The Chronicle Of Jawata (Compilation Trial Edition)
4.16. Corpse Nest
”Hide here!” taja had to immediately slip between piles of dried corpses. They tried not to move around in that foul-smelling pile. While Raojhin who had reached the end of the rocks, quickly hid there.
”Where are they?!” shouted one of the witches who came to check around the area.
”There is no way they are in this direction! Too rotten!!” respond to another.
”Or even they have reached the T-junction, chase there!!!” a most influential witch pointed to the order. Dozens of figures dressed in long grey robes and clad in headbands, scattered in all directions of the passageway.
”Quick!” the witch exclaimed at the speed of his men's movements.
Finally the witch left. Raojhin quickly gave command to his two friends, ”Ke that passageway!”
Taja and Lorr En came out of the pile of corpses.
”Bribbed once!” groused Lorr En while spitting repeatedly could not stand it. While Taja was forced to throw the outer layer cloak. Seeing that, Lorr En imitated.
”Why go to that aisle? We do not know which path is not misleading,” Lorr En tailed Raojhin.
”Because all the witches are heading all the way except to this hallway,” replied Raojhin. The three children were increasingly encroaching in the pitch darkness.
”Dark!” chirps Lorr En.
”Can you calm down, Lorr En? We almost got caught because you've been noisy since?” Raojhin warns Lorr En.
”Do not get angry!” Lorr En did not like the way Raojhin said rather joltingly. They clashed face to face, each of them showing an angry expression. But Taja hurriedly interrupted.
”You have protected each other and we also need each other, there is no point in arguing! And remember, we are lost in the place of those who have no good intentions!” Continue the steps. Eventually Lorr En and Raojhin dampened their respective egos.
The three were already in another cave cavity, much darker and there was no light except for the fire left at the end of the Taja torch.
”Where is this?” Taja raised the torch in hand, looking at the whole strange place, very empty and silent. There was only a puddle of clear water in the middle of that vast cavity.
”Defaulted road!” pekik Raojhin turned his eyes to Lorr En no less panicked.
”Mistake selection!” lorr En stared back at her.
“No choice,” Taja interrupts.
Dark and silent. That's the air that feels thick in the walled room and roofed rocks stalactite. Only the sound of water falling to the surface of the pit. Echoing loudly in the darkness, they seemed to be fixated for quite a long time there. Unknowingly, there were small movements wriggling between the dark walls. Creeping and thrashing limp from the bonds that ensnare them.
”We just go back to the hallway again!” taja's advice in another silence.
They were about to move from there, but the sound of a falling object was surprisingly accompanied by the figure of a body falling from the rock roofs just on the threshold of the only way to return.
”What is it?” Taja approached while Lorr En and Raojhin moved away. He swung his fingers at the nearly extinguished torch flame.
”Laktosia-ara .. rakee-amma. ... La ... nura!” his his hiss was stuck on his tongue chanting the incantation he had learned from the Black Dog Master to light a fire.
Ruuuu ....
Very briefly, a huge burning torch fire was brought close to something that fell in front of them.
There was a heavy breath accompanied by half-nighing broken, a body figure entangled with roots and a face hindered by unraveling hair. He was still sprawled on the muddy ground while holding his sobs.
”Ss ... sss .. ss ... dss ..., ” sounds like a sizzling pain.
”Who is he?” Raojhin beside Lorr En whispered and shrugged.
”Be careful, lest this is just a hoax!” sergeant Lorr En. Without further ado instantly snatched the sword in Raojhin's hand and was about to attack the figure. But hurriedly pulled his hand.
Letting the figure move and hiss over and over again.
”Sshiu .. ssaes .. ds ... dss ... Shahsham ...."
Taja noticed the movement of the lips visible from the dark face of the figure, the last time he recognized something.
”Leafs?” Lorr En guessed and followed Taja's nod.
”That means?”
”Don't kill me,” replied Taja.
He drew closer to the figure curled up in the rocky muddy ground, and became more certain of his vision as roots appeared to be sticking out of his fingers and his face looked slowly at him.
”Who are you?” tanya Taja in fairy language, trying to recognize the clingy figure who is heavily injured and difficult to dance the breath. The whole body shivered, stiff and very limp. He suddenly snapped and called out a name.
”Purwa!” his pekik did not believe and immediately embraced a figure of warlock. The creature wanted to talk, but it seemed that it was very difficult to breathe. Only his sigh was heard once calling Taja's name.
Raojhin was astonished to witness that encounter between the Taja and the human-like creature, only his fingers and toes were strange, sticking out like elongated and branching roots. Sometimes he asks, ”Who is he?” but Lorr En was silent. Moreover, Taja who was still swept away in his shock.
”How did you get here?” Taja rubbed the familiar fairy face.
”They forbid me .. to go with you. Then I caught up with you .. for their sake ..” he said softly.
”Purwa?” Lorr En was surprised to also see the figure in Taja's arms was Taja's close family.
”We need to get out of here right away! There's movement in the mud!” raojhin exclaimed something as his eyes caught the small movements of the surface of the large puddle not far from them at that moment.
Realizing from the danger, they immediately lifted their feet. It was a bit slow for Taja and Lorr En to finish off the injured Purwa.
”Quick!!!” Raojhin saw a white shadow on the surface of the puddle, appearing increasingly larger in the form of still water. Then it moves up and increasingly forms the human form.
”Si Witch!” Purwa had recognized the shape that half poked slowly from the water, but only Taja understood his words.
”Where?” Lorr En was confused to take a different step with Raojhin.
”To there!” Purwa points to a split wall slit narrowed to the end.
”To there?” I'm not sure there's a way out.
”Trust me, I know this place more!” purwa in the same language. Somewhat hobbled, he led Taja in that direction. Then the others one by one passed through the very narrow dark gap, only the size of one person could pass.
Finally, they were cornered to the edge of a wide gaping abyss. There are many waterfalls leading to one spot under dozens of feet of their height.
”This is the exit?” Raojhin panic.
Purwa points to the fall of the waterfall, ”There, is the way out!”
All doubted Purwa, but there was no time to find another way. While behind them, a figure in the form of water incarnated the shadow of a white-robed man chasing after them, followed by a group of other witches following.
”They're coming!” lorr En exclaimed that they were in the midst of many strange creatures, appearing from all directions, crawling on the walls of caves, roofs, and holes in the ground.
”No time, we just jump!” taja exclaimed at Raojhin and Lorr En were confused. Purwa quickly pulled it, dropping into the center of the waterfall. In the blink of an eye, the two figures had vanished in the turmoil of the rushing water. Raojhin and Lorr En were left behind.
”Many people say that you are a good swimmer. Can you prove it now?”
”How about you, can you show your ability as the best student of Tanapura?” Lorr En asked.
There was no time left even though they had a look back, seeing the shadow of the witch along with a horde of creatures creeping nimble and scattering, he said, all were fixed in one direction the four two children were standing on the brink of the abyss.
”Wait for what else? Now jump!” Raojhin gave aba-aba. Then the two plunged into the water, simultaneously and held hands. The screams split the silence of the cave.
In a bit, a swarm of witches almost caught up to the brink. But they stopped there, just gazing down, where the young kings were devoured by the central stream of the waterfall.
The furious screams of the magician hordes blazed through the entire dark alleys. One of them who was as light as a puff of smoke, then formed the body of a white-robed figure marking the snake veins on both temples, full of wrathful angkara screaming very loudly.
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