Overlooking the cavern was a giant hole to let in light and let the fire smoke out. This meant the snow outside blew inside and salted some of the huts. This obviously was not a problem for the yeti because they were adapted to the cold. The bonfire in the middle looked to be ceremonial because there was a large gathering dancing around it. I have apparently come at a special time.

The balcony we were on led to a set of stairs that switch backed down to the ground of the cavern. The yeti leading me walked us over to the bonfire where another yeti dressed in ceremonial garb and holding a staff was sitting. The staff held a rounded skull at the top of it with two gems in the eye sockets.

As we approached, the dancing yeti stopped to stare. They chattered amongst themselves until the staff-holder, who I assumed was the tribe leader, started speaking. At first, he spoke to me, but quickly picked up that I could not understand him. His eyes lowered to my hands, and the scabbard at my waist. He motioned his hands in front of him and said some words.

I wasn’t sure on what he meant. He repeated the same gesture. So, I moved my hands up in front of me. I was still dressed head to toe in the snow gear I had found in the mountain-base cavern. Aside from the snow goggles and ear muffs, which I had removed when I had entered the dark tunnels. I was still wearing a snow coat, gloves, and snow pants. He repeated the gesture, but tapped his hands together. I think he wants me to remove the gloves.

I removed the gloves and showed him my bare hands and wrists. Maybe he was looking for a bracelet like the blacksmith had. He then spoke to the yeti that guided me. The yeti then went on for a few minutes, speaking on and on about what I assumed everything that had happened up until this point. It pointed to me, it made motions like it was running away, it did a peeking look, then it pointed at my sword and then at the skull on the staff. Then it pointed to the eyes on the skull and pointed at its hand and then to my bag.

The tribe leader sat there for a moment taking it all in.

The tribe leader then pointed at the gems in the skull and then pointed at his eyes. I don’t know if he wanted the gem I picked up or if he wanted to look at it, so I pulled it from my bag and held it so it was visible. He examined it from where he was sitting.

After a moment he pointed to it, then he pointed to his finger, followed by a point to his mouth and mine. He wants to marry me? I shook my head. He repeated the action, this time the yeti guide started speaking, but in a slower fashion. Ohhhhhh. He’s saying I can turn that stone into a bracelet or ring to allow us to speak. Now understanding what he was saying, I nodded. He made gestures of a hammer hitting the stone.

“A blacksmith, yes I got it.”

I need to get back to railcar 95. The only issue is that I couldn’t go back up 94.

“I need to find a door to the next car.”

I spoke slowly as if that would help them understand. They stared while I spoke, trying to understand just as I had stared at them. I made a gesture drawing out the shape of a door and opening it. They looked at me for a moment and the tribe leader nodded. Using his staff, he drew an arch shape in the dirt beneath him and a “91” in the middle.

“Yes! Yes, that’s what I’m looking for!”

He used his staff to scratch it out and shook his head.

“What? Why not?”

While speaking he pointed to my sword, then to the skull atop his staff. He then stood up, tapped on the eye gems and then pointed over in the direction of the farm fields. He looked out at the crowd of yeti and ushered them to resume the dancing, he then walked towards the fields, gesturing me to follow.

Once we arrived at the fields, they were in worse condition than I had realized. The crops of whatever they had planted were withering and decayed. Using his staff once more, the leader sketched a scene into the dirt beneath him. He drew what looked like the tunnels leading into the branching section and the spiral down. That tunnel led into several other branches, but one of them he focused on. That tunnel led into a small cavern. He pointed to the emerald green gem in the skull and back to that cavern. Once more, he pointed to my sword.

“You want me to help you get these gems?”

I pointed to the gem, then to the field.

“How do these help you?”

He didn’t understand what I was saying. I pointed to the gem once again.

The leader nodded and made a grinding motion with his hands, a pouring motion, and then raised both hands while gesturing to the crops. He then made an eating gesture.

“So, you grind the gems into a powder and it helps the plant grow into food. Got it.”

I drew an arch with the 91 in the dirt. I pointed at the cavern he had drawn, then to him, then to the door. He understood and gave me a stern nod with pursed lips. It’s a deal. I tapped the sword at my side and pointed up at the balcony entrance.

The leader spoke with the guide and pointed at the entrance. The guide spoke as if he did not want to join me. I could only assume the leader knew I needed help finding the place. I just hoped I would be able to protect him…. and myself. The leader reached to a nearby plant, ripped off the decaying fruit and gestured it towards me. If this is the food they are offering me, why are the celebrating?

As the guide was slowly walking up the path, I picked away the rotten parts of the fruit. It looked like a giant green orange but the inside was filled with green corn kernels. It didn’t look like much, but maybe it would save me in a pinch. I only had one roll of bandages left in my bag. I needed a place to get supplies.

Once we made it to the branching room, the guide gestured for me to go first. We both held torches, although I suspected he didn’t need any in these tunnels. I held mine in one hand and my sword out and ready in the other. I was not going to die, again, today.

We made our way down the winding tunnel and reached the bottom where I had killed the imp. All that was left of its body was bone. All of the flesh had been cleaned off in the amount of time I had been gone. The blood was still pooled up next to it. These cannibalistic imps are going to eat me alive. I understood why the yeti feared them now.

The yeti behind me didn’t have a weapon. They must be a farming tribe, rather than a hunting tribe. Or pacifistic. I wonder how the leader killed the one on his staff without a weapon. That only made me worry more, because I had to protect myself and the yeti. And I wouldn’t be receiving any backup.

We inched down the tunnel, trying to be quiet. The flame would be the one to give us away but we could at least use it to temporarily stun any of them that try to attack.

Right on the edge of the light, I could see the tunnel opening up into a small room with five other tunnels branching off.

“Which path was it?”

I looked back at the yeti guide for an answer. Its eyes had gone wide and it was lowering its torch.

Before I could turn around, I felt something latch onto the back of my head.

“YOUCH!”

I swung the torch towards my head hoping to burn it away or blind it. The burning torch bashed against the imp and knocked it off my head, taking some of my hair with it.

I hastily turned around and shoved my sword through the fallen imp and watched as it scratched the sword while it lay dying.

Two others came flying out of the centermost tunnel, briefly stunned by the change in light. I ripped my sword from the one on the ground and swung at the two that now had their hands in front of their eyes. I managed to reach the one on the right and cut through its arm causing it to spew black blood all over as it flapped its wings. For a basic sword, it has a really clean cut. The blacksmith obviously creates quality.

The one on the left adjusted to the light and came straight for me, but I swatted at it with the torch in my off hand. I finished off the one-armed imp and swung at the one on the left, chopping it in half diagonally from shoulder to hip. These things are easy to kill, this should be no problem grabbing the gems.

Not wanting more to ambush us, I looked at the yeti guide who had stayed put several feet back. It had one hand clenched at its side and one clenched on the torch.

“Which tunnel!”

I yell-whispered at the yeti who was staring blankly at me. It took a few seconds for it to register and then it pointed at the centermost tunnel.

“Just great.”

I waved my arm for the yeti to follow as I hurried into the tunnel. The yeti dashed up right behind me, most likely for fear of getting eaten alive if it was left behind. 

The tunnel was short and had one curve that wrapped around so we facing the opposite direction. When we made it to the room at the end there were three imps sitting in front of a pile of gems. The light from the torch mixed the colors together so it was hard to tell which were which, but it looked like there was some green in there. As they shunned from the light, I dashed inside and swung three times. Three dead imps started bleeding all over the gems, further hiding the color.

The yeti behind me screeched in pain. When I turned around there was an imp biting at its arm. I stabbed at the imp, but I was too late. The yeti’s arm was bitten clean off. It was now gushing red blood. Another stab and I managed to poke the imp right in between its eyes. I dropped the sword for a moment while I dug through my bag for the bandage. Hurriedly grabbing it and proceeding to wrap it around the yeti, which was now faltering in its step.

I shoved my hand into the bloody gem pile, grabbed as many as I could and stuffed them into my bag. My sword was swiftly placed into its scabbard as I grabbed the yeti and darted for the exit. It had dropped its torch when bitten, but I still had mine to look. As I wrapped the corner I could see several imps on their way towards us, but were now dazed by the light. I charged past them in hopes that they wouldn’t have enough time to attack.

I ran into the branched room towards the tunnel we came from, but the imps were filling the room. There were so many. Dozens of imps shunned for a brief second as the torch shone on them. I am going to die. This yeti will die. I failed this tribe. There’s no saving my stuff now, not with these things crawling all over.

Just as I hesitated in the sight of so many imps, the yeti raised the hand that was still clenched and spoke some words that I couldn’t understand. The gem that was clenched inside glowed so brightly, that it almost blinded me. The yeti dropped the gem onto the ground and I saw almost all of the imps scatter into the nearby tunnels, some crashing into the walls from being blinded.

I ran out of the room and up the tunnel from where we came and ran towards the lit hallway. The guards saw us coming and shouted towards the tribe. As I made it down the steps, I met the leader and another yeti with red markings holding two red gems. Holding both in its hand, it held them against the guide yetis bandaged arm and started chanting. The gems radiated light and then withered to dust right before the guide yeti’s stub started bubbling and regrowing a new arm!

The guide yeti stopped clenching its body and relaxed on the floor where it was laying. The leader looked at me and gave me a nod. The medic called another yeti over and they carried the guide to a hut. The leader stared at me for a moment.

As he stared, I moved my bag around to my front and pulled out the bloodied gems. There were five in total, of varying sizes. I wiped off the black blood as best I could with the bandages that had fallen off the guide. Three of the gems were green, one was red, and the last was blue. I handed all of them to the leader. As much as I would love to have them, I had no use for them.

The green gems were apparently used for farming. The red gem was for healing, but I just needed food for that. And the blue gem was unknown. I had the violet gem that can hopefully be crafted into a ring for speech, but who knows when that will happen.

The leader eyed the gems in its hand and then stared at me. It gave me a very deep bow in thanks, then gestured for me to follow. We made our way past the bonfire and into the giant hut behind it. The leader placed its staff into a nook in the floor at the back of the hut and there was a small click. Part of the wall moved out and swung open to reveal a steel train door with a 91 painted on its back.

“Thank you.”

I knew the yeti wouldn’t be able to understand me, but I still had to say it.

The yeti held out the blue gem in its hand. It said something and gestured for me to take it.

“If you insist.”

Once I bagged the gem, the yeti gave me another deep bow.

I opened the door to railcar 91 and stepped through.