199 Dig

Remian and the others hunkered down in the pit and prayed for it all to be over soon so that they could go home quickly.

To those prayers, God gave a clear and swift answer; it was a resounding 'No!'

After an hour of waiting while the storm raged on, they began to hear hoofsteps. There was a lot of sploshing in the mud, and the sound of horses neighing in complaint, but somehow, despite the weather and the terrain, the Bulraki were pressing forward.

There was a swish of leaves, and even more bushes were piled onto Remian's position from above. With that, the hoofsteps began to clatter over the overturned cart, shoes upon wood…

"They're using the bushes to pave the way. That's how they're able to move in the mud." Remian realized.

"How long can the roof hold?" Talia asked, worriedly.

"Earth." Remian whispered, reinforcing the cart above with archways of hardened mud. "Stone." He hardened the mud farther. "Extra hard!" Not satisfied with the current level of hardness, Remian hardened it until those stone supports rivaled iron. He added reinforcement to the walls supporting the stone beams overhead, and then the floor… "That should hold them for a bit. Now, we have to get out of here."

"What? But you just said…"

"There are limits. For instance, did you notice that we're actually sinking?" Remian pointed out. "Horse atop a stone structure means weight added upon weight, while the water slowly begins to affect the ground under this room… we're slowly sinking into the ground. Sooner or later, somebody is going to notice something."

Actually, they would, but it wasn't that the room was sinking, it was that the room was sinking too slowly in comparison to all the other bush-paved places. But Remian wouldn't know that, and it wouldn't matter by then.

Anyway. Remian wasn't going to sit around waiting. "Earth tunnel! Harden soil!"

A new opening led towards Mindy's position, the walls similarly reinforced. It was slow going, agonizingly slow, in Remian's opinion, and while he was at it, the hoofsteps clattered overhead, and the wooden frame of the hand-cart creaked, and the room sank a little more…

The storm ended after some hours, only to be replaced with the booming of heavy artillery fire. Evidently, the La Vive forces still intended to bombard the Bulraki one way or the other. The hoofsteps overhead clattered more loudly, more rapidly, and the ground kept shaking every so often whenever an explosion took place nearby. Cracks began to develop even in the reinforced stone, and the whole structure looked like it could collapse at the very next near-hit...

But by then, Remian was a few hundred meters of tunnel southwards of their original 'room' position. He magicked handholds at his position, tunneled upwards a little, and dared to peep topside under the cover of a newly hard-stone 'lid'.

Yes. This was a good spot. There wer Bulraki 'bush-paved' columns to either side, but none directly above.

This then, was where he cleared out another open space large enough for the lot of them to rest in, hardened stone walls and floor and roof support beams, even several air holes in the stone ceiling. Then, after Talia and the rest moved over, he went back and softened up the structure they'd hid in previously, then collapsed the tunnels as mud behind him as he left.

"This is as far as we go today." Remian told them.

"Can't we keep going?" Talia asked, biting her lip.

"No. We can't." Remian shook his head.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm exhausted." Remian said, sent Mindy a psionic update, and went to sleep just like that.

***

Mindy didn't take long to start tunneling from her end. Earth magic wasn't something she was familiar with, but she tried her best and managed to make a little progress under the barn that night.

A second day went by with Bulraki still crossing the field, now completely covering both sides. The artillery fire kept a steady pace, booming every few seconds without end. Thankfully, none of them hit Remian's and Talia's second position.

The same could not be said for the cavalry. With the storm gone, and the ground drying, they once more spread all across the field. Several times, horses rode right over the hole-riddled roof sheltering the second room. Had Remian not reinforced it repeatedly with more and more supports, the whole thing might have caved in.

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Meanwhile, he kept tunneling south, more quickly now that he didn't need to harden walls or anything. Mindy kept tunneling north, both of them making a beeline for each other completely unseen by Bulraki scouts of La Vive lookouts.

The third day, the sound of horse hooves were replaced with bootsteps and the churning of wheels.

"That doesn't sound like Bulraki cavalry." Holt mentioned.

"That sounds like Germati armored carriages." Remian agreed.

"Goodness, is the entire Germat alliance going to march over us?!" Talia hissed in a low voice.

Remian could only grimace and tunnel onward. He contacted Mindy. [Not too far now. I think we can get to you by tonight.]

In response, Mindy sent back loads of updates on the status of the barn (now thoroughly reinforced, protected by layers of traps, and highly camouflaged by Sandra and Gammie), the airship (completely repaired thanks to the help of two mechanics who happened to be amongst the survivors that Remian took in), and the general flow of the war (Ashdale-La Vive side retreating steadily).

[How are you? Physically?] That was Mindy's biggest concern. Not too long ago, he'd literally exhausted himself to death.

[I'm doing my best.] Remian grimaced.

[Don't overdo it. Remember, you need rest. Don't push yourself to reach me by tonight. We can just as easily meet up tomorrow.]

[You say that, but we should really get back as fast as we can.]

[Why? What's the urgency?]

[I'm worried Ashdale might come to find us.]

[Ashdale? Why would they?]

[Because I invited them to. I had an idea about the Wasp…] Remian explained his idea to Mindy. [So you see, I'm worried that they might already be on their way there, and if we're not around to greet them, we might lose the opportunity entirely.]

There was a short pause. Then… [Remian? I think we might be able to get to you a lot quicker.]

[What do you mean?]

[You'll see.]

Suddenly, Mindy started increasing her speed. It was twice, no, thrice what it used to be. She was still underground, still on the same level as Remian, still making a beeline for him, but… [How are you moving so fast?! What did you do?]

[You'll see.] Mindy repeated, and kept pace.

Intrigued, Remian kept tunneling on his side, but for every ten steps he took, Mindy seemed to take fifty.

How was she doing it? Did she suddenly discover a hidden talent in earth magic? Or maybe Sandra or Gammie did? Remian could only wonder.

***

It wasn't until two paws and a whiskered nose poked out through the last bits of soil between them that Remian finally found the answer.

"Lyxnmice?! You brought Lynxmice?" Remian burst out.

"Phoebe did. I told her what we were doing, and it turns out, there were about a dozen of these guys hiding around the Red Fang, so…" Mindy shrugged. "They came to help."

"Great. Get the stretchers. I've had it with this war zone." Remian instructed.

"Me too." Mindy agreed. "We're going home."

But of course, it wasn't that easy.