Honey : The Empire's Treasure 128 Unfortunate Events 4

Braeden watched from a distance as the young girl talked to herself and then entered the structure.

"Sir, I think that girl might be...crazy." One of the captains stated.

From the time they started to track Mika's movements, they heard her talking. At first, they thought she was with someone, but when they didn't see anyone with her, they ruled that out. Then someone pointed out that maybe the fledgling was talking into a comm. Yet, when they watched her, she didn't have any devices on hand.

They all finally came to the conclusion that this girl was talking to herself.

"En...maybe..."

"Sir, perhaps her family abandoned her."

"...No, I don't think so." Braeden ruled out that possibility.

"Why?" They have seen many parents abandoned their children when they found them worthless.

"Her hair is neat and clean, her face has the look of a well-fed child, and her clothes are made from expensive materials. Besides the soot and ash stains from being in the city, they are relatively clean."

The captain nodded along as Braeden stated his observations, agreeing with his general.

"Then why is she here?"

"I don't know, but let find out..." Braeden left his hiding spot to follow Mika inside.

Once inside the structure, Mika found her gues to be correct, it was just like a stadium, but with a few changes.

One could tell that the building had a ceiling and in the center was a pool.

"I'm guessing that the springs would be below this area."

"How did you know?"

"Lucky guess..." Mika wondered if the Urmurians were similar to humans.

Standing at the edge of the empty pool, Mika peered down and saw a human-sized hole. Not even giving it another thought, Mika turned away to look for another way down.

"Yumsa, do see any stairs leading downwards?" Being that inside the structure was pretty dark, Mika as relying on Yumsa's night-vision eyes to see.

"Yes!...over there to the right. It looks like stairs."

Mika followed Yumsa pointed finger and saw the dark doorway. As she walked closer, she saw the hint of stairs Yumsa was talking about.

"Where is a flashlight when you need one..." Mika muttered, tired of the dark tunnels she was regularly walking into.

"Mikaela...?"

"We're going, we're going..." Mika held out girl hands on both sides to feel for the wall as she progressed down the steps.

When Braeden and his men entered to structure, they able to catch Mika's small back in the doorway before the darkness suck her in.

"d.a.m.n..." Braden ran to where Mika was last seen, called out but received no answer.

"Any of you have embers on you?" Braeden held out his hands to his soldiers behind him, hoping one of them had.

"Yes, sir. Here." Three embers were placed inside his hands.

Quickly shaking one, and bright glow lit up the entryway in front of them.

"Sir, are we going down?" A captain asked.

"Yes, but only five of you stay behind." Taking a step, Braeden wondered what he would find down there.

Thirty minutes pa.s.sed before Mika could reach the bottom of the stairwell.

"Argh! My legs are not made for this!" Mika yelled when she finally was back on even ground.

"Mikaela are you alright?" Yumsa could see Mika was unstable on her feet.

"Yea, just my body is not used to all this walking and stairs. Give me a minute..." Mika stretched out her legs, working out her cramp up muscles.

When the tension left her legs, Mika looked up to discover herself in a cavern. The walls had a s.h.i.+mmer to them that reflected the minimal light around the cave.

"Wow...Yumsa did you know about this?" Mika felt the walls, seeing that it was tiny crystals that were illuminating the cavern.

"No, this is the first time I am seeing this..." Yumsa was looking at a bigger crystal in amazement.

"Come let's continue on, maybe the honey is still intact down here." Mika helped Yumsa to sit on her shoulder.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe!" Mika randomly picked a direction and walked.

Braeden and his men reached the bottom of the stairwell twenty minutes after, Mika left.

"Oh my...!" Braeden stood sh.e.l.l shock by the cavern before him.

"Sir, did you know about this place?" Braeden shook his head at his captain question. How could he possibly know about this place, this was his first time in Ash city!

"Then how could that little fledgling know about it?" One of the soldiers voiced out what they were all thinking.

"Let's continue to follow her, we'll ask her when we meet." Looking around, found Mika's footprint heading off in one direction.

Twist and turns, Mika continued to follow the path. She didn't worry about getting lost, she was always good at remembering directions. Even if someone were to twirl her around a dozen times, she'll still be able to find her way back.

"Mikaela, I smell something up ahead..." Yumsa's nose picked up on a foul smell that was turning her stomach.

"I don't smell anything..." Mika sniffed the air a couple of times, and still couldn't pick up on the odor Yumsa was talking about.

"It's up ahead, and it's really foul." Yumsa was holding her nose close to stop the smell from making her sick.

"Okay..." Mika continues to walk farther down the path, taking note of any change of smell in the air.

It wasn't until a slit in the path that Mika noticed the odor Yumsa was talking about.

"Eww...what is that?" It smelled like every spoiled thing in one's kitchen being mixed together.

Yumsa, who was taking shelter in Mika's hair from the smell, couldn't give her an answer. Seeing the only way she was going to find the answer to her question was to go see.

Covering her nose, Mika chose the side with the stronger stench.

When Braeden and his men arrived at the same split in the road, they all wanted to gag.

"What the h.e.l.l is that!?" Braeden could barely contain his breakfast against the foul smell.

"Sir, our guess is as good as yours." The men were quick the plug their noses.

"Why would she come this way?" Braden was trying hard not to lose his composure in front of his men, however he really wanted to run back up those steps for fresh air.

"Sir, look!" A soldier point at the floor showing Mika's footprints heading towards the odor rather than away.

Oh, come on! Braeden thought as he followed Mika deeper into the stench.