Nooks and crannies Water cascaded from somewhere high overhead and splashed down into a large pool. Wet rocks, flat at the front but jagged and treacherous around the sides, suggested that the pool had been modified by hands at some point but the size of the rocks and the space provided meant that either a large crowd had been expected for the hands were significantly larger than human. The roar of white noise was oppressive at first, but rapidly became easy to ignore unless you tried to speak. There was a fresh smell to the cave that hadn't been present in any of the narrow, winding tunnels that had led here and the air was cold. Now and then a chunk of ice would splash down into the pool, but whether it had been carried along by the water or had broken off from somewhere in the darkness above was impossible to know. Iversen wiped his face which was steadily wetted by the spray of water thrown up by the cataract. To his left, Yekatarina, Katya, had conjured a globe of white light above her head and was studying a map intently. "This is definitely the Cave of the Priests," she said. "This map was drawn in a bit of hurry though and I'm a bit concerned about its accuracy." She was a lithe woman with a slightly horsey face: long, close-set eyes and a duskiness to her skin that betrayed her origins on the steppes near the Krimea. "You mean that it didn't indicate that any of this cave system seems to have been built for the Jotun?" Iversen was short, pale and slightly chubbier than he wanted to be. Blonde hair mounded up on his head like a haystack and his fringe was so long it reached the tip of his nose, making it hard, sometimes, to tell who he was talking to. As he also had a habit of talking to himself, having grown up in a small, secluded community, this caused problems at times. "Jotun?" Katya looked up from her map and scrunched up her face in puzzlement. "Jaja... ah, giants," said Iversen. "Well yes," said Katya returning to the map. "But... well, the map shows the walls in here as icily smooth and yet there are nooks and crannies everywhere." Iversen looked at the walls, which were rocky and craggy and looked like they could be climbed without gear with just a little bit of care and preparation. "They're very definitely not smooth," he said. "I could climb these without ropes." "Please don't," said Katya reflexively. She sighed. "At least, not yet," she added. "We want to go out by the passage at the back, sort of behind the waterfall, but... I'm concerned. I think we should look around in here first. Maybe update this map." "Why was the map drawn in a hurry?" "I don't know. Well, I don't know exactly." Katya's mouth twisted, a sure sign she was annoyed at not having the information that she wanted. "The map-maker left a note saying it was drawn in a hurry, and her body was found outside the house so it seems likely she knew or suspected that she was being hunted. Or had a visitor who turned out to be angry. Or just wanted to get it done and then kill herself. Who knows now?" "So the map could have been altered after it was drawn?" Katya folded the map and let her arms drop to her sides. "Well, now you suggest it I think that's a possibility! Damn it, Iversen, you can be so practical sometimes. Right, let's put your practicality to good use: let's search this whole cave and get an idea of what we've walked into. Every nook, every cranny." "What you've walked us into," said Iversen, but he smiled as he said it. "If we hazard a guess that the mapmaker was killed by someone who didn't want their home mapped out, how big were their claws?"
Greg - I... do not think that I like where this is going. And now I'm hoping that the next day's prompt was completely unworkable in the continuation of this tale...
(said with all the love and fondness for your writing that you know I have)
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Nooks and crannies
Water cascaded from somewhere high overhead and splashed down into a large pool. Wet rocks, flat at the front but jagged and treacherous around the sides, suggested that the pool had been modified by hands at some point but the size of the rocks and the space provided meant that either a large crowd had been expected for the hands were significantly larger than human. The roar of white noise was oppressive at first, but rapidly became easy to ignore unless you tried to speak. There was a fresh smell to the cave that hadn't been present in any of the narrow, winding tunnels that had led here and the air was cold. Now and then a chunk of ice would splash down into the pool, but whether it had been carried along by the water or had broken off from somewhere in the darkness above was impossible to know.
Iversen wiped his face which was steadily wetted by the spray of water thrown up by the cataract. To his left, Yekatarina, Katya, had conjured a globe of white light above her head and was studying a map intently.
"This is definitely the Cave of the Priests," she said. "This map was drawn in a bit of hurry though and I'm a bit concerned about its accuracy." She was a lithe woman with a slightly horsey face: long, close-set eyes and a duskiness to her skin that betrayed her origins on the steppes near the Krimea.
"You mean that it didn't indicate that any of this cave system seems to have been built for the Jotun?" Iversen was short, pale and slightly chubbier than he wanted to be. Blonde hair mounded up on his head like a haystack and his fringe was so long it reached the tip of his nose, making it hard, sometimes, to tell who he was talking to. As he also had a habit of talking to himself, having grown up in a small, secluded community, this caused problems at times.
"Jotun?" Katya looked up from her map and scrunched up her face in puzzlement.
"Jaja... ah, giants," said Iversen.
"Well yes," said Katya returning to the map. "But... well, the map shows the walls in here as icily smooth and yet there are nooks and crannies everywhere."
Iversen looked at the walls, which were rocky and craggy and looked like they could be climbed without gear with just a little bit of care and preparation. "They're very definitely not smooth," he said. "I could climb these without ropes."
"Please don't," said Katya reflexively. She sighed. "At least, not yet," she added. "We want to go out by the passage at the back, sort of behind the waterfall, but... I'm concerned. I think we should look around in here first. Maybe update this map."
"Why was the map drawn in a hurry?"
"I don't know. Well, I don't know exactly." Katya's mouth twisted, a sure sign she was annoyed at not having the information that she wanted. "The map-maker left a note saying it was drawn in a hurry, and her body was found outside the house so it seems likely she knew or suspected that she was being hunted. Or had a visitor who turned out to be angry. Or just wanted to get it done and then kill herself. Who knows now?"
"So the map could have been altered after it was drawn?"
Katya folded the map and let her arms drop to her sides. "Well, now you suggest it I think that's a possibility! Damn it, Iversen, you can be so practical sometimes. Right, let's put your practicality to good use: let's search this whole cave and get an idea of what we've walked into. Every nook, every cranny."
"What you've walked us into," said Iversen, but he smiled as he said it. "If we hazard a guess that the mapmaker was killed by someone who didn't want their home mapped out, how big were their claws?"
Greg - I... do not think that I like where this is going. And now I'm hoping that the next day's prompt was completely unworkable in the continuation of this tale...
(said with all the love and fondness for your writing that you know I have)
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