The Mantis Variant - Book One - 16. Chapter 16 - Underground, Part Two

Agrell turned and ran up the stairs, as the bird-like woman approached the door to the chamber with the well. Without being seen, Agrell slipped into the crack of the wall. She shimmied back a few paces from the stairwell, and paused.

"Oi, you lot!" a new voice called from farther the down hallway.

Agrell peeked out as the bird woman stepped out and turned towards the approaching figure.

It was a person with four arms.

Agrell could not determine much else about the individual. Their voice was not altogether low-pitched, but it was commanding.

The bird woman spoke. "We're nearly done with these." She turned and re-entered the room with the well.

The four-armed figure followed.

Agrell decided that she lingered long enough, and she wriggled her way through the fissure in the bedrock until she could again see the gray glow where the crack opened to the outside. She continued and headed back into Dozi's home to inform the other two women what she found.

"Is there any way to patch the hole and keep the cold out?" Dozi asked, more to herself than the other two.

Ilya asked her own question. "What were they dropping down the well?"

None of them spoke for a moment. Agrell's description did not include the word bodies, but each of them was thinking that was what she saw.

Dozi then ventured the quandary, "Is Teshon City built on a volcano?"

"The peninsula is part of the lowlands," Ilya stated. "The mountains are much further inland. It doesn't make sense that there would be a volcano under the city."

"What about the people down there finding the crack and coming up here into your home?" Agrell asked.

"There's nothing for it right now," Dozi replied. "Sounds like even you could barely slither through, skinny girl, so let's not worry about anyone below unless we need to. And I don't think you should go back down there again. No telling what would happen if a group of them found you."

"I agree," added Ilya. "I understand that you became a Messiah against your will, but many will not have the capacity to see beyond you being one of them."

Agrell dropped her head in shame.

"Not your fault, skinny girl," Dozi said in a surprisingly kind voice. She glanced at the light that seeped in from above. "Sundown is on its way," she informed them. "There's nothing we can do to deal with the cold tonight, other than sleeping all bundled up." Dozi kept to herself the crushing disappointment that she felt about her home being damaged and potentially becoming unlivable.

"Let's get some food in us and try to sleep," she added. "I've still got a few meat pies left." As she headed into her kitchen area, she mumbled to herself. "These things were supposed to last me a week."

After the three ate, Dozi situated Ilya on her bed.

"I don't need a blanket," Ilya informed her. "My powers make it so I am not affected by the cold, and you both should have all the covers."

"Really?" Agrell asked. Her eyes were filled with wonder, but Ilya shared no more about it.

Instead of disrobing like the previous night, Dozi added extra clothes to her already bundled body and swapped the beanie she was wearing for a thicker knit cap that she pulled down over her ears. She also handed Agrell a heavy sweater and hat, then she waved toward the pile of blankets.

After Dozi prepared Ilya's potion, she got down beside Agrell, and the two curled up together. Despite the cold, they soon fell asleep in the darkness✪