them. “Okay, you have a
A huge, clawed fist broke through the wall, grabbed the axe, and pulled it back through. Something roared. “See what you made me do?” said the Dark One. “You've awakened the Beast With Tentacles and Sharp Teeth!”
A clawed foot broke through the wall. Randall, Yvonne, and Shreddriff took this as their cue to run down the left corridor at top speed. As they ran, Randall broke a beam of light, causing darts to start firing from the floor and ceiling.
They rushed around the corner, and immediately screeched to a halt at the sight of the ten-foot-wide pit in front of them. The bottom and sides were lined with hundreds of needle-sharp spikes with thorns attached to them.
“We'll never be able to jump that far!” said Yvonne.
“Look!” shouted Randall, pointing to the other side. The only exit was a doorway, with a iron gate slowly descending, just about to close it off and prevent their escape.
The Beast burst into view. It was a truly disgusting creature, all tentacles and teeth and slime and eyes and suckers. Its tentacles shot forward, wrapping around Yvonne and Shreddriff, holding them tight.
“It's got us! We're trapped!” shrieked Yvonne.
Another tentacle shot out, wrapped around Randall's leg, and began pulling him toward the creature's open mouth.
Then Randall remembered that he was still holding the sword and shield. With a quick lunge he cleaved off the tentacle, then swiftly lopped off the ones holding Yvonne and Shreddriff. As the Beast yelped in pain, Randall swung the tentacle, wrapping it around a hook in the ceiling just over the pit.
“Grab a hold of me!” Randall said. “We'll swing across!”
Yvonne and Shreddriff wrapped their arms around him, and they swung across the pit. Until the tentacle broke.
“Whew!” said Randall. “Good thing we were on the other side when it broke.”
The iron gate continued to drop.
“Crawl under it!” said Shreddriff. “Quickly!”
They all dropped onto their stomachs and crawled under the gate, an instant before it slammed onto the floor, sealing off the exit.
“We're safe!” said Randall.
“Except for that giant stone boulder rolling towards us!” Yvonne cried out. They took off running down the rounded corridor, as the boulder got closer and closer.
“Oh no!” shouted Shreddriff. “It's a dead end!”
Suddenly the boulder burst into flames, making it even deadlier.
“Dive into a corner!” said Randall.
The three of them dove into the corners, pressing themselves in tightly to avoid being crushed. The boulder passed over them, igniting them but not squishing them, and smashed into the dead-end wall, breaking through and letting loose a huge flood of water that doused the flames and began carrying Randall, Yvonne, and Shreddriff back down the hallway at a perilous speed.
“Oh no!” shouted Randall. “Watch out for the spears protruding from the ceiling just ahead!”
“And the ones protruding from the walls!” added Yvonne.
“And the ones protruding from the floor!” added Shreddriff.
They hurtled past the spears, narrowly avoiding certain death at their tips. The water carried them around several curves, until—
“Watch out!” shouted Randall. “The floor drops out!”
“We're going to plummet to a place unknown!” cried Yvonne.
They went over the edge, falling fifty or sixty or seventy feet until they landed in a cavern with stone walls and a floor covered waist-deep with mud. It took almost a minute for the water from above to quit pouring down upon them.
“Okay, let's not panic,” said Randall. “It could be worse.”
“It's worse,” said Shreddriff. “This isn't mud.” He swallowed a mouthful. “No, wait, I guess it is. My mistake.”
There was one exit, at the far end of the cavern. “Hurry!” said Randall. “We've got to reach the prison before it floods in five minutes from when I accidentally set off the flooding mechanism back about three or so minutes ago!”
“We'll never make it!” Yvonne declared.
“We can't give up now! We just have to move quickly!”
“Especially since something with fangs just brushed past my leg,” said Shreddriff. “And there goes another one!”
It took them a full minute to reach the exit. “Oh no!” said Yvonne. “I just realized something! This isn't regular mud! This is the Poison Mud of Ferrenz! If we don't get the antidote in two minutes, we'll die!”
“No time for that now!” said Randall. “To the prison!”
“I just remembered!” said Yvonne, pointing forward. “The prison is that way!”
“That's the only way this path goes.”
“I know, but it's the right way! Let's go!”
Thirty seconds later, they rounded a corner which led to the prison. The latest group of women, children, and short men were being locked in cells by a crew of six guards.
“Do either of you know how to do that thing where you stick your little fingers in your mouth so that you can do a really loud whistle?” Randall whispered.
“Not me,” said Shreddriff.
“I do,” said Yvonne. “Want me to teach you?”
“Yeah, would you?”
“Okay, first extend your pinkies. Yeah, just like that, you're doing great. Now stick one in each end of your mouth, keeping your lips just a little bit apart. Perfect. Now, when you blow, you're going to need to vibrate your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Try it.”
Randall did, but nothing but soundless air came out.
“Vibrate your tongue a little more.”
“Like this?”
“Yeah, you've got the idea. Now try it with all the elements in place, and you should be able to do the whistle.”
Randall let out a piercing whistle, getting the attention of the guards and prisoners.
“Everyone, listen to me! Any second now this prison is going to be flooded! And then, a few minutes later, this whole place is going to blow up! It would behoove you guards to get everyone outside, or you're going to lose everything you've worked for these past couple days!”
“And why should we believe you?” asked a guard.
“The Dark One said so.”
“Oh. Okay.” He turned to his co-workers. “Let's get ‘em out of here.”
“One question,” said Randall. “Where are the other prisoners? The ones in group A, I think it was called.”
“The new group would be up on the third floor, in the Training Room. To get there, you need to go out the north exit, go up two flights of stairs, go down the hall past the Inservice Room, make a right, go past the gymnasium, make a left, and it's the first door on your right.”
“No, no,” said another guard. “You turn before you reach the gym.”
“Are you sure? I could've sworn it was after the gym.”
“Well, if you're that certain, I could very well be mistaken. It's happened before, as you'll remember.”
“Turn left after the gym,” the guard told Randall.
“Thanks.” Randall gestured for Yvonne and Shreddriff to follow him, and they hurried through the prison and out the north exit. “Yvonne, where would we find the antidote for the mud?”
Yvonne shrugged. “I have no idea.”
