The Final Element: The Guardian of Equestria

The Tenth Chapter

Rainbow Dash was pacing her breathing as she ran; when Eli had shouted to her to go after Pinkie she set her ears back and charged forward, making sure not to lose sight of the pink haze through the thick brush.

Using every inch of her skills, she dodged against shrubs, branches, and trees, using everything she could grab to secure better footing and propel herself forward faster and faster.

Rainbow Dash knew that if she were to fly up she would be able to cover more area, but would no doubt lose sight of Pinkie Pie over the canopy of the treetops; which was something she didn't want to consider. She didn't have time to think about what had happened to Applejack. She could only hope and pray that Eli was capable enough to find her, and save her from what-ever had nabbed her.

As she ran, Rainbow Dash began feeling lightheaded from the furious pace. Her Pegasus body wasn't accustomed to the harsh terrain of the Everfree Forest, but her unrelenting drive pushed her to her maximum. Covered in sweat and breathing hard, the only one thought on her mind: save Pinkie Pie at any cost.

The more she ran, the more the moments seemed to crawl, and the night seemed to only accelerate. In a short span, darkness was completely over Equestria, and Rainbow Dash became brutally aware of the pain her reckless charge was tolling on her body.

Despite her efforts, her skills, and her above average athletics, Rainbow Dash was as helpless as the next pony when it came to seeing in the dark. Nothing she did could illuminate her path, and she ran headlong into so many bushes and trees, that she feared she would be the instrument of her own flank stomping before she was ever able to catch up to Pinkie, or her pony-nabber.

"Dammit!" she yelled in frustration, as she ran into yet another tree, and stopped for a brief moment to focus, gather her wits, and catch her breath. She knew that her usual tactics of “leap first, look later” were no good here. She had to come up with another plan.

Closing her eyes and listening to the sounds of the forest, she was suddenly struck with the realization that she was in the middle of Everfree Forest alone. Not that she was the sort of pony to let a little bit of isolation in a dark a creepy forest drive her to fear; but at the moment, she rationalized that Pinkie was more alone than she was, without any-pony there to save her.

With her head down slightly, and her ears twitching in full alert, Rainbow Dash calmed her breathing, and focused intently on the sounds of the forest around her. She could hear the wind rushing through the overhead branches, the sounds of scurrying from the nocturnal critters, and underneath, the sound of her heart beating against her chest.

A faint almost inaudible scream was heard from up ahead. Rainbow Dash prayed to the maker that it was Pinkie Pie, and not some random animal, crying in the darkness. "Found you,” she said, bolting off again.

As she ran, she could hear thunder in the distance, and from the sound of it, it was going to be a bad storm. Another crash of thunder, and rain began to fall.

Immediately following the downpour, distant flashes of lightning spread across the sky like fingers of gnarled light, reaching out above the tree tops, and for the briefest of seconds, the forest came alive with brightness.

After the first few flashes of lightning, Rainbow Dash noticed something up ahead. She wasn't sure, but she thought she could detect the faint glow of light bleeding through the foliage and undergrowth, and she slowed to a slow crawl. Either she had finally reached the end of the line, and Pinkie Pie was somewhere up ahead, or she had gone the wrong way, and this was an unknown danger the cursed forest had yet to reveal. Either way, driven by loyalty, or plain stupidity, Rainbow Dash took a quick look behind her, and turned back to pursue her prey; she was now the hunter, and that which stole Pinkie was her enemy.

~   ~   ~

Night and rain had come to Ponyville, and every-pony working on the excavations had left at the end of the day, greatly troubled. Not only had this next day's work revealed nothing of substantial interest, but the strange slow rising of the moon, and the unscheduled rain across the country had dampened every-pony's spirits greatly.

"Don't worry," said Twilight as she and several others gathered in Sugar Cube Corner to ride out the weather, “I'm sure this is just a hiccup with the weather center.”

Shrieking from a small flash of lightening, Fluttershy moved to a corner of the room, and covered her face with her hooves. “That's some hiccup,” she said, as she trembled.

Twilight did her best to remain composed; she didn't want to appear as disappointed as she felt. Though the more she was honest with herself, the more it would manifest on her expression, and her friends were pretty keen on picking up her moods.

You have to get a hold of yourself, Twilight Sparkle, she admonished herself. This is no time to be sinking down in the gloomy glums.

"Hey Twi," said Spike walking up to her, "has any-pony seen Pinkie Pie? I asked the Cakes if they had seen her, and they said that they hadn't seen her since she went truffle gathering."

"Come to think of it Spike, no, I haven't seen her." she said a little alarmed. "Where does she normally go truffle gathering?"

"Near Everfree Forest," said Mr. Cake walking in on their conversation. "I tried to stop her, and I kept telling her that truffles were not important at a time like this, what with all that horrible stuff that's been happening around the forest; but you know that filly."

"Oh no!" Twilight said, reaching for the medallion around her neck. This wasn't just bad, it was very bad. Not only was the world undergoing some terrible change, with terrible monster dark legion armies skulking about in Everfree Forest, Pinkie had to go and look for truffles.

"Eli, can you hear me?" she said into the blue stone. "Eli where are you?"

She shook the medallion with her hooves in frustration. "Where could he be?"

Little did Twilight know that Eli would not be hearing her pleas. Not from where he was in the forest at the present. His bag, along with everything in it, as well as the sound-stone were abandoned at the spot they were making camp. Discarded as soon as Pinkie screamed, and forgotten as soon as Rainbow Dash and Eli gave chase.

At the present moment, Twilight's voice was barely audible over the sound of rain, and thunder, as the stone sat in a goo of mud, slowly being covered over.

"Eli please?" said Twilight, fighting panic as Rarity walked up to her.

"Is everything alright, darling?"

"No. Pinkie Pie went truffle gathering in Everfree Forest the day before, and she isn't back yet, and I can't get reach Eli on this stupid thing." Her voice wavering as she spoke.

"Well, try Rainbow Dash or Applejack," said Rarity calmly. "And please, try and remain calm. Like me," she said twirling a half turn to saunter off, when a flash of lightning and thunder made her jump and shriek.

~   ~   ~

Rainbow Dash was drenched. Her rainbow colored mane was hanging in dark strings, and her tail was filled with trash, as it had managed to snag almost every loose twig and burr as it drug against seemingly everything in the forest.

She was leaning against a huge wet and gnarly oak, with her back to the source of the glowing light, peeking around it to get a better view of what she was up against. She reached up to the sound-stone dangling from her neck, and considered calling for Eli, but figured he'd be too busy getting Applejack. Unless something had happened to him in the process.

She shook the thoughts out of her mind. Eli was pretty resilient for a non-pony, and he was cleaver and courageous; those were qualities that Rainbow Dash admired and liked about him. Nothing was going to happen to him, or Applejack. She was sure of that.

Taking a breath and inching further around the oak, Rainbow Dash noticed that the source of the glowing light was coming from a stone ruin, that resembled a toppled watch tower, no doubt the remains of the previous war against the Dark Legion. Inside she could make out the dancing reflection of firelight, which meant that somewhere in there, amidst the danger was Pinkie Pie.

She glanced up at the sky, and a thousand tiny drops of rain landed in her face. If only I could fly, this would be easy, she thought, but pegasus wings were relatively useless once they got drenched, and hers were soaked to the bone. She might do good to get a few feet off the ground before the water weight wrecked her flight path, maybe in a pinch, but not as a tactic.

Taking a few more deep and deliberate breaths to pump up her adrenaline, Rainbow Dash built up her nerve. Come on Dash, move your hooves!

Moving away from the oak and crouching down low to the ground, she began inching her way to the far left of the ruin, fully exposing herself, when the sound-stone began speaking in Twilight's voice.

"Rainbow Dash! Please be there!" the voice said.

Panicking, Dash threw both hooves over it in an attempt to muffle the volume of Twilight's voice. She knew that even over the roar of the thunderstorm, and the noise from the rain, whatever was inside the ruins no doubt heard it.

~   ~   ~

Eli was trudging through the forest, with the trail growing colder by the minute. No visible moonlight or stars to illuminate his path, except for the occasional flash of lightning, and nothing to suggest that he was even going in the right direction.

Once the rain had started, Eli was forced to slow his pace. Not that the trees and the dense forest environment didn't already make his moving a chore. Now they made his movement through the undergrowth a near impossibility.

Wet, cold, and tired; Eli moved slower and more methodical, reverting back to his life in the army, as he focused and drove himself deeper and deeper along a straight a path as he could manage.

Instinct and past experience told him that he was not alone. Someone or something was out to hinder his rescue of Applejack, and the first order of survival in this instance was to arm himself. Touching the gun behind him, he hesitated. He could use it, but as a last resort. What he needed was something that wouldn't be exhausted as quickly, or with as much noise.

Eli knew that the branch that sent him into the mud earlier was a deliberate trap; meant to slow him down so that whoever it was ahead of him could buy themselves more time. They were obviously baiting him, and as long as he could survive the snares, he was certain that as long as the traps were consistent, he was sure to be going in the right direction. Junky logic, but it worked for the time being.

Several times as he made his way along, he stumbled on small rocks in the forest floor, and when his shoe struck the next, he dropped to the ground and began to examine the muddy soil, using the lightning as momentary clarity in the darkness.

With both knees in the mud, he began to dig with his fingers until he found a stone the size of his fist, and unearthed it. Where he had stopped was a small group of stones, surrounded by a few larger ones. Glanced around making sure his movements were concealed, and that no one had approached him during his efforts, he ran upon a larger stone in the ground and slammed the smaller stone onto it as hard as he could, splintering and splitting the smaller stone into shards.

Holding the stone shard in his teeth, Eli climbed a nearby tree, and felt along the tender branches until he found one to suit his purpose. Pulling on it straight down, he used his weight to break it free, and then twisted it off from the green bark and skin holding it.

Taking a few hurried glances around, making sure that he was still alone, he set in to chipping away the tiny off-shoot baby branches, as the rain turned from hard to harder. Using the stone shard, he whittled away the end of the shaft forming a sharpened point. He figured if he must fight, then he would ensure that he would damn-well win, even-though he wasn't sure why anyone—pony or other—would want to interfere with his closing the gate, unless it was the Dark Legion, and if that was the case, he was going to set them straight, literally as well as figuratively.

As Eli scraped furiously on the makeshift spear, he glanced quickly ahead of him to make sure he hadn't had any unexpected visitors. He knew this forest was dangerous, and so far, he had only encountered a few such evil dwelling here. It was very possible that nighttime provided the perfect opportunity for them to work their wickedness.

Several low noises in the darkness and rain caused Eli to look around, as he completed chipping away at the end. He knew it would be a half-assed spear, but even blunted objects could cause trauma, if he were to thrust hard enough into soft flesh. Good thing too, he thought, as more low noises and growls emanated from the surrounding forest.

Spinning around in a full circle, Eli noticed twin sets of green glowing eyes appear from all directions, like fireflies that were stuck side by side in the night. Then the first one appeared through the blackness, under the temporary flash of light from a lightning strike. A creature made entirely of living wood, four feet tall, and snarling.

As soon as the one appeared, the whole forest began to move, and at once, every set of green eyes moved through the veil of darkness. Two, then four, then eight—more.

Holding the spear up defensively, Eli stepped back, only to see more of the strange wooden wolves appear from behind him. This was not good. Every moment spent here, was more time Applejack was in peril.

Another flash of light and the wolves attacked; teeth bared, and roaring. His only thought at the moment, was that it was going to be a long night.

The first wolf made for his mid-section, and Eli swung the spear like a baseball bat, striking it on the snout; the impact sending small bits of wood and branches off into the night, in a spray. The second wolf landed on him full force, and he had the sensation of being struck with a cord of firewood, before he hit the ground on his back.

Dammit! He had to think. As long as he was down in such a defensive posture, he was doomed. Using the rock shard, Eli jabbed into the underbelly of the creature, and heard a shriek of discomfort, as his hand sunk into the hollow space past the layer of woven branches, and twigs.

Using the spear to push himself up, Eli brought himself to his feet, and noticed that the rest of the wolves were circling slowly around him. He had to get out of the circle, or he was going to be one-two'd to death by the barrage.

A few flashes of lightning later, Eli saw his chance, when the wolves left a small gap between them, and the forest, and Eli didn't hesitate to use it to his advantage. Placing the spear on the ground, he made a jump, similar to that of a pole vaulter, and sprinted past the circle of timber wolves. Timberwolves, now that's irony.

Landing on the ground, Eli barely missed the large stone he used to smash the smaller one into his shard, and he instantly looked to his left. If he was going to be chased, then they could damn-well chase him in the direction he needed to go; and if all went well, then he could make some good use of what he suspected was coming up.

Launching himself at a dead run, he hoped to put as much distance between himself and the wolves as possible, but the concept was harder to accomplish, than it was to concoct. The undergrowth and the condition of the rainy forest made his mad dash as difficult as when he didn't have a trillion wood wolves after him.

The wolves were obviously not impressed with Eli's decision to run away, and their howls and snarls grew in intensity as they charged behind him, better capable of navigating the forest at night and in the rain, than he ever thought possible.

The closest wolf lunged at him from behind, and he felt a swipe at his foot, nearly causing him to trip forward, but Eli quickly regained his balance, until the ground dropped out from underneath him, and he felt the sensation of falling down a slope in the forest.

Falling head over heels down the sharp ravine, Eli reflexively held the spear out, and came to a sudden stop, as wolves rained down past him, unable to stop themselves as suddenly. Several landed on him on their way down, and a few of their claws found his body on their sudden downward descent.

The force of his sudden stop nearly jerked his shoulder out of socket, as he looked up behind him, seeing the spear lodged sidelong between two small saplings, as the brief lightening shed some light on his condition. The next flash revealed that the direction he dangled was toward another ravine, deep enough that the lightning didn't show the bottom.

The wolves that fell were gone, and lost to the void, but a few were either smart enough, or wary enough to have stopped at the top of the slope, and he could hear their howls and snarls above him. Not that it really mattered. His position didn't allow him much movement to turn his head and see.

With only the flashes of lighting to see by, and dangling, Eli slid the stone shard into his back-pocket between his jeans and his soaked wallet to ensure that it didn't fall out once he set out again. Now with a free hand, he reached up and grasped the spear, and rolled over to get himself right side up. The wolves were ahead of him now, slowly making their way down the precarious slope.

Below him, Eli pressed his feet into the soft wet mud, and pulled himself up, just as another wolf slid past him with a howl, off to the void with the others. Keep coming, you bastards.

Getting enough sure footing to pull himself up, Eli locked his leg over the small sapling with his left leg at the knee, and shifted his weight on the other with his right arm. Then took the spear from its crossways position, and held it out in front of him toward the sound of the wolves.

Even with the lightning flashes to act as temporary light, Eli couldn't make out how many of the wooden wolves were waiting for him at the top. Then another howl and the dark shape of another wolf slid past him, and he had to smile at the thought of it going off into the ravine. Until he heard the sounds of snarls behind and below him.

Twisting backward slightly, Eli heard growls from under him, as some of the wolves were crawling back up the ravine's slope toward him. Turning and looking back up, he heard more growling, and realized that he was once again surrounded.

“Come on! You persistent mother fuckers!” he shouted.

Using as much strength as he could manage he pulled against the trees, and brought himself up into a better crawling position, and held the spear out, to hook it into another small tree trunk to latch onto, and slowly make his ascent.

His choices were bad regardless. Let the ones under him reach and maul him from below, or move upward and face the ones on top of him. Which to Eli didn't sound like good options all around. But better the devil he could see, than the ones he couldn't.

Another flash of lightning, and he could make out two solid shapes ahead of him, at the top of the incline. Bringing the spear up, he waited for the next flash, and shoved it as hard as he could at the closest wolf, striking it in the foot, breaking the wood, and causing it to howl and careen forward, and down to the dark hole. The wolves below him howled in turn, and he could only hope that the son of a bitch took one of them with him.

Another flash of lightning and Eli saw the wolves at the top, and realized there were only three of them left, while most of the rest were either, one: down in the ravine; two: making their way back up the ravine, or three: moved on in frustration. He could only hope it was all of the above, and not some random fourth thing, where they were all waiting behind the three at the top for a surprise party, with Eli as the guest of honor.

More movement from the top, and Eli watched as one of the three made for him, and began creeping. It wouldn't have been a problem, but at its current spot, it would meet him face on, and if it lost its balance and fell, it would probably take him with it to the bottom of the ravine.

Sure enough, as soon as the wolf was five feet from him, it lost its grip on the muddy incline, and started gaining momentum toward Eli's face. With a few seconds of reaction time, Eli kicked his leg loose from the sapling and threw all of his body weight to the lone tree on his right, just as the snarling wood-ball careened past him, snapping and growling.

That just leaves two of you, Eli thought, as he dangled more precariously on the single sapling. Next to the sapling, less than a foot away, Eli could make out a small group of trees in a cluster on the side of the ravine. A flash of lightning confirmed it, and he scrambled for them as quickly as he could.

The cluster of trees joined others, forming a natural line toward the top, where he was sure the wolves were going to be ready.

The bark on the trees had turned into near slime, and several times Eli's foot slipped as he pulled and crawled, and with only a few feet left, he made a small jump to the top of the slope, and landed right at the feet of the last two wolves. Jabbing the spear into the soil, Eli leaned back enough to pull the pistol from the back of his jeans, and fired two rounds into their foreheads, shattering their craniums like giant erupting bird's nests.

Granted, he didn't want to resort to using the gun, but the cost of two bullets was worth the price, so long as it cleared his path, and gave him a better head start.

Once more at the top of the ravine, Eli quickly regained his direction, and began sprinting as best as he could, while the wolves from the ravine began making their crest over the rise, and started their pursuit once more.

After what seemed like another ten minutes of running, crawling, and wading through the intense environment, with no less than a half dozen snarling, weary and pissed wolves hot on his heels, Eli saw an object on the ground in his way. With only a second's reaction time, he swung down and scooped it up, not breaking his stride. It was soft and formed, like hardened fabric—dark and soaked.

Holding Applejack's wide brimmed beige hat, Eli was unsure if it was dropped on purpose, or if it was simply dropped as Applejack was drug into the unknown. One thing he knew for certain, was that he was definitely going in the right direction; though at his present speed, he felt sure that the wolves were going to be devouring him before he ever reached his destination, or Applejack for that matter.

Even though the wolves were wooden, it was becoming apparent that whatever magic resided in their wooden bodies was being depleted, or he would have already felt their teeth on his ankles.

The flashing of lightning revealed a small log laying across the direction he was going, and Eli high-jumped it, only to snag a few vines, nearly causing himself to stumble; except it quickly became clear that they weren't vines: they were ropes.

The sudden loud sound of breaking branches in the treetops ahead of him, caused Eli to look up just in time to see a giant horizontal tree crashing through the trees straight for him like a classic movie style Indiana Jones swinging log trap, complete with wooden spikes.

In that same instant, Eli heard the wolves behind him as they cleared the felled tree, and using his momentum, he fell back and slid on the wet mud as the log's spikes missed him by inches, and collided with the wooden wolves behind him, shattering them into a few thousand bits.

Eli laid on the ground, as the log trap swung back and forth, slowly coming to a stop directly over him. Forty minutes of solid running for his life had left him exhausted and wasted.

Reaching up and touching one of the wooden spikes on the tree, Eli let out a roar of frustration, and broke it off in defiance. “I'm still here, you bastard,” he spoke to the unseen.

~   ~   ~

Rainbow Dash was holding her hooves over the sound-stone, clearly shaken at the thought of discovery, and frozen in place. She waited to see if perhaps her presence had been noticed, and after a minute, she moved more to the far side of the stonework. "Twilight," she whispered into the stone. "You have to shut up; it's too dangerous to be talking right now."

Inching as best she could to the closest wall of the ruin, Dash placed her side against the wet slimy stones and prayed that Twilight would get the message, and not bother her. With a few more quick breaths, she attempted psyching herself up.

Taking a quick peek over her shoulder in the direction of the ruin that was behind her, she picked up her hoof to take another step, and heard the sound of gargled breathing beside her. Turning her gaze just enough to look, she saw a metal axe whizzing at her head. She took a hasty step back as it collided with the stone wall, sending sparks into the night.

"Oh, shit!" Rainbow Dash yelped as the dark looming axe-wielder raised his arm to swing again. Dash jumped forward, and rolled to avoid the blow; spraying rain water and mud in all directions as her wings splayed to balance her odd physical rotations.

Once on her feet, Rainbow Dash turned to face her attacker, noticing that it was a dark skinned creature of some sort. His body was covered in a layer of ragged leather armor, and he was roughly the same size as a human, though it was clear that it was pissed off and gnarly. No doubt it was one of the Dark Legion.

"You want some of this?" said Rainbow Dash as she brought her hooves up, in a classic boxing posture. "You're about to get a flank-stomping from Ponyville's three-time martial arts champion!"

The ogre-like creature howled and swung again at Rainbow Dash, as she ducked and rolled once again, this time at the completion of her roll, she pivoted around onto her back hooves. Using her forward motion, she swung her hind hoof up to the creature's forearm, sending the axe off into the forest, as the beast-man roared in fury and frustration.

"Yeah! You want some more of that?" Rainbow Dash taunted, as the monster bellowed with rage. “Yeah, fuck you too!”

As if accepting the challenge, the monster lunged at her—but being naturally more agile on her feet than the creature, Rainbow Dash dodged the lunge and kicked it in the face, sending him sprawling backward.

"Come on!" yelled Rainbow, as she scrambled backed up to the wall and felt dislodged stones hit her on her back. If she didn't turn the direction of the fight more into her favor, she was going to have her flank stomped into a mud-hole; literally.

Looking around for her advantage to the fight, Rainbow saw a hole in the side of the wall just past where she was backed against it; there was light coming through, and she scrambled for it, careful not to dislodge anymore of the ruin, she clambered into the hole.

The creature wasted no time getting on its feet, and charged again at Rainbow Dash just as she brought her back hooves into the hole in the stone wall. Following her, the creature lunged hard wedging the upper half of his torso in the process, causing a shower of small stones to pour down around him.

It took Rainbow Dash less than a heartbeat to find her advantage, as she suddenly charged with a leap, and bucked at the decaying wall above the bellowing beast, causing the top portion of the stone wall to topple over and bury him completely.

Trembling with fright and adrenaline, Rainbow Dash could feel her heart pounding inside her chest so hard, it reminded her of her first Sonic Rainboom, and for a moment she felt as if her legs would buckle under her.

Not wanting to be around in case that Dark Legion guy, or beast-man, or whatever it was, decided to come back to life and climb from the rubble; Rainbow Dash gave the pile of stones and boulders a quick inspection, and after deciding the beast was dead, moved quickly to find Pinkie Pie in the rest of the ruins.

The room she backed into was connected to the area with the light, and following the source of the glow, she discovered a fire in the center of the tower's stairwell, with a huge makeshift cauldron sitting on it, and hanging upside-down over the cauldron was Pinkie Pie: unconscious and unmoving.

"Pinkie?" said Rainbow Dash, approaching cautiously, as every fear and terror coursed through her. “Pinkie Pie, can you hear me?”

Moving as close to the fire as she could, Rainbow Dash felt her heart lodge in her throat. "Pinkie Pie!" she finally yelled.

"Do you think we can find a new game to play now?" asked Pinkie Pie with her eyes still closed. "I don't think I want to be a stew anymore."

Letting out a sigh of relief and welling up with tears, Rainbow Dash  rushed to her and pulled her down. "Sure. I doubt a Pinkie stew would be any fun at all."

"Where's Applejack and Eli?" asked Pinkie, after Rainbow Dash had gotten the ropes off her, checking to make sure the coast was clear.

"I don't know," she said, "the last thing I saw was Applejack being taken away into the forest, and Eli running after her." She sighed again. "We can't stay here, in case more of those monsters come back. We need to try and find them."

Turning back toward Pinkie, Rainbow Dash saw her reaching into the cauldron, and dipping her hoof in. “This is pretty good; though it could use some garlic,” she said tasting it.

“You were about to be cooked in that, you know.” Rainbow Dash had her hooves on her flanks, as she watched. “Isn't it a bit odd for the food to question the ingredients?”

“Well, excuse me,” said Pinkie in annoyance. “If they're going to make me into a stew, the least they can do, is get the seasoning right!”

~   ~   ~

The inside of the cave was illuminated by a single burning torch, as Eli stepped inside from the rain.

Shivering from the cold, and covered in blood and mud, he held the spear at the ready over his shoulder in one hand, while in the other he clutched Applejack's hat.

It was bad tactics to walk straight into such an open maw, but Eli knew that this place was to be the point of confrontation with whoever kidnapped Applejack. He was certain that what lay ahead inside the cave was both the answer to the mystery of the nabber, and the whereabouts of Applejack.

Not wanting to damage the hat further, Eli sat it on his head to free up his hand to take the torch. He half expected it to trigger a trap, too keenly aware of all the action films he'd seen, with complicated traps and dungeon pitfalls.

He hesitated for a moment before he proceeded, then taking deliberate steps, he steeled his resolve and went deeper into the side of the mountain as the sounds of the storm outside grew fainter with each step.