Being buried alive was one of the greatest fears that Olivestone had, and yet, she stared down one of the gaping holes in the hillside, the tunnel getting darker as it sloped downward into the earth. Logically, she knew that the tunnels were safe enough, passed through by many a warrior, day in and day out. A shiver passed through her body and down her spine as she imagined setting foot into the tunnels once more, the last time being during her apprenticeship moons ago. Since then, she'd silently vowed to avoid setting foot in the tunnels unless absolutely necessary. Ripping the grass up with her claws, Olivestone kneaded the ground, apprehensive about the journey that she was still debating about taking, the fear ever-present in her brain trying to talk her out of the idea she had in mind. She'd heard talk in passing of a cavern deep below the surface, that glowed and sparkled, a place that was more legend than fact. It was there that the deputy planned on going, deep into the earth past the Gorse Ring and the River Run.
The only thing holding her back was her debilitating claustrophobia.
But, the thing spurring her forward was love, pure and true. Olivestone took a deep breath, and without further hesitation, padded into the tunnel. Almost immediately, fear seized the deputy's heart, and she fought the urge to turn right around and flee into the warm daylight. Further into the earth, she pressed on, her pulse quickening as the walls of the tunnel brushed her flanks, and the light faded into cold darkness. As her destination was mere myth, elder's stories passed down to young WindClanners, Olivestone didn't really have a route to follow, let alone a known end point. Forcing herself to take deep breaths, the gray she-cat swallowed the fear that was rising in her throat as the warmth of the sun slowly faded into icy cold. She knew the route to the River Run well enough, and from there knew where the lowest point in the tunnels were, though she'd never been there herself.
The ground beneath her paws warmed a little as the tunnel made its way towards the River Run, weak sunlight streaming in the gaps dug into the wall of the gorge. Olivestone felt a little bit of her fear dissipate as fresh air and warmth greeted her, and she took a moment to rest here, steeling herself for the next leg of her journey. After a minute or two, she took the turn into the Run, and let the tunnel take her further into the earth, towards the lowest known part of the tunnel complex. As soon as the daylight faded behind her, the fear crept up on her again, and she resumed her deep, slow breaths in an attempt to keep the fear at bay. The warmth, too faded as Olivestone continued her trek into the depths of the earth, each pawstep feeling like a lifetime of ice and snow. Still, she kept on, with a goal in mind.
It wasn't long, yet it had felt like lifetimes, before she'd reached the lowest point in the known tunnel system. Thankfully, the tunnels had widened a little bit and were no longer brushing her pelt, but the knowledge of tons of dirt above her weighed her down nonetheless.
Now what?
A small feeling tugging her paws led her down a side tunnel, and she followed the feeling until her paw caught on a protuberance in the wall, her claws snagging painfully on it. Stopping to hiss in pain, an odd... echo reached her ears, and she stopped for a moment, searching for the source of the sound. Fear forgotten for a moment, Olivestone drew her claws over the protruding rock, and heard the sound echo beyond the tunnel wall. A smile crossed the deputy's maw for the first time since she'd set paw in the tunnels, and she gingerly, carefully began to scrape at the dirt that separated the tunnel from the cavern. Remembering her long-ago tunnel training, she used the dirt she'd scraped away to shore up the walls and tunnel roof, to prevent, StarClan forbid, a cave-in. The idea of a cave-in alone was enough to have Olivestone's fur on end, every muscle in her body tensed and ready to run at the slightest indication of an impending cave-in. The only sound aside from the careful scraping of dirt was the pounding of the deputy's heart.
After a few long minutes, Olivestone's paw broke through the thin wall separating the cavern from the tunnel, and she found that she could see into it, despite being far, far below where the sun would ever shine. A few more pawfuls of dirt scraped away and pressed into the walls allowed the deputy to see clearly into the cavern, and she knew that the legends had been true. A dim blue glow emanated from the moss that covered the ceiling, reflecting off of many faceted surfaces, making the walls sparkle in a way that she'd never seen before. She took a few more minutes to widen the opening enough to where she could squeeze her way in, and she took a moment to bask in the beauty of the place.
In her way in, Olivestone had dislodged a few of the faceted stones that lined the walls of the cavern, and she was reminded of that fact by one of the stones clinking against another as she kicked it. With a flick of her tail, she leaned down to investigate the strange sparkly rock, and could barely make out a faint green color tinging the glassy surfaces. A small chuckle escaped the deputy as she clawed some of the moss off the ceiling and positioned a couple of the pretty green rocks in it, to be wrapped up and carried safely back to the surface.
Who would have thought? Olive stones. It's perfect.
With the stones safely wrapped in the wad of moss, Olivestone picked up her little bundle and began the trek back, retracing her steps and following her own scent trail back towards warmth and sunlight. Her fear receded little by little the closer to the surface she got, and joy flared in her heart when the sunlight broke the darkness of the tunnel at the beginning to the River Run, and she took a moment to bask in the little bit of warmth and fresh air before taking the turn towards the trail that led to the surface. Warmth crept back into the ground under her paws as the tunnel wound towards the surface, and when sunlight streamed into the mouth of the tunnel, the deputy broke into a run, fear evaporating as she burst into the warmth and fresh air of the moor.
Setting her bundle down, Olivestone shook out her fur, dislodging the dirt that had accumulated, and pawed open her bundle to get a closer look at the strange rocks that she'd found. They were no bigger than her pawpad, but they were a nice olive green, akin to the color of moor grass in newleaf, and had shiny, reflective facets.
These will be perfect to give as gifts.
Smiling at both her discovery and the triumph of overcoming her claustrophobia, Olivestone picked up her bundle once more, and trotted off towards camp, a plan in mind.
She had some feelings to confess.
