| The
Chosen entered the Earth Temple. Here the air was musty… it was
like it had been around for a while, not breathed by any living
thing for eons. The inside of the Temple was much like the outside,
all arches and heights. The stonework was here too very well kept.
There were no carpets or drapes in here, nor any paint. Soon they
came across a cross roads. The tunnel they had come down now turned
left and right, both door less corridors. There was a sign in
the middle of them. It read:
“Four
must be clawed to dust.”
“Hmm… what could that
mean? What should be clawed? And what with?” asked Moana.
“I dunno. Anyone else
got any ideas?” asked Kaiwera.
“Ya know, I could see
this causing a lot of problems for other people who come down
here,” said Kohuke.
“Like who? I thought
no-one came here?”
“Well… I dunno,
like, any one who did might ask the same question as
us. And then someone who knew the answer might have to tell these
individuals over and over what to claw and what with.”
“But no-one comes down
here. At all. Just us, right now,” said Pirihi.
“B-but, well,
ok, so maybe your right. I dunno, it’s just I’ve got this feeling
that lots of people have been here and-“
“Kohuke your weird,”
said Kaiwera sharply, “Lets take the left.”
The Chosen took the
left.
They came to a small
flight of stairs going down. They led to a small room with another
staircase in it, leading down.
“It’s so claustrophobic
down here,” said Moana, “Under millions of tons of rock and in
this little space… I mean, what if the stairs collapsed and we
were trap-“
“Yes! Moana, we know!
I don’t want to think about it,” said Kaiwera hotly.
They descended the
stairs and came out onto another corridor with more rooms held
up by mighty pillars branching off from it.
“Which one do we pick?”
asked Kohuke.
“Wait… Kaiwera shine
your light up the corridor again, there’s something there.”
Kaiwera did so, and
the Chosen saw a small dark shape sitting at the end of the corridor.
“Shall we go and investigate?”
said Pirihi.
No one said anything
but began to walk towards the shape in agreement. As they neared
a smell crept up their nostrils. It was soon clear where it was
coming from. A body, that of an Onu-Koronan was sprawled over
a chest.
“Yeash… how long has
he been down here?” said Kaiwera.
“There’s a chest underneath,
we should probably open it. He obviously wanted whatever was inside…”
said Pirihi.
“Yes… the chest… under
the body… bo…dy…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“… Kohuke you get it.”
“Why me?!”
“Because you... Um...
Because you're the newest member!” said Kaiwera happily.
“I am NOT touching
that thing! Give me one good reason-“
“Oh good grief I’ll
do it!” exclaimed Moana, and heaved the dead Tohunga off the chest.
The wood was… sticky.
“Euughh… someone take
care of the lock and we can get out of here,” said Kaiwera, leaning
against the wall.
Pirihi dashed the lock
with his sword, and opened it with his foot. Inside were two dark
objects. Kaiwera stepped forward and brought them out.
“Two claws… Kohuke
you take care of these.”
Kohuke took them, and
he seemed to light up.
“Hey Kaiwera, wanna
see what’s in there?” Kohuke pointed with a claw at the wall.
“Erm-“
Within a few seconds
there was a huge hole where the wall was.
“Well, here you go.
It’s a pillar. What? Why is there a sealed room with only a pillar
in it?” said Kohuke with interest.
The other Chosen looked
in too.
“Well, might as well
have an empty room altogether ‘eh?” said Kohuke, and before anyone
could stop him he had clawed it to… dust.
A grating noise filled
the room and the walls shook a little.
“Er… Kohuke I don’t
think you should have done that…” said Moana.
With a thud a large
piece of rock dropped out of the ceiling and took the place of
the pillar.
“What the…”
“It must have fallen
from upstairs – this must be what the sign was talking about –
“Four must be clawed to dust.” As the pillars beneath are destroyed,
new pathways open up on the floor above us,” said Pirihi.
“Good thinking Icy.
Well, guess we’ve just got to find the other three pillars then,
yes?” said Kaiwera.
A few hours later they
found the last pillar. They were all tired out and slumped against
the newly fallen slab.
“Phew…” said Kohuke,
“All that clawing has tired me out. Any water? Food?”
The Chosen got out
their food supply. Pirihi’s ice lilies, Kaiwera’s dried meats
and fruits, Moana had some kind of aquatic plant with a sweet
sap, and some ruana bread. With this and some water they ate some
of everything – a small feast by their recent standards. When
they were satisfied they got back up and prepared to go on.
They walked back up
to where the sign was, and found a doorway behind it. Along it
was a long corridor, and as they walked three times they tripped
over slabs in the floor – the result of their efforts. They now
came to a large room with a slabbed floor. Four pillars stood
in the four corners, and infront of them was another corridor.
“The Pakari is close,”
said Kohuke, “And look out, here’s it’s guardian!”
A Nui Jaga came out
of the corridor in front of them, pale blue in colour, with a
massive stinger waving madly about above it’s head. The scorpion-like
Rahi had mad red eyes, it was confused and hungry, and the light
from Kaiwera’s lantern blinded and enraged it. It was covered
in dust, and there was Earth clinging to it’s horrible belly as
if it had only just got up for the first time in years. It’s huge
stinger was pulled back – and Kohuke recognised the signs. He
jumped in front of the others and caught the sticky brown ball
of poisonous disease ridden gunk that the Jaga had spewed at them.
But as he did so, some of it sprayed into his face and he fell
stricken to the floor. The other three then huddled together close,
and then leapt at the same time with swords shining. The shadows
of the three Chosen caused by the lantern confused the Nui-Jaga,
and it snapped its mighty claws with terror. Pirihi came down
hard on one of them – and the Pakari that rested on top of it
was knocked off. The Jaga then spied him, and swung it’s body
round, leaving it’s other Pakari in Kaiwera’s line of fire. He
drew back his sword but was knocked away by the Jaga’s thrashing
stinger. It stabbed the ground just in front of him, and he rolled
out of the way and under the Jaga’s legs. The Jaga tried to reverse
but Pirihi was stabbing at it’s face and Moana was slashing at
it’s tail from behind…
With a thud the Jaga
fell limp onto the floor, and Kaiwera pulled himself out of between
it’s legs. Kohuke got up, wiping the slime off his face, and yanked
his claw out of the Jaga’s head.
“Why didn’t you go
for the head first? This thing would have been just as dangerous
without the infected Masks. Your sure lucky I’m here aren’t you?”
he said, with all honesty.
“Er, yeah. Thanks,
Kohuke. Time to give you your reward I think…” said Kaiwera, rubbing
his legs.
They walked and came
to the tiniest room in the Temple – and there on an altar was
the Pakari of Onua. Kohuke leapt for it and put it on straight
away. There was a flash and then all was dark.
“I was supposed to
put it on right?”
“Yes, luckily. I’ve
dropped my lamp, can anyone feel it?” said Kaiwera, groping in
the dark.
“It’s over here by
me,” said Moana. She picked it up and opened the shutters. Once
again the Chosen winced in the light.
“I hate it when that
happens,” complained Pirihi.
“Hey guys, there’s Kikia!” exclaimed Moana as they came out of
the Earth Temple.
Kikia was sitting with
Nikki, playing catch with a piece of rock. When he heard Moana’s
voice he leapt up and kicked the stone into the wall of the tunnel.
“Hey fellas, I’m back!”
he said happily.
“Great, I'm glad that
you are safe. What of the mask?” asked Moana.
“I dropped it off on
Mount Taoratia, the biggest hill in all of Po-Wahi! Tohunga never
go up there, so it will be safe 'till we figure out how to destroy
it.”
“Good. Well, we had
better get moving. Let's return to Onu-Koro, and see what Whenua
can tell us,” said Kaiwera.
They climbed back on
onto Nikki, who sagged under the extra weight. But still she ran
like the wind through the tunnels.
“It was weird…” said
Kikia, “When I tried to drop off the mask it tried to get away,
I swear…”
|
