Cristo emerged from the cave, a few cobwebs sticking to his clothes but otherwise fine. His companions were relieved to find he had come out in one piece. Although he had only been gone five minutes, such an amount of time would be more than enough for orcs to take down the bodyguard. And, with such an ominous sign at the mouth of the cave, none of the travellers knew what could be dwelling inside.

"Well?" Timothy anxiously asked.

"It is very deep," Cristo replied, wiping the last of the cobwebs from his clothes. "I didn't go very far, though, as it was too dark."

"And what of orcs?" the thief asked.

"I didn't sense them inside," the bodyguard said, his voice trailing off a little at the end of his sentence. His companions stared at him for a moment, expecting him to add something. However, Cristo said nothing more, taking the opportunity to eat some of their bread as he leaned against the mossy surface of the cliff.

Brey rubbed his white whiskers for a moment. "I suspected as much," he mused, eventually gazing up at his companions. "These stakes are very old, which probably means the orcs put them here and never returned to maintain it."

"Do you have any idea what they mean?" Alena asked.

"I can't be certain," the old tutor replied, "as I don't know enough of orc culture to recognize all of their signs. However, my guess is these were put here as a warning."

"A warning?" Timothy said, his eyes a little wide with concern. "A warning of what?"

"Probably to stay away from this cave. And if that is the case, then something must have resided inside that scared the orcs away." He turned to the mouth of the cave, rubbing his white whiskers. "The question we really ought to be asking is whether whatever scared the orcs away is still down there."

"I doubt it," Timothy said, shaking his head. "These things look like they were put here a hundred years ago. If something was living down there when the orcs explored the cave, it would have died a long time ago."

"It hasn't," Cristo quietly said.

Timothy instantly spun to face the bodyguard, irritation in his eyes. "That's impossible!" he said, perturbed.

Cristo merely shrugged. "All I know is I felt something different than what I felt with the orcs inside. And the deeper I went, the stronger it became."

"What?" the thief pressed, his eyes flaming. "What could possibly live for a hundred years?" The question remained unanswered as no one, not even wise, old Brey (who would have loved to come up with an excuse to not go into the cave) knew of such a creature that could live that long.

"Nothing lives that long," Timothy continued, his voice calm again. "Maybe it's just the fact orcs lived in this cave once and it left some sort of aura of evil in the cave after they left. You said it wasn't exactly the same feeling as orcs but similar, right, Cris?"

"Yes," the bodyguard absently mumbled, his thoughts seemingly removed from the discussion anyway.

"All right, then," Alena said finally, the anticipation of exploring taking a strong hold of her. She strode to the mouth of the cave, her hand already on the whip at her hip. "If this is the right cave, let's get moving."

"Now hold on, Alena," Brey said, holding a hand up. "We shouldn't go running steadfastly in there. Remember, there's something of an evil nature down there and we have no idea what it is."

"You're such a worry wort," she scoffed. "Didn't we just agree it was probably nothing? Okay, maybe something worse than orcs once lived in there but there can't be any way it has lived for a hundred years. Like Tim said, it's just a leftover aura."

The old tutor frowned. He did not like the concept of going into the cave with their only information about what lurked inside being a feeling Cristo had. He did not like their situation, miles from any sign of civilization, their supplies dangerously low, and orcs surrounding them on all angles.

Most of all, though, he did not like the fact he was going to loose this argument with Alena. Seeing Timothy's approving nod and Cristo's annoying shrug, Brey could see he would have no support for his side. The old tutor shook his head, wondering exactly when it was the princess could best him in a battle of logic.

"Fine," he finally grumbled. "So I'm being a worry wort. Once of us has to be smart enough to take precautions. That's merely what I'm trying to do, Alena; take precautions. The last thing I want is one of us coming out of there a bloody corpse because we were too bull-headed to think ahead."

"Do what you must," Timothy intoned, grabbing some branches. He took two, wrapping them in torn portions of his shirt. Using his flintlock, he lighted them up in seconds and handed one to the princess. The thief turned to Brey and said, "Alena and I are going in. This is something we have to do for the sake of our country, danger or no danger." At that, the pair brushed aside the few branches still covering the entrance and disappeared hand in hand into the cave, their torches' light quickly fading away.

Cristo and Brey held an uneasy silence for a moment, each judging what the other was going to do. Eventually, the bodyguard turned on his heels and followed Alena and Timothy into the cave, leaving the old tutor outside by himself.

Brey stood at the mouth of the cave for long moments, contemplating what his course of action should be. Every intuitive, logical, and gut feeling inside told him not to proceed; to do so was foolhardy and a waste of time. Yet, he still found himself chasing after his companions, hoping not to loose them in whatever twists and turns the cave held. After all, the last thing the old tutor wanted was to face a band of orcs outside by himself.

* * *

Although it was a natural cave, it had not remained untouched by human hands in the past. Despite years of erosion, the travellers could still make out a brick-faced pattern on the walls, suggesting the people who tunnelled the place out put a lot of dedication into crafting it. With several, ancient torch holders and carvings of eroded figures etched at regular intervals, it could also be assumed whoever worked on the cave intended to return at regular periods. Whatever the golden bracelet was, it must have been something truly special for the peasants of Frenor to invest so much time and detail into hiding it.

Alena and Timothy led the way through the cave, their eagerness and excitement beaming almost as brightly as the torches they carried. Behind them walked Cristo, following obediently like a dog to its master. Lagging behind a bit was Brey, his older age unable to keep up with his younger, exuberant companions.

The tunnel continued to twist and turn, leading them deeper into the bowels of the cave. For the most part, it remained consistent. Cobwebs were strewn across their path like silk curtains, suggesting nothing had been this deep for ages. Bugs of various sorts skittered away from their torchlight, hiding in tiny nooks and holes along the walls.

At one point, a large, brown spider fell onto Alena's head, causing her to instinctively gasp in shock as she swatted at her head to be rid of the pest. It was silly display, as the spider had already fallen off her by the time she reacted, and Alena flushed redder than her own hair. Any embarrassment she had was quickly gone, however, once Timothy dealt with her "assailant" by kicking it away into the darkness. His "bravery" was rewarded with an affectionate hug and a quick peck on his cheek, causing the thief to blush in the presence of Cristo and Brey. However, his companions did not seem to mind the display, although the old tutor did roll his eyes.

After perhaps fifteen minutes of walking, the tunnel suddenly opened into a large chamber. The travellers could not help but gaze in amazement from the sheer size of the room. Standing at the entrance to the chamber, none could see any of the other areas the room contained.

"By the Master!" Alena breathed, her voice followed by a light echo. "All this can't be natural, can it?"

"It's possible," Brey said, breathing lightly as he finally caught up with his stunned companions, "but the peasants probably did most of the work here. It looks like this room was meant to be a main chamber." He looked over to Timothy. "For ceremonies, perhaps?"

"Perhaps," the thief slowly mumbled. He walked forward, gazing intently ahead as he raised his torch so its light could maybe fill more of the large chamber.

"What is it?" Alena asked, walking forward as well.

The thief stopped and pointed forward. "Now that is definitely man-made."

Standing almost dead centre in the enormous room rested a large, rectangle platform with four large pillars towering over each of its corners. A pair of stairs climbed the left side of the platform, most of which were crumbling with age. However, at their distance, the torches could not penetrate the darkness enough to reveal what lay at the top of those stairs and between the four pillars. Everyone had a good guess, though.

"We found it!" Alena exclaimed. The princess instantly rushed forward, her torch leaving a streaking trail in her wake as she eagerly ran towards the platform.

"Alena! Wait!" Timothy cried, reaching out a hand. She was quickly out of reach, however, and the thief to silently curse underneath his breath.

While thieving was his main occupation, he had done some treasure hunting in the as well. One thing he learned from his experiences as a treasure hunter was an obvious place for a treasure was also an obvious place for a trap. Timothy was not sure whether the peasants of Frenor were smart enough to employ such a tactic but, given the amount of detail they put into building the cave, rushing to a treasure was not the best of ideas.

The thief took a few steps in pursuit before he suddenly stopped, noticing something about the ground in the large chamber. It was unusually soft, squishing beneath his boots. His first suspicion was mud but hearing no running water within the chamber eliminated that possibility. Curious, Timothy lightly touched the ground, taking up a small bit of the surface with his fingertips. Upon smelling the substance, he noticed it had a putrid scent and he involuntarily recoiled with disgust.

"James," he called out as he walked to the entrance, "can you tell me what this is? It smells sort of familiar, but…"

Brey studied the substance under the dim torchlight, having no need to smell it as well to recognize it. "Guano?" he said, rubbing his white whiskers.

Alena did notice the ground's soft texture, especially since it squished between her naked toes. However, given her lack of knowledge of cave environments and her excitement at seeing the platform, she merely dismissed the guano-covered ground as mud.

She sprinted up the stairs, her adrenaline ignoring the sharper outcroppings of the stone biting into her skin. Once she reached the top of the platform, a single chest came into view, sitting directly at the centre of the four pillars. The chest glistened under her torchlight as varied jewels encrusted into its hinges danced and sparkled brilliantly the closer she advanced. However, Alena was not so much entranced by the sparkling beauty of the chest as by what sort of secrets it contained.

Her hands shaking with anticipation, Alena lifted the lid of the chest, thinking nothing of the peculiarity of no lock to secure whatever treasure was hidden inside. Groaning on aged hinges, a musty smell escaped with trapped air as the princess peered inside.

Save a few dead insects, the chest was empty.

"Alena!" she heard Timothy's voice call out to her. "Get down from there!"

"Why?" the princess asked, her voice disappointed. They had come all this way, suffered so much, and someone else had beaten them to the bracelet. "There's nothing here except an empty chest." Frustrated, she kicked the lid; the chest slammed shut with a resounding echo throughout the chamber.

Alena nearly gave the chest another kick to vent her frustration when she heard a rustling from above. Curious, she raised her torch high above her to see what was causing the sound. She let out a startled gasp once she saw the ceiling moving in an oozing manner. "What on…?" she mouthed, mesmerized by the sight.

"Alena!" Timothy's voice called again. "Get down! Hurry!" The thief was now running towards the platform.

Suddenly, several squeaking noises wailed throughout the chamber as the form on the ceiling burst into movement. It seemed as though a long, black arm extended from the main body, reaching out to engulf the princess within. Alena could do nothing more than drop her torch, futilely covering her body as several bats the size of her head descended upon her. The aggressive animals nipped and scratched at the princess, intent on eliminating the intruder for bringing her blinding light so close to their home.

Alena tried to run away but the bats swarmed all about her, making escape nearly impossible. She fell to the ground, curling herself into a ball and hoping her companions could do something before the bats beat her to death.

Luckily, Timothy arrived on top of the platform, yelling and screaming as he flung his torch wildly in attempt to scare off Alena's attackers. The bats split up for a moment, allowing the thief to reach her before any serious damage was done. "Hurry!" he commanded, lifting the princess up. "Grab the torch and keep it in front of you!"

Alena hastily did as told, too shaken to apologize for her foolishness. She and Timothy stood back to back, waving their torches to keep the enraged bats away. However, there were literally dozens of the flying animals and it would only be a matter of time before the torches' light enraged them enough to swarm the couple.

Timothy was fortunate enough to find an escape route, though. "Down there!" he shouted above the incessant squeaking of bats. Alena's gaze followed his pointed fingertip to a hole in the chamber's wall. "Can you make it?"

"Only one way to find out!" Alena replied. She quickly darted to the edge of the platform, jumping off and slipping as she landed. Cursing as she pushed the pain in her rear aside, the princess scrambled to her feet and sprinted for the hole. Thanking the Master it was large enough for her to fit inside, Alena stepped in, instantly spinning around to ward off any bats that may have followed.

She very nearly burned Timothy's face off as the thief caught up with her. "Whoa!" he gasped. "Watch out!"

"I'm sorry," Alena said guiltily, immediately bringing her torch back.

"Just be careful," he said, ducking into the hole as well. The bats continued to swarm just outside but, with the torches firmly in place at the entrance, none were daring enough to attack…yet.

"Aggressive little buggers, aren't they," Timothy chuckled as he marvelled at their continued persistence.

Alena did not join in his amusement, though, as her guilt could not allow her to laugh right now. "Tim," she mumbled, looking down shamefully, "I'm sorry I messed up. I shouldn't have rushed up there like I did."

"Damned right you shouldn't!" the thief scolded, his eyes cross at her. "One thing you should always know about treasure hunting is that traps could be anywhere, ready to punish you if you rush. It was very stupid what you did! We're damned lucky the only thing we had to worry about was bats and…and…"

His voice faltered upon seeing the princess' shoulders slightly bob up and down as tiny whimpers escaped her. "Alena?" he said, reaching down to take her chin in his hand. Gently lifting her head, Timothy saw a few streaks lining her dirty face. Sighing, he took his shirt and lightly wiped her face.

"I'm sorry," he sincerely apologized. "I wasn't thinking. This must all be very exciting for you, hunting for lost treasures and all. What you did was natural."

Alena could only smile, sniffling back the remnants of her tears. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around the thief, mumbling, "Thank you." Timothy held a stunned silence for a moment but smiled back, placing his hand on her shoulder as they waited out the frenzied bats.

* * *

"It looks really deep," Timothy said to his companions, crawling out from the hole in the wall. After dusting himself off, he added, "It could be another tunnel."

"But is it man-made?" Brey asked intently.

"This part isn't," the thief replied, "but that isn't necessarily saying we shouldn't take this tunnel."

"What?" the old tutor nearly shouted. He caught himself though, remembering the enraged bats were still hanging above their heads.

While the flying rodents had eventually settled down and flew back onto their perches in the ceiling, any amount of loud noise could easily disturb them again. He and Cristo had been relatively safe at the entrance to the large chamber during their initial attack, the bats' main target being the torches and not them; he had no desire to have the aggressive animals come after him for any reason.

"What I mean," Timothy explained, "is this tunnel could have easily been here before this cave was built. The peasants probably explored it and found a whole other section to dig out." He turned to Cristo. "Cris, you said the evil presence you felt wasn't the bats above us, right?" The bodyguard nodded. "Then it would have to be located elsewhere in the cave, right?" he finished, turning back to Brey.

The old tutor snorted. Another victory, he thought bitterly. When am I ever going to beat him?

"So," Alena said, looking more in Brey's direction. "Are we in agreement?" Upon everyone's nod, the princess grabbed her torch and hopped into the hole. "Follow me, then."

While the travellers could make their way through by slouching for a while, the tunnel quickly became smaller, forcing them on their hands and knees. Such travelling was not comfortable, though. While the thick cobwebs blocking their path could easily be dismissed as an annoyance, the tunnel's surface was downright uncomfortable. Without the assistance of erosion or man's interference, the rocky texture of the surface was still intact; sharp outcroppings scrapped along their hands and knees and, at times, some parts became almost impassable, the gap between the floor and ceiling only two feet high.

The small tunnel continued for quite a while and Alena's patients were wearing thin. Becoming somewhat disgruntled, she turned behind her, asking, "How much longer do we have to crawl through here?" She felt stupid asking such a question; her companions could not possibly know the answer. Still, perhaps one of them knew something about cave exploration she did not, some sort of trick in judging tunnel distances or chamber whereabouts.

"We'll get there when we get there," Timothy simply replied, his expression almost identical to Alena's. He must be having the same sentiments about their constant crawling, not really a good sign since the thief should have the most experience in such activities.

Sighing, she turned around to continue on her way. She came face to face with a half-broken skull. The princess yelped in shock, instinctively scrambling backward.

"What's wrong?" Timothy asked upon seeing her shocked face. Alena pointed, causing the thief to suck in his breath. "Poor bugger," he muttered, shaking his head. After a quick study of the area, he noticed a piece of rock on one side of the tunnel and a few bones strewn about on the other side of the tunnel. "Looks like half his body was crushed in a cave in," he finally said.

Alena slightly shuddered. A grisly scene of someone's death as their head was split in half by a falling rock came to mind. Not the most pleasant of thoughts while deep inside a cave.

"Did you scream?" Brey's voice came from a little further back in the tunnel. His voice sounded weary, as though he had taken in more scrapes and bruises than his body could handle.

"It's nothing," Timothy called back. "Alena just found some parts of a skeleton, that's all." A muffled "oh" echoed off the tunnel's wall, as though Brey dismissed the princess' discovery as nothing more significant than finding more rock.

The thief turned to Alena. "I think I'd better take the lead," he suggested. "There could be more loose rock in this tunnel and I think I'd be able to spot it better than you." The princess was more than happy to comply with his suggestion. The last thing she wanted was their whole party to be crushed underneath tonnes of rock due to her inexperience with cave exploration.

With Timothy in the lead, the travellers seemed to cover more ground in less time. Eventually, they came out of the tunnel and entered a small chamber. Taking the opportunity to rest, Brey turned to Cristo and asked, "How's that evil presence?"

"Stronger," the bodyguard replied, looking around the chamber as he tried to determine exactly where it was coming from. "The deeper we go, the stronger it becomes."

"That does not necessarily mean it will be wherever the bracelet is," Timothy quickly added, hoping to quench whatever fear Cristo's warning may have placed on the travellers. "For all we know, it could be in an entirely different chamber."

The thief turned toward a new tunnel at the opposite end of the chamber. This one was much larger, easy enough for the travellers to walk through. "Let's get moving," he ordered as he started to make his way down the new tunnel. Alena skipped forward to join him, Cristo and Brey following diligently behind.

For the most part, the rest of the cave was easily traversed. The most difficult portion was a thin tunnel, forcing the travellers to uncomfortably squeeze through. It was not the deepness of the cave that began to impede on their worries, though. Since their torches were crudely constructed of branches and cloth, their light was beginning to die. Unless they found the bracelet within the next half-hour, they would be forced to head back.

Soon, they came to another large chamber. Dripping water could be heard from some area, echoing eerily off unseen walls. Timothy stepped in first, intently studying the ceiling to make sure there were no more of the hostile bats. He doubted they would travel this deep inside but he did not wish to overlook anything that may turn hazardous. He noticed the ground was squishy like the large chamber above. Kneeling down, the thief sniffed the substance on the ground. After letting out a mild sigh of relief upon discovering it was only mud, he called for his companions to follow.

Spreading out so they could search the chamber more easily, Brey was the first to discover a few skeletons scattered about the floor. He also noticed the horn of an orc was jutting from most of the skulls. "So they did make it this far," he muttered to himself, studying the bones. However, something did not seem right. Why were these skeletons lying in the middle of the floor, with no sign of conflict or a cave-in to account for their deaths. It seemed as though the orcs had fallen over and just died.

As he stood up from the skeletons, the old tutor also noticed something more just beyond but, without a torch, his beady eyes could not pierce the thick blackness. "Hey!" he called out, his voice echoing. "Over here." Once his companions brought more light, Brey's eyes widened with surprise. "By the Master…" he uttered.

The ground in front of the travellers was covered with orc skeletons, as though an entire tribe once resided here and was slaughtered. At the far end of the floor was another tunnel, the skeletons forming a bony road to follow inside.