If I hadn’t already known that the townspeople of Rockfell had abandoned the mine, being here in person would have quickly elucidated me to that fact. Whatever magic gemstone or crystal that the people of Rockfell used to power the lamps in the mine were completely dead. Equipment had been hastily discarded on the ground, and best of all the cobwebs.

The only illumination inside the mine came from the flame I was generating in my hand. Chuu didn’t want to stray from the light so he hunkered down on my shoulder. Which wouldn’t have been a problem if it weren’t for his incessant humming.

“Do you think we’ll find Mir in the mine?”

“It’s possible. I’m more focused on the witch. Who the hell does she think she is?”

“Mao, what about Mir?’

What about Mir?

“Listen you found Mir out in the forest. There’s only a finite number of places that he could be. The most dangerous is the mine. The other places Maria, and the lazy townspeople she managed to round up are searching the other places. Like the forest. The witch is the more pressing problem.”

Chuu nodded seemingly satisfied with my answer. Despite Maria’s tearful plea which understandable didn’t sway my decision, the townsfolk of Rockfell still just barely decided to help her. If they outright hated Mir and Maria or something I’d understand but it seemed like the townspeople were apathic assholes.

Honestly a town like Rockfell would typically have been destroyed either by a rampaging demon or by the townspeople themselves. Or there was the third option that I was becoming increasingly fond of. I could just burn it to the ground.

The repercussions if there were any would be minimal considering how unimportant Rockfell was. Give it a week or two and no one would even remember that they even existed maybe that was…

“Hmm, this appears to be tricky, chuu? What chuu do? What chuu do?”

I shuttered from the way Chuu replaced the word to in that last sentence. He was right though there was a problem. The path in front of us diverged in two, this presented a minor problem. Which path do I take and this was key, what happens if the paths continue to diverge.

Based on what I could see which was dirt, cave walls, a lizard…a rather large lizard actually. The thing was about half the size of a wolf, grey with narrow eyes and a flat nose. It had sharp claws digging into the wall as it skittered about.

Chuu floated up to the lizard to get a better look.

“That’s probably not a great idea.”

“Shush Mao, Chuu knows what Chuu is doing, chuu.”

“Left, right, left, right.”

Chuu bounced up and down petting the cave lizard. “Imma name you cinnanonsticks, chuu.”

“Grrraaooww.”

“Left, right, left…”

“Mao! M…aoooo! It’s…it’s eating me. CINNANONSTICKS IS EATING ME!!!”

Uh huh yeah. If only someone had warned you.

“Maaaaaoooo!”

“I’ll help but you have to be a canary?”

“WhAt…what…canary?!”

I nodded slowly barely paying attention to the fact that lizard keep trying to swallow Chuu as he fought his way out its mouth. Never quite getting free.

“Fine. Fine. Tweet, tweet. Tweet.”

Even though Chuu couldn’t see it because he was otherwise preoccupied the look on my face properly expression my astonishment at his misunderstanding.

“Stop fighting it. Let it eat you.”

“WHAT! Are you outta…chuu mind.”

Okay. Now I might let that thing eat chuu….chuu?

“Goddamnit. Yeah. I’m gonna barbeque it. If your inside it’s mouth it should offer you some protection.”

Chuu sorta nodded and then the lizard shut its mouth. You know I don’t actually have to kill that lizard…wait I actually need Chuu to be a canary. With barely a thought to it I tossed the flame I was using to light my way to roasted the lizard. It twitched a few times falling to the cave floor a second later. Chuu rolled out covered in lizard juice. Gross.

“Alright Chuu pick a path and report back if its safe. Don’t dawdle.”

Chuu didn’t pay attention to a word I said instead he stared at the roasted lizard.

“Mao?”

“What?”

“Chuu wants to eat the lizard.”

Well that was strange, but why was Chuu telling me that instead of doing it.

“So, what’s the hold up. Be a canary then eat it.”

Chuu shook off the juices on his body nearly getting it on me.

“Chuu have to have some. Or else I’m not gonna eat it.”

“Then don’t eat it.”

Chuu floated up so he could stare at me with his big eyes.

“Chuu don’t understand. Chuu wants to eat the lizard, Mao.”

Uh…okay. Without any further discussion I picked up the lizard and prepared to take a bite when Chuu stopped me.

“Chuu gets the head.”

Okay at some point I was going to need to figure what this blue furball’s deal was. But I guess that would have to wait until after I had a chat with the witch.

After tearing the lizard in half Chuu happily floated down the right tunnel while chewing on the cave lizard’s upper body. For some reason Chuu was saving the head. I was starting to get some sneaking suspicion that Chuu might be some monstrous beast. If that were the case then it might be worth it to keep him around.

Although it was highly doubtful that, that disturbing adorable ball of fur had any hidden depths. Chuu returned humming as he loudly chomped on the cave lizard’s head.

“It’s a dead end.”

“Then what took you so long?”

“I was making sure there wasn’t any hidden passages. I wasn’t looking for any treasure chuu. Honest.”

“It’s not that kind of…whatever.”

Chuu bobbed by my head as if he was waiting for something. The left tunnel was pretty much the same as the rest of the mine, cave walls, discard equipment, a few cave lizards that Chuu shook his fist at.

“Are we…”

“Chuu I’ll feed you to one of those cave lizards if you finish that sentence.”

Chuu blinked twice choosing not to finish his sentence. As we navigate the tunnel we reached another spilt. Chuu was about to play canary again but I had a little less patient so I decided upon a slightly different approach.

“Mao, why are you holding me, chuu?”

“No reason.”

Chuu was pitched down the left tunnel it didn’t take long for him to return with a report. This time we took the right tunnel all the way down. Fortunately, there was a light at the end of this tunnel.

“Mao how is there light up ahead?”

Reflectively I wanted to insult Chuu’s intelligence when I thought about it. None of the other cave crystals were active so there shouldn’t have been any light. As Chuu and I stepped forward into the light we entered a vast inner chamber.

The inner chamber was split into multiply levels with a number of tunnels running throughout. On one of the upper levels was the witch. She was looking down at us. She was gonna regret that.

For some reason she simply smiled when she spotted me.

“Oh, good I was wondering when you were gonna show up. Now you can play with all my friends.”

*Snap*

The air around the bottom level of the inner chamber began waving around.

“A mirage…damnit.”

I could see the shadows first just before the cave was swarmed with a number of rough looking individuals. If I had to hazard a guess there was something like fifty or more men.

“Shit.”