Seeking Treasure Beyond The Cup: Part Five

     “This isn’t right,” she muttered, standing up. “This was too easy. Guys, don’t open those chests just yet; we could be in a trap.”

     Garven wasn’t sure what to make of this advice but trusted Hannah as the caves expert. “Don’t touch the treasure, crew.”

     The others groaned but reluctantly stepped back from the chests.

     Kanrik turned to the Usul, whispering, “Isn’t it possible that we bypassed the traps? We did take an unexpected route to get here...”

     The Usul shook her head. “No, there will be a trigger somewhere in this chamber – we just haven’t tripped it yet. And there is no way we are getting those chests out of here whole.”

     “Well, I’m starvin’ so I’m gonna eat me meat,” Dasher interjected, leaning his back against the wall to retrieve a Mega Meat Sandwich from his bag of supplies. Something literally clicked when he leant backwards, though, and the sound of rock grating against rock resounded through the chamber.

     He forgot about food. “Whut was that?”

     Hannah leapt on top of the chests and tried to see what was happening in the dim light. Suddenly she was staring face-to-face with a grey skull.

     “WAH!” she exclaimed in fright, tripping over backwards, sending her candle hurtling behind her by accident.

     The flame of the candle caught fire to the clothes of a skeleton nearby (obviously a previous adventurer wasn’t so lucky) and that provided them with sufficient light to see all ten floating skulls, chomping their jaws at them.

     “WHAT ARE THOSE?!” Hawkshanks asked shrilly, withdrawing his blade.

     “It’s a trap!” Hannah gasped fearfully, being hauled to her feet by Kanrik who brandished his dagger at the entities too. “Don’t let them bite you, it could result in instant death!”

     “Oh that’s nice to know...” Nitri complied, sounding heavily sarcastic, dodging the attack of one skull. “We’re outnumbered!”

     “I’m sorry, guys, but we’ll have to leave,” Hannah said regretfully, racing over to one treasure chest before opening it. It held thousands of Neopoints. “Grab a handful of treasure and escape up the rope as fast as you can. We can’t fight these things off, they DON’T die!”

     The team weren’t going to argue with that and raced to stuff as many Neopoints into their pockets as they could. It was suddenly too dangerous to risk being greedy by grabbing any more treasure.

     “Back up the rope!” Hannah yelled, letting the Yooyuballers go first. “Kanrik and I will keep these things at bay. Just get to safety and we’ll catch up.”

     “How do we know ye ain’t gonna betray us and take the treasure yeself?” Garven challenged her as he waited for his teammates to ascend the rope.

     “Are you crazy?! I don’t wish to die, thank you!” she rebuked him, defending herself from another attack with her dagger. “I know when to quit.”

     “Alrigh’, missy, but no tricks...”

     As soon as Garven reached the top of the rope, he turned to his team. “What do we do now?”

     “We ‘aven’t exactly done anything pirate-like...” Dasher commented in slight disappointment. “We’ve just run away from a fight...”

     “Ugh, you’re right,” Nitri admitted, feeling cheated.

     “Well, we ‘ave some o’the treasure,” Zayle reminded them.

     “”True but it doesn’t feel like an accomplishment,” Hawkshanks said despondently, shuffling his feet.

     “What can we do to feel more like the pirates we represent...?” Dasher mused before focusing on the rope. He grinned maliciously. “AH-HA! What say we make this interestin’ an’ cut the rope?”

      “Dasher, you fiend!” Nitri laughed, but did not dispute the idea. “Sure, why not? Somethin’ tells me the Usul and Gelert will be fine after a few hours.”

     The Krawk took out his cutlass and with one clean swipe he had cut the rope loose. The Yooyuballers roared victoriously and took off into the caves.

     Hannah was several feet up the rope when it had been severed, and watched in horror as the rope fell towards, causing her to fall back into the chamber with a CRUNCH.

     Kanrik checked on her quickly. “Hannah! Are you okay?”

     “Ow...” she groaned, sitting up slowly. She cradled her left arm. “The rope was cut...”

     The Gelert, whilst aware of the floating skulls around them, checked his friend’s health. “You might have broken your arm.”

     “Nevermind about that, Kanrik!” She winced, handing him the map. “There will be an alternate escape route. Find it. We need to catch up to those pirates – I mean Yooyuballers – before they get killed.”

     Kanrik coiled up the rope that had fallen down and plotted their escape. It would be so much easier if a fire hadn’t started to rage around them, and if those skulls were not trying to terminate their lives!

     “Hang in there, Hannah, we’ll get out of here!”

     * * *

     Team Krawk Island finally felt free! They had just stolen pirate loot, they were running away from deadly denizens, and they had just betrayed their guides who had the ma—

     “THE MAP!” Garven exclaimed in disbelief, stopping his teammates short in the catacombs, a second short from being impaled by spears that fell from the ceiling. “We need t’get the map or we’ll be lost in ‘ere forever!”

     Nitri groaned. She was currently holding a torch that they had found along the way and lit with their own tinderboxes. She sat down on the floor in protest. “You could’ve thought o’that sooner.”

     Dasher also sat down but that was mainly to catch his breath. “So what d’ya propose, CAPTAIN? Go back?”

     Garven hesitated. Would they be able to FIND their way back?

     “Uh...” He needed a minute to think. He was responsible for his squad and if any of them were injured or killed during this adventure his manager would kill HIM for being an idiot... if he got out alive himself, that is. “There HAS to be a way.”

     “Well, think of one quickly,” Zayle said impatiently. “Or we could be trapped ‘ere for weeks.”

     * * *

     Kanrik raced at top speeds through the cave, carrying the injured Usul to make their escape from the killer skulls as quickly as possible. He had memorised the route that he was taking to get him to the place the rope was originally tied up, but he also had to dodge and dive through surprise traps that still lay in wait for them.

     It would take him another hour to catch up to Team Krawk Island.

     Hannah had dozed off in his arms – her body’s attempt to help itself to heal.

     “Those Yooyuballers had better stick to their Altador Cup in the future. They’re more trouble than they’re worth,” the Gelert complained to himself as he raced on.

     * * *

     Team Krawk Island had actually stayed put and used this time to eat some food and catch some breath. Dasher fell asleep after his light meal and irritated the rest of his squad with his loud snores.

     “I swear, I’m gonna hit him one of these days if he doesn’t stop snoring!” Hawkshanks grumbled, drinking some water from a flask.

     Nitri tried to stretch her legs but found that she didn’t have the room. “Meh, I’m used to it.”

     “How can you get used to THAT?!”

     “I just ignore him.”

     “...My point exactly – How CAN you ignore it?”

     “I’m a girl. I’m stronger mentally than you morons,” she teased, punching him on the shoulder.

     “Well, I can’t complain, we DID get outta Yooyuball practice today.” Garven smiled, proud of this fact. “Once Soley ‘ere gets up we’ll get goin’.”

     What they didn’t know was that Kanrik and Hannah were only fifteen minutes away from where they were resting.

     * * *

     “YOU!”

     “Huh, whut?” Dasher started, sitting up in alarm. He glanced around and realised that he was still in the cave with his team. He saw that his teammates were stood up tensely.

     “You could’ve killed us, you idiots!” Kanrik raged, storming towards them with Hannah in his arms, who was now awake.

     “Put me down, Kanrik,” Hannah demanded, finally getting to place her feet on the ground. Her arm was in a make-shift sling made from a strip of fabric from Kanrik’s shirt. She strode over to Garven and challenged him. “What were you THINKING? That was stupid!”

     “What can I say? Pirates,” Dasher smirked cunningly.

     Hannah slapped him. “You BROKE my arm.”

     “Thought you were used to occupational hazards?”

     “All of you could have got lost or killed in here.”

     “Yeah, we kinda noticed that...” Garven said uncertainly, realising that he was stupid for not stealing the map off her in the first place.

     Hannah was fuming! “C’mon, let’s get out of here, you’ve got your treasure now.”

     As she and Kanrik led the way out, Hawkshanks whispered to Zayle, “”Wow, she needs to lighten up.”

     The Grundo shook his head as they made their way through the tunnels again. “We’re lucky SHE didn’t kill us.”

     Garven whipped around and sniggered. “Totally worth it, though! I think I’ll get me ship fixed and we’ll take the seas another time. We really need t’get back t’our pirate roots.”

     “Sounds like a plan, Hale, sounds like a plan,” Dasher agreed, patting him on the shoulder.

     Hannah turned around to face the team. “For the record, you guys aren’t joining me on an adventure again.”

     “That’s fine, we ain’t comin’ with ya again,” he retorted.

     “Fine.” Hannah led them around the Cobrall pit. “By the way, you’d better do well in the tournament this year; I have a wager to win.”

To be continued...