monsters!
“That’ll hold off some of them,” Veera said, stabbing a spider and kicking off another. Sharp was doing his part too, though Trish felt bad for him—even a wolf couldn’t enjoy having to bite into one of those nasty creatures.
After fighting off that wave, they resumed moving through the maze, but it soon became clear they were weren’t getting anywhere.
“What happened?” Trish asked when Veera had stopped and looked around frantically.
“We must’ve taken a wrong turn!” Veera said.
“Does it matter now?” Trish said, listening to the spiders scurrying across the walls and the grunts of zombies echoing in the darkness. “We just have to keep moving, and hope Patrick finds us.”
Veera looked at her with pity. “Yeah, let’s hope that.”
“He will find us.”
Veera bit her lip and nodded, then led the way farther down the maze. A ninja call sounded far off, then a series of explosions.
Sharp whimpered, and Trish petted his head.
“It’s okay, boy,” she said. “The ninjas are taking care of the bad monsters for us.”
“Then all we have to deal with is whichever group survives,” Veera said, sarcastically. “Oh, and the pirates.” They turned a corner and then Veera came to a stop, holding out her arm for the others to do the same as she said, “Whoa!”
Below her was a large drop-off, but what it led to was awe-inspiring. Th
e largest chamber they’d seen yet, with gold columns and a waterfall along each wall that led to small lakes below—the lakes gave way to more waterfalls that disappeared below into lower, unseen chambers. In the room’s center was a temple that sparkled like a diamond in the soft light of the glow stone that made patterns along the walls, just like the ones outside the upside-down pyramid.
“Bonefeather Temple,” Veera said.
“Wow,” Trish said in awe, and Sharp stuck out his tongue and panted happily.
“We made it.”
Trish went to the edge and looked down at the sheer drop. But to the sides, the ledge continued both ways, seemingly all the way around the temple.
“How do we get down?” she asked.
“We don’t,” Veera said, crouching and pointing. “Not yet, look.”
Sure enough, a massive army of ninjas had just poured into the room from an opening in the opposite wall. As they did so, a man exited the temple—Aziz!
“That’s him!” Trish said excitedly. “Oh my gosh, we have to help him!”
The ninjas were quickly converging on Aziz. Trish glanced around for any way down. She quickly realized that the only way to reach him in time was to jump. Her only chance of surviving a fall like that was to go with the waterfall.
“What are you doing?!” Veera shouted as Trish took off, Sharp close on her heels.
“Saving Aziz!” she replied as she reached the edge of the closest waterfall. She took a deep breath and jumped.
The fall was one of the most exhilarating feelings Trish had ever experienced. Forgetting about holding her breath, she yelled out, “Aziz, we’re coming!” Sharp fell at her side and barked excitedly. They splashed into the lake and water engulfing them.
Trish pushed up, not knowing how to swim but doing her best to grab hold of something, and then Sharp had her, pulling her to the surface. A hand grabbed her arm and pulled her from the water. After a short coughing fit, she found herself on her back, staring up at Aziz.
Blade of the Sea Book 3: A Children's Survival Unofficial Minecraft Adventure Book Page 4
