//------------------------------// // Hidden in the Depths // Story: Bardic Lore: Into the Wild // by Rose Quill //------------------------------// Someone was nudging me, gently. I cracked an eye open and saw Zeke standing over me. “Time t’get up,” he whispered. “Deres things t’be doing.” I looked over at the window, still seeing stars outside. “But it’s still nighttime,” I slurred as I rolled out of the cot I had been sleeping on the past few weeks. “What’s so damning important?” The zebra reached out and whacked me on the shoulder as he laughed. “It’s not a what, but a where!” He pulled his satchel on as he headed to the door. I yawned and followed him out of the hut that had become my home recently, pulling a small pack on as well. The night air was warm, a light mist floating around just above the ground and drifting through the tall grass that ringed the gardens that Zeke had tended. I saw a warm red glow starting to form on the far east horizon. “So where are we going?” I asked, yawning again. “Not too far is a cavern.” He said as he picked his way through the grass, marking a trail that I followed. “I’ve been exploring it fer the last few days, mapping it out. And I’m betting that what I saw last time would interest you, storyteller.” I felt my ears prick up. He only called me that when he was about to share a new tale for me to repeat or teach me a new use for herbs. “What’s in there?” He turned and smiled at me, a toothy grin that told me that he would rather show me. “Can you keep up wit an old stallion?” he asked before taking off at a brisk pace. My grin blossomed forth as I charged to keep up. “This is gorgeous, it is,” I whispered as we stepped deeper into the cavern. In the werelight of my horn, the cavern walls glittered and sparkled like a nighttime sky. I reached up and touched a hoof to the wall, feeling the smooth surface. “What makes it sparkle like this?” “Small bits of mineral deposits,” Zeke said. Around the zebra’s neck was a phosphorescent stone that served as he light source. “Like as not left by the water when it floods.” “Floods?” I squeaked. “What floods?” “You didn’t notice the dry riverbed outside, then? Or smell the salt?” I spun around, my mind already playing at turning the soft breeze into the sound of rushing water. “Relax, filly,” he laughed. “We’re months for the flood yet. Hop along now, we’re naught but just in.” As we ventured deeper, the glitter of the minerals in the wall continued to grow brighter, and I began to spot bits of the smoothed walls that looked like little wave like patterns. The deeper we went, the more pronounced the designs became, now obviously a deliberate design. We turned a corner and I felt my jaw drop. A massive stone structure sat on a speck of stone in the middle of a dark pond, the sound of water dripping echoing in the cavernous depths. The building was decorated all over with the shape of clams, calm water, waves, storm clouds, and a strange half pony-half serpent creature featuring central to the building’s door. “Cor,” I whispered. “What is that?” “I’m not sure, m’self.” Zeke stepped forward and into the lapping edge of the pool. “But you can see it’s old, f’sure.” I tried to judge the distance to the small island, but couldn’t get a good judge due to the impressive look of the time-worn building. Casting about, I spied a loose stone and lifted it in my magic and started pushing it out, comparing its size to the building. I lost my grip before it had even made it halfway across the pond. It was further away than my current telekinetic grip could stretch, which I had exercised to a fair reach. “That thing is massive,” I whispered. “I’ve never heard of those snake creatures, have you?” “Not in my life,” Zeke murmured as I dug a small notebook from my pack. I sketched the rough design of the ruins on a page, then started to jot down the directions from his hut. “Naga,” River piped up. “What now?” I asked. “Those beasts carved on the building,” she repeated. “They sound like Nagas. I read about them in one of the books I got from Princess Twilight.” “Did you now?” “Mmmhmm! And it said that they were cousins to the Sirens! You think that Miss Aria or Miss Sonata would know anything about them?” I patted her on the head before lowering the beside lamp. “Who knows, sprout? Maybe we’ll ask them next time we see them.”