The Snowager Caves Exploit: Part Four

by foreverme_88

The Fire Lupe

G2 nudged Crystalle. “You stupid! Can’t you look down to see where he’s gone?!”

Crystalle screamed again. “DON’T PUSH ME!” she cried. “What if I fall in?!” She poked her head inside the huge hole. “KEVIN! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?” she bellowed.

No answer.

“Tell us what you see down there, you idiot!” cried G2.

“I don’t see a thing!” cried poor Crystalle. Her knees buckled and she looked as though she were about to faint. She was filled with terror with not being able to see Home again.

“CRYSTALLE! CALM DOWN, WILL YOU?” Spell bellowed, losing her patience.

“Crystalle! Hey! Are you being paranoid again? I’m perfectly all right!” Suddenly a small form flew up through the large hole.

“KEVIN!” all three cried in relief.

“What’s down there, Kevin?” Spell asked excitedly.

Kevin shrugged. “There’s a Fire Lupe hanging around down there. I think he’s decent folk. He didn’t see me.”

“So… do we get down there or what?” Crystalle said, recovering her composure.

“Easy for you both,” G2 groaned. “Both of you have wings. It’d be so easy for you two to fly down there. Spell and I are stuck. We can’t get down and we can’t go anywhere else either.”

“Well, Spell could ride on my back,” Crystalle suggested. “And Kevin could drag G2 down.”

“What? No way!” Kevin protested. “I’m not as strong as you are. Perhaps you could carry both down, Crystalle.”

“But… I can’t carry both down at once!” cried Crystalle. “And G2 would probably be too heavy for me to carry.”

“Excuses, excuses!” cried Spell, exasperated. “It’s all excuses! And do you have brains or not? You can carry G2 down, and then come up and carry me down too! Do you have horse sense at all?”

“All right, all right,” muttered Crystalle. “So tiring.”

Kevin flew back down, and G2 clambered rather clumsily onto Crystalle’s back. “Don’t spoil my wings,” warned Crystalle as he did so. “My owner paid tons for that. And you’re really so heavy.” But she brought him down safely anyway, and went back up for a second trip.

And as soon as the four adventurers were safely on the frozen ground, a Fire Lupe came towards them. The four instinctively took a step backwards.

The Fire Lupe bowed his head in greeting. “I have not seen a group of adventurers enter to explore the Snowager’s Cave for all the nine years I have been here.”

“What? You mean you’ve been here for nine years?” gasped Spell.

The Lupe smiled. “If any of you were good at history, you would remember that I am Lupin, the Fire Lupe, who has been thought lost for nine years.”

No one spoke for a moment. Then G2 broke the silence by whispering incredulously, “Oh yes! The book said you were last heard of going into the Snowager’s Cave!”

“You were the best warrior of the Lupe Pack nine years ago!” gasped Spell.

“And they gave you the Sterlin’s Stone!” gasped Kevin.

Lupin smiled. “Quite right. You people must have studied really hard for your exams.” He sighed. “I was given the Sterlin’s Stone, which is the highest award for a warrior Lupe, nine years ago. Then I very foolishly attempted to explore the Snowager’s Cave, and find out the origins of the Snowager – all by myself. But, like you, I came to this place and, knowing going on would only make things worse, I decided to settle down here for the rest of my life. I waited for nine years for someone young, daring adventurers to come down here, so they could carry a message back to the Lupe Pack for me. A few have come before you, but all were alone. I suggest you go after them and rescue them, and then you carry a message for me back to the Lupe pack, and also to Foyanne.”

He sighed. “Foyanne is a fellow Lupe, my best friend and a sister. I told her I might not be able to get home safe from this adventure. She said she would bring all her Lupe offspring and come to look for me, if I did not return by five years. But four years have passed. Where is Foyanne? Is she still looking for me?”

“Er… what exactly does the Sterlin’s Stone do?” Kevin asked.

“Wait!” Spell cried. “You mentioned that few, all alone, had come before us. Who were they, how did they look like?”

“Well,” said Lupin, “I only remembered a blue Pteri. Lots of others came in here too, but I can’t remember them now. It’s been way too long.”

“No blue Techo?” said Spell.

The Fire Lupe shook his head firmly. “No,” he said. “Is that the person that you are looking for?”

“Yes,” Spell said. She turned to the others. “Lupin hasn’t seen Yorick enter this place,” she moaned. “Where can he possibly be?”

“That’s where the Sterlin’s Stone comes in,” said Lupin the Lupe, as a smile came across his weary face.

To be continued...