The two were walking down a narrow passageway, bouncing their gaze between the ground and the ceiling for any signs of the geysers.
"Nash, watch out!" Diamond yelled, quickly pulling him towards himself.
Nash sighed, looking at the patch of ground where he'd almost stepped into--specifically, the indentation on the ceiling above.
'Jeez, if you didn't see this kid fight, you would think he was inept.'
"Say, lady, why did you bring me to this weird place?" Nash asked, gripping onto Diamond's hand tightly.
Diamond shook his head. "Kid, I told you that I'm not a girl--" he looked at Nash's innocent gaze, then promptly moved on. "Ahem, nevermind. Anyways, I told you this already, but I was told that this Tunnel allows you to find your 'true path.'"
Nash laughed. "True path...? That's not the real reason you're here, though, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?"
"I can tell when someone's lying. You want something else from here, although I can't really tell--mmphh!"
Awkwardly, Diamond chuckled and covered Nash's mouth with his hand. "Oh, whatever could you mean? Perhaps that 'magic eye' of yours is malfunctioning!"
Meanwhile, the insistent sound of metallic clanking grew even closer. It was deafeningly loud until they saw the figure behind it.
A man, tall and scruffy. He was banging a pickaxe against the tough metal protruding from the walls with one hand, while wiping his dirt-smudged face clean with the other. Additionally, he'd been wearing a yellow hat, brandishing a flashlight that shone in the dark caverns.
There was a wide bin beneath him, holding entire heaps of the ore. But just as he'd lodged his pickaxe into the tough mineral, he turned at the sound of footsteps.
"Ghhuhhh? Ch-children?" He spat on the floor, then coughed up blackened phlegm. "S'ry, throat's coarse from 'er minin'."
His accent was thick--though not nearly as much as his arms--and his face rough. Still, he didn't seem all that intimidating to Nash and Diamond.
Nash's eyes lit up like stars. "Hey, do you like the dirt like me!"
The man seemed taken aback, like he'd heard something in a foreign language. "Dirt...?" He coughed once more. "Dirt's part of the job. Though if I had the choice, I'd mine around stone, or something."
Diamond held back his laugh. 'Did this guy just switch accents?'
Nash seemed disappointed by the man's answer, but his face quickly lit up again. "Hey, old man, what are you doing around parts like these! Don't you know they're dangerous?"
"I should say the same thing about you, kid..." the man scorned, dislodging his pickaxe from the raw material. "Ain't you got a father to run back to? Although I'm not sure why he would be by these parts after the recent happenings..."
"Recent happenings?" Diamond asked.
"Girly, it's none of your business. Now get! It's dangerous here!" He continued hacking away at the earth, although his movements were more contained.
Diamond moved into his space, pushing his finger into the man's shoulder. "Firstly, I'm not a girl... secondly, I'm not leaving until you tell me what you're talking about."
"Whatever you say," the man retorted, snickering. Then, again with his pickaxe.
"Oh... that's it..." Diamond grit, balling his fists.
All it took was a soft tap from Nash for his indignant flare to be undone. Nash shook his head, then stepped back.
"He wasn't worth it, anyway," Diamond said, turning in the opposite direction. "Let's go, Nash."
Nash followed him closely, although his face was tinged with disappointment. "Lady, I get that you were angry, but that doesn't mean you should steal his things."
A pile of ore was piled in Diamond's arms--so abundant that it acted as its own flashlight. "Don't you know, kid? When someone does you wrong, the only way to make it right is to take his things."
"That... doesn't seem very reasonable."
"Don't worry, this is the world of the adults. There are some things you won't get until you're older." Humming to himself, Diamond sniffed the ore, then licked it. It didn't bite back or shock him like it'd done before on Nash.
"Looks like it becomes sterile when it's separated from the walls," Diamond mused, failing to contain the happiness that stealing such materials brought him.
"Heeyyyyyy~~! Guyyysss~~!"
The voice shot through the dark like a missile, aimed at the two. Yet, they both understood just who it was.
Although Nash didn't seem particularly bothered, Diamond's face fell into one of dread.
"There's no way the guard followed us all the way out here..." Diamond muttered, unbelieving. He looked down at his pile of ore, then to Nash.
He threw it in Nash's direction, breathing a sigh of relief. "We have to get going, Nash! Don't worry, you're stronger than me, so you should be able to handle the ores just fine." Diamond took off, not even daring to look back.
Nash shook his head, then followed after him, handling the rare earth like a feather. "Okay, but you really shouldn't steal from others..."
"Spare me the lecture, we can worry about that after we get somewhere safe!"
The two continued down the path, being careful about where they stepped. Still, the frantic footsteps of their pursuer only grew stronger, and Diamond knew this.
"Sh-shit, we're gonna have to pick up the pace," he urged, struggling to keep his breath.
"Okay!" Nash agreed, darting past Diamond. His gait created a gust of dirt and wind behind him, clearing Diamond of his sight.
'How can he run like that with all that metal in his arms...'
Diamond continued, closing his eyes to help relieve at least a fraction of the fatigue. It went on like this for what felt like an hour, until, eventually, the path cleared.
Like the open area that Diamond and Nash had been introduced to when they'd first blipped into the Tunnel, this time, it was far more vast. Although, as far as the eye could see, there was a narrow panel of ground that twisted like a snake.
It was only wide enough to support a single person, and if one were to trip while traversing it, they would fall into the endless abyss below.
Diamond's face went blue, but as he heard the Kingsguard trailing the tunnel from behind, he took the leap forward, moving along the treacherous passage.
Nash was over twenty feet ahead, moving through it like it wasn't even a danger.
"Nash, could you slow down!" Diamond pleaded, feeling his lungs tense from the arduous work.
Nash looked back, confused. "But, lady, don't you see, we're almost there!"
'There where?'
As Nash sprinted forward, Diamond finally saw it.
A village in the cavern of dirt. And only feet away.